A Quackin' and a BoINKin'

Tara's just gotten this one back from the framers.  Quackworth is a Quaker sampler with a little play on the Ackworth School samplers that we hear so much about.  The Quackworth School is a school for local waterfowl.  There is a companion piece from the Croakworth School available. If you biggefy the picture, you can see the fun color of floss she used - it was a limited edition silk Pumpkins and Black Cats.  The mat colors really make this piece lovely.  I understand her folks in Ontario are the lucky recipients.

Tara's other finish is the Book of Ink Circles (BoINK).  I'll be lucky enough to see Tara and the finished BoINK in person in a week (gosh, only one week away now!!!) and I can't wait.  BoINK was a free multi-part mystery that we did a while back. The chart is still posted on my site, if you are interested in stitching the piece.  Tara said she may even frame this one for herself, rather than put it in the trunk with the other finishes she has kept. 

So, for how many else of you does this hold true: The pieces that you give away get framed and your own keepers sit unframed?  I'm guilty of that too, and how I interpret it is thus.  Stitching makes us happy.  Sometimes the focus is about having that finished item to give as a gift, but often it is just the process of making something that we really enjoy. 

Thanks for sharing these, Tara!  May you all enjoy your stitching.  BTW -You might be happy to hear I am working on a new free mystery project.  The Portland GTG crew may even get a sneak peek. 

Enabling by Example

So, we have all seen the lovely hand-dyed silks by Vikki Clayton, right? It's been a bit of a recurring theme in this blog.  One of the hardest things for a stitcher, can be to visualize what a variegated thread will look like when it's all stitched up.  When Vikki decided that an old firehouse in Pennsylvania was going to be a new retail location for her silk business, it was only natural that she needed some examples for the walls. 

Carol in Edmonton, AB, stepped in to help her out.  This is Ink Circles's Growth Rings (available in the March/April 2009 Just Cross Stitch magazine.)  Carol used HDF Indigo Ocean and Ricordia on 28 ct Monaco.

Not that these silks don't sell well on their own, but this sure makes a nice hook.

Carol also made up the Croakworth and Quackworth pieces and finished them as quilted hangings.

These are both fun little pieces that can be done as monochromes or polychromes.  They'd be a great way to try a new color or use some of those left over bits of silk, or Detritus Bags (for those like me who collect those HDF carrots.)

So, if you're in the neighborhood gathering silk skeins, you can see Carol's pieces in person!