It was no small project in 2023 to clean out the room with embroidery stash. There was a lot of give away. There were some things I kept and finished. But there were many things I abandoned. A few months ago, I got an e-mail from the person in Pennsylvania who helped me donate my mother's stash to the Thimble and Thread chapter of Embroiderers' Guild of America. She had some boxes. Could I please take them?
It turned out it was only three boxes, a lamp, a frame stand, and a kitchen garbage-sized bag of metallic threads. In other words, it only took up half my car not my whole car. Not too bad.
I went through that stash, organized it, and donated most of it to Southeast Fiber Arts Alliance. Their thrift shop is a fantastic place to acquire materials. You never know what you are going to find, so it is a good idea to make a habit of visiting. In fact, I did not leave empty-handed. I decided to work a counted cross-stitch patriotic angel — Just Nan's Liberty Homeland Angel, something I retained from the original stash purge — as part of the semiquincentennial celebration. I needed a piece of fabric. As I browsed through the cross-stitch fabric options, I noticed pieces that came from stores in York, Pennsylvania. The piece of fabric I ended up purchasing was, in fact, a piece I had donated. That piece of fabric is now set-up on the stand, ready to work.
But the other boomerang was an unfinished piece I had initially given away. I had taken a large stash of unfinished pieces. This one was, as they say in basketball, "on the bubble." When it reappeared, I decided to finish it.
The piece is called "Peaches and Cream Lace." Instructions were in black and white, with no color photograph. There's no black-and-white photograph of the finished piece, either. Maybe that was why I initially gave it away? At any rate, apparently nobody else wanted to finish it. It was already about half done. All nine borders were complete. The center block and the one with hearts was done. The upper left corner and the top center block were also complete. The top right corner was started but not finished. The other four blocks were empty. The project still had its yarn pack, although I did go to the store to purchase more perle cotton, as I wasn't sure I had quite enough.
The instructions look like this was meant as a class. Instructions are typed out. Diagrams are hand-drawn. There are references to Carolyn Ambuter The Open Canvas and Elsa Williams Pulled Thread Embroidery, but the design has no attribution. The closest I can get is the bottom center block is supposed to have a name and date. The example in the handout is "MB" and "87." So I'm guess this was a workshop from 1987 and the designer was MB?
Without a picture, I wasn't always 100% sure which threads should be used where. The floss pack had extra colors of thread that don't seem to be relevant? There's another Peaches and Cream Victorian sampler on the internet, but it is more recent and definitely not this design. Well, if I can't figure out whether I matched the instructions or not, nobody else will, either.
I will mention two places where I specifically did not follow instructions. The middle block in the left column I moved the top ribbon down one thread and the bottom ribbon up one thread. To my eyes, the ribbons only made sense if they plunged through the large holes created by the pulled thread border.
The other change I made was to the block in the bottom center. It has a strong diagonal element. In the handout, date and initials are worked in tent stitch, one element in each of the large triangles. I decided I would rather continue the geometric, decorative elements. After much stitching and ripping, I eventually settled on a filling stitch. I had tried some other prettier textured stitches, but they competed visually with the ribbon and lace element. I decided the rest of the blocks used the floss elements to support the main element, like background singers on stage. Keeping the floss element different from the other blocks but simple was the better design choice.
I drove back from Pennsylvania earlier this month. It only took me about a week or two to finish this sampler. It was fun!
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