NEW--A Multiplication Table Examplar

I'd like to show you one of my new designs, A Multiplication Table Examplar. Hornbooks were an instructional tool used by children for several hundred years, so I thought a hornbook frame would be a wonderful complement to this sampler.

(Click on the photo for a larger view or go to my website.)

I wanted a frame that looks like metal strips are holding the lesson (in this case, the multiplication table) in place, reminiscent of the way metal strips sometimes held down the horn on the old hornbooks. I asked Janet and Joy of Valley House Primitives to make a new frame for this project. Didn't they do a wonderful job? They even put a hole in the handle so I could insert a cord. Hornbooks usually had a cord in the handle so that a child could attach it at his or her waist. I know several of you have already contacted your local needlework shop to order this wonderful frame.

I stitched the model over one linen thread. You can also stitch it over two linen threads or make it into a pillow. Here’s the model information:

Linen:
32-count Meadow Rue linen from Lakeside Linens and Designs, Inc.

Stitch count: 131 wide x 204 high.
Stitched area size when stitched over one linen thread on 32-count linen: 4-1/8 inches wide x 6-3/8 inches high.

Threads:
2, 5-yard skeins of Dungarees Sampler Thread from The Gentle Art.
1, 5-yard skein of Freedom Sampler Thread from The Gentle Art.
DMC color substitutions are listed on the chart. If you use linen with a different count or cross stitch the sampler over two linen threads instead of over one, make sure you buy enough thread from the same dyelot.

The charts for this product are already printed and packaged. I hope to ship them, and those for two other new products, to my automatic shops in about ten days. I'll soon be emailing the shops about these new designs and giving them supply lists.

I'll be posting photos of the other two designs in the next few days.