Maria Antoni Sampler, Agatha Christie & Coloring

Hello below is how far along I am not with the Maria Antoni Sampler. My pace has slowed because I have been doing a LOT of reading and took a coloring class online. As you can see I am at the halfway point. I do hope to get it done before the sampler kit I ordered for the 400th anniversary of the May Flower comes in Sept. The ideas is to start stitching it the date the May Flower left England and finish on the date it arrives in the New World. But that is for another post!

Did you know that 2020 marks 100 years of Agatha Christie? Her first book, The Mysterious Affair at Styles was published in 1920. More information can be found at her official website

I found this out around June 25 and since then I have been reading her books in an attempt to get them all read in 2020. We will see how THAT goes. Many years ago I subscribed to the Bantam Books Agatha Christie Mystery Collection with the idea of reading them when I retired, so I have all her mystery books (plus a few others) and decided to give it a go. I am reading them in order to see if I can notice a change/development of her style. But honestly, I read for fun so I probably won't notice. So far I have not figured out any of the guilty parties, except for in a few of the short stories. Enjoying it tremendously. 

I have read these so far, having finished Thirteen for Dinner last night and now I am on to Murder on the Orient Express.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles

The Secret Adversary

Murder on the Links

The Man in the Brown Suit

Poirot Investigates

The Secret of Chimneys

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

The Big Four

The Mystery of the Blue Train

The Seven Dials Mystery

Partners in Crime (SS)

The Mysterious Mr. Quin (SS)

The Murder at the Vicarage

Murder at Hazelmoor

Peril at End House

The Tuesday Club Murders (SS)

Thirteen at Dinner

I also decided I wanted to color better with colored pencils. I found this really good online class from Kit and Clowder. She has free classes, some great general information, and classes you pay for.  She is in Australia, so the price is not too bad after the conversion and I LOVE her accent. She is also very positive and encouraging and offers free consultations. She covers pencils and while she uses Prismacolors, she has charts for other brands. She also has Copic marker classes with conversion to other marker brands. 

The June/July class was called Brighten Your Day and her is my result. I used Faber Castell Polychromos pencils and Springhill Vellum Bristol Cover Digital - 67# and 147gsm. It fits in the manual feed of my printer without any trouble. You need to be able to print out the images to color.

That about covers it for now!!

Stay safe all.

Maria Antoni Sampler Update

I have been stitching a bit on this in the evenings and working my way through it. Some parts have been harder than others, but I am well on my way to half way.

The chart for the section at lower right was a bear to read, I had to use the color photo of the sampler to figure it out. But it is FINALLY finished! Now on to the pretty flowers.

That is all for now, take care everyone!!

A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That

More reading than stitching since I have been in a bit of a reading mood the last few weeks.  I am in the process of reading Christmas Boutique by Jennifer Chiaverini.  I think what started this reading trend was our bookmobile returning (pick up and drop of only) and I finally broke down and bought a Kindle. Here is what I have read so far.

Lost Among the Angels	Alice Duncan
Angels Flight	Alice Duncan
Fallen Angels	Alice Duncan
Angels of Mercy	Alice Duncan
Thanksgiving Angels	Alice Duncan
Scraps of Paper	Kathryn Meyer Grifith
Owl Be Home for Christmas	Donna Andrews
Love & Death Among the Cheetahs	Rhys Bowen
The Victory Garden	Rhys Bowen
What Child is This	Rhys Bowen
Above the Bay of Angels	Rhys Bowen
A View to Die For	Richard Houston
Christmas Bells	Jennifer Chiaverini

I have also been quilting and did a little finishing, so here goes the updates.

I  have worked a bit more on the Maria Antoni Sampler and it is a little over 1/4 done.

I also put together the blocks for a quilt top and moving on to the borders.

I used Layer Cake pre-cuts from the Moda Fabrics Farmhouse II collection and solid white layer cake pre-cuts (10" squares). I then followed Layer Cake Recipe Card 2 to create the needed half square triangles and sewed them together to make the T blocks. Used my "fancy" design wall (the back of a fleeced plastic tablecloth binder clipped to my bookshelf).

I also made a disappearing four patch star based on month 4 of the Missouri Star Quilt Company's 2020 block of the month club. I am not a club member, but used their you tube video to recreate the block using my fabric. It was fun!!

Finally I did a bit of finishing, turning this gingerbread man I stitched in 2014 into an ornament. It was from a challenge put out by the Columbine ANG chapter in Denver, CO to trace a cookie cutter and stitch an ornament.

I think that covers it for now. Take care everyone and 

Happy Stitching!!!!!!!!!!

Maria Antoni Sampler

I last told you about this sampler here on May 1.  I have been stitching on it in the evenings and average about 3 hours a night. It was a 2015 workshop offered by the Sampler Guild of the Rockies. The piece is designed by and the class taught by Margriet Hogue of the Essamplaire.

Here is the progression so far and I plan to post an update every Monday. 

April 28, 2020

May 3, 2020

 May 10, 2020

Happy Stitching!!

Been Busy Stitching!

I have gotten into a bit of a routine. When I stitch during the day I work on a needlepoint project and in the evening I am working on a Sampler while sitting on the sofa "watching" TV. In the process I finished a needlepoint piece first started in 2003. I took a class with my Raleigh Needlepoint group from Debbie Stiehler, it is called Lucky Gecko. Is on a 15" x 17" frame and its size made it perfect to work on in my studio vs on the sofa.

Here are a few other things I finished recently. The first three are projects from a Sampler Guild of the Rockies Retreat, a needle fold and a bookmark. I think both are from 2012.

I also finished a project done last year by my Saguaro Chapter of ANG (American Needlepoint Guild). I attached the stitching and fabric to a finishing form which helps keep it nice and round.

I also finished a 2" square practice piece into a pin. It is designed by Catherine Jordan and was a Cyber course. We made the small square first to practice making a larger piece that consists of multiples of this square. It is call My Granddaughters quilt and the idea is for it to look like a quilt top when done.

Tomorrow I will have a post on the progress I have made on the Maria Antoni sampler, which is what I have been working on in the evenings. My goal is to post an update on this sampler every Monday until it is finished, so stay tuned!!