A Gentleman's Samplings

I would like to thank all of you for your kind comments, thoughts and prayers regarding my health issue. A brief update is provided at the end of the post. In my last post I had not yet decided whether to start something new or to finish something in my WIP pile.   It has been very hot here in North Texas so doing a couple of holiday pieces seemed to be in order. Jane Pattison 1806 by Shakespeare's Peddler I have had this chart in my stash since it first became available.   This piece really looks very looks and feels like a Christmas sampler with the border of green garland and candles.   I stitched this on 40-ct Lakeside linen using the recommended Gentle Arts Sampler Threads instead of the recommended wool threads. I did substitute the Harvest Basket with Gold Leaf since the Harvest Basket was very close in color to Cidermill Brown and I wanted to add a little bit of gold to the piece like in the picture on the pattern. I also stitch two bands...

It seems that I have not been able to focus on a single project lately. There always seems to be something a little bit more intereseting to stitch than the current project I am wanting to finish. Apologies in advance for the quality of the photos - for some reason the pictures look more gold/yellow than they are in real life... In the past month I have worked on Scarlet Letter's Coraggio .  I have had this chart in my stash for a few years and thought about it when it was mentioned by someone on a board a vist every once in a while. I am working this on 40-count Lakesde Linen Pecan Butter using a combination of Au Ver a Soie (AVAS) and Hand-Dyed Fibers (HDF) silks. Coraggio by The Scarlet Letter 40-count Lakeside Linen Pecan Butter with AVAS and HDF I started work on the mermaid but I need to re-think the recommended process of outlining and then filling in with the stitches.  Doing it this way tends to lose some of the definitio...