Blackwork

I haven't been doing much stitching. My daughter Sam came home for a 2 week visit. She went home again yesterday. I already miss her! It was so nice to have her in the house again. I have to say that there are many difficult times for a parent, but having my child move out has been very hard. I am very proud of her though, she handles things better than I did at 22 years old!

While she was here she started a blackwork piece for her boyfriend's mother's birthday. It didn't get done in time, and she left it here, so I will work on it then send it to her to finish. I wanted to stitch part of it as well because I really like her boyfriend's mother. Sam had a rough time counting the blackwork piece, but this is her first piece. She picked a fairly small design that has no name of it's own. It it contained in the softcover book "Beginner's Guide To Blackwork" by Lesley Wilkins. This is a great book that explains blackwork very well and has gorgeous examples of the technique. The one Sam chose is on pages 18 and 19, a small sampler with a pretty border and floral motifs in the center. Sam had put in the 2 straight line outlines and started the knot-work border down the left side. When I picked it up on Wednesday (early morning, like 3AM) to add to the piece, I found a miscount and had to pull the entire section and start it over. So I didn't make much progress, but I did make a little as I did both sides of the knot-work border (easiest way to work it was to split it in half, come down one side, then go back up the other using Holbein stitch to fill in the extras).

Anyway here is a picture of the whole piece so far:

Small Blackwork Sampler by Lesley Wilkins
Stitched by Sam C and Missy H.

Here is a closeup of the knot-work border:

I do love doing blackwork, it looks so wonderful when it is done!

So far this year seems to be my start new stuff without finishing much year. LOL Oh well, I will try to finish stuff soon!