Perninah Frye Sampler

This sampler was a long time in the making, but well worth the wait!

I designed it last Summer and as with some of my designs it began being charted all as one color.  Usually, once the design is complete and it's simmered in my mind for a few days I have a color palette (or two or three) I want to try but with this sampler . . . nothing.  Nada.  Zip.  For almost a whole year.  Then just a month or so ago I was inspired and my fingers couldn't move fast enough to stitch up this little sampler that had been so patient for so long.

 

The sampler contains two alphabets, one uppercase and one lowercase.  The alphabet is a little funky as I don't think any two letters are the same size, but I believe that adds to the charm.  There are a total of four Gentle Art thread colors used in the sampler and they all blend together so nicely.  As a matter of fact, when stitching at night I found it difficult to tell the thread colors apart, as my threads are usually a jumbled mess on my stitching table.  It was stitched on a 30 ct R & R Reproductions linen from my stash that I must admit was a tad too small for this sampler (there is barely two inches of linen around the pattern) but the color was too perfect not to use for this piece.  The motto of the prim artist: make do.

  

The sampler also a name, Perninah Frye (I just adore that name), her age (9 years), and a date (1773).  There are also two (I deemed them apple) trees and a small farmhouse on the bottom of the sampler.  The actual piece is 177 by 157 squares and is approximately 12 inches square when stitched on 30ct linen. 

The pattern is available as an e-pattern and the cost is $8.50.  I have been having the darndest time figuring out the new Blogger format (am I the only one?) so it may be awhile before I am able to update My Designs page.  Orders can still be placed from it I just haven't been able to figure out how to add anything new to it and to be honest I stop trying to figure it out the moment I get the urge to bang my head on the keyboard. 

So, for the time being, if you would like to order Perninah Frye as an e-pattern simply e-mail me at appleseedprim@yahoo.com and I'll be happy to send you an invoice. 

xoxo

Jennie Lynn

Memorial Day

Spirit, that made those heroes dare
To die, and leave their children free,
Bid Time and Nature gently spare

The shaft we raise to them and thee.

                                                   -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sneak Peek

I am sorry for my recent absence from Blogger.  My mother was having issues with her health that required she be hospitalized for a few days.  Though I do enjoy blogging, it quite suddenly became the least important thing in my life.  She's home now and doing much better.  With some luck she should be fully recovered in just a few weeks :)

I did promise a sneak peek at my latest sampler.  It's almost completed and should be released next week.  I took these photos earlier today.  That soft glow isn't a photo effect.  It is so humid outside that my camera lens kept fogging up.  It does make the photos awfully pretty, though.

Hopefully things will quiet down here for a week or two before Summer Recess begins and not only will I be able to finish this sampler but begin the next.   I already have the threads and linen chosen and I'll be sharing that with you soon.

I hope all of you enjoy this holiday weekend.  I, for one, am hoping for a good, strong thunderstorm to dispel at at least a little of this humidity.  I'll be sure to enjoy our picnic much more if I'm not sweating all over my food :)

xoxo

Jennie Lynn

Happy Mother's Day

     

My Great Grandmother Charlotte and my Grandmother Alice

 My Mother Loretta

Women know
The way to rear up children (to be just)
They know a simple, merry, tender knack
Of tying sashes, fitting baby shoes,
And stringing pretty words that make no sense, And kissing full sense into empty words.

~Elizabeth Barrett Browning

xoxo

Jennie Lynn

Peace(ful)work

I tried piecework first years ago, right after my husband and I were married.  I'd never done it before and realized quickly that I did not enjoy it.  Rather than being the peaceful retreat I had hoped for I found it downright infuriating.  I'm a bit of a perfectionist and lacking the skill I was always disappointed in my efforts.  So I packed away the little collection of quilting tools I had acquired and re-acquainted myself with cross stitch.  An early love, I found this to be my perfect companion and never gave piecing another thought.

Since then I have never wavered from my stitching but my tastes have changed.  Discovering the world of primitive work and antique reproductions has provided me with a small corner of my life where I am free from my perfectionism and without that I am quite sure I would have gone mad years ago.  I have applied this principal to my stitching, sewing, decorating . . . it has extended its' reach throughout my life (thankfully).  It occurred to me a few months ago (I'm not sure what took me so long) that I might extend that philosophy into piecework as well.

It took longer than I had planned (as do most things) but I couldn't be happier with the results.  I chose colors and placement based on what I had in my stash and what pleased my eye and forgot all those rules I'd read about years ago.  The borders are pieced because I had strips left over from making the squares and saw no reason to let them sit unused.

My seams don't line up.

My points aren't perfect.

You know what?  I don't care.  Say it with me.  I DON'T CARE.  That felt good :) 

I am pleased with it.  So much so I believe I will quilt and bind it (first time I've ever been happy enough with a piece to invest that much additional work into it) as soon as I'm caught up on some of my stitching that is.  I did promise you progress on that sampler . . .

xoxo

Jennie Lynn

P.S. I forgot to add the photos when I posted earlier . . . that's what I get for bloggin and cooking at the same time :)

Stress, Sun & Stitching

Stress certainly has a way of seeping in all areas of one's life, doesn't it?  At least for me if I'm really stressed about something I tend to enjoy everything else less.  The car (thankfully) is due back by the end of today and it might actually come to less than expected (hooray).  There was even sun yesterday, if only for a day.  In an attempt to lighten my mood I headed outside with Mina to select some floss colors.

There really is nothing like natural sunlight to make everything seem brighter :)

I've had this particular sampler design sketched out since last summer but just can't seem to commit to a color palette.  I've narrowed it down some but still have a ways to go.

I think I might just have to go ahead and begin stitching through my doubts.  I think it's one of those situations where I'm talking myself out of believing I've made the right choices.  After this past week a little lack in confidence is to be expected and it may have slowed me down a tad but I refuse to let it stop me all together.  So keep an eye out for the first few stitches of this (as yet unnamed) sampler.  With any luck you'll be seeing them soon.

xoxo

Jennie Lynn

My little silver lining

I've gotten very little done in the way of stitching over the last few days.  Thursday evening, on the way to Emma's dance class, our car wouldn't start.  Our neighbor was kind enough to give us a jump but it just wouldn't hold.  Friday morning we had our car towed to the local repair shop (some $$ but not much).  By Friday evening it was repaired (some more $$ but no more than we expected).  On our way to the shops Saturday morning, again the car wouldn't turn over.  Come Monday morning (the repair shop is closed on the weekends) we had the car towed (more $$).  By Monday evening they informed us they couldn't tell what was wrong with our car and that we had to have it towed to another repair shop (more $$) and of course we were still charged for the time they took not repairing our van (even more $$).  We thought we could make do without a rental vehicle but there were torrential downpours both yesterday and today and forecast for tomorrow.  So off to Enterprise (more $$).  Now our van sits at the second repair shop awaiting its repairs (the most $$ yet).  I have to admit, yesterday while standing at the first repair shop waiting for the tow truck to arrive I was beginning to get more than a little grumpy.  I was having a moment of self pity, sighing to myself "Why do these things always happen to me?"

Then I look down at Mina who had previously appropriated her father's sunglasses and was modeling them for me.  Looking cute as always I get my phone to snag a photo of her and this is what she does.

"No paparazzi, please."

Of course she didn't say that, but that must have been what she was thinking, right?  Mina must have known her Mommy needed to smile.  No matter what there are always reasons to smile and mine are named Emma, Jeremy, Ben and Mina and (sometimes) David :)

xoxo

Jennie Lynn