meet Sarah and a giveaway

I first saw Sarah Hatton McPhail's sampler during a visit to Colonial Williamsburg several years ago. We were touring the textile conservation building, and Sarah's sampler was hanging on the wall in one of the work rooms, alongside a second sampler with similar composition, and a black and white drawing of the same scene. I think she was on loan from another museum for an upcoming exhibit, but I'm not sure. I loved the tranquil river scene that makes up the bulk of this piece. Flash forward a year (or 3), and Marguerite of The Essamplaire was offering a reproduction of this sampler at Jeanine's Gathering of Embroiderers . I HAD to have it!

It has taken me thee years (I think it's only been three years), but she's finally finished! Without further ado, I proudly present to you Miss Sarah Hatton McPhail:

Happy dance! Happy dance!

As you've probably guessed from the fact that I have finished Sarah, I have also finished my model stitching. I don't have photos of them yet, but I hope to be able to show you what I stitched on sometime in the next couple of weeks.

I finished Sarah yesterday morning, and decided to spend the evening after work sorting through my stitching stash. I have to admit, I was a bit depressed when I finished. So many pieces that I've just never gotten around to finishing! And so many things that I know I will never stitch. I even found ziploc bags with patterns I'd finished, and all the threads for said patterns as well. Why did I do that? I mean, it's not like I plan on restitching a project as big as The Shores of Hawk Run Hollow, so why aren't all those fibers reintegrated into my fiber stash? The world will never know.

I found about 10 mostly stitched, or stitched but unfinished, ornaments. I know this is partly due to the fact that, until about a year ago, I considered myself completely incapable of putting an ornament or pillow together myself. Which meant I had to rely upon the good nature of my mom. She helped some, but since she has plenty of stitching and assembling to do for herself, there has always been more to do than there has been time. Last night, I took one of these old ornaments that is completely stitched and finished it into a pillow ornament. Look at this poor thing, it's been waiting for assembly for TEN YEARS!!! (oh the shame of it all)

This ornament is all over one and comes from a kit by Maureen Appleton. I have 4 more of her kits sitting in my stash. One is nearly as close to completion as this one was. I think I put it away because it calls for blending filament, and I don't like stitching with such temperamental stuff. I have added it to my WIPocalypse list. To the bottom of the list, that is.

Which brings me to the giveaway portion of this post. I have got to do something about all these charts! I could just take them to my mom's EGA group and let them sort it out, but then I thought it might be kind of fun to have my first giveaway here on my blog. If there isn't any interest, then I'll go back to the original EGA plan. I have divided my purged stash into 5 packages, and I will be giving away each package to one interested person (assuming there is such a person). There are kits, a little bit of fabric, and lots of charts (some gently used, some never been used). Here are the groups:

Group 1: The Theresa Wentzler Package. Includes charts, a couple of kits, and a magazine with a Theresa pattern inside:

Group 2: The Fantasy Package. Includes a Disney kit, dragons, mermaids, pirates, and a couple of Christmas ornament patterns.

Group 3: The Sampler Package. Includes a Quaker Christmas, a reproduction sampler, and an ornament with enough fabric to stitch it up.

Group 4: The Celtic Package. Includes a few Celtic patterns, the entire "Crabby All Year" set of patterns, and a couple of pieces of fabric of various sizes.

Group 5: The Nature Package. Includes a couple of bits of linen, and several patterns with animals.

Basically, what you see is what you get. Soooo, is anyone interested? If you are, here are
THE RULES
1. You must be (or become) a follower of this blog.
2. Leave a comment on this post only indicating which Package or Packages you would be interested in winning.
3. For a bonus entry, post about this giveaway on your blog, and come back here and leave a comment telling me that you have shared along with a link to your blog.

You have until midnight EST on February 13 to enter. Sometime shortly after that, I will randomly select a winner for each of the packages. If I pull your name for more than one package, then you can pick which package you want to receive, and I'll do a redraw for whichever package you did not choose.

I hope that is all clear, and I hope some of you are interested. Thanks in advance for helping me find a new home for these items.