Crazy for samplers

HELP!!

I fear I have Samplermania! 

I'm becoming obsessed with stitching samplers.  Of my wips, almost all of them are samplers, the few that aren't are holiday ornaments.  When I first started cross stitching, I did mostly nature things, critters and flowers and such, with the occassional human-form (a stately lady and a few angels) tossed in for variety.  I think the reason I love doing samplers so much is that I can pick and choose my own colors just to see how they work together.

One of the first samplers I did was from Country Cross Stitching magazine (I think) from the 1990's.  I love this sampler -- the verse, the border, the little critters, etc.  What I do not like, even to this day, are the colors.  If I was stitching this sampler now, I would definitely change some, if not all, the colors.

Today, I'm older, maybe a little wiser and more experienced.  Today I have three pretty samplers all in a row (with colors chosen by me):

The first pretty sampler is Star Sampler by Lady Periphaeria

The next pretty sampler is Heart Note Alley by Gracewood Stitches

And the last (but not least) pretty sampler is Old European Sampler by Steve Rousseau

Isn't color fun?  You gotta try it!

Good news about my knotted dogs -- I received them last week.  Unfortuately, the pattern was sooo tiny, I had to get it enlarged before I could even begin to see what needed to go where.  And when I did get it enlarged, I noticed each dog only has 3 paws.  This bothers me a little, especially since all my dogs have four.  But I'm getting over it and hope to begin stitching this week.

Later ......



More starts ? ! ?

Yikes -- I must be totally nuts.  I have 3 more starts (with more to begin soon).  This first one is a class taught at my local EGA chapter.  It's a photo on canvas that will be embelished with embroidery.  The designer's name is Susan Goodman.  The first class involved the border stitching.  There are 2 layers for the border, the first is scotch stitch and the second is basketweave stitch.  I'm almost finished with the first layer.   I have until May 16th to complete the 2 borders.

I took a class from Susan Goodman a couple years ago at a seminar.  This piece is called The Red Window and it involved transfering other stuff to a printed canvas before embroidering over it:

 My garden has more flowers than the designer's, if memory serves me correctly, her garden was mostly greenery.  I thoroughly enjoyed stitching my Red Window garden.  This is a fun technique and I look forward the our second class on the Lily Pond.

My second new start is a lovely sampler by Lady Periphaeira called Star Sampler.  The original pattern calls for 2 colors but I decided to add a couple colors and some specialty stitches.  If you are interested, this is a SAL and you can still stitch along if you are so inclined.  We are up to part 3 so there is still plenty of time to join.

 

And the third and final start (as of today) is a patchwork heart I'm making for a friend.  I drew the heart on the fabric with one of those pens that has water-erasible ink in it, added some patches and started to stitch. 

The last stitchy pic is the Tam's Creations piece called Odds and Ends.  This SAL in on part 12 out of 13.  Hopefully, I can finish this part over the weekend, get the final piece and finish stitching this one next week.  Wellllll, that's the plan as of this minute. 

The next couple pics have nothing to do with stitching. Shasta is about a week away from delivering and I just had to take some pics of her belly. Tomorrow she goes to my friend's house (the expert puppy midwife) to have her pups. I'm going to miss her and cannot wait to see the babes. Shasta looks bigger to me than last time ...... she seems more restless / uncomfortable than the last pregnancy ..... the poor dear.

Later ......