How Many Samples...

 How many samples could a sampler sample if a sampler could sample samples?

Good question!  

My Sampler September 2022 is full of samplers, samples and sampling!  😆  It's been my focus for the last couple of weeks, that's for certain.

In my last post I wrote about the September 'feeling' of "Back to School" and "Back to Work", and mentioned I had both in my life this year.  

I've started my online (Zoom) theology class on the subject of hermaneutics -- a fancy word for "the interpretation of Scripture" (or the process of interpreting any text, for that matter).  Our textbook is dense and replete with quotes, references, cross-references and suggested additional reading, which I've neither time nor motivation to do!  Still, I ploughed through the first two chapters, completed the assignments and got a 'thumbs up' from the prof...so later today it's on to chapter three!

Of greater interest right now is my sampling and sampler-stitching.  I spent the better part of a couple of days in each of the last two weeks, creating samples for the "meadow" piece I want to create for the Art in the Park (AITP) exhibit that goes up in February 2023.  I had a vision in mind and wanted to see what would work to create it.  

I found myself waking in the wee hours with ideas, unable to get back to sleep until I'd started to work out possible techniques.  Whoa!  That's not happened for me in over 2 years!!

Maybe my "art mojo" is returning -- what a blessing that would be!

My initial thought was to create my own fabric using water-soluble film and/or fabric -- a la Jan Beaney.  I have a good supply of Sulky's products in film, fabric and 'sticky' fabric which have been languishing -- protected by well-sealed plastic wrappings -- for ages, and a terrific collection of well-thumbed books written by Ms. Beaney and her partner in "Double Trouble", Jean Littlejohn -- so I dug them all out, plus a stash of assorted beads, wools, ribbons and threads, and set to work.

First I constructed grids with my sewing machine, on water-soluble film and fabric with and without an embroidery hoop*:

Grids constructed on w/s film without a hoop

Grids constructed on w/s film with a hoop

Grid constructed on w/s fabric - no hoop

*I just used a regular hoop I use in hand-stitch; I don't own an embroidery-focued sewing machine.

While watching In Action, the "Double Trouble" DVD, I decided to apply some assorted beads to one of the grids on water-soluble film -- completely unrelated as to colour, to the eventual project piece.  I added some additional embroidery floss in part of the sample, to see if it would be more effective in holding beads in place.  It was painstakingly slow work, but I did achieve a measure of success:

Close-up

The film's been dissolved -- leaving 
a beaded and unbeaded grid

My second sample took a slightly different approach.  Based on another technique used by Jan and Jean, I sandwiched bits and bobs of fabric and threads between a piece of Sticky Fabri-Solvy and a piece of (non-sticky) Solvy film:

I backed it with a bit of cheesecloth and stitched it with my machine, free-motion. 

Here's what it looked like from the back:

And here's what it looked like from the front -- after the water-soluble fabric and film were washed away:

All of the pieces held together -- none of the beads fell off , and I lost only a few fabric bits off the second sample -- but the time it would take to create a large enough fabric for an art piece would be prohibitive, given my deadline of early January 2023.  Beaney and Littlejohn take on commissions that are two and three years out -- I've got a bit more than 4 months!

I then thought about printing on Sticky Fabri-Solvy (yes, you can do that) in an 8 1/2" x 11" size on my inkjet printer -- and seeing if I liked the results.  I didn't.

Finally, I tried it using TAP (Transfer Artists' Paper), transferring it onto a piece of fine-count white linen:

Not impressive!  Too much like a fabric photograph, poorly transferred -- and far too 'literal' for my taste and style.

Next up: painting an impression of the meadow, including more of the original background (I'd cropped out some ruined stonework and a tree trunk) -- and then checking out adding quilting and hand-stitch.  Stay tuned!

Aside from making samples, the stiching on samplers continues apace.  I've not done quite as much on "Ann Turtle, 1810" as I'd have liked -- but I am progressing long the third side of the outer border.  

In doing so, I discovered that the chart had some inconsistencies -- which is lovely, as they were likely errors made by Ann when she stitched the work over 210 years ago, and reproduced accurately for the chart:

Here's my progress as of September 7, when I was making my way down the left-hand side:

As mentioned, I've done a great deal more work on this in the last week -- finishing the left side and the bottom of that border, and starting up the right side -- though I've not taken time to photograph it.  I've had to switch from using my hoop to working in hand, because...well...the fabric provided with the kit didn't leave me as much leaway as I'd thought.  Turns out, that I was expected to start 1 1/2" in from the upper left corner -- and I started 2 inches in (which is a fairly common practice these days).  So...I've only about 1" of fabric left on the right side, after stitching the border.  That's going to make lacing and mounting this piece more challenging but I'm darned if I'm taking out all that work to shift it over!!

In other Sampler news, I've moved farther along my red sampler, "Ruth Gibb, 1882" -- from here I left it in June to here in this past week:

I'm really enjoying this stitch!

For my birthday, I started the September Needle Roll from The Victoria Sampler -- a kit I'd had in my stash for over a decade:

The photo doesn't do justice to my work; I've done more than that now -- but again, too busy sample-making and sampler stitching and studying to take a photo!  Ditto for the red-and-black-on-white "Quaker du Japon" sampler that I'm doing up for my son for Christmas.  I picked it up yesterday for my early morning stitch, and have made good progress -- finishing a large motif, a tiny motif, and almost half of a second large one when I put it down to write this post.  

Of course, all that activity doesn't preclude my planning other stitching!  I've decided to do the November Needle Roll (also from The Victoria Sampler) for a friend with a Big Birthday in November.  I had all the materials on hand but the pattern, for which I purchased the PDF.  And yesterday -- well!!

Yesterday was a Road Trip with my good friend (and fellow quilter and stitcher) C. -- we went up to Edmonton for our very first visit to The Craft Connection.  Oh. My. Goodness!

I had a very short, disciplined list of purchases: a piece of 36 count antique white Edinburgh linen for this piece, for which I bought the pattern last week -- and for which I had the DMC threads in stash:

This will be a gift for an older cousin of mine who married a Spaniard and has spent most of her life in Sevilla.  Our family visited them in 1992 -- I'm still recovering from the fact that that's thirty years ago!  She turned 80 this year, and was widowed in 2021, so when I saw this on a floss tube, I knew I had to do it up for her.

I also planned to purchase a small piece of 28 count white linen, just to have on hand, as all I have in that vein is scraps -- some even too small for "smalls"!

I was feeling rather gratified that in browsing the shop I'd seen the up-close patterns for a couple of 'wish list' items and realized that I really wasn't so very taken with them.  

Patting myself on the back for my restraint was short-lived, however -- because then I came across a copy of Blackbird Designs'  A Heart Remembers -- #1 on my wish list -- and that was that.  It got included.

And then, in a display case, I saw models for cubes or blocks, which I've been wanting to try.  One particularly caught my eye, because it was constructed entirely with patterns from Jeannette Douglas' "Take Time" series -- all of which I have in my stash! These are older patterns (I've had them over a decade) so they're no longer readily available, but they're delightful -- and most of the ones I have on hand, I've not yet stitched.  In addition to the patterns, I have the threads and embellishments for most of them.  What's not to like?!

Well...I didn't have the right fabric, of course!  So...the shop clerk cut a piece of 32 count Lambswool for me.  It's slightly stiffer hand will be just right for constructing a cube.  She even drew me a layout, so I'd know how to place each section on the fabric!

This morning I selected the stack of patterns I want do do for this -- so that project is ready to go when I'm ready to do it.

What?  You might be asking, "Why don't you start it now?"  Well...I can be restrained about some things!  I've got more sampling to do for AITP, more theology to study, and I've these other gifts to start and/or finish -- and next week the samplers will be set aside to focus on "Growth Chart", so I can get it finished in time for Xmas 2022 as well!

Oh -- and the garden won't put itself to bed for the winter to come.

Why am I still typing away on this post?!  Time to get going! 😆  I'll leave you -- per usual -- with a link to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday.  This week she's talking about motivating yourself to Get Things Finished.  Sounds exactly like what I need to keep me on track these days!

Be well, stay safe, take time to create -- and have a terrific couple of weeks!  Till my next post...'Bye!

Firsts and Starts

 Around here the story line continues to focus on the yard/garden, and stitching, stitching, stitching.  We've had a bit more rain, and more is forecast, but in between thunder showers the lawns have been mowed, the trees admired by all and sundry, and there's even a wee harvest!

At our parish church yard sale (June 5), I picked up a new-to-me pot!  It's so large that now that it's filled, it won't be moving any time soon, but it's so pretty that I might have to work out a new "Blue Pot" art piece. 

I mounted it on a large stump, left over from a grand old evergreen that the previous owners of this land cut down a decade or so ago:

And I've filled it with verbena and a few trailing mini-petunias from the local garden centre -- in  my favourite colours, of course!  The verbena, at least, were labelled 'deer-resistant'; so far, so good!

While my leaf lettuce, green beans and carrots are being woefully slow about sprouting, this morning I picked my first rhubarb and mixed greens!

The honeysuckle's in full bloom, which makes the bees happy...

And the cedar waxwings have been partying under the bird-feeders!

I tend to do my "hard labour" in the mornings -- mowing, pruning suckers, weeding and the like -- and spend my afternoons stitching in the sunshine.  That said, given the state of my embroidery floss -- as I mentioned in my last post --- I had to do something about that before my conscience would let me relax enough to stitch!

Doesn't this look so much better?!

The bags are numbered in batches, and that old blue binder 

has been repurposed as storage for "samples".

With that taken care of, I started a new piece especially for the daughter of my friend C., whose first baby has just arrived (or so I hope! Baby was due June 2!)  

At that same yard sale I picked up an old issue of "McCall's Creative Crafts" -- Volume 10 from June 1984, no less!  Inside was a pattern for a growth chart featuring gnomes climbing up a flowering vine.  And in the stash of linens I inherited from C. was the perfect long, narrow piece of 22-count even-weave in a lovely cream colour.  I stay-stitched the edges and began -- per instructions -- at the bottom of the piece.  The pattern is rather obscured -- whether it was poor quality to start with or has deteriorated over time, I can't tell.  I tried to enlarge it on my printer, but it didn't help much!  Thus I'm relying on a combination of my enlargement, the original, and the colour photos of the work -- including a few very helpful close-ups -- to get it right.  I'll fudge what I can't ascertain!  Just as long as the colours are pleasing, I'll be happy!

Here's my start:

And here's a bit more progress from the end of last week:

Compared to the work I've been doing on 28, 32 and 36 count, this has been a very easy stitch -- even if the pattern's hard to read.  I hope to have it done by Baby's first Christmas.

Speaking of those finer counts...I've made some progress on a couple of those too.  First, Ruth Gibb, 1882, which I began on Mother's Day, and worked on this week on June 6 (when I became a mother to my son) and June 8 (my mother's birthday; she was named Ruth and her mother was a Gibb by birth).  

Here's where it is now -- on 32 count Vintage Light Exemplar from Lakeside Linens, using called-for DMC floss - colour #3777.  That ornate bit of work in the upper right marks the corner of that border, so I'm making good progress indeed!

Of course a re-org wouldn't be a re-org without finding something else that takes one's fancy!  As I tidied my fabric drawers to accommodate my newly-inherited fabrics, I unearthed treasures, including kits I'd bought years ago and still want to make up.  Included in these finds was a set of three "Gingham" pieces -- one for summer, one for autumn and one for winter.  They're small and cute and done on especially-created gingham-print fabrics.  I decided to start with "Gingham Summer":

Designer: Ruth A. Sparrow
of Twisted Threads - (c) 2002 (!)
Fabric: 28 count Riviera Gingham
by Graziano, from Norden Crafts
Threads: the DMC conversion (and 1 Anchor floss)

And as of early this morning, here's my progress:

I'll wait till all three are finished before I figure out how to mount them, but I'm thinking right now that they may become some sort of quilted wall hanging.

Another summer start has been the "Summer Bird" from Blackbird Designs:

Here was my start on June 5th...

And here's my progress to date...

It's on 32 count Belfast from Zweigart, in 'Antique Ivory', and I'm using the DMC conversion provided in the pattern.

Brenda reported that she received the package of "Marching Orders" that I sent for her and her friend Laura (the Serial Starter) -- she's delighted with the flat-fold and can't wait to see Laura open her gift too.  It's good to know they arrived safely, even as my "Incarnation" piece is winging its way east to Virginia for the up-coming Sacred Threads exhibit.

There's still nothing new on the art quilt front.  I'm trying to get fired up to go to my long-awaited 5-day, 4 night residency in B.C. (postponed from 2020), but have just discovered that the cost to go has nearly doubled due to the increased cost of gasoline (I'd be driving) and accommodation the night before and the night after it ends.  It's a 6 1/2-hour drive -- without stopping -- so a full day each way.  Flying is not an option due to the location.  I've had to admit to the organizer that unless I can be accommodated one night early and stay over one more night at the end...well...I might just have to bow out.  Increased costs are one thing, but add to that 3 cancelled art markets, few other art sales, a new refrigerator (Dec 2020), a new laptop (March 2021), new glasses (March 2022) and a plumbing job in my kitchen (last month) and...well...my savings are a sad and sorry sight -- especially as I've been tucking funds away to ensure I get to the SAQA conference in Toronto in 2023.

Sigh.

I'd already paid for an overnight (June 17-18) at Fibre Week in Olds -- about 1 1/2 hours' drive southeast -- for a Basic Spinning class (pondered for years and finally available again now that COVID is a bit more manageable).  I'm thinking I didn't plan well enough for the B.C. trip -- my crystal ball obviously needs polishing so I can have better foresight in the future!

The next few days the rains may return -- and I'll go back to working on 'regular' quilts.  A friend gave me a beautiful roll of heavy-weight polished cotton -- metres and metres of it, once intended for light-weight curtains -- in a blue-and-yellow contemporary lattice/checkered design.  It's 55" wide, and perfect for backing "Hearts of Hope", so I hope to have that sandwiched this week.  

And then there's the long-neglected "Rhododendron Trail", Bonnie Hunter's 2021 mystery.  I started the final construction of the blocks long ago and abandoned it when the attack on Ukraine began, in favour of making comfort quilts for refugees.

I'm determined to keep going, and to enjoy what I'm doing -- no matter the disruptions and disappointments that might litter my path.  I'll leave you with my usually-late link to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday and my latest "line to hold it all together":  

When the going gets tough, the tough get stitching!

Thanks for sticking with me, Gentle Readers.  

Have a great week!