Quaker Exchange pictures

I just found out that my partner received the Quaker exchange piece I stitched for her, so now I can share pictures!

Here is my very first biscornu. I found out the hard way that I should have taken pictures of the squares before assembling it, since the whole piece can't be photographed well afterward - and that's why one of the pictures is upside-down!





If you're wondering how to make a biscornu, there are several good tutorials available on the web. I really like this one because it has more detail than some about adding the button at the end.

Quaker Quarterly Exchange XV arrived in Spain!

I can finally show pics of the piece I stitched for my first-ever exchange! Much to my relief, my Quaker Christmas treat bag arrived at Mercedes' house in Spain.

This exchange was conducted through the Legacy Embroiderers Guild forums. The pieces for this exchange were to be stitched in Christmas colors: red, green, and white. My medallion was chosen with these in mind. I thought the tulips and outer stars looked a bit like poinsettias, the green triangles like Christmas trees, and the center star like a snowflake, so I stitched all of these in the appropriate colors. I couldn't resist adding both Merry Christmas and Feliz Navidad to celebrate our two cultures.

On the back, I stitched our initials.

As I was stitching, the fabric seemed pretty flimsy for a bag. I wanted to make the bag a bit more substantial, so I found some burgundy velvet at a local fabric store. Never having lined a bag before, I put it together (by hand) in entirely reverse order*. I caught the selvage of the velvet in the top hemstitch first, then sewed the lining together up the back and across the bottom. Pulling the lining and linen apart, I stitched the linen from top to bottom, flipping the lining back in only as I reached the top. You can see my inexpert join on the top inside of the seam. Then, I stitched the bottom of the linen using a blind double-running stitch.

*(Apparently most bags are sewn by creating separate bags of shell and lining, then joining them at the top. Who knew? I think I would have had trouble with the top hemstitch if I had done this!)





I had also hemstitched the drawstring area on both top and bottom. The cording is made of several strands of #12 pearl cotton.

Received my first exchange piece!

It's so exciting to get a stitched piece in the mail! It's even more exciting to think that the piece was stitched a world away by an Aussie stitcher. Here is the ornament I received from Georgie as part of the Quaker Quarterly Exchange on the Legacy board.

DH says the birds should be upside down since they're from down under. [rolling eyes]

Thanks, Georgie, for the ornament and the few extra goodies! Along with the ornament was a skein of DMC, a couple of Australia postcards, and a tiny bar of fancy bath soap. (This exchange keeps the adage of "Quaker Simplicity", and so keeps the extra stuff to a bare minimum.)

I still haven't heard if my partner received her exchange piece yet, so I'll have to keep you in suspense regarding what I stitched for the exchange!

New Stash (including lots of Quaker Samplers)!

Wow! What a surprise at the mailbox today! TWO packages! The first, I was expecting. I've been waiting on the color I'd chosen for Gay Ann Rogers' Redwork Mystery. I'm using Winterberry 1431 from Hand-Dyed Fibers by Vikki Clayton. I was undecided on the fabric color, though, so I did a floss toss:

After a consultation with DH, I decided on the second darkest fabric, which is Pearl Linen in natural. Pearl linen is a 25 ct linen and polyester blend with a great drape and body and fairly small holes. It looks and feels very dense, which I like much better than very loosely woven, stiff linen. The pic at left shows the thread on this fabric.

Also from Vikki, I received the chart for Victoria's Quaker from A Mon Amie Pierre. To top it off, though, I received my order from Criss Cross Row. Knowing that the owner has been dealing with an illness in the family, I wasn't in a rush to get this, but I'm glad it came, since several of these items are going OOP! I received the Ann Trump and Martha Brady Quaker samplers from Needleprint. (My apologies for the glare in the pic!)

Best of all was the last item in the CCR order - Carol Humphrey's Quaker School Girl Samplers from Ackworth. I admit, I had had my doubts, but this book is worth every penny. It's 232 pages, hardcover, and 12" by 9.5" with great color pictures on almost every page, with what looks like an amazing amount of research in between. The best surprise was when I took off the dust jacket so it wouldn't get ruined from all the handling this is going to get in the near future. The dust jacket actually opens up to reveal a chart for Mary Thompson's medallion sampler!
That's all for today - I need to go stitch and finish something if I have any hopes of getting to any of these relatively soon!!