Never Ending Sampler - Individual Bands

Some of our stitchers asked if I could post the bands for the samper individually.  Yes, no problem.  Here they are:

Band 1

Band 2

Band 3

Band 4

Band 5

Band 6

Band 7

Band 8

I will continue to post the sampler as a whole and individually and I'll do an overlap for ya'll too.  That way our cross stitch ladies who are working this as an actual sampler will know where to start the next band.

I'll post a new one tomorrow.

McHenry Illinois Crazy Quilt Update On Block 1

Here's a progress photo of my McHenry Illinois Crazy Quilt project:

My plan is to keep this project as Victorian in style as possible.  No beads or sequins and the only lace I'm using is antique.

I stitched the name of the church in the upper right hand corner using 14 count waste canvas.  I also added the year that St. Mary's was built, 1898.

In the above photo, you can see how I embroidered over the lace.  I simply followed the pattern in the lace and highlighted it with some stitching.

I may use a little bit of metallic gold and/or silver thread to create some spiderwebs on this.  I love spiders and spiderwebs and the Victorians loved them too!  They were considered good luck!!!

Never Ending Sampler Stitch Along Panel 1 Band 8

I spent 2 days shoveling snow here!  So I guess I have snowflakes floating around in my brain!  LOL!!!

Here is Band #8 of the Never Ending Sampler Stitching Along:

Work the stars on Band #8 with Eyelet stitches.  If you need instructions on how to work that stitch or any other stitch, hop over to Sharon B's Pintangle blog.  She has a wonderful Stitch Dictionary.

McHenry Illinois Crazy Quilt

The other day, I talked about starting a new project using historical photos from my area.  I wanted to work it in the traditional Victorian style. 

The first thing I did was to secure the photo in the center.  I just used a little bit of fusible web to hold it in place.  Then, I hand pieced this block using needle turn applique which is quite easy to do.

I choose fabrics there were Victorian in color and type, or at least to the best of my ability using only what I have in my stash.  And then I started stitching:

The lace pieces are antique, not vintage.  My focus is on embroidery not embellishments.  The only other embellishments I might use are some of my vintage Mother Of Pearl Buttons.

The image in the photo is the church that Scott and I were married in, St. Mary's Of The Assumption Catholic church.   If you scroll down a little bit, you can ready the story about the St. Mary's.

I'll add some more stitching to this today and keep you updated on my progress.

Never Ending Sampler Panel 1 Band 7

I've been seeing some beautiful work over on our Facebook group for the NESSAL!  Gorgeous color combinations, beautiful stitching...I knew this would be a lot of  fun!

Here's Band #7:

The little "fans" should be straight stitches.  Use your imagination for the rest!