Scottish Band Sampler

Progress continues on the Scottish Band Sampler (Scarlett Letter).  I had set a goal of finishing this by the end of August-ha!  As predicted in the instructions, the flame stitch is "quite challenging."  For me, it was not the actual execution of the stitch, but the placement.  What I have done follows the chart, but doesn't look like the picture of the finished piece.  After frogging and restitching twice, I'm going with what I have now.  I'm sure it will be OK and as long as I don't display the picture from the chart next to my completed sampler, no one will be the wiser. 

Since I last posted, we  made a trip to retrieve our daughter from her summer internship on the coast of Maine.  She stayed with her boyfriend's family who very graciously showed us around the area during the weekend we were there, and treated us to a fabulous meal of lobster.   Our daughter was home for three days and then we packed up the car and moved her into a house (occupied by six other students who share one bathroom!) in DC for her final year of college.  Our older son was home for Labor Day weekend and our middle son will be home next weekend as he is running a marathon in our area.  Just wish they could all be here at the same time!

I woke up this morning with a smile on my face when I realized that it is the first Tuesday in September and I am not going back to school.  That meant I could set my alarm for 6:30 instead of 5:30 and I can have a leisurely cup of coffee before I head to the gym.  Last Monday, during the inservice days at my former school district,  one of the speech therapists texted me about the boring meeting she was in.  I texted back about my plans to get my nails done and read a book the rest of the afternoon.  I have no doubt that retirement was the right decision and I am really enjoying this time!

Comments

  1. Jackie's StitchesSeptember 3, 2013 at 9:14 AM

    The flame stitch section looks very well placed!

    It sounds like you've been busy with family! If it hasn't sunk in that you're retired I'm sure it has by now with school back in session and not having those super busy preplanning days. Nails and a book sounds delightful!

    ReplyDelete
  2. MargaretSeptember 3, 2013 at 9:50 AM

    I'm so glad you are enjoying your retirement! Fun that you're getting visits in with your kids too, albeit not all at once. Love your Scottish Band Sampler. I so want to do this one too!

    ReplyDelete
  3. KarolineSeptember 5, 2013 at 4:57 AM

    Your Scottish sampler is looking gorgeous, great progres

    ReplyDelete
  4. MysteryKnitterJune 28, 2016 at 12:05 PM

    You can stitch!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

For the Good Times

Image
Today is my 35th wedding anniversary. We were married in the church in my hometown in southeast Nebraska. No air conditioning and people thought my husband was nervous when they saw him shaking his leg. He was just trying to get the sweat to run down it a bit faster! Mine was the first of three weddings my parents planned, and since I had spent the summer in Pennsylvania working and setting up our new apartment, most things fell to my mother. My parents decided to have the reception in my hometown and that meant there was only one venue--the "supper club." Actually, this was the basement of the local pool hall/bar and had formerly been a bowling alley when my mother was a teenager. Although there wasn't a private room, my parents figured very few people other than wedding guests would be there since it was also the weekend of the county fair. Sometimes I miss life in small town Nebraska. Mostly not. Turned out they were right, but choosing that venue also meant that they
Read more

WIP Wednesday

Image
We are not so patiently waiting for spring to arrive in southeastern Pennsylvania.  Four nor'easters in March is just cruel and I've had enough of this cold weather.  The upside is that it makes it easy to stay inside and stitch.  I'm making progress on a few things, but for reasons not clear to me, I've had a hard time settling down with one project.  I had the pleasure of taking two classes with Catherine Theron at the end of March.  You can see the projects she taught on the Salty Yarns website by clicking on the Events tab.  When I got home I was inspire to find the piece from the first class I took from Catherine at the Delaware Valley Historic Sampler Guild  many (maybe 10??) years ago.  This will become a Quaker sewing case. During class, I struggled putting in the black for the Florentine pattern which is why I put it away all these years.  After looking at it closely, I found and corrected several mistakes.  I filled in several of the diamonds whi
Read more

At Long Last

Image
I finally have a finish!  Here is Susan Rambo in all her wrinkled glory.  I stitched it on a vintage 36 count fabric that is close in color to the amber/toasted almond Wichelt fabric called for in the SANQ chart.  The fibers are Needlepoint Inc silks.  I love the colors and this is my all-time favorite sampler. 
Read more