Cross Stitch Samplers

 Finished my monochrome sampler, it was the quickest piece I have ever done probably because there were no colour changes although I did use 10 skeins of DMC 5200 which is quite a lot of thread. 

 I really love samplers but I realised I only work them about once every ten years.  The one above is my first piece of cross stitch ever, (about 20 years old). I had previously worked needlepoint from printed canvases so wasn't sure what to do when I opened the kit and found a plain piece of fabric!  I worked it out eventually although I didn't know at the time you had to keep the stitches in the same direction.  

Then this sampler was worked around 1999/2000 to celebrate the millennium.  It is still one of my favourite pieces, I love all the events it commemorates.

 

I must not leave it another 10 years before I stitch another sampler.

 

Wilberforce is totally unimpressed

 

Yawn

Victorian and Edwardian

I am in the process of photographing and creating a record of all my finished work so, although I made this Victorian sampler a while ago, it is still one of my favourite projects. I ordered it as a kit from The Royal School of Needlework and the frame came from a company in Kent (can't remember the name) that advertised in the stitching magazines.

I also have a large collection of family photographs, some over 100 years old, that I am slowly (very slowly) scrapbooking. This photograph, from the Edwardian era, was torn and had one corner missing so after repairing it in photoshop, I created this page. I have journalled what I know about this photo inside the envelope but have left space to add more facts if and when I find out.