August 18, 2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the Women's Suffrage movement in the United States.  I designed a sample to commemorate this important anniversary.  

Details: 

• linen- Zweigart 32 count white Belfast linen
• thread- Sulky blendables 12 weight color 4032
• finished size 6 1/4 inch width, 5 inch height 

The sampler is designed to be a Quaker sampler, since many of the Suffragettes were Quakers.  White linen was chosen to represent the white dresses Suffragettes often wore to parades and marches.  Purple was also chosen as a suffragette color to mean loyalty, though women wore sashes of many different colors.  

There are many inspiring Suffragettes, and I chose seven to honor by putting their initials in the sampler.

Susan B. Anthony (SBA) 

Ida B. Wells-Barnett

Elizabeth Cady Stanton 

Lucy Burns

Emmeline Pankhurst 

Lucy Stone 

Lucretia Mott

The design of this sampler is very simple, and my thought was that it could be customized to the stitcher's taste, and is a chance to be creative.  The fabric and floss can easily be changed to something in your stash.  

Download Suffrage_Sampler_Lessons_on_Linen

I really adore Lizzie Kate designs.  This was a kit that came with everything to finish it.  I loved the design, and Easter is one of my favorite holidays.  The only thing that I did differently was to use a brown thread to attach the lace and the buttons.  I used a few strands to add some dimension and contrast.  I think that I will definitely do this again. 

I am behind by one day, but I promise two posts tomorrow!  Here is a seasonal Christmas stitch by Lizzie Kate.  It is part of a series of seasonal ABC's.  I really loved doing this series.  I had them all framed in the same frame, just different colors. 

Here is a little finish that I used to take a break from some projects I was working on that were really frustrating me!  I ordered the kit online, not realizing (1) that it was a pre-finished pillow, and (2) that it was 14 count linen.  It was a very fast stitch, and I really like the design.  I love sheep!  They seem to be common motifs in stitchery.  What's your favorite animal to stitch? Always, ~Jaime 

I am happy to report 31 days of finishes!  I have been working on many projects this summer, some I have mentioned on the blog, and some I realize that I haven't.  I often posted on these projects "in process", and then didn't actually post on them finished in their entirety.  So, I decided to present to you 31 days of finishes- I think that I can!  This is the first finish, a Lizzie Kate pattern "Autumn ABC's" that I had framed at a local craft chain.  I do love alphabets.  I hope that you can follow along with me this month! Always, ~Jaime

I was a little bit distracted from some other projects that I had been working on, when we received an invitation to a 40th wedding anniversary party.  It was a small dinner for some very close friends of my family.  I quickly went to a local needlework store (closest is an hour aways), and found this Lizzie Kate pattern on sale.  
It looked like a quick stitch.  I went to a picture framing studio to have it framed, and they did a great job.  I forgot to take a picture of it, but the couple we presented it to included a picture of the piece hanging on the wall of their bedroom.  
 Note to self- take pictures of finished work! :) 

I have posted before about this wedding announcement project that I have been working on.  I haven't had much time for other stitching or finishing because of this project, so then it seems like I am not blogging very often!  I find it hard when there is a deadline to balance everything.  I am so excited to be doing this, but I miss being free to work on what I want to work on!  I also miss thinking of blog posts to write about especially because I still have lots of finishes to post about and other projects I would like to show.  I still have the commitments I made in my last post to fulfill!

This project has gone through many different color changes, but I have settled on these.  Also, the design has changed, as I have have tried to figure out what was the fastest, fit the best in the heart cutout, etc.  I decided on a lavender sprig because in the language of flowers it means 'devotion'.  There will be lavender in the flowers on the wedding day!  The cards are from Christinae Dahlbeck of Germany.  The lavender design I modified and changed, but found the original idea in a German cross-stitch and craft book from Acufactum.  The English title is translated as All Beautiful Things.  
 I found this paper at Joann's Fabrics to cover the back of my stitching.  The announcement will be written by a calligrapher on the inside of the card.  I have finished 17, and only have 20 more to go!  Now that all the decisions are made, and the design sorted out, the stitching is going to move along much more quickly!  Fortunately, there isn't too much other planning to do.  We have a scheduled elopment in Quebec City with four guests for April 4th at 3:00.  The next day we leave for a Paris honeymoon- and hopefully everyone will receive their announcements that week of our news!

Valentine's Day is my favorite holiday!  I realized that I don't have really any stitched projects for Valentine's Day, so I am going to make it a goal to begin looking for patterns.  Here is a heart I made over the summer.  In September I went to California to meet my fiance's family.  All summer I kept thinking about what to bring as a little gift.  I ended up buying two little things that are regional to this area to bring in a gift bag, and wanted to make everyone a little heart stitched ornament to include also.  Well, the stitching project was a disaster!!!  The idea I think was a good one, but the execution was terrible. :) I had never, ever done any finishing before, and I went about cutting the linen all wrong.  I didn't have enough of a seam allowance, or the design wasn't centered properly on the linen to make it into the heart shape.  Also, I had only started using a sewing machine about a month before that.  I actually stitched 4 different designs, and ended up throwing away two of them becaue I couldn't fix them.  This is one that survived! lol.  I did learn a lot from the mishaps, and think that in the future I will have more success finishing.  I know one bit of advice I have read multiple times is "measure twice to cut once".  That is certainly true!  I would definitely go about the finishing differently with what I have read about.  I am also a perfectionist to a fault, so that does get in the way quite a bit of the time, and I could see how that trait was getting the better of me in this project.  I am definitely going to try this again for when I go again to meet his family and friends.  Any finishing ideas/suggestions are always welcome on this blog!  Happy Valentine's Day!

Always, ~Jaime

This is a Flip It a year with charm by Lizzie Kate.  The January is the third one I have worked on.  They are quick to stitch.  I bought the patterns for the twelve months and hope to finish all of them this year- that is one of my stitching goals.  I was hoping to finish this in January, but that is okay!  Kindly, ~Jaime

I love this pattern.  I love the colors, and I love the little needlebook itself.  I am just very disappointed about the finish!  It was very difficult for me to attach the piece to the book.  I only attached the sides, because the banding was finished on the top and bottom.  I couldn't seem to keep it one place, and took it part twice to fix it.  I put it aside, and thought that it might not bug me when I looked at it again.  It is especially annoying in this picture.  I think I may work on it again......  Any suggestions on what to do? I couldn't even manage to have it be straight for the picture, but then my finishing maybe looks less crooked!  It is a Christiane Dahlbeck design stitched using German Flower Thread.  The finished needlebook is also from Christiane Dahlbeck. 

Kindly, ~Jaime