Final Sampler September Update

Are you tired of hearing about my sampler stitching? Ok, here’s the last one for a while, probably!

First of all, I have finished H. Faulkner! Except she is no longer a reproduction sampler and she is no longer H. Faulkner. I ultimately decided to put my Grandma’s name and birth year on it.

Do you like her? Since I made up my mind to change the name I didn’t have any qualms about fixing up her border corners too. I think I made them a little more graceful. But if I was designing this sampler I would rework them all together to make them symmetrical. I should start designing my own samplers…but these old ones are so charming and I do love all the little motifs. This one’s butterflies and basket of fruits did not disappoint. I just love them.

Speaking of butterflies back for the July People’s Choice the theme was butterflies and I told you all about the butterfly garden I had planted for my Girl Scout gold award project. My mom sent me some photos! Here it was when I first planted it, I think this was 1996. (NB, this garden near my folks’ home in Indiana, where I lived in my teen years, you don’t really have this much green where I live in Arizona! I do miss the green!)

And here it is more recently, maybe last summer? it’s pretty amazing that it’s still there at all even though it’s less densely planted and with less variety.

I have another garden to share with you. Since finishing H Faulkner, I’ve replaced it with Quaker Garden for my on the go stitching. ( I always have something to work on in the school pick up line or while waiting around for appointments). I’ve made some progress on it as well this month even though it hasn’t been a focus. It WILL be the focus for a finish next month though! It’s too close not to! There are the border sections and a few outstanding motifs to finish up. This truly is a pretty little Quaker and I’m so enjoying the colors from Thread Gatherer. I haven’t committed to a white yet as you can see!

And now to the piece de resistance! Here’s Bathya at the end of the month. I figure I probably spent about 20 sessions on her this month (I didn’t work on her if I was tired!)

I am sad that the month is over in a way because after complaining about it for weeks I finally have learned how to enjoy the diagonal double back stitch. I no longer have to refer to the directions every five minutes. I now am putting in many more stitches than I take out each session. It’s working out! I’ve got the hang of it! It’s still slow going but I know I can do it. That is a Great Thing indeed. I don’t find it necessary to take out my first stitches either-they aren’t as bad as I thought. And I’m super pleased with my progress. I’ll don’t think I can put Bathya away until next September. I’d like to finish this band before I completely forget how to do it. But I feel like I’ve got a lot of stitching calling my name as we approach the end of the year! Well I’ll see what I can do. I’ll try to get a couple nights a week for her to stay sharp with the stitch technique and get this band knocked out!