Iris Sampler finished

I finished this up last week. Not sure what to do with it now, but it is done!

Iris Sampler by Sheepish Designs
in Cross Stitch & Country Crafts (Sept/Oct 1990)

stitched on 32-ct. bay rum jobelan, some hand-dyed flosses substituted for DMC and minor chart changes to date and alphabet

I've been feeling the urge to do some finishing, so that kept me busy this past weekend. I got the little Floss Box Halloween pattern I stitched up last year mostly ornamentified, and picked fabrics for a few pillows. Plus I've got my snowman ornament exchange to work on, and few other projects are calling from the WIP bin...there's never enough time!

A Day Late and a Dollar Short...

...but here is my May TUSAL. Morticia wanted to pose with the Iris Sampler.Goodness, that little jar is getting quite full!

I've currently abandoned the Iris Sampler for the latest round of the ornament exchange over at the Hooked on Exchanging blog. This round's theme is "snowmen," so while I won't tell you exactly what I'm working on, it is probably safe to say that I'm getting a little tired of white.... LOL Also, while browsing through all my old Just Cross Stitch ornament issues for snowmen, I've re-discovered the SamSarah Design Studio. I forgot how cute some of their little snow people are!!

Sampler progress

Mouse asked for a picture of my new stash....there really isn't that much! I haven't taken a picture, but the only things I bought I posted links to pics in the post below. I didn't snag a whole lot of freebies, but maybe I'll remember to take a pic later!

I DO have a pic of my progress on the Iris Sampler. Looks pretty good, don't you think?? I need to chart a "2" for the year, since the original design was from 1990. I also squished some of the alphabet so I could fit the whole thing -- the original left out u, y and z. Since it isn't a true reproduction sampler, and it isn't as if some precocious 8 year-old left out a letter or 2 by mistake, I decided that this could not stand. So the c, i, n, o, and v got squashed....oh, and the y is one stitch narrower, too. Now I just need to finish the row of herringbone stitch under the alphabet, add the bird in the empty space on the right side, and fill in a few other spots. I see a finish in the near future!

Until next time...may you look at dandelions through the eyes of a child, where they are flowers instead of weeds.

Older IS better.

My Iris Sampler/"Older and Better" project.I'm stitching mine on 32-ct. Bay Rum jobelan, instead of the 28-ct. fabric used for the model. I wasn't thrilled with the way the rice stitch (in the basket) turned out as charted, so I did the bottom stitches with 2 strands as called for but did the overlay stitches with just 1 strand. It looks a bit more delicate, but I like it! And I'm using Six-Strand Sweets "Spice Drop" for the dark green flower stem and border.
I'll try to get a better picture later...