Hummingbird Sampler

I’m in a blogging slump. It’s not that I don’t have anything to say, I just don’t feel like taking the time to say it once I sit at the computer. It’s a shame, really, especially when it comes to this project, because there’s so much to tell. First, the important stuff: the finished sampler, stitched in my mother’s honor.

My mother lost her battle with breast cancer in 2006. She would have been 73 this month. She loved hummingbirds. And geraniums. I had a plan for stitching this sampler and a small geranium piece I saw in a magazine somewhere, and having them framed with my favorite snapshot of her. Then I learned that the hibiscus I thought was pinkish was purple. When I started stitching the sampler I discovered that my plan for stitching the flower in a pink color wouldn’t work with the dyelot of overdyed floss I had. Which is just as well, as I had already succumbed to stubbornness in the face of my trouble with numbers and had to abandon my original framing idea. See, this is a counted needlepoint chart, meant to be stitched on 18-ct canvas. I reasoned that 18-ct is 18-ct, so I can stitch it on whatever fabric/canvas I choose. This is true, except: many motifs in this design are stitched over 2, and as we know, over 2 on 18-ct = 9-ct. I say we know this. I know this because I stitched this on 36-ct. fabric and ended up with a sampler that is much smaller than I planned, what with 36-ct stitched over 2 being 18-ct, not, um, 9-ct. Oh, yes, I could have stopped stitching and waited until I had the proper size fabric/canvas, but there was that stubbornness trait I mentioned earlier. I was supposed to be 5-3/8″ by 8-1/4″. It’s not. It’s tiny.

See? So tiny! It’s adorable and tiny, as is the hummingbird. So, good. Except that durn not being pink thing. I like purple, I do. I didn’t expect purple, and now I’m all unsure. That and because it’s tiny I’m  fiddling with the idea of adding a pulled/drawn thread border to it. I can’t decide. By the way, this is what I was expecting:

See what I mean? Pink flower. Very rainbow-y overdyed floss. NOT.

Vitals:
Hummingbird Sampler by Rainbow Gallery designed by J.R. Patterson & Pam Miller
Stitched over 2 on 36-ct white linen with RG Bravo! A119 (boquet), RG Splendor S812 (dark lavender) and S808 (med purple), RG Flair F502 (white), and Kreinik #4 very fine braid, color #032 (pearl).

Still, it’s beautiful, and I do love it, in spite of the troubles, uncertainty and hair loss. Here we have fun close-ups, for fun.

Happy Stitching!