August WIPocalypse

August was a somewhat productive month for my stitching. I say somewhat because I did stitch but not on a regular basis as usual. As Covid rules have relaxed here, we started going out a bit more and have had some close friends over to distance with us outdoors. It's been a pleasant change and I know my mood has certainly lifted.

Partway through the month I decided it was time to get moving on my Victoria's Garden again. Here is a pic of my progress at this point.

 It's moving along and I do enjoy what time I spend on it. The motifs are lovely. I particularly like the larger flower baskets on either side. Also the off centre flower in the basket on the bottom left. There's a reason for that as you'll see once I have the border complete.

Here are a few close up photos of the motifs.

Isn't that little dog cute? Victoria's Garden has some little creatures in it as well as flowers!

In the last few days of the month I got started on a birth sampler for my grandson who is slated to arrive at the end of November. This design is actually called A Birth Sampler and it was designed by The Goode Huswife. The chart is now out of print but a good friend has loaned it to me. When she mentioned that she had just the sampler for me to stitch I asked her to send a picture of the design. I showed it to my son and daughter-in-law and they loved it. It's simple and the colours are most suited to a boy.

As you can see, I started in the middle of the piece so the final line was stitched first. Then I moved up and started working at the beginning. Just two more lines of text, a few more stars and the border, which is quite simple, and it will be finished. Of course I won't be stitching the name or date of birth until later despite the fact that they have already chosen the name. With my luck they would decide to change the name or it could end up being a girl, lol!

Here's a pic of what the actual design looks like.

I love the simplicity of it! When this is done I will be looking at charts for a birth sampler for my nephew and his wife who are expecting for January. I also have promised my granddaughters some stitched pieces for Christmas so I expect I should get moving on them too. With all of this my Blackbird Design I started earlier in the summer has been on the back burner along with the completion of Yuletide Welcome. If you recall I was waiting on the arrival of more floss to finish it. The floss has arrived and I hope to get back to it very soon. I say that but Sampler September arrives tomorrow with the first of the new month. You'll just have to wait until my September post to see what I've chosen. That is, unless you follow me on Instagram!