June Progress Reports

Unfortunately, I'm late posting this little ornament piece.  It's in a  box now with a bunch of others, waiting to be finished.  That's why it looks weird - it was on a scroll frame for a while.  For those who don't know, it's a Prairie Schooler design.

I just love the bee skep.  All flosses used were Gentle Art and the linen is Jobelan in Summer Sky (to the absolute best of my recollection).

I had all good intentions of having these little ornaments finished up and dangling from a magnificent tree (following Vonna's wonderful instructions) by this time.  But, we all know that the road to *&^% is paved with good intentions.

I also have a picture, finally, of my progress on the Bee Line March Sampler.  It is my intention to make the sampler chart available for sale.  It's based on the design for the box that I won first prize for.  However, not all needleworkers want to accept the challenge of making a box.  So, I decided that with a little tweaking, I could make it into a sampler.

What you see here is the top of the sampler and all the new elements I've added.  The flag on the left is called the Grand Union and flew at Washington's Headquarters in Cambridge (where the Bee Liners went when they arrived in Boston).  The Grand Union flag was our the first flag used in America, while we were in rebellion, but before we declared independence.  Many still hoped to reconcile with the British Crown and remain part of the empire.  That's why the Union Jack is incorporated into the design.  The map shows their general route.  A diary, written by Henry Bedinger (one of the Berkeley Riflemen), mentions many of the towns they stopped in along the way and I tried to get as close to accurate as I could.  And what would a sampler be without a border - this one is an inner border made up of leaves of trees that are in our east coast forests - maple, oak, catalpa, red bud, tulip poplar, pine and hickory.  As you can see, right now I'm working on the Culpeper Flag; much of the stitching is over one.  The whole thing is done on 32 count linen by Wichelt in Water Lily (a slight green).

The wording continues down the right and left sides and at the bottom will appear the Riflemen vignettes that appeared on the front and one side of the box.  The water of the Potomac River, that they crossed at the Pack Horse Ford, will flow along the very bottom.

For those who expressed good wishes, my son is much improved in his health.  My husband may yet have one more doctor visit, but is doing OK.  Thanks for thinking of them.