In my part of the world we say you are a fool if your passion for a pursuit overcomes all practical sense. I am a stitching fool, and I stitch foolishness.

Saturday, March 17, 2018

Six Months and Two Days

From the time I sewed the linen for Mary Otter to the scroll bars until I took the last stitch, it has been six months and two days.

And now she is complete:


I have to admit. I have not been completely monogamous. I took off to Williamsburg twice for trysts with other projects. And, shameless hussy that I am,  I stitched Barbara Jackson's SNS Christmas ornament for 2017 and Tricia Nguyen's Jacobean Flower under the same roof as Mary Otter over my Christmas stay-cation.

Still, I have to admit that she took longer to stitch than I anticipated. There is a lot of over-one tent stitching, which adds to the level of delicacy and detail in the sampler. It has been worth it.

Most people who know me know that I tend to prefer 17th century band samplers. This is 19th century, which I dabble in but don't focus on. Let me introduce you to the little dude who started this whole thing.


When I saw this character on the original sampler, he caused my big mouth to open and say to the sampler's owner, "If you chart this, I'll stitch the model for you."

And now I have.

And now I have to figure out what to do with Life after Mary Otter.

4 comments:

  1. Mary is absolutely lovely! And oh, the carriage and driver is completely marvelous! I think I understand why you did it (other than that he's at the bottom) but how could you bear waiting to stitch him last of all!

    Congratulations on a huge finish!

    Life after? Something small and reasonably quick? Or perhaps a 17th century delight? I have some tempting suggestions. ;) (Scarlet Letter: Martha Wilkins 1699, Ellenor Wykes 1656, Martha Salter 1651, or you could join me in the Montenegrin fun and stitch AW 1662 ... or even Jane Turner)

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  2. Ann, Mary turned out wonderfully. I especially love the "lawn", though I'm sure it was a "booger" to stitch! I'm positive the options for your next project are varied and many and you will enjoy whatever you choose to go with. Happy St. Patrick's Day!

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  3. Congratulations on getting Mary Otter finished! While it is a beautiful sampler overall, I really like the lower half with the house, wonky tree, and driver with his carriage. Enjoy your weekend and I look forward to seeing what is next!

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  4. You did it!!!! Beautiful job Ann!!! Mary Otter is FABULOUS AND FINISHED!!! I need to hustle and complete my JCS Ornament and a 'FANCY STITCHES" piece for JCS Nov/Dec issue (both based on my antiques) so I can design and stitch Mary Otter's Sewing Shoe Etui and Pocketbook. You are the BEST!!!

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