Friday, July 23, 2010

Wow!! 3 more Quaker Hornbooks!!

Over the past few days I've received not one, but three photos of A Quaker Hornbook. Each one is different, and all are wonderfully done.

The first photo is from Margaret C. who lives in New York. Many of you may be familiar with some of Margaret's incredible needlework. She is particularly fond of stitching reproduction samplers. I'm in awe of all the ones she has stitched, and how quickly she does them (although she'll tell you otherwise).

Margaret told me she stitched her hornbook years ago--she bought it as soon as it was available. She also told me that she finished it so long ago that she can't remember any of the details; she thinks she used the same thread I did on my model. Margaret also wrote, I love this piece--hopefully sometime I will do the other design and put it on the other side of the hornbook. Margaret stitched the over-one-linen-thread design. The other design she mentioned is also included and uses a combination of over-one and over-two linen threads.

Sandy R. from Kansas sent me the next two photos.

Sandy's EGA group did the hornbooks as a guild project. On July 7, I showed Sandy's and Amy's completed hornbooks. (Click here to see photos of their pieces.) You may remember that Sandy told me many in her guild changed the center motif from the swan I stitched on my model to something else. Sandy stitched a deer on hers. I really enjoy seeing the creative ideas folks have!

The next photo is one Sandy sent of Linda S.'s hornbook. Don't you love her plump little squirrel? Did you notice how she added a couple of acorns to the tree? That should make her squirrel quite happy.

And next is Christine G.'s hornbook. (Christine is Linda's mother.) I love the bird Christine stitched on her hornbook. I also love the way the bird is looking back almost over his shoulder. Perhaps he's thinking, I wonder if anyone will notice if I eat that piece of fruit (the round object) on the tree?

I think you'll agree that Margaret, Linda, and Christine all did wonderful jobs with their hornbooks. Each one is beautifully stitched and assembled using a beautiful linen and thread combination.

If you're wondering about the beautiful whitework piece under the last two photos, it is Sandy's handiwork. Sandy told me that it was an EGA correspondence course in Ukrainian Openwork she took a few years ago. Beautiful, Sandy, and what a lovely backdrop for your friends' hornbooks!

Thanks, everyone, for sharing your needlework! I know others will enjoy seeing these pictures as much as I did.

4 comments:

Margaret said...

Oh I love these hornbooks with the different animals! Thanks for including me with such pretty company!

DonnaTN said...

Beautiful stitching! I love the way the 2 ladies thought outside the box!

Sandra said...

They are all lovely, but I particularly like the squirrel design and the colour used.

JoAnn said...

Oh what nicely stitched hornbooks. I too love the squirrel with the acorns.

Ellen, thank you for your blog. I can click on other blogs and they won't be updated for weeks, but I always know when I click on yours, you will have some beautiful needlework to share, photos of Haiden or stories of your adventures when you teach your classes. For a stay close to home stitcher you really fill my world with wonder. Thank you, JoAnn