New starts

I proised you a post of my new starts and here they are.

I have had this pattern kitted up for some time now. 

It was a free pattern by Just Another Button Company from 2014 that shop owners could give to customers who bought the button pack.  It required a butt-load of Weeks Dye Works colors and some specialty threads besides, that I purchased in Colorado while visiting with my sister in June. My thanks to A Stitching Shop in Denver for their assistance in finding all the fibers with me. Together we made quite a mess of their Weeks Dye Works section.


I have rejoined the Sampler Guild of the Rockies after dropping out for a few years. Every year they select challenge pieces and this year I have started two of them. Their fundraiser patterns are three Orphan Samplers and I will be doing one of those, but don't have the pattern yet.

The first is The Winter is Past by Blackbird Designs.  It needs to be finished by April, 2018.  That is when Blackbird Designs will be teaching for the Guild.This workshop sold out in just days and I am grateful to my sister for getting our deposits in when she did.

It calls for Picture This Plus 36 count Oaken linen.  My LNS, Reflections, did not have this in stock but Julie did have 32 count so my piece (and my sister's) will be slightly larger. The linen is such a beautiful color and is perfect for this piece.

My second start for the Guild challenge is Elizabeth Sarah Oliver 1842, a reproduction sampler charted by Plum Street Samplers. I have until September 2018 to finish the stitching on this piece. The pattern calls for 35 count Confederate Gray fabric which is on order at Reflections.  But I have never been known for my patience, so I selected 40 count Pearled Barley which is a lighter version and prettier, IMHO. I find it interesting that anyone would chart a reproduction sampler with overdyed fabric and floss as it is in no way true to the original, but that did make it more comfortable to change out the called for fabric.  Elizabeth stitched colorful birds on her sampler, the first one that I have stitched is green!