Translate

Saturday 3 December 2016

The Quaint and Quintessential Alphabet Quorum

It's the first Saturday of the month so it's time for detention!

"They only met online, but it changed their lives forever"



I think most of you know the lovely enigmatic Chiara who blogs at The Grey Tail?  We were chatting via email a while back and between us came up with the idea of an A-Z language challenge.  We batted some ideas around and are calling it the The Alphabet Club.  Chiara has the full details on that link but basically she will post a link-up post on the first Saturday of each month (Saturday being detention day in the film) reminding us of the month's letter and we will all link up with themed things, from stitching to designers and local customs.



Q is for Queen of the Night from A Dark Alphabet designed by Julie and Becky's Note of Friendship blog.   She has Queen stitches in her crown.  These are a real love 'em or hate 'em stitch.  The Queen in the stitching is holding an embroidery hoop and an over sized needle and represents the Queen in a Turkish fairytale related on the NoF blog here - Q-is-for-Queen-of-Night.html

Q is also for Quilt which I know a lot of my followers enjoy.  Here is the Q block from A Stitcher's Alphabet by Brooke's Books.  It's a little different to the other blocks as the letter is not the focal point of the block, it's tucked into a corner:

stitched on 28 count afghan.

Q is for Quaker, a style of sampler made popular by the Quakers, a group of Christians founded in England in the 1600s and more formally titled The Society of Friends.  You can read more about their history here - Quakers - Our History.

The samplers often feature geometric motifs in a symmetrical pattern, or close to one, depending on the skill of the stitchers!  Here is Elizabeth Shephard, a Scarlet Letter reproduction I completed earlier this year:


And here are a couple of modern Quaker designs, Bunnies from Palko-lap:

 

I don't have any Q designers in my stash but I did find Queenstown Sampler Designs who have both reproduction samplers and original designs on their website.  And yes, they have a Quaker inspired design:

Quaker Friends by Queenstown Sampler Designs

I do have two Q designs in my stash, one called Quiet Hour Sampler by La Broderie and this one:

Queen Anne's House by Mill Hill


Over to blogging friends:



and a YouTuber


I knew it would be a shorter alphabet post than usual!

Finally, the Advent Calendar is up and running, we have a new Door every day and Double Door weekends so make sure you pop back each day to visit the new bloggers.  Remember time differences mean some people post after some other people have gone to bed!  

16 comments:

Melinda Forbes said...

Love those little Quaker Bunnies. Thanks for not only sharing your work, but also all the informational links. Love the History of Quakers

jocondine said...

Queen stitches are new for me, must try it. Quarker designs are top on my list, hard to choose a chart and quilt designs could be a lovely idea for a miniature carpet or bed cover for a doll house! xxx

The Knitting Cross Stitcher said...

Lovely Q stitching.It is good see your Quaker sampler stitching again,it's a favourite of mine and the bunnies are lovely too.

Christine said...

Actually I think you found more Q related things than I expected

Sheryl said...

I like that Queen of the Night piece and Queen Anne´s House looks pretty to do.

Kaisievic said...

Very qute Quaker bunnies, my dear and another great Alphabet Club post. xxxx

Katie said...

Quite beautiful stitching. Thanks for sharing. I always love reading your posts.

Julie said...

The Mill Hill is going to be fun project to stitch up.

Leonore Winterer said...

I'm astonished how much you could find for such a rare letter! But of course, with quilts and quakers, it's quite central to crafting still.

Mary said...

You found quite a few things with the letter "Q" and they are all wonderful. The Mill Hill kit looks pretty.

Brigitte said...

The Q blocks of both your alphabets look great, particularly the Queen. I had already expected to find quilts in most of the Q entries (and quilts will make an appearance in mine as well), but I didn't think of Quakers. Great idea, Jo. And a great Q post.

Sarah in Stitches said...

Gorgeous 'Q' stitching! :D

The Crafty Princess said...

A lovely qualitative post, befitting of a Queen. It quietly quenches one thirst for quaint and quirky cross stitch pics. One is quizzical about whether Queens Anne's House would be quickly added to your queue, or would this explode your quotient. It does quicken my heart to see one of such quality.
xo Alicia

FlashinScissors said...

Great Q post Jo! I love your quilt square ... so pretty! Never heard of queen stitches .... must look those up!
Hugs, Barbara x

gominam said...

Wonderful Q post. Queen Anne's House is beautiful. Never thought there were that many Q projects around:)

Heather said...

Quirky and fun post! I love the Queen of the night