On the 1st of January myself and 60 other (and counting!) stitchers organised by
Nicola from the
Our Scarlett Letter Years Blog, started the incredible Mary Hurst Band Sampler as a group learning project. Nicola has very generously provided lots of photo tutorials on the various stitches on the FB page and group blog.
I didn't start until yesterday, when everyone was back at work and the house was finally clean and tidy after Christmas.
I am stitching with AVAS silks on 36ct Edinburgh linen colour 'Sand' which is a lovely warm orange/gold colour. I was really happy with my floss toss, I love the colours of the silk on this linen.
I started with great enthusiasm, but have had lots of problems with this sampler already, I had to unpick the first letter twice until I finally got the hang of the counted satin stitch. I am padding mine and going over each stitch twice with one strand of silk to get a nice coverage on the fabric. I started using the pale blue 111 as charted, but I began to have doubts, the whole of the top section is stitched in this colour, and I don't think I want a large section of this icy blue at the top of my sampler. I think it jars a little with the warm linen. Perhaps it's because I am not really a blue person!
I started again this morning with the 2912 pale pink, which I think I prefer, it is a nice warm colour
Here they are side by side, this photo shows the colour of the linen better. I have stopped for now, I need to think about what I want to do and make my mind up or I'll never get this stitched!
I have committed to working on this once a week, it will probably take all year and beyond but there is no hurry. I am looking forward to learning some of the more complicated counted stitches and sharing in this group project.
Project Details:
Mary Hurst 1661 Sampler by The Scarlet Letter
(original held in the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge, England)
Stitch Count approx. 112 x 598
36 count Zweigart Edinburgh Linen colour 'Sand'
Au ver a soie, soie d'alger silks as charted
Started 6th January 2015
