With My Needle

I certainly enjoyed reading all the comments to my last post. 

Thank you for the kind words on my framed I Sigh Not for Beauty.  It was such an enjoyable stitch.  For the most part, I stitched it as it was charted with only minor changes. 

I used 36-count Pecan Butter linen from Lakeside Linens and DMC thread. DMC 738 didn't show up very well on my linen, so I replaced it with other colors everywhere except on the sawtooth border.  I goofed and used DMC 500 for the over-one text instead of DMC 3021. I decided to keep it in.  I also changed the color of the flowers in the personalization cartouche. I made a few other very minor changes.

Unfortunately, the sampler is still resting on the floor in front of the fireplace in my family room.  With the kitchen floor refinishing, I can't get into the basement to get a hammer.

The floor refinishing is coming along, and today is the last day of workers in the house.  We are managing okay without having use of the kitchen, but I do miss the refrigerator.  I hadn't realized how much I use the water and ice dispenser on the door.  I'm making coffee upstairs, but am waiting each day until Tom gets up.  When the grinder starts up, it sounds like a plane is taking off (no exaggeration)!  I didn't want to give Tom a heart attack.  On Monday, we'll be able to move the furniture back into the kitchen and reclaim our family, living, and dining rooms.  That certainly will be nice.  Of course, we'll also be attacking the dust....hopefully it isn't too bad inside the cabinets.

Yesterday was a good mail day! I got some reproduction threadwinders that I'll be including with my newest teaching project.  Aren't they gorgeous?  They are made from horn and bone.  I'm favoring some of the bone ones for the kits.

And here is another teaser for the class project.  Isn't the box wonderful?  I think it will make a wonderful worke box to sit next to you on your stitching table.

There will be a stitched panel on the box front and also on the lid inside, and the box will be lined with dupioni silk.  In addition to the box designs, there will be a three-sided scissors weight, two pincushions, a Jacob's ladder style needlebook, and a walnut hornbook threadholder.  I'm hoping to also find a waxer and some marking/counting pins.  I'm also trying to find a perfect name--the working title is A Lady's Worke Box.

Perhaps you caught a glimpse of the sampler in progress under the threadwinders.  This is my newest reproduction sampler, Hannah Cummins.  Hannah stitched her sampler in 1828 in Stockton when she was 9 years years old.  I've been trying to learn more about Hannah, but so far I haven't done very well.  There are quite a few Hannah Cummins in the right time frame, but I haven't given up yet.