Storks visit Ackworth

Mother stork

As I am changing the palette of colours I thought I could go a bit further and also change some elements.

Since we don't have squirrels in Portugal I thought of replacing it by a stork, because we have many where I live.

Afterwords I thought it could be even more meaningful to me, as my mum used to tell me I had been brought by a stork. So, I decided to add a chick, symbolising my mum and I (the only chick/child in this nest).

As next Thursday, 6. August will be one year that my mum left us, here is a very warm thought for her, whom I miss extremely.

Robert made some magic with photoshop, so that the white stitches in the stork and chick could be noticed in the photo.

Mary Wigham update

Here goes a bit more of my Mary Wigham sampler. The colours are starting to come together to achieve the effect I wanted. What do you think?
Unfortunately the white medallion isn't showing in the pic.

Some more progress

This is just a very small progress as it has been hectic lately in the work front.

Please, let me know what you think of my choice of colours so far.

I want to stitch a more rustic Mary Wigham and I'm choosing the colours as I go along.

My progress so far

This is how I stand at the moment. I was not very pleased with the dark red, but I am now growing to it.

An Award

Thank you so much, Bonnie for this Award.

The rules are:
Put this picture on your blog
Put a link to whom you got it from
Name at least 7 blogs!
Leave a comment on their blogs

I love to read blogs and see the wonderful pieces that are stitched.

Here are a list of 7 that I like very much

Cenoura

Christine

Blackbird Designs

Jan

Nina

Love to Stitch

Between Crosses with Nina

A rustic Mary Wigham

These few last days I had some time to stitch my Mary Wigham.
I decided not going for all the colours but just use some more rustic colours, that in my opinion go better with the rustic wooly fabric I choose.

I am amazed of all the beautiful Mary Wigham pieces. They are really incredible.

I have to apologize to my Beatrix Potter, and tell her I have not forgotten her, she's only waiting a bit, as I am a very slow stitcher and more so, as I am stitching over one.

Robin and Lucy

Today I'll introduce my dogs to you. They are my babies. Both of them are of no definite breed, which I love, as they are unique.

Robin was named after robin hood (who would tell me then that some years after having robin I would meet DH precisely from Nottingham?!), he is 8 years old and have him since he was 2 months old. He is spoilt to death and very demanding. Very bright: he is becoming bilingual -he starts to understand DH in English, almost as well as he understands me in Portuguese.

Lucy is a very different matter: we adopted her from a rescue centre 18 months ago and her level of communication is only now to get a bit higher. Nevertheless, she is the sweetest dog you can imagine. She's over 10 years old and not even the vet can guess how much "over".
In her long life full of tribulations she was run over and never treated, so she limps from a back leg. She's in a very poor health and since 2 months we have almost daily visits to the vet... and some big frights in between.

The fabric is 29 count and I am stitching one over one.

I am not as comfortable as it seems, as my dog robin can't see me sitting there without coming to my lap to sleep.

I love to live in front of a park - the trees are very relaxing and soothing.

Due to a hectic time at school, I have not been having time to post, better said, I have not much to show.

Anyway today I decided to post the photos I sent yesterday to Jacqueline, Needleprint, showing of where I stitch, the view of my window and my very, very start in mary Wigham. I must say I tried 3 different fabrics and chose one that looks very rustic and is a kind of wool. Let's see how it will look like when I has several different colours on.

How Mary Wigham probably lived at Ackworth

I decided to post here in English, a summary of what I posted in the blog of Mary Wigham SAL - Portugal about her.

I took the information from Carol Humphrey's Quaker School Girl Samplers from Ackworth book, published by Needleprint. A delightful book in my opinion.

Ackworth School is situated near Pontefract in Yorkshire in the North of England. It was built to be a Foundling Hospital, but in 1779 a School was founded there by Sir John Fothergill.

Mary Wigham was a girl from the region who attended Ackworth between 1788-1791.

Her piece is very important for the history of the samplers as it is the first known with medallions.

The region where Ackworth School is located is known for its very harsh winters. All children suffered from the cold and with it many infections came along. Several times infectious deseases swept the school and at the time medicine didn't have much to help.

Even the children who were saved from the most severe deseases could not avoid being afflicted by chilbains.

Until 1809 the only source of heating the children had to warm up the huge flagged school rooms was a fire, but the children couldn't get nearer than 3 or 4 feet from it.

The gas lighting was only installed in 1838, therefore Mary had only candles and oil lamps to give her light while stitching.

Can you now imagine the circumstances in which this small girl stitched her wonderful sampler?

By stitching her sampler I have the feeling of bringing her back to life in a world of much better conditions.

Mary Wigham's threads

Today I got my threads for Mary Wigham International SAL. I'm so happy with them. I've chosen Victoria Clayton silks and as you can see the colours are very beautiful and thinking that such a young girl chose it is thrilling, isn't it?
I will be able to give my first stitches this weekend.

Mary Wigham SAL - Portugal

Quem quiser participar no SAL do sampler de Mary Wigham e, seja falante de língua Portuguesa, pode clicar na foto do sampler, na coluna da direita e será redireccionado para o blog do SAL em português.

Sendo a coordenadora deste SAL, para a língua Portuguesa, criei este blog unicamente com o objectivo de divulgar, informar e coordenar toda a informação deste SAL.

Estarei à vossa disposição

A huge THANK YOU to Jacqueline Holdsworth - Needleprint

I want to thank Jacqueline, for all the support she has been giving me and my blog and for those two wonderful features in her blog. On Monday, she dedicated the evening to the Portuguese rugs of Arraiolos and on Tuesday to the Castelo Branco embroidery, all accompained by beautiful Portuguese music and videos of the rug making, embroidery and Portuguese places.

http://needleprint.blogspot.com/

Needleprint Beatrix Potter Quaker Sampler Sal - May progress

This month I was able of progressing a bit more, but stitching over one in 25 or 28 count is always a drain on my eye sight, even under a magnifying light.

It is worth to visit the blog to see all the wonderful pieces stitched by ladies from all parts of the world.

My congratulations to them all, especially to Hazel who organised this wonderful SAL.

Other handwork

This is an attempt to another Portuguese traditional stitch - the embroidery of Castelo Branco - it is embroidered with silk thread on linen.
I don't know how correctly made the stitches are, as I made it searching on an old book and magazines for instructions on the stitches.

This embroidery is mainly used for cushions, bed spreads and wall hangings.

Besides victorian I love the celtic era, so these curtains I embroidered for my bedroom are celtic knots.

A design I conceived for a RR .

A monochrom pattern, that I decided to have in many colours.