Idea

My idea was born of tidying up my table.  I had a piece of the American Sampler Chart and I just happened to put it on top of the small box in the Cabinet of Curiosities Kit 1.

The basic elements fit on the top of the box:  the house and the man and the woman.  So I thought, hey, I could stitch this for the top of the small box.  So I measured to see what the stitches per inch were.  Oh boy.  Nineteen stitches per inch.  What is the closest linen count?  Forty count stitched over two.  I thought I would try just a bit of it to see how I liked it.  Since I didn't like the sun and moon piece, I wanted to try something else.  So that's what I did all day yesterday, stitched on 40 count (am I crazy?!?) the piece of American Sampler.  There is a good bit of the sampler that is stitched over one.  Challenging!

So far it looks pretty good.  I was wondering if the over one parts would look okay on 40 count since the original sampler is to be stitched on 25 count.  I was wondering if I could handle over one on 40 count for heaven's sake.  The over one windows look fine.  I am working on the lady (over one!) and so far, so good.  I like the little birds (over one!) above the house.

I had originally intended this piece of the sampler for the top of the flat casket.  It is interesting to stitch this and to see how it is developing.  There are many other pieces of the sampler that would work on other parts of the small box too.

I got the Thistle Threads newsletter late on Tuesday night.  I was thrilled to find that several things I wanted were being offered.  I had always admired the Flowers of the Needle teaching piece and several kits were for sale.  Oh Joy!  So of course I ordered one.  Then there is a Needlework Nibble of a Butterfly Pinpad kit.

  It looks a lot like the project we are going to be doing as the first project in the Cabinet of Curiosities class.

  Since we only had a tracing picture and no idea what technique will be used,  I was very interested to see how this butterfly was stitched.  I kind of wanted to experiment with the design and do it a couple of ways.  Cross stitch it and embroider it to see which way looked best.  It is just a small project so you could do it several times and it wouldn't take forever.
I think I have too many ideas for my lifetime.  That's why I have to hurry and stitch.
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