I don't really like working with cord, for some reason, hence its absence from my stash!
Finished the miniature sampler for my MIL, the little frame is about 3cm x 3.5cm. The first you can click on for a larger version (apologies for the fluff or whatever it is on the frame), and the second picture has the obligatory foot-long match
Made some progress on the Necessities sampler -- not an awful lot but now that the "frame" is finished it feels like I'm on the home stretch and all the boring bits are out of the way
Oh, Mabel!! I love the Necessities Sampler - the colours and stitching are beautiful!!
I have just showed Mark your stitching and he reduced the size of the forum screen to 'actual size' (about 25%) to see them in real size, if you know what I mean. Holy Mackerel!! They are sooooo tiny!!
Many years ago cats were worshipped as gods. Cats have never forgotten this.
Agi
"The world, as a colourful knot of threads, has turned into a memory, and now you cannot be sure whether it was real." (Géza Ottlik, Hungarian writer)
Nice frame for your MIL's gift, and great work on the sampler. I'm working on one with a border also, there is a nice feeling of accomplishment to get that darn border done and work on the "fun stuff".
Finished the bottom motif on Necessities, not without some frogging though -- after the fence I started on the grass, the greens are quite greyish which was supposed to look all authentic and old but actually looked dark and horrible, so I frogged it and tried to find alternative greens. My Appleton's stash is not very extensive but the only other greens in there were brighter but not too bright, so I'm using those now.
Then I stitched the house, it's very dark navy with a black roof but while stitching the navy blue it did seem very dark indeed and when I had stitched the roof there was hardly any difference; unfortunately my only other Appleton blues would have stood out like a sore thumb, so I used the next darkest shade and stitched half crosses on top of the very dark blue. I kid myself that it adds a little texture to the piece and at least you can now tell the roof from the house!
So here it is so far (looking yellower than it is because of the camera ):
I was a bit surprised though at how uneven the Appleton's threads are -- I mean, they are a major brand of crewel thread but even as I take it off the skein there are distinct thicker and thinner areas in the thread; I've sometimes had to do a cross twice because too much of the background showed through, and in relatively big patches of one colour (like the squares in the corners) you can really see the difference. In this particular project I don't think it matters too much, looks rather nice and rustic , but in projects where you want even coverage I'd think it would be a nightmare!
Sorry it gave you so much trouble Mabel but it turned out looking very nice! I love the house color, I think it did add some texture to add the lighter thread over the top .
~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ WIPs
A Treasured Time 2010 Completed Projects
"Summer Breeze" - Paula Vaughn (Aug)
"Brighter Tomorrows" - Breast Cancer Awareness Sampler (Sep)
"Rooster" (Oct) ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~
I thought the two mini samplers would look better as models if they were framed; I found a lovely shop online which will do custom-made miniature frames for £2.95 each plus postage, which is actually quite cheap when you think about it, but still a bit too expensive for something that was only stitched as a model, so I looked on eBay and found two frames of roughly the right size for £3.50 for the pair including postage
So here they are framed (but if any of the students want theirs framed I will point them to that other site!):
The above is the official photograph. But when I told DH about ali-cat's foot-long match, he rummaged through a few drawers, borrowed my camera, and suggested that I post this :
I don't really like working with cord, for some reason, hence its absence from my stash!
stunning!! very pretty and oh such tiny stitching! 
Many years ago cats were worshipped as gods. Cats have never forgotten this.
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