Birth Sampler

One of my hobbies is cross-stitching (aka xstitching).  I have favourite designers and am active in several online facebook groups.  So when I decided to stitch a birth sampler I originally was aiming for one of my favourite designers but none of the ones that were available spoke to me in the way that projects do when they yell "make me!"

I ended up choosing a design from a new-to-me designer by the name of Brooke A. Nolan.  I had not heard of her or of perforated paper, which really intrigued me.  After scrolling through her offered designs I settled on one called the "Spring Baby Boy Sunshine Line."  At the time of publishing this blog entry, the pattern and chart kit were still available.

When I started this design I actually started using the wrong colour in the clouds!

You'll note I had gotten quite far before I noticed that I should have been doing a different colour altogether!

The next few pictures show my progress, it took me 29 days to stitch from beginning to end (including framing) although there were days I did not stitch at all so technically I was done in about 43 days.

 

All of the pieces then had to be cut out of the perforated paper, which was really more of a perforated card stock.  Then the bunny was stitched together, very carefully and each of the other pieces were embellished with DMC's memory thread, beads and DMC Light Effects thread (note to reader: if you decided to do this pieces I cannot emphasize that I wish I had used the Kreinik Braid #8 for the actual stitching.  The Light Effects was great for the back stitching but not so much for the xstitching.).

  

I then proceeded to prepare my linen for the shadow box. I tea-dyed it in a large pot on the stove and rinsed it really well.

Then I ironed it mostly dry and hung it up to dry. I carefully stretched it onto the board that came with the shadow box, mitred the corners and stitched them close.

 

Then I pinned each piece to the board and inserted into the shadow box, where it now hangs on my boy's bedroom wall.  At least until he gets older and says "Mom, I'm not a baby anymore!"