Mary, Mary Quite Contrary

At least that's how I think the poem goes.  Why oh why did these little girls in the 1800's stitch with teeny tiny letters on teeny tiny linen??  I started the words on Mary Roe the other night, mostly to get placement and partly to get them out of the way. 

I decided to stitch one thread to start each line so I could add the vine and make sure I had the placement right.  I had really wanted to stitch the whole verse to get it out of the way but I suspect that maybe I'll do one or two strands of verse with each sitting alternated by the fun stuff.  This is a really fun little sampler and I can't wait to finish her and have her hanging up on my wall!  But, that's going to take me a little while.  :) 

I did manage to finish Mary Little.  Here's a snap of her all completed. 

I actually stitched her twice, one for me and one for a gift.  I'm thinking that once I do the finishing work that I may take the second one to the pincushion exchange at the May Sampler Guild of the Rockies meeting.  Since she is out of print and was hard to find I was thinking that would make my exchange piece more special.  And of course I used my own initials instead of those on the chart.  She was such a fun little stitch!  I used 40 ct. Autumn Gold linen and switched to overdyed cotton threads. 

The third Mary I started is the box top in the Mary Ann Blackburn chart by Blackbird designs called Spring Song.  Here's where I am so far (sorry for the wrinkles in the photo):

 

One of the things I loved about this piece is the blue marking lines.  On Friday night I caught a peek of my friend Katrina's start on this piece and decided that I needed to start it too.  I have done this type of weaving of linen threads before on drawn thread work but this was so much fun!  I had a super busy weekend so when I finally had a little bit of time to sit down on Saturday afternoon I found an Indiana Jones movie on TV and started with the blue lines.  It was such a relaxing, easy and fun project to start, and for those of you keeping track I now have more than one project going at once...  

I'm stitching Spring Song on 30 ct. R&R Sheep's straw linen with the called for Gentle Arts Sampler Threads.  I have to say that stitching on something with stitches this big and with two linen threads has taken some getting used to!  I had purchased a beautiful cut of 32 ct fabric originally to start Anniversaries of the Heart on but was fretting about stitching with two threads as I prefer to only use one.  I ended up calling Lynn's to order a piece of 36 ct. Vintage Pecan Butter for my AotH and I can tell after starting Spring Song that it was the right decision for me! 

This past weekend was our seminar for the Sampler Guild of the Rockies and it was so much fun!  On Friday night we had Jackie du Plessis in to teach us the finishing for the Briar Rose Etui.  I now have a finishing kit and great instructions to get started.  Sunday she was back at our guild to talk a little about her embroidery and finishing and she had some great make and take kits for sale.  Of course, Sampler guild is so much fun!  Getting to visit with friends there, stitch and see others work, it is always my favorite Sunday of the Month!  When I got home the sky looked threatening even though we didn't get a drop of rain at my house.  I'll leave you with a snapshot of what the sky looked like.  Happy stitching!