Hooray! New Threads . . .

I thought I would share with you some new thread releases that I recently received. They just arrived in the mail today. What a wonderful treat on a Monday!

The first is from Crescent Colours. It's not a thread line I use often but these new colors are wonderful. When I ordered them I was told they were "plain". You know what I love about over-dyed threads? They're never plain. There's always so much subtle variegation and depth in even such a "simple" color as brown or grey. I specifically like Eggshell and Polliwog. Brown Hen is a very complicated color with light and dark brown with hints of grey/green and yellow. Honestly, I don't know how to describe it.

The next is Gentle Arts. You've already seen Antique Lace; it's used in Blest Art. Wheat Fields is my favorite of the new threads. It's a wonderful combination of dark and light gold and green. It's perfect for Autumn and I'm trying desperately to fit it into a design but that rarely ever works for me. I'm sure that if I let it sit long enough on my table it will eventually inspire its' own design. I'm still waiting on the new Weeks Dye Works colors but I'll share a picture when I receive them.

On another note, a friend of mine purchased the e-pattern for Marked Anne and commented that she had difficulty printing the pattern so that the chart lines were dark enough for her to see. Has anyone else had this problem? If so, please let me know. I always print out a test of all my e-patterns and assume that if it prints well for me that it will for everyone else. If you've had any problems please e-mail me. I would hate to think that anyone purchased a chart they couldn't use.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll have this month's free pattern stitched and ready to post. It's in honor of my favorite time of year, apple picking season. Until then I hope everyones week got off to as good a start as mine did.

xoxo

Jennie Lynn

Blest Art Sampler

Blest Art is finally finished! I've been busily (and happily) stitching away at it every free minute this past week, hence my lack of blogging. It is finished, though still unframed. I just couldn't wait to share it.

I have been working on this piece for awhile now, stopping from time to time to work on another piece, but then dutifully returning. The design is somewhat whimsical (for me anyway) which I've come to like in it. As I said before, the border was a bit of challenge to design and I had to go back and tweak it a few times after I had started stitching. I do like it, even though it is a bit wonky. I had difficulty choosing how to design the vine border between the first to lines of the alphabet. I'd considered stitching a simpler version of the outer border but in the end decided on a stem stitched vine with a few little leaves added in cross stitch. Finding the perfect color white was challenging as well. Thank goodness for Gentle Arts latest thread releases. The color looked perfect online and I ordered it right away but still I had my doubts. When my package from Gentle Arts finally arrived the color was even better than I had originally thought. Of course I opened the package minutes before the children were due home from school with hours left before I could stitch with it. I think I showed a great deal of patience that day though I do admit to rushing through the evening cleaning. GA Cornhusk is a wonderful color as well. It's a little bright and I was skeptical at first but as I began stitching it won me over quite quickly

The colors are Gentle Arts Cornhusk, Weeks Dye Works Onyx and a new color from Gentle Arts Antique Lace. It was stitched on 30ct R and R Reproductions American Chestnut and finished measures approximately 12 inches square.

The verse is one of my favorites. Be my ambition to excel in the blest art of doing well. I adore the sentiment and hope I in my own life take care to do well in all that I choose to do.

The pattern is available for purchase as either a printed or e-pattern. You can visit My Design page or e-mail me directly for more information, pricing, and to order. I have one more finish to show you (what I worked on while waiting for my thread to be delivered). Hopefully I will find the time to post it tomorrow; for now the time has come to start preparing dinner. I hope you enjoy the pattern and please let me know what you think of it.

xoxo

Jennie Lynn

Progress on at least something . . .

The drama of the air conditioning unit continues . . .

The gentleman who came out last week looked at the unit for all of five minutes and decided it couldn't be repaired but rather needed to be replaced. I was a little skeptical. He spent more time writing up the bill than he did actually inspecting our air conditioner. I asked that someone come out today to do a full appraisal. The gentleman who came out today came to the same conclusion but he spent almost an hour examining the unit and talking to my husband. So it looks like we are getting a new central air conditioner. I'm both a little excited and nervous. Any major home repair puts me on pins and needles and not the kind I like :)

Now begins the negotiating between the heating and cooling company and our home warranty company. So far both have been very accommodating so I have high hopes. We're still waiting on the actual bid to do the work then we need approval before any work can be done. Right now we're just . . . waiting. By our estimate the whole process will take about two to three weeks. Then of course we have to put the attic back together and start repairing all the water damage. For having gotten so much done in the past week it feels as though so little was actually accomplished.

I did manage to make progress on Blest Art. Virtually all of the alphabet is finished as well as some of the verse. I'm still not entirely happy with the white thread I've chosen. I'm in the middle of a pretty heated argument with myself about the color when I get an e-mail from Gentle Arts about their new thread releases. Have you seen them yet? If you haven't you can see them here. Antique Lace looks perfect! It's hard to be sure with nothing but an image on a computer monitor but I went ahead and ordered it. I'll just hold off on stitching those parts of the sampler. Even if I don't end up using it for this particular piece I'm always thrilled to order new threads. They are like candy to me and there can never be too many colors to choose from :)

In the future I promise to talk a little more about stitching and a little less about my air conditioner. It has dominated my life this past week and I fear that will not end anytime soon but nothing can keep me from needle and thread for too long :)

xoxo

Jennie Lynn

Sneak Peek of Blest Art

It took me longer than I had thought it would but finally I have finished the border for Blest Art. Forgive my hasty ironing. I had only twenty minutes to snap these photos before my husband left for the day. I'm still on the fence regarding the white thread but I thought I would stitch a little more of the sampler and then decide. I can always frog those few stitches if I need to.

We've had a minor crisis in the house. Remember I said our air conditioner leaked back during the heat wave? Well it's still leaking. The unit is older than I am and was bound to go at some point. Fingers crossed it's nothing that severe but I'm preparing for the worst. We had to shut it off last night and it was a bit of a shock to my system but the temperature isn't supposed to go above 85 degrees today so it shouldn't be too bad. The worst of it is the wall in our son's room directly below the air conditioner has significant water damage. All of the paint peeled off and most of the plaster is going to have to be replaced. All of the walls in the original part of the house are plaster, which I think is much easier to fix than drywall. My husband and I think we can fix it on our own. Of course thinking and doing are two different things so we'll see how successful we actually are. Is it bad I'm actually looking forward to getting to repaint the boys' room? I've been wanting to for awhile now and this is the perfect excuse. Of course, first we have to fix the actual air conditioner and stop the leak. Thankfully, we have someone coming out later this morning.

Last night, when we realized the full extent of the damage, my husband was beside himself. After we cleaned up the mess and showered I simply sat on the sofa to finish the border for Blest Art. I felt a little like Nero, fiddling while Rome was burning. My husband just couldn't understand that once I got focused on my stitching I didn't care that the house was falling apart around me. Unfortunately, no stitching today. It's time to emerge from my little cocoon of needle and thread and focus on cleaning, cooking, laundry and a leaky air conditioner.

xoxo

Jennie Lynn

Hollow Wreath Free Pattern

I do know that in fact the wreath is not hollow :)

But it was when I designed it. I only added the year after I had finished stitching the wreath. I had a little of the linen left over from Blest Art and designed this in order to practice my stem stitch. I wanted to know if I could stitch a circle. Perhaps a little more practice . . . but I'm happy with it. I could not have managed to place that one leaf over the stain in the linen if I had tried and to have had it been stitched with that little bit of brown in the thread. It looks just as if the thread has bled over time.

It was stitched over two on 30ct R & R Reproductions American Chestnut using Gentle Arts Espresso Bean. When choosing a black for Blest Art I considered almost every black colored thread I owned. There are more than one might have thought. Dark Chocolate, Tin Bucket, Blackbird, Onyx, Kohl, Mascara . . . and Espresso Bean which was my second choice for Blest Art. I decided to use it here intead and it had the perfect amount of brown for this particular cut of the linen. The free pattern shows a backstitch where I put a stem stitch. A backstitch would look lovely too as would initials in place of a date. You can find the free pattern here or use the link on my sidebar.

Only two days until Emma and Jem return from New York and only two weeks now until school starts again. I think I have enough #2 pencils, lined paper, composition notebooks, binders and school glue to start my own stationary store. Of course I'll have completely run out by December. There is something equally sad and exciting about the end of Summer . . . but I have to admit I am eagerly anticipating the arrival of Autumn.

I hope all of you enjoy this month's free pattern and remember I love to see everyone's finishes. Before the children return I am hoping to have finished stitching the border on Blest Art and I'll post a picture as soon as I do.

xoxo

Jennie Lynn

Shades of Halloween

Apparently, I have All Hallows Eve on my mind. I chose these colors for my Blest Art Sampler and don't they just make you think of Halloween? That shade of green is wonderful. I'm not sure about the white, though. I might replace it with an acorn brown or perhaps a sunflower yellow? Sometimes I just have to stitch a little with a thread before I can make a final decision.

The linen is lovely too with all of these little black specks on it. The ladies at my LNS show think me odd because I'm the one asking for the most aged and mottled pieces of linen they have. Every time, the lady who cuts the linen for me sighs and shakes her head and wonders why I would want the "dirty" piece. It's a "prim" thing, isn't it? Please tell me I'm not alone :)

Recently I've been working on quite a few samplers. There's something soothing about stitching an alphabet. Borders drive me batty though. They don't have to actually meet in the corners do they? I had difficulty in this sampler getting the border to do just that. It's quite an unruley vine so rather than fight it I just let it grow it's own way. I like the way it turned out though and even though it's not a Halloween design I think the colors are just perfect. In a day or so I should have some progress to show you. Hopefully that wild vine will be easier to stitch than it was to design.

xoxo

Jennie Lynn