A Few Little Changes....

Gentle Friends, this mid-week post is all about changing up charts and making them your own.  I more often than not change floss and usually always change out the linen... I have also changed up whole charts or large sections to suit me and my stitching.   

A while back... like a few years... I stitched up a lovely sampler that had been commissioned by the Knoxville, Tennessee Chapter of the EGA. It was in honor of the "Ramsey House" or as the property has been called for a couple of hundred years "Swan Pond."  I saw the chart on another Blog and fell in love with the border, house, and very sentimental verse.  

Swan Pond Sampler 1797

Designed for the Knoxville TN EGA

40ct Ale from PTP - My Conversion to overdyed Floss from the charted DMC

I changed quite a bit about this chart.  I expanded the alphabet to complete all the letters.  I also did away with the central medallion that had far more info about its original owner.  Now, what prompted this post in the first place and my digging around in my completed pile of stitching to look at the sampler once again was a lovely email from another stitcher.  She lives in Tennessee and had seen my version of the sampler and ran with it making it her own... here's a snap...

...  a super job and totally changed up to reflect her family.  So, the gist of this post is to never be afraid of changing a chart or the recommended floss or linen... make that sucker your own!!

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That's about it on this very wet, rainy day here by the Bay!  

Thanks for stopping by do stop again.  Stay Safe!

Good Thoughts! Good Words! Good Deeds!

edgar

A Little Stitchin' Finish, a Stitchin' Trip and a Stitchin' Start.......

Gentle Friends, so... you knew I was wrapping up Swan Pond... and I did so here's a snapperoo...

Swan Pond Sampler 1797

by The Knowville Tennesse EGA Chapter

40ct "Ale" from PTP

I Converted the charted floss to various overdyed floss from my stash

3/19 - 5/24

It was a totally fun piece to stitch.  The poem was written by the son of the builder of the house when the family left Knoxville after the Civil War.  I am also really happy that I changed up the piece by completing the large alphabet and reworking the house info.

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I had been thinking for a few days about what to start next an landed on a chart from stash... of course I didn't have a piece of linen big enough - and - it had been charted for Hand Dyed Fibers,(which no longer exist) and DMC... so I pulled the DMC to see what the color palette looked like.  The charted palette was too pale for me so I needed to figure out what I wanted to do...  I took Friday off so I headed over the Bay Bridge to Alameda to my LNS Needle in a Haystack to do some shopping... I took my camera so I got some snaps...

... I picked out a nice big piece of linen and spent a couple of hours figuring out the silks I wanted to work with and here's my little start...

Alphabet Samplings Book

from "with my Needle" by Ellen Chester

36ct Light Examplar LL

Various Silks I converted from the charted DMC Floss

I've had this chart for a long time so I was really excited to get a start on this piece.

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That's about it for today sports fans, thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Good Thoughts! Good Words! Good Deeds!

edgar

A Little More Stitchin'

Gentle Friends, Swan Pond is coming along and here's a snap...

... the colour is way off on this snap, but you can see where I'm at with the piece.  I've finished up the house with the windows and the backstitching.  Now it's only a little bit more and then on to the next project... I've been thinking about that but haven't landed on anything yet.

That's about it for today sports fans, thanks for stopping by do stop again!

Good Thoughts! Good Words! Good Deeds!

edgar

A Little Stitchin'

Gentle Friends, still stitching away on Swan Pond... here's a snap...

... finally got a roof on this sucker, and I really like the decorative nature of the herringbone stitch to replicate... shingles??  Looking around I finally found a floor plan for the house online.  It drives me crazy when I can't figure out - or am not 100% sure about the room placement.  So, the rooms are...  looking at the house the ground floor has a parlour/living room on the left and dining room on the right with three bedrooms above the centre room is the smallest of the three with a stair hall in the back in the middle. To the right is the kitchen wing with a bedroom above.  The central door on the second floor, I'm guessing, must have led onto a small flat-roofed porch of some sort now long gone.  That door now has a small gate in front of it to keep anyone from falling from the second floor.  I tried calling the house but couldn't get anyone to answer the phone to ask so I'll stick to my guess.

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There you go sports fans, thanks for stopping by do stop again!

Good Thoughts!  Good Words!!  Good Deeds!!

edgar

A Little Stitchin'

Gentle Friends, still stitching away on Swan Pond... and here's a snap...

... and here are some thoughts.  I decided to modify the vine border a bit to finish out the capital eyelet alphabet line... and I'm in the reworking of the house info under that in progress... I started that info line and sort of like it but not really... and so I stopped and I'm working it out on paper before I stitch any more of that.  I've finished up the fill of the first floor of the house and really like using the pinkish coloured floss,  I've still got the second floor to fill in and there's a one-story extension to the right to complete. With only those bits left on this sampler, I've started to think what's up next...

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There you sports fans, thanks again for stopping by do stop again!

Good Thoughts! Good Words! Good Deeds!

edgar

A Little Stitchin'

Gentle Friends, so, I forgot to take a photo of SP Sampler last night but got a quick shot this morning before leaving the house... so it's still "snapped" up and a little sloppy...

... I've started on the house and as I stitch I'm choosing to use the darkest parts of the overdyed floss as I go along to replicate the pink-marble stone used to build Swan Pond.  I'll probably go back and frog out the chimney cap as it looks a bit light to me. Also, after the house is completed I'll do the charted backstitching.  I do like the "limestone" quoins, stringer and headers.

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That's about it for today sports fans, thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

 Good Thoughts! Good Words! Good Deeds!

edgar

A Little Break with some Stitchin'

Gentle Friends, so... I've been away since last Thursday, just a little staycation, but it was nice and quiet.  Did some laundry, vacuuming, and some general puttering. Rico also took the time off so we went out to breakfast a few times and slept late... not that the Who-hounds would let that happen...but later than 5:30 am is sleeping in around our house!!  

I did get some stitching done and here's a shot of Swan Pond Sampler...

... it was at this point that I made my first big change.  The sampler as charted had the eyelet alphabet ending with the letter "M."  Well, that didn't sit well with me so I decided to extend the alphabet to the end.  The Sampler has/had a large medallion with information about the house in this space.  I will rework that info and use the space better, IMHO.  I've also decided to change the charted colour of the house from a sort of woody brown to a more appropriate colour to represent the pink marble and limestone house.

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That's about it for today sports fans.  Thanks again for stopping by do stop again!!

Good Words! Good Thoughts! Good Deeds!

edgar

... and yet more stitchin'

Gentle Friends, over the past week there's been an HBO watchathon and I've been binge watching GOT (Game of Thrones). If you've been reading this blog for a while you know that one of my worst traits is that I can dig my heels in and can be, as my gran would put it... "stubborn as a Georgia mule" about many things.  One of those things has been GOT.  Coming from a history background I have real issues with "history-based" dramas.... with this faux-historical stuff... they try really hard, but usually miss the mark by, like a mile!  Over the years I've avoided any bit of exposure to GOT.  I've had lots of folks in my life try and get me to watch, but I am stubborn and refused!!

So...with all the talk lately about Season 8 of GOT starting up, I thought I should give it one more chance.... and after watching about five episodes it started to click a bit and now I've gotten through 5 and 1/2 seasons and really want more show!!  With a cast of thousands, warlocks, white walkers, the children and three dragons... I am totally hooked!!

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While I was watching all this GOT sex and killing I was stitching away !!  

Here's a snap of where I left off...

... sorry about the gigantic wrinkles.  I was really happy about the border matching up and not being off!!  I think I'm going to change up the second alphabet.  You'll get to see that next week.... unless it doesn't work, then I'll rethink it, but for now and in my mind I think it will work out... so fingers crossed!

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That's about it for today sports fans.  Thanks for stopping by do stop again!

Good Thoughts! Good Words! Good Deeds!

edgar

A Little More Stitchin'

Gentle Friends, another very short weekend zoomed by!  I'm still working away on Swan Pond.... here's a snaperoo...

.. as you can see I've turned the right corner...  I miss stitched a bit so had a tiny frog moment but then got back on track!!

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There you go sports fans, thanks for stopping by do stop again!

Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds!

edgar

A Little Stitchin'

Gentle Friends, I have some good stitching evenings so I'm moving along on Swan Pond... 

here's a snaperoo...

... so I've turned the left corner and started on the alphabet.  I'm thinking about expanding the larger alphabet which occurs under the small one I just started.  I'll tighten up some of the words and shift the poem...but for now, it's all just up in my head and I'm just thinking about doing some changes...we'll see when I get to that point.

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That's about it or today sports fans thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds!

edgar

A Little Stitchin'

Gentle Friends,  still plugging away on Swan Pond and here's a snap...

... I've started up the left side of the border and filling in the alternating flowers.  I did a little research on the internet and landed on some information about wildflowers and Tennessee.   I think that the flowers might represent a "swamp rose" and "whorled sunflower".  Both of these wildflowers are native to the eastern part of Tennesee.  There was no information about the border in the instructions so I'm going with a swamp rose and sunflower.  The photo makes the roses look quite orange, but the floss is a pinky red filled in with a dustier pink color.

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That's about it for today sports fans.  Thanks for stopping by do stop again!

Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds!

edgar

A Little Stitchin' Finish, and a Little Stitchin' Start

Gentle Friends, so I wrapped up 1798 Quaker last night and made a teeny tiny start on my next piece.  Here are some snaps of both projects.... first up...

1798 Quaker Sampler by Goode Huswife

40 count "Barn Owl" from Linens by design

Using the Called for NPI Silks

1/20 - 3/18/2019

It was a really fun piece to stitch.  I loved the colour changes and the use of greens and browns.  I modified many of the initials and even changed one of the motifs from a small over 1 section to a larger over 2 medallion.  

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My next stitchity project is from stash... it's a chart I've had for years and years languishing in the pile.  I really don't remember how I found out about the sampler in the first place, I must have seen it on a blog.  Here's the tiniest of starts...

Swan Pond Sampler 1797 

by The Knoxville Tennesse Chapter of the EGA

40 count "Ale" from PTP

Various Overdyed Flosses

It's a great sampler with two alphabets, a great depiction of the Ramsey house, a couple of bowls of fruit and a super border. Could you ask for a better-built sampler!! You can read more about this great Historic Home HERE. I love the idea of this sampler and that the local EGA created this piece in honor of the house and the history of the area.  Although the sampler is charted for DMC I again chose to work out my own floss combination from my overdyed floss stash.  

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There you go sports fans, thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Good Words, Good Thoughts, Good Deeds!

edgar