Happy Birthday Nicola!
As it was Nicola's Birthday this week I decided to dedicate IHSW to the gift she gave me for Christmas - Elizabeth Shephard.
I started on Thursday and completed the central motif:
Well, all except the initials because I am undecided what will go there, maybe my initials and the date instead.
Then over the weekend I continued towards the top right corner and got to add some colour.
I am stitching Elizabeth on the supplied 30count linen using AVAS silks. She seems to be coming up quite large on 30 count but she is also quite a quick stitch. Using mostly one colour and the repetitive nature means she is the ideal project to stitch while listening to the TV or talking to the family.
I have noticed already that "symmetry" was a stranger to Elizabeth. Quaker symbols may appear to be symmetrical but Elizabeth frequently adds an extra stitch or moves part two squares to one side. The middle of that top motif extends two rows above the rest of the piece.
I also noted that Marsha charted the sampler according to how it looks now, so the central motif would have been more symmentrical but Marsha has included the worn spots and not charted those symbols.
The other funny thing is that the border around the central motif is exactly the same as the one on another of my current projects - Prairie Moon Thine is the Trick and the Treat!
Haven't quite finished stitching it yet!