Perhaps Petite Is in The Eye of the Beholder

It is always a treat to see photos from Donna G. of Berkley, California!  Donna is not only a beautiful stitcher (and finisher), but she is also very prolific.  I've shown you photos of some of her completed With My Needle projects over the years.  Perhaps you have seen other photos of her work on message boards, Yahoo needlework groups, or her on-line photo album. 

I was thrilled when Donna recently sent me photos of her completed A Petit Sampling Etui.  This design is a limited-edition collaboration project that I created with my friends Louise Henderson (Cherished Stitches), Clara Blalock (The Stitching Parlor), and Pam Lewis and Susan Rohm (Praiseworthy Stitches).  The five of us had so much fun creating the project, and now we are having lots of fun seeing photos of completed etuis!

Donna's first photo shows two of her etui sides.  Louise's design is the panel on the left, and mine is on the right.

This next photo shows Clara's design on the left, and Pam's and Susan's design on the right.  You can also get a glimpse of the design on the etui top.

And now, here is a view of the inside of Donna's etui.

Donna wrote, I've been working on this off and on for the last six months.  I finally finished it this week.  It was a lot of work!  I used the recommended fabric, but converted most of the threads to DMC.  I decided to put a large pocket on the inside instead of the small heart ones.  I also rearranged the panels.  Thank you for another wonderful design.  I have started "Flowers for Lily".

Donna, your workmanship is beautiful, not only your stitching but also your finishing!  Thank you for sending me these photos to share with others.  You are such an inspiration!!

Perhaps you are wondering about today's blog post title.  Those of you who have stitched this project know that this is really a large etui, not a petite one, with a lot of stitching.  I'm therefore not sure how our group got the project name--perhaps it is because each side is a small (or petite) sampler.  Each of these samplers could easily be stitched and framed by itself, or you could stitch all four together on a single piece of linen--you could stitch the four samplers in a row horizontally, or arranged vertically if you have a narrow space.  Or how about putting them in two rows of two samplers each?  Or how about spacing the samplers on a piece of linen and framing with a separate mat opening for each sampler?  Oh, I love it when a design offers possibilities, don't you?