I managed to injure my leg while skiing at my mother's recently (all better now thank goodness) and was laid up for a couple of days. This proved an excellent opportunity to get on with my sampler, which I had brought with me as a pastime for the long winter evenings.
The borders as you can see are taking shape. I worked inwards from the corner to find the first leaf-point; now I will work right along the top of the tree until I know how wide the piece should be, and then go back and finish the blue border. I think that my mother's parents' names will be enclosed at the top edge.
I am actually now further along than shown in the photo, with one stag-roundel finished and another begun; there will be four in total. Stitch-counting in the red and brown border has been a problem, and one section got messed up a bit - but the long diagonals which you can see beginning at the bottom left of the piece provide a good place to restart and set things on the right path again. This is the joy of working in independent sections - as long as the corner is OK, the tree and its surroundings can't affect each other.
I also hemmed the cross-stitch fabric crudely all the way round, to stop it from shedding fibres everywhere. The trouble with bought squares of it is that the edges are never quite square to the weave, so there are short lengths which peel off the sides all the time. Hem yours before you start is my advice now - just a simple fold over and running stitch all the way round.
Also at my mother's I found the goldfinch which I embroidered ages ago; I sent it as a birthday present the year I made it. And at my father's this weekend I found the flower-press and pressed-flower pictures which I made of the remnants of my childhood garden. I've added new, decently-lit pictures of these to the appropriate posts, so do go back and remind yourself of those Simple Things of yesteryear. I do love my new digital camera!
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