A Gentleman's Samplings

Hello everyone. Again I have been delayed in posting new starts and finishes to the my blog. I finally finished Jane Atkinson last month.  The over one was a bear to get done on the 40-count Lakeside. Unfortunatley I was not able to take a picture of her before I left on a business trip back to Tasmania.  Once I return to the states next week I will post a picture. At the end of January I started the James Wilson Sampler which is in the Haslemere Educational Museum . The Needleprint blog mentioned this sampler back in November of last year and she also mentions it again in her post on 15 Feb 2011. This sampler is on the Needleprint blog and it really spoke to me since I am a male needlework enthusiast.  Here is a photo of the original: And my progress: The chart calls for DMC which I have convert to  Vicki Claytons Hand-Dyed fibers .  The tree at the top center of the sampler is done in DMC 712 (Ecru/Off White) and is very hard ...

Happy New Year Everyone - I cannot believe that it has been over a month since my last post. Time sure flies when you are having fun - or getting older. I have been spending some time contemplating my stitiching goals for 2011. After speaking with some fellow stitchers, I believe that I will spend this year finishing some of my WIPS.  I would really like to get some samplers done instead of just having them started.  I will post the list on my blog once I have narrowed it down. I am nearly done with Jane Atkinson.  I ended up finishing all of the stitching but left most of the over one saying incomplete.  That was a mistake.  So I have been rotating it in out with a couple of other projects.  I only have about 2 more lines of the saying to complete so I am commited to getting this done by the end of the month and I will show a picture as soon as it is complete. I have been wanting to do try my hand at some counted canvas work sincae the middle part of...

Hello gentle readers and dear friends. Once again I must apologize for the lack of updates on my blog. hard to believe that the last time I updated this was in September. I guess my resolution for the New Year will be to update everyone at least once a month even though with the amount of stitching I am planning I will need to do it a little bit more often - maybe once every two weeks. My gaol for next year is to limit my starts and complete some of the WIPS that I have.  I have a couple of large ones that I really want to get completed and a few others that have been in the pile for over a couple of years.  Not much to do on a lot of them so that will most definitely give me a since of accomplishment. I have been traveling a lo over the past couple of months for work (not pleasure) and have not gotten much stitching done. I have been working on some small Christmas ornaments to share with family and friends.  I will post some pictures afte...

Hello fellow bloggers, friends and stitchers.  I have to admit that Jane has gotten the best of of me - I am nearly there but it is taken longer than I want to admit.  Here is a picture of the progress and a couple of close ups.   Not much further to go. Just a little bit more of the border, and then I can concentrate on the lettering, Adam and Eve. In order to give myself a break and to give myself a small feeling of accomplishment, I decided to work on a couple of small things. This is a small Irish Samplings pincushion by The Nostalgic Needle. This will be finished as an an ornament for an exchange in December. I worked this on 36-ct mystery fabric using some left over silks and Gentle Arts Sampler Threads. Here are a couple of other ornaments that I have stitched up also for exchanges. (Just need to "finish" them). Both of them are from past issues of the Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornament magazine. I also stitched With My Needle's Quaker ...

Hello everyone. No pictures on this post - just wanted to give a brief update on what I have been working on. I am still stitching away on my restart of Jane Atkinson. I am nearly done with my border and the big tree in the center.  I have been going back and forth between the tree and the border just to have a change of pace.  Lots of green and brown in that tree which gets a little bit boring.  I have also started on the one over one saying in the top portion of this sampler.  I am doing full cross stitches on the saying. This is not going to be fun but decided if I just do one or two words between my other stitching that will get it completed in no time. Also in rotation at this time is the Drawn Thread's Tocatta Four. This is one with a lot of different band style motifs.  I started this when it was first available (2008?) and have picked it up again just to give me something different to work on.  Lots of specialty stitches and I am doing this one ...

My work life and personal life have been keeping me very busy over the past several weeks. So much so that I have been neglecting my blogging friends and hobby. I hopefully will get with the program to keep this blog more updated (even if it is just a post to say “HI”). I am going to be heading back to Tasmania at the end of the week so thought it would be best to go ahead and get an update posted for all of my blogging friends on what I have been up to in the stitching realm of my life. First up – Jane (my new best friend) In my previous post I showed progress on Jane Atkinson by Scarlet Letter. I was working away on the top portion of the flower border and started to get close to the left hand side of the linen. Fears of not having the linen big enough started going through my mind. I tend to measure to make sure that I will have at least 2 inches of extra linen around my project for framing purposes. I also tend to measure my linen and chart at least twice before I start just to...

I have been doing a lot of traveling over the past couple of months so have not had a lot of time to update the blog. Family, work and life in general seem to take up most of my time lately. I am blessed to have such a wonderful family and friends that put up with me being out of pocket for a week or two at a time. But in today’s economic environment I am truly blessed to have a job that I enjoy and which allows me to see places that I would never get around to seeing if I had to do it on my own. As posted in a previous blog, I am currently managing a project for a company located in Devonport, Tasmania Australia.  It is one of the most awe inspiring places that I have ever been and the people are some of the most generous and friendly that you will ever meet.  Over half of the island is a temperate rainforest which is so thick that it blocks out the sun. Some of the most scenic mountains and beaches are also within easy reach. You can also travel from the northern most par...