Adorn Thy Heart by Anita

I was delighted to receive photos from Anita of Staten Island, New York who stitched Adorn Thy Heart, a band sampler with 22 different stitches. If desired, you can use cross stitch for the majority of the special stitches.

The first photo shows Anita's sampler before framing. Anita was so proud of the back of her sampler that she sent me a photo of that too. Anita says that she likes to be an enabler--not only of cross stitch.

Years ago I got to meet Anita in person when my husband and I were in NYC. Anita met me at our hotel and took me to the garment district where we spent hours looking at beads, buttons, trims, and dupioni silk. I still have such fond memories of our day together. Thanks, Anita, for that day and also for sharing the photos of your beautiful work.

The photo below shows how Adorn Thy Heart can easily be made into a wedding sampler by replacing the text on the original sampler with the couple's names, wedding date, and location.

I made this sampler for my son and daughter-in-law. I wanted a sampler that was not so "wedding-ish" that it would be relegated to the bedroom. I am delighted that Stephen and Michelle have their sampler hanging in their living room. It is hard to believe that they celebrated their 6th wedding anniversary in June. Where does the time go?

Others have adapted this sampler as an anniversary sampler and as a birth sampler for a girl.