Progress... And a New Old WIP

More progress has been made on Nature's Alphabet. I am enjoying stitching it at night while watching TV and winding down before bed. My 9 year old daughter and 11 year old son like looking at it and trying to guess what each little picture represents. The Princess is adamant that the "C" square features cranberries, not cherries!


Here is a closeup of the latest progress. I ended up substituting Weeks Dye Works "Cypress" for the "Holly" in the juniper trees, and "Ivy" for the "Celadon" in the oak leaves. It works for me.

I love the little satin stitched pumpkins. I used DMC 3776, as per the pattern, but looking at it now, I could have substituted an overdyed thread from stash. Oh, well. I doubt I'll go back and change it.

I'm getting close on the alphabet, but I'm feeling that itch to work on something else... something completely different. So I pulled out this little WIP.

This little Valentine sampler is my own design. I don't remember when I started it- years ago when I was really into making up my own stuff. I still need to dig through my notes and find the sketches and diagrams I must have made for it.

It's stitched on a strange light pink linen that has white warp threads and pink weft threads which give it a vague homespun vibe in person. You can't really pick up on it in the photo.

The heart at the top is stitched with Caron Waterlilies "Flame," a gorgeous red and purple silk which was my inspiration element for this piece. As you can see, I was in the process of adding Algerian Eyelets to it using pink metallic braid. The tiny heart in the center is red metallic braid. I planned to remove the inner threads and complete the hardanger with the same silk thread.

The bands below the heart are stitched in various red and purple shades of DMC, pink braid, and "Flame." I especially love the row that says "Love" over and over in "Flame."

I gathered several types of beads to possibly use for embellishment: satin purple, red aurora borealis, and bright red. I'm not sure what I was planning with them, so I'll just have to see as I go.

This wasn't meant to be a large piece, so it shouldn't take long to stitch a few more bands and finish it up. If I can find my notes and I already had it graphed out, it will be super quick to finish up. Otherwise I'll have to design as I go.

I took today off, so I have a nice, long, three day weekend. I hope to get a lot of stitching done and complete my muslin for my Vintage Sewalong dress. I posted an update on my progress over at the Vintage Sewalong blog.

Have a good weekend!