Hornbook Bestiary...DONE!!!

Folks, did you hear me last night?  At about 8:55pm I put the very last stitch into the Hornbook Bestiary!!!  Can I get a woo hoo from the blog-o-sphere?!!  Oh yeah!!!  First, let's check out the last few blocks before the big reveal.  I want to document the whole thing...every block!

Progress as of 6-9-14

 

6-10-14

"Z is for Zebra"

 

6-14-14

"Verse Block"

I had thought at one point I'd do away with the verse block and use it as my signature square but the more I thought about it I decided I really wanted to keep the verse.  It fits with the rest of the design so well.  Besides, a sampler needs a verse.  Here's what it says:

"When land is gone and money spent then learning is most excellent"

 

6-15-14

 

So here's what I decided to do for my signature instead.  I took my inspiration from Marsha's gift to Nicola (seen here).  I wanted to do something that complemented the design so I charted my name, city, state and the years I worked on this sampler.  For privacy's sake, I won't show you my last name or city/state.

 

DRUM ROLL PLEASE...........

 

Design: The Hornbook Bestiary

Designer: The Scarlet Letter

Fabric: 35 ct. as kitted

Floss: AVAS as kitted

Started: 12/25/12

Finished: 6/18/14

I present to you, my finished Hornbook Bestiary!!!!  Last night was my guild's stitch night and I was surrounded by my stitching peeps as I counted down the last stitches.  My hands were shaking when I put in that last stitch.  I couldn't have been in a better place.  Everyone celebrated my finish!!  I even made a victory lap around the room with it while they cheered me on!!  Oh yes I did!!!  I feel like I've climbed a mountain and am standing on cloud nine today!!

I can't believe I put in all those over one tent stitches on 35 count!  I'm confident I can now say I'm a tent stitch master.  So how many stitched are in there you ask?  Well, let me tell you!  In the angel there are 7,633 stitches, in the charted squares, not counting my signature, there are 75,825 and my signature added an additional 4,725 for a grand whopping total of 88,183 stitches!  Holy crap!!!

I'm glad I took the time to add the signature line.  After spending a year and a half of my life stitching this, I wanted future generations to know who did it.  I'm also a big proponent of making sure the place was noted too.  The years represent the time it took me to stitch it.

I can say with confidence that this is probably my masterpiece.  I'm completely aware that I won't always be able to stitch things like this without magnification or glasses.  It was a test of patience, perseverance and diligence for me.  I'm super pleased with the result.

I also wanted to note that I had plenty of floss to see me to the end.  Marsha was quite generous with the contents of this kit.  Thank you so much, Marsha!

Now to find an extra special frame for it.  I don't mind spending some time searching for just the right one too.  I know I want one that has the handle on it so it looks like a real hornbook.  A rectangular frame just won't do for something this special.  So stay tuned for that!

So what's next you might ask, well never fear, I have plenty in the wings to keep me going.  Those poor neglected parrots are squaking at me right now and I do have some smalls I need to do soon.  Oh yes, I'm always thinking about the next ones.

Thank you to everyone who has cheered me to this finish. You all kept me motivated. I truly appreciate each and every email, comment and encouragement I received.  I'm so pleased to be able to share this milestone finish with you today!

Until next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

Hornbook Bestiary...rounding third and heading for home!

As one of our beloved sports announcers used to say, I'm "rounding third and heading for home!"  I'm just beside myself that I'm this close.  I get goose bumps just looking at it!  I wanted to pop in for a quick update to show you my week's progress.  I've pretty much only been working on this.

Progress as of 5/30/14
 

"Y is for Yellow Jacket"

Progress as of 6/2/14

 

I actually finished the "Y is for Yellow Jacket" last Monday night but wanted to wait to post about it until I was a little further along.  My honey says this looks like a butterfly or a slug with wings.  I kind of agree.  It's one strange looking bug if it's supposed to be a bee.  I guess we'll just have to use our imagination. 

"Z is for Zebra" almost done
Progress as of 6/9/14

 

Here we are today.  I'm hopeful I'll get this block completely done later today and then it's on to the final block!  Some of the local peeps have gotten a preview of what I've designed for my signature.  I can't wait to show you all too!  I'm just so very close now.  Yay!

 

Well folks, that's it for today.  I need to get back at it.  I hope you aren't sick of seeing this project.  I've got some smalls I need to start on really soon so you'll get a change of pace soon.  I do miss stitching my smalls.  Have a good week everyone!  Thanks for stopping by and for cheering me on.  You all are the best!

 

 

More next time,

 

The Inspired Stitcher

Hornbook Bestiary Progress

Well folks I'm speeding along like a herd of turtles!  I think I'm just anxious to see this one done.  I've made some more progress.  I've finished another block.

Progress as of 5/18/14

Progress as of 5/30/14

 

Now we have "W is for Whale" and one stitch into "Y is for Yellow Jacket."  I finished this one up Friday night while stitching with the peeps and immediately started the next block.  As of last night, I'm about half way done with the next block too.  I'm working on the fill.

 

 

I have to say this is the oddest looking whale I've ever seen.  We decided he looks like a young Mick Jagger.  I see the resemblance, don't you?!  So we've decided the whale's name is Mick.  We also decided there needs to be a new menu item at McDonalds too...McLips.  I can see it now, a little carton of deep friend fish lips.  Too funny!

 

Okay, enough of my silliness!  That's all I've got today.  I had to pop in for a quick update.  I hope everyone has a good week. 

 

 

More of my nuttiness later,

 

The Inspired Stitcher

Hornbook Bestiary Progress

Holy smokes, folks!  Can it be two whole weeks since my last post?!  Life got in my way for sure.  I've certainly been doing some stitching though.  I'm pleased to show you more progress!

Progress as of 4/27/14

 

Progress as of 5/4/14

I had good intentions of posting as soon as I finished "U is for Unicorn" but well, that didn't happen.  I think this one might be one of my favorites!  Next up is "V is for Vulture" and there's a story with that one.

Just as a refresher, this is what the vulture block looks like on the chart picture.  I know you are supposed to go by the chart most times but...

This is what it looked like when I did that.  Hmm...I think there's a problem here.  I don't know about you but the vultures in my area are not blue/gray and the one in the chart picture isn't either!

Now that's better!  Upon closer inspection, I noticed that the color number for the blue/dark gray is 3843 and the chart symbol is one vertical line.  The color number for the medium brown I used is 3834 and the chart symbol is two vertical lines.  I can totally see how this could have happened.  So if you ever plan to stitch this one, "heads up."  You might like the blue/gray vulture...me, not so much.

Progress as of 5/18/14

 

Here's where I left off last night before bed.  I made it my personal mission to finish the last row's boxes and wasn't going to sleep until I did it.  It feels so good to finally see the end!  I even took some time yesterday afternoon to chart my signature.  I can't wait to stitch it.  I think it's going to look really cool.  Can't wait to see if you think so too!

Just for fun, I took this picture when I had to roll down more fabric for the last row.  I can hardly believe I put all those stitches in this one.  It's pretty amazing to think about all that tent stitch over one!  Needless to say, I feel like I'm a tent stitch master now.  LOL!

I appreciate you cheering me to the finish on this one.  It's so very close now.  I may have to focus just on this till for a while.  I'm pretty motivated to finish it.

Thanks for stopping in today.  Hope everyone has a good week.  I'll try not to let so much time pass between visits.


Until next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

Hornbook Bestiary Progress

It's been over a month since my last progress post on the Hornbook Bestiary.  I've made some signigicant progress.  I've now moved onto the next to the last row!  This post is going to be filled with pictures.  There's a lot to see!

Progress as of 3/23/14

 

Progress as of 3/27/14

 

Progress as of 3/29/14

 

I managed to finish "R is for Rabbit" while I was off sick and started row #5's boxes!  Only one more row to go!

 

As of 4/26/14

 

I started "S is for Sheep" on 3/29 and then put it aside to work on other things.

I decided this weekend I was going to finish it up.

 

As of 4/27/14

 

Then I got on a roll and decided to start "T is for Turkey" on Saturday after I finished the sheep.

I finished him up yesterday morning.

 

 

Here's a closer look at the two latest additions.  I'm certainly getting better at whipping through these squares.  Two in a weekend!  Now I'm halfway through this row and soon to be onto the final row.

I can hardly wait!

 

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Well folks, we are all caught up on the Hornbook.  This wasn't the only stitching I did this weekend.  Nope, I worked on the Snooty Parrots and made some more progress on my Quaker challenge too.  I'll update you on them later.  Hope everyone has a good week!  Thanks for stopping by.

 

More soon,

 

The Inspired Stitcher

Hornbook Bestiary Progress

I realized I hadn't given the Hornbook any attention this month and not much last month either.  I  decided this past weekend would be dedicated to remedying that.  As always, once I sat down and focused on it I got on a pretty good roll.  Here's where it stands now.

Progress as of 2/1/14

 

Progress as of 3/23/14

I had actually started working on "Q is for Quail" weekend before last and then spent some more time with it at the guild's stitch-in on Wednesday.  Mostly I needed to finish the fill this past weekend.  I got that done yesterday morning.

Here's the little quail close up.  I think it needs the little plume feather on top of its head like the ones around here have but maybe this is a different variety.

Progress as of 3/23/14

Since I finished the quail early in the morning, I decided to keep going and  got a really good start on "R is for Rabbit."  If I'd have had a few more hours in the day, I probably could have finished this one up as well.  I'm hopeful I can get it done in the next day or so.

Here's the weekend's progress close up.  I really like that rabbit.  You probably can't see it but it's a blue eyed rabbit.  Once I finish the rabbit, I'm once again up to the point of needing to add another row!  That means there are only two more rows to go and I'll be done!  Woo hoo!!

I've been giving thought to how I want to add my name to this piece.  I'd once thought about stitching the "L" & "P" in different colors for my initials but I've since come up with something I like better.  Now to chart it and see if I like it.  Then there's the issue of whether I'll have enough floss to actually do it if I do like it.  Oh decisions, decisions.   Stay tuned!

I hope you all had a productive weekend and the up coming week is good too.  Thanks for stopping by today and sharing my joy!


Until next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

The Secret's Revealed

The secret is finally out!!  Now I can share with you a very fun project I was invited to participate in last year.  It's been really hard to sit on this one but it turned out so nicely!  I'm sure it was well received too.

As you know I've been stitching the Hornbook Bestiary as part of Nicola's Scarlet Letter Year.  Last year on February 24th I received an email inviting me to make a square for a special quilt for Nicola. It was presented to her this year as a birthday gift and a big thank you from all of us stitching along with her.  We wanted to give something back to Nicola for her generosity and to celebrate her bringing us all together on this Scarlet Letter journey.

We were asked to stitch a 6" square using a motif from the Scarlet Letter sampler we are/were stitching and include a post card with good wishes we wanted to share with Nicola.  The cards would go into a memory book for her.  I think I had the easiest choice since my sampler was charted in blocks already.  I picked the "N is for Nightingale" block!  Let's have a look close-up.

 

Design:  "N is for Nightingale" from The Hornbook Bestiary

Designer: The Scarlet Letter

Fabric:  32 ct. cream

Floss:  DMC as charted

Started:  3/7/13

Finished:  3/25/13

I had to make a little creative addition to this block thanks to Ms. Shelby.  If you look at the block below and compare it to this one, you'll notice there are a few more leaves.  That's because someone decided she wanted Nicola's block and pierced a hole in it with her teeth!  I had to wrestle it away from her, wash it, and reweave a couple of linen threads in there.  Then I covered the weaving with some extra leaves.  Talk about heart failure!  I love my girl but some days...

If you'd like to see the whole quilt and a cool video of all the blocks, pop over to the Our Scarlet Letter Years blog and have a look!  My block shows up around 2:49 on the video.  There are 48 squares in the quilt.  There are 9 countries over 6 continents represented!  Australia, Canada, France, Scotland, Spain, Mexico, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and 21 States in the US.  How cool is that?! You can also click here to see Nicola actually receiving her gifts.

Thank you to all who had a hand in the making of this surprise quilt.  It turned out lovely!  Also, special thanks to Nicola for inviting us all to come along and share the journey through your Scarlet Letter year.  Every big-0 birthday should be this much fun!

Thanks for dropping by today for a visit.  I'm so glad I could finally share this year-long secret with you.  Hope everyone is having a good week so far!


Until next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

Hornbook Bestiary Progress

I've made some more progress on the Hornbook project.  I'm really excited to share a picture I left out last time too.  I've been on a roll with this one and have two blocks to share with you today!

 

This was the picture I had intended to post last time.  When I got to roll out more fabric for the next row's boxes, I snapped this picture.  I hadn't seen it all unrolled in a while.  It was pretty exciting to see it actually looks like something now.  I'm past the halfway point now! Yay!

 

Progress as of 12/31/13

 

Progress as of 1/18/14

This was the last check in with this one at the Stitchaway Retreat.

 

Progress as of  1/20/14

Here's a close up of the "O is for Owl" block!  It only took a couple days to finish it up after the retreat.  I was on a roll again so I kept on going and started the next block the same day.

Progress as of 2/1/14

Here's where I stand as of this past weekend.  I finished the "P is for Parrot" block!  Now I'm halfway though this row and soon will be ready to add the next to the last row.  That is just so exciting.  At times it felt like I'd be working on this forever.  Then there are some days I wish I could just sit and stitch on this project all day long.  Unfortunately, I have to work to support my needlework addiction passion!

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I worked a bit on the Snooty Parrots over the weekend too after I finished up the Parrot square.  Hmm...must have been a Parrot weekend.  Maybe it's a sign I'm ready for warmer weather!  I heard the rodent saw his shadow yesterday.  Drat!  Six more weeks of this nasty weather.  Oh happy joy!

I hope everyone had a great weekend and got some stitching accomplished.  Thanks for visiting and have a good week!


Until next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

Stitchaway Retreat part 2

*** "Heads up" this is a picture heavy post.  Woo Hoo!!! ***

I'm back!  It's time to share all the stitchy goodness that was Show and Tell!   It never ceases to amaze me how much talent fills the room at Stitchaway.  Wow!  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves and chime in when I can.  Let's get right to the good stuff!

This was the stitcher's first linen piece!  Pretty awesome.

This one was done by my friend, Susan.  I've admired it from the first time I saw it.  I'm so proud of her for finishing this up so quickly.  It was stitched in honor of a friend who died of cancer.  Susan generously gifted me with her used chart after Show and Tell.  I am so touched by your gift, dear friend!  Thank you again.

This was done by one of the girls from our table for her son's wedding sampler.  The happy couple lives in Alaska.

I'm sure you recognize these two Foster brothers (mine and Marsha's).  Laying on the table is Marsha's finished Mary's Sampler.  Love the frame she chose!  The local LNS is going to display all the Foster brothers together in the shop soon.  It's going to be awesome!

Sorry for the funky glare!

These were stitched by a group of friends!  I love how they all look so different.

This one was done by my guild friend, Sue B.  She had one of the Stitchaway attendees translate the words into Spanish for her last year.  It was one of our guild's class projects.

Some of these were done by one of our youngest Stitchaway attendee!  I didn't catch her age but I'm guessing she was probably still in elementary school.  Love to see a young one stitching!  You go girl!

This piece was done at the LNS anniversary getaway in Cape Cod last year.  It's a Jeannette Douglas piece.  Love everything about this one!

This one was done by the stitcher our LNS owner affectionately calls "Turbo."

 

Another Turbo piece.

And the final piece, another Turbo.  I love this one!  My mom would too.

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To continue the stitchy goodness, here's my progress on the projects I brought to stitch.  A couple of them I know you've not seen yet!

 

I was able to get all the next row's boxes done and started "O is for Owl!"  I just love those eyes.  I've actually gotten a bit farther on this one since last weekend.  I'll show that in it's own post soon!

This was going to be an ornament but I didn't get very far with it.  It's from the 2013 JCS Christmas Ornaments issue.  It's called "Frosty Flake" by Needle Bling Designs.  I'm using the called for DMC and a piece of 25 ct. Lugana stitched one over one.

 

This is my New Year's Day start.  Our guild is doing a Quaker challenge this year and this is my piece.  It's called "Quaker Faith" by Little by Little Designs.  I actually won this two years ago from Melissa at Words and Blooms' blog!  Thank you again, Melissa.  I'm really enjoying this stitch.  I've actually made more progress on this one too since last weekend.  It's become my lunch time stitch.

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Well folks, once again I've become windy.  I'll save the rest for the next time.  As you can tell, the getaway was full of eye candy and there was even some stitching accomplished!  Yay!

Thanks for stopping by for a peek.  I hope your day is good and you get to put a needle to linen today.


More next time,

The Inspired Stitcher