Time to Finish

My apologies to all, but I have not felt the inspiration to blog lately, although much has transpired.  It could have something to do with the fact that I have been pretty busy of late, that in the evenings I have to do homework with Olivia due to her lack of useable hands.  The other night we were working on her biography of Johnny Depp and after filling out reams of paper on him I thought I was done when she said that I still had to draw 4 pictures...REALLY?? I drew Johnny and his band at a concert, I drew Johnny when he was a little child swinging on a swing with a little neighbor girl while the moon landing was taking place, I drew a sad Johnny standing in front of his "broken" home after his parents divorce, and I drew Johnny holding his baby girl....  I think we have another 4 weeks in casts.  I do hope they come off in time for our trip to Italy.  Speaking of which, I intend to finish with my trip to the Sampler Museum today, but before that I have to show you the most precious little stitched cushion I got from my friend Margit.

It is filled with lavender and smells just wonderful.  She stitched this for me because she is a very sweet person and also because she feels guilty since she thinks she gave me the hideous cold that turned into Pleurisy ( which is still not gone).  In case you do not recognized it, its a freebie from Paulette Stewart's blog.  I love it!

On to the museum.  We left off in the room that had mostly Northern German samplers.  I love it when I discover an UFO like this one - like me, this person was full of big plans that just... well you know.

This was started on a fairly large piece of linen, because, well, like I said, she had big plans.

The other thing I saw there, and I have never seen before, were practice samplers for button holes and neck collars.  I am very enamored with these because, close up, they are so interesting visually.

On to the next room which housed a number of samplers from all over Europe.  This one is from Denmark, where they loved to stitch dense beautiful samplers - often over one.

Here are some detail shots.

What a work of art that sampler is.  I especially love the peacock and that little critter that is about to take a bit out of the cherubs heel.  I wonder what it is - looks like a porcupine but it has got that tail...hmmm??

Here is an English sampler that reminds me of a bit of Charlotte Clayton ( which was reproduced by the Northwest Sampler Guild) because of the cat.

As you can see, it was stitched by Rebecca Watson at the tender age of 12 in 1836.

I am not sure where this sampler comes from but I just love the people in it.

Don't mess with her or she might club you with her anchor.  Judging from the many motifs & that flower right below the anchor lady it might be another Danish sampler.  I have got to say that these really appeal to me. 

On the far side of the room were some beautiful examples of the Biedermeier period

And this display of a tapestry creation in wool.  What made me take pictures of this was the mouth area which looked like everyone had been eating berries.

Also see the picture used in my Mother's Day post.

The next picture is of a Decoration Towel ( we would call them Show Towels, although I was told that was incorrect - they were used to decorate during special occasions and holidays).

Here is another little Adam & Even I liked, probably because of the bright colors.

Finally at the end here is a picture of poor Olivia who had to spend 2.5 hours in that museum with me... she looks thrilled, doesn't she?

Now that I have bombarded you with fabulous sampler pictures, I will conclude this post with some pictures of Erika's prom.  

Erika & her date Joe.

Erika & her friends Colleen & Maggie - from the front,

and from the back

Where was prom, might you ask - at the fabulous  Heidelberg Castle - here is only a small portion of it.

So, I will try and do better, and not let so much accumulate.  I have a number of pics of my finishes, ( ok, there are not THAT many) and my wips to show.  Hugs to all.