May TUSAL and my Stitching Library

  

It's TUSAL time!

Here is my TUSAL jar with my current project:

You can see that I have started on the second telephone box on Gardens of London.  The plan is to work on this for six days and then switch to Hallowe'en at Hawk Run Hollow for a week.

Earlier in the month I completed the Fifth Day of Christmas from Stoney Creek and added the beads to the Fourth Day, so here they both are:

stitched on 32 count Lime Green evenweave

There is no backstitch charted for the Fifth Day but I am not so sure about that.  Maybe a dark brown for the rings?

stitched on 32 count Lime Green evenweave

I also started another Shop for my spooky conversion of CCN's Main Street:

stitched on 32 count Murano in Charcoal Slate from Sparklies

Anyone want to guess what this one is going to be selling?

What's on my Shelf?

This is a new feature I'm going to include on my TUSAL post until I run out of books! I started a Page on my Happy Dance blog for my Stitching Library and realised what a huge task it was so decided to break it down to one book per month. For the next four years...

I chose this month's book to go with The People's Choice post on the theme Traditional Samplers.

Title: Traditional Samplers
Author: Brenda Keyes
Publisher: David and Charles
ISBN: 9780715305706

This is a wonderful book for anyone who loves traditional samplers.  The first section features three reproductions of samplers which Brenda Keyes owned.  They are Margaret Simcock, Mary Elizabeth Nicholson and Hannah Richards.  Then there is this Band Sampler worked in the style of the 17th Century:

This is a particular favourite of mine.

Brenda includes lovely clear diagrams of all the stitches and historical information about samplers too.  The second chapter is Schoolroom Samplers, these are original samplers in a traditional style.

Next up is Celebration Samplers, again original designs to celebrate engagements, marriages and anniversaries.  I really like these two and the gorgeous frames:

The next chapter is Flora and Fauna and features this wonderful Bird Sampler with the border based on a Dutch sampler from 1843.

I stitched this in 1999 as a Birth Sampler for my friend's new baby:

I stitched another baby sampler at the same time from the final chapter - A Celebration of Childhood.

Here is my version, and yes - both those babies were born on the same day in the same hospital!  My friends worked with each other and were in the same bay on the baby ward.  Which made visiting them very easy for me!  We had a third colleague whose baby was born 4 days earlier.

As well as the main pieces for each chapter, Brenda shows us how to adapt motifs from each design to make smaller projects.  At the end of the book there is information about stretching, mounting and framing your work too.  I thoroughly recommend this book to any sampler lover, there is great information and beautiful photos even if you never get around to stitching any of the works!

Finally, the Just Nan-a-thon is continuing with one more new start for Day 10: