Lots of Goodies to Show You

I decided today to clean out my email mail box, and in doing so I found some photos that I forgot to show you earlier.  I'm so sorry.  I found so many photos that I'm dividing them into two blog posts.  I'll begin with the retail products that you can get at your local needlework shop.  In the next blog post, I'll show some class project finishes.

The first photos were sent by Ann, who owns Knowledge and Needles in Brighton, Canada.  Ann's customer Catherine S. decided to stitch Adorn Thy Heart to celebrate her 50th wedding anniversary this August.  Catherine replaced the verse on my model with her own personalization.  She even found a place to add the words "Golden Anniversary" using gold thread.  What a special touch!

Thanks, Ann, for sharing photos of Catherine and her special sampler.  Catherine, I hope you and your husband will have a very special 50th anniversary year and that you will send me some more photos once you have your sampler completed and framed.  Perhaps you could include a photo of both you and Peter with the sampler.  Hmm--maybe also an old wedding photo.

Next are photos of Dee L.'s completed Quaker Needlework Box. You may remember Dee's name from past blog posts.  She is a beautiful needleworker (and finisher) and is also very prolific.

Dee stitched her box and the accessories on 32-count Antique White linen using Eggplant overdyed thread from Weeks Dye Works.  Dee  wrote, ...very labor intensive - could not begin to say how many hours/days are involved in the stitching and then the assembly!! The lining is a dark purple silk that I purchased in Gastonia, North Carolina at Mary Jo's. (Wonderful fabric store!!)

Yes, as Dee said A Quaker Needlework Box does have lots of stitching--all over one linen thread, but aren't the results outstanding? Well worth the effort I think you'll agree!  I've recently heard from a stitcher who is using blue thread for her version, so perhaps soon I'll have another completed box to show you.

Next is Kay Lynn S.'s Family Record Sampler that she stitched for her daughter and son-in-law to celebrate the births of her two granddaughters.  I love the way Kay Lynn added the words Stitched By Mom to the bottom of her sampler.  And look at that exquisite frame!  Kay Lynn, what a family heirloom you have created!  It is no wonder that your daughter was thrilled to receive this gift!

And last, but certainly not least, is the needlebook/sewing case that Linda Z. won as a door prize a few months ago when Darlene Anderson spoke on Adam and Eve samplers for my sampler guild, The Queen City Sampler Guild.  Perhaps you may remember some of the photos I showed after the event.  Linda had to leave early, so I didn't get to take a photo of the sewing case she won.  Does the design look familiar?  It is one my charts from A Is For Apple.  I love the way the design looks on the blue linen.  And wasn't Darlene clever to turn the needlebook design into one for a sewing case?

Darlene even included a pair of scissors with each sewing case she gave away!

Such a group of talented needleworkers!  Stay tuned for more photos from other gifted stitchers!

Kay Lynn's Sampler Honoring Her Family.

Last week I showed you the version of the Family Record sampler that my cousin Nancy stitched to celebrate the birth of her new grandson.  Nancy stitched her version on aida and added a border. Today I want to show you the version that Kay Lynn stitched for her daughter and her son-in-law.  Kay Lynn stitched the names and birthdates of her two young grandaughters making it a true family record.  I like the way Kay Lynn also added the year she stitched the sampler and the words "stitched my mom" to the bottom of her sampler.  Kay Lynn, this is truly an heirloom that celebrates your family!

Here is part of the note Kay Lynn sent me: 

I thought you might like to see my finished "Family Record" I stitched for my daughter, Lacy and her husband, Marlon for Christmas.  I kept it a secret while I was stitching, so it was wonderful to see her reaction when she opened it.  I stitched it almost as you charted.  I did change the color of the band above the deer to the lighter gold, and stitched the large initial, M, in the pink, since the children are both girls.  I love the pattern.  I would give anything to know how to design, but, I am glad we have people like you. 

I first found you when my sister bought your chart,  "Tokens of Friendship and Love".  She was having trouble with it, so I finished it for her.  It was such a sweet piece, so I looked to see what other things you had designed.  

I will send you a picture when I get it back from framing.  I love so many of your designs.  I just ordered the band sampler you stitched as a wedding sampler for your son's wedding, and "A Child's Prayer".  I also love the Scottish sampler.  I wish stitching was faster, there are so many things I want to stitch.  Seems as if all I do is stitch marriage and birth samplers.  Now, it is time to stitch some things for myself!

Keep designing more beautiful things for all of us to stitch.

Thank you very much, Kay Lynn, for your very sweet note and for sending me a photo of your lovely work. I know that your daughter and son-in-law were thrilled to see the family record stitched will be even more thrilled when they see it framed.  (Please send me another frame once it is framed.)  I love the fact that you were able to keep your stitching a secret until Christmas!

The Legacy of Mrs. Waddelow Continues

During our recent travels we got to meet for the first time the two newest additions to our family.  How great is that?

While on the Eastern Shore visiting my aunt, we got to meet Jack, who was born February 4th.  Jack is the great-grandson of my Aunt Frances, grandson of my cousin Nancy and her husband Bob, and son of Nancy's son Rob and his wife Amanda.  At the time of our visit, Jack was two weeks old.  In fact, he was exactly two weeks old the day we met him.

Here are some photos.  First are Amanda, Rob, and Jack.  Don't they look relaxed and even rested?  And look at how tiny Amanda is!  I don't think anyone would ever guess that she had had a baby two weeks before.

Here I am (very wind-blown) holding sweet little Jack.

The next photo was taken the week before and is of my cousins Anne Paul (on the left) and Nancy (on the right) with Jack.  The photo was taken the day that Amanda and Rob took Jack to meet his great-grandmother (my Aunt Frances).  Jack is Nancy's third grandchild.  Anne Paul will become a grandmother for the first time in a couple of weeks.

Nancy decided months ago that she wanted to stitch my Family Record Sampler as Jack's birth sampler.  My design has the verse and personalization stitched over one linen thread, but since Nancy doesn't stitch on linen we needed to come up with a solution.  Instead of over-one stitching, why not backstitch the information?  That is exactly what Nancy did. 



Nancy also added a border to the original design.  As you can see in the photo above, she took the band right above the two deer and used that to create her border.  (Love that, Nancy!)  She also stitched her initials and the year in the bottom corners.  Nancy started stitching the sampler months before Jack's arrival. Once she knew that Amanda and Rob would be having a boy and she knew what his name would be, she stitched that info on the sampler.  All that she had left was the birth date, and once he was born she quickly added the date and dropped the sampler off to be framed on her way to the hospital to meet Jack for the first time.  The sampler is now in Jack's bedroom.  (I wish I had thought to take some photos of his darling room which has an animal theme.)

Did you notice Jack's last name?  Yes, it's Chesser.  What do you think the chances were that my cousin  would marry a Chesser and I would marry a Chester?  Jack is the name of my uncle, little Jack's great-grandfather.

After leaving the Eastern Shore, we headed to Florida to see Tom's father.  When studying the map, I discovered that our route would take us only about half an hour from Raleigh where my cousin Linda lives.  (Linda is one of my two cousins on my father's side of the family.  I have three cousins on my mother's side.  We are a pretty small family.)  We decided that we would spend the night in Raleigh and take Linda out for dinner....it was actually a pre-birthday dinner as her birthday was the next day.

Then it was on to Jacksonville to see Tom's father.  My nephew Mark (my sister Evelyn's son) and his wife live nearby in Neptune Beach.  Mark and Stacey welcomed Layla, their first child, into the world on November 29, 2012, and we hadn't yet met her.  So off we went in the pouring rain to meet Layla and see Stacey and Mark and their new home.

Here I am with the proud parents and little Layla.  It looks like little Layla is most interested in her mommy which really isn't a surprise, is it?

And here I am with my one and only great-niece.  Guess that makes me a great aunt.

Jack and Layla are part of Mrs. Waddelow's legacy--Amey Waddelow was their 10th great-grandmother.

Garrett's Family Record Sampler

Another road trip--my second since my back surgery!

On Thursday, Tom and I went back to Fort Wayne for a few days. Our daughter and her family were there also. (They stopped on their way to Toledo for a wedding.) The photos in the last post were from our few days together. The time went by all too quickly.

One of the gifts that I took Garrett this time was his birth sampler--the Family Record Sampler. I had all but his name and birth information stitched before he was born. I even had the frame ordered.
On the back of the frame, I put a piece of paper showing Garrett's lineage back to his great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, Garrett Anderson, who settled in Accomack County, Virginia in the 1600's. (If you were counting the "greats", you'd know that Garrett Anderson is our Garrett's 11-times great grandfather!)

Of course, I can't resist also showing you a few more photos of the newest addition of our family.
The following two photos were taken last night.

First is our son, Stephen, with Garrett. Our daughter brought Garrett the monkey outfit that Haiden wore on his first Halloween.

Poor little thing--looks like the "activities" wore him out.Today will be a busy day for me. I'm shipping out the automatic charts, plus I'm starting physical therapy for my back.

"Baby Boy" Chester

What a wonderful weekend we had! Stephen and Michelle came to town for a baby shower their friends had for them. Here are the happy parents-to-be standing on our front step.

Here is a photo from the baby shower. Would you believe we didn't get a single photo of Stephen looking at the camera? Here he is holding the cutest stuffed giraffe that I found during my recent stay in Amish country. Michelle is holding one of the 3 hats that my sister-in-law, Julie, knitted.

This little red hat was quite a hit at the shower. Julie knitted the letters "M U" (for Miami University) in the design. Can you see the letters? You may have to squint to see them because they are the same color as the rest of the hat. I think everyone at the baby shower, except for Tom and me, went to Miami University. Julie also knitted a cute striped hat (shown in Michelle's lap in the photo above) and a Boy Scout hat since Stephen was an Eagle Scout.

Earlier today I finished the baby sampler....well, all but the baby's name, birth date, and location. I hid the sampler over the weekend when Stephen and Michelle were here.

At the very bottom, you might be able to see where I backstitched "Stitched with love by Ellen Chester". This information won't show when the sampler is framed.

I'll probably have my framer, Carol, order the frame in another month or two. Then when the baby is born, I can quickly stitch the information for the central cartouche and get the piece framed for the baby's nursery.

I've had to limit the amount of stitching I'm doing during my recovery period. So with the baby sampler almost done, I spent time this afternoon charting a new sampler design that will be released in the fall along with Mrs. Waddelow's basket and the hornbook needlebook.

Tomorrow I have an eye exam. The good news is that the number of eye drops I have each day is down from 9 to 6, and tonight I don't have to wear the eye patch to bed. Of course, starting next Monday, I'll be wearing the patch again and using 15 drops a day between my two eyes. Good thing they gave me a check-list to keep track of things.

A Tip--Make sure you have the correct information BEFORE personalizing a sampler!

A couple of years ago I stitched a version of Family Record Sampler to commemorate the birth of our first grandson…

Recently I've been merrily stitching away on another Family Record Sampler in anticipation of our new grandson, due in mid-September. I took this photo yesterday.

Our new grandson's name and birth information will go in the center cartouche. I'm reluctant to stitch any of the information I already know in case I need to move things around.

I think that what I've stitched so far (plus the baby's information) would make a great small birth sampler. You could do it as I have done with the parents' names, or you could leave off their names and instead put the baby's weight and height in the two heart cartouches.

Because I want to stitch the entire Family Record Sampler, earlier today I added the names of both sets of grandparents and the next dividing band.

I goofed the first time around and stitched "Janet" for my daughter-in-law's mother's name instead of "Janice". (She is called "Jan".) Thankfully, Tom asked me if I was sure that her name has "Janet", and not "Janice". Yikes, he was right, so I had to do some reverse stitching. (Yikes again--it was over one linen thread!)

I'm on such a roll with this sampler, so I hope that I won't miss much stitching time with my eye surgery tomorrow morning. I'm almost halfway finished.

I can't decide--should I show the sampler to Stephen and Michelle when they are in town soon for the baby shower their friends are having for them, or should I keep the sampler a surprise?

The story behind the Family Record Samplers

Having just returned from visiting our grandson, Haiden, in Chicago, today seems like an ideal day to share the story of his birth sampler.

Several months before Haiden was born, Tom asked if I was going to design a birth sampler for him. We knew that our daughter, Carolyn, was going to have a little boy, but we didn’t know his name. In fact, his name was kept secret until his birth. I hesitated a bit before answering Tom, because this was something that I had thought about but had not worked on. I knew that if I were to do a birth sampler, I wanted something classic, not cutesy--not that there is anything wrong with cutesy, but I wanted a sampler that wouldn’t seem too babyish in a few years. I had lots of ideas for a girl, but none for a boy. Tom’s inquiry got the wheels in my brain turning.

I almost immediately began work on a design that would show not only the baby’s full name, birthdate, and location but also the names of his parents and his four grandparents. In fact, by the time Haiden was born, I had his sampler all stitched except for his name and birth information.

Haiden was born a week before the 2008 Nashville Needlework Tradeshow where I was able to show his finished sampler (unframed) next to a newborn baby photo. The following week we delivered the framed sampler to him.

I stitch my own models which gives me lots of time to think. I thought, what if someone has twins and needs to put two names on the sampler or perhaps they want to do one sampler with the names of two children to create a family record? This is when I designed the “Chester” sampler. Slight variations had to be made to the center cartouche in order to accommodate two names and birthdates. I stitched Tom’s and my names and our parents’ names along with those of our two children, Carolyn and Stephen.

As I was stitching this new version, I thought, but what if someone has more than two children? I needed a way to accommodate more names. For this version, the “Watts” sampler, I went back to my grandfather’s generation. Papa was one of 6 children. Again variations had to be made in order to accommodate that many names. It was interesting to do the research on this sampler because I had to locate the birthdates of my grandfather’s siblings. I feel like I am honoring him along with his parents (my great-grandparents) and his grandparents (my great-great grandparents) by preserving this bit of family history.

I consider all three of these samplers family heirlooms. They hang in my office. (Yes, I had to restitch Haiden’s birth sampler since he has the original one hanging in his room in Chicago, and I need a model).

The package for the Family Record Samplers contains charts and instructions for making all three versions. Instructions are also included for what to do if you have any very long names. Each sampler records family history and would be perfect not only as a birth sampler, but also as a family record.

You may remember that last Monday, May 11, 2009, I showed the Family Record Sampler that Anna stitched for her grandson. She personalized her sampler by leaving off the grandparents' names and adding the names of her grandson’s two sisters. As you can see the possibilities are limitless.

Welcome to the first posting at the With My Needle blog.

I am using this format to share news from With My Needle and also photos from stitchers. Please email me your photos.

The first photo is from Anna of San Antonio, Texas who stitched the Family Record Sampler to commemorate the birth of her grandson, Paul. This sampler will surely become a family heirloom. I love the way Anna added the names of Paul's two sisters.

Anna wrote, "My daughter, Nicole, really was so pleased with the sampler and I loved stitching. Thank you so much for your design and sharing with us stitchers."

Thanks, Anna, for sharing your beautiful work! The frame you chose is exquisite!

Also this week I received a note and photos from Marcia of the Mississippi River Sampler Guild where I taught two classes August 2008.

Marcia wrote, "In August, 2008 you instructed many members of the Mississippi River Sampler Guild, located in Dubuque, Iowa. Our projects were your Long May She Wave needlecase and A Needleworker’s Sampler Huswif. One member has completed and assembled the needlecase and several are still diligently stitching on the huswif. While at our event, many of us purchased your Hornbook Examplar intending to do it as a group guild project.

As you can see from the attached photos, nine members have completed the hornbook. What an enjoyable project. The instructions were clear and easy to follow. We just loved working on them! Thank you!"

Thank you for sharing the photos with me. I so enjoy seeing what stitchers do with my designs!!

This week I also heard from Janet Edwards from Great Britain who stitched Be Ye Always Kind and True for her daughter, Lucy, and her fiance, Dave. The happy couple will be married in July at Williamson Park in Lancaster. Best wishes Lucy and Dave for a long and happy marriage, and thank you, Janet, for sharing a photo of your lovely work and a special wedding gift.