My little contribution to The Scarlet Letter Year Quilt

Last year a group of us collaborated on a surprise quilt for Nicola, for hosting The Scarlet Letter Challenge.

Each of us stitched a 6" square from one of the designs found on a Scarlet Letter sampler.

I chose my funny looking little sheep (?)  from The Harriot Boardman Sampler.

This was embroidered free-style. It is impossible to stitch it the same way twice!

48 squares were collected from stitchers from 9 countries, Australia, Canada, France, Scotland, Spain, Mexico, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and in the United States, 21 different states!  44 different Scarlet Letter samplers were represented.

 Earlier this month, the quilt was presented to Nicola in London. I really wish I could have been there to see her surprise in person, but it was just not in the budget!



Here is a wonderful video of the quilt:



I received a lovely thank you email from Nicola, I think she really loved the quilt!
It was such a pleasure to take part in this group effort.

The Harriot Boardman Sampler is finished!

Yay!

I tried to follow the pattern of the flowers and the grass as closely as I could, but there were a few places where the hilly grass seemed to get away from me! Oh well! I am pretending the wind was blowing it!

Generally I am pleased with how she turned out.

I did have a hard time taking a photo!
Why is it, as soon as you lay something out to take a picture, this happens!

Not just one of them, but two of them had to get into the action!

Ollie scooted off, but Furry was not about to leave!

Finally!


The Harriot Boardman Sampler - The Scarlet Letter
Stitched with DMC on Green linen

I really enjoyed stitching this one, and I loved the special green/blue linen!


For my next project, I picked the Mary Hart Sampler.

 

Here is a better look:

I am a cat lover, and simply cannot resist a sampler with a cat on it!

Mary is from the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. CA.

The colors on the cat are truly weird but it is suggested that perhaps exposure to ultra violet light over the years has changed the original color of the dyes.
The verse is quite morbid, and a second verse is given for those who want to change it.
No problem for me! I love the morbid ones!

This is the verse:

This little Piece my Friends may have,

When I am dead and in my Grave

When greedy Worms shall feed on me.

My name hereunder you may see

 

Ha! Love it!

I am going to stitch it on 32 count linen in Antique White, using Au ver a soie, my favorite silk. Luckily for me, I had all the necessary colors.

 

 

(Notice the furry foot at the top of the page ? - Different day, same Furrytail foot)!

 

On the home front, Walter, our reluctant rooster has been growing like a weed! The problem is, he doesn't know he is big. He is quite a bit taller than the hens now, but still hasn't filled out. He is a little older than 3 months now, and is at that awkward adolescent stage. He is still terrified of the hens and keeps well clear of them.

 

Walter

 

We were looking to replace our hens that were killed by the hawks, and we decided to try to hatch our own.

 

We love our Gertie's blue-green eggs, so we ordered some Ameraucana eggs. We also ordered some of the dark brown, Black Copper Maran eggs.

 

 

Here they are in the incubator:

 

 

We have been told to expect 50% to hatch at best. I am hoping we will get lucky with the odds and get more hens than roosters! We also have 6 more eggs on their way. That will give us 20 eggs. If 10 hatch, hopefully we will get 5 or more hens!

Time will tell.

Our first hatch date is March 18th!

 

I will keep you posted.

Harriot's Goofy Deer are finished

Finally!

This was not without problems however.

Sometime after starting the second deer, I noticed that the dye lot was different. The deer on the right is actually a lot brighter than the one on the left.
I am hoping that it is not too noticeable.

I can't help but think these look like cartoon deer! I don't think they had cartoons back in Harriot's day, but these guys certainly have a Disney-esque quality to them! I think it's the eyes.

One of them turned out to be a bit larger than the other. Not sure how that happened.
Oh well. I am certainly not going to do them over again!

I started working on the flowers. They are also done freestyle. I am not having any easier time with these, but atleast, the vines and leaves aren't quite as obvious when you mess up!

Here is how it looks so far all together

I have a ways to go. I have the center floral motif, and then the left motif to do yet. After that, I will go on to do the grass.


On the home front, things have been a bit gloomy here.

We lost another chicken.

We have had a terrible problem with hawks!
We have had a total of 5 attacks. Three chickens were killed, one managed to get away, and one seems to be traumatized. She will not come out of the shed, and has stopped laying eggs. This last attack was by a pair of giant red-tailed hawks!

Poor Sally! She was such a happy little thing!

I can't think of anything more terrifying than some unknown peril dropping out of the sky to kill you!

We are hoping to get a few more chicks this spring, but they will not be laying eggs for some time.
We are four hens down now, so it has cut into our egg production.

We need some SPRING here, and soon! I normally don't mind the winter, but this year, here in NY, it has just been relentlessly cold and windy! Brrrrr!

Hopefully Spring will not be too far away!

More Harriot and my February TUSAL

I finished the attribution on The Harriot Boardman sampler, and then started the flower pot, which was the last of the cross stitch.
Now to begin the free-style stitch! I started with the deer on the left. First, I outlined the deer shape with a stem stitch which is then covered over with the first band of satin stitching.

I must say this is harder than it looks! Somehow my deer wound up a little further from the border than it should have. Not sure how that happened. I have just started the second band on the bottom. It is hard to plan for how much space it will take up. What you see here is the result of 4 evenings work.

 

It is very slow-going.

I am just hoping it turns out ok. It is very hard to maintain consistency.

Here is the whole thing:

 I am a little anxious to see how it turns out.
I guess I need to engage my inner child, that kid who scribbled with abandon, but who always had to have the right color ! LOL!

Here is my February TUSAL, (hosted by Sharon @ It's  Daffycat ).

You can see all the gold threads from the deer in Harrriot.

Back soon!

Update on Harriot

Hi everyone!

I meant to give this update last week. Not sure why I didn't send it.

Since last time, I completed the alphabet in the eyelet stitch.
Next came the gold dividing band.
The next alphabet was done in a satin stitch.

Then came the strawberry vine. This was done in cross stitch first and then returning to complete the little leaves in a freehand style satin stitch. I must say I found it difficult to keep the leaves consistent. I hope they came out all right. It was a persnickety kind of thing!

Then it was on the the attribution, which is being stitched in a rust color. I am almost finished with it. I just need to complete the date.

Next will be to complete the right hand border and do the freehand scene on the bottom. That should take a while!
Here it is so far:

On the home front, let me introduce you to the newest member of our family.

Meet Walter:

Walter at 2 months

Walter is a 10-week old Buff Orpington cockerel.
He is actually a lot bigger now. This photo was taken almost 2 weeks ago.
We got him in the hopes that he would protect our flock from hawks. We picked out a Buff Orpington because they are know for having gentle, sweet, and calm personality.

Unfortunately Walter might just be a little too sweet. He is terrified of the hens!
Poor little guy! He has bonded with us, and tries to hide behind us so the other chickens won't see him. (LOL)!
I hope he gets a little more courageous as he gets older!

Back soon with more progress.

My Beloved is Finished! Harriot is next!

I worked on it all last week and finally finished up on Saturday.

The part that took the longest of course was the green lawn background, which was filled in with a horizontal stem stitch.

I love the little dog and bunny on the lawn!

The white veranda is stitched in a horizontal and slanted satin stitch.
The little flowers at the bottom were added after the lawn was completed.

The whole thing measures 3-1/2" X 2-1/2".

Here is the finished sampler.



My Beloved - The Scarlet Letter 

For my next project, I decided to take on The Harriot Boardman Sampler.



The Harriot Boardman Sampler - 1804

I am using DMC, stitching on 25-count green linen. I must say I am intrigued with this linen. It is dyed with different colors in the warp and weft, as the original was. It is a unique combination of blue and green threads.

This is a WIP. Here is where I left off:

A closer look:

The sampler comes from Dover, Massachusetts.

The stitches used include cross, satin, eyelet, stem, counted thread and freehand.

This type of ground has been found on samplers made from 1788 through the 1820's, from Canada and Maine to Washington D.C., but is most  frequently found on samplers from the north shore, Essex County Massachusetts and eastern New Hampshire.

The deer, flower pot, and grass at the bottom are all freehand. That should be interesting!