Farm Livin' is the Life for Me!

Farm livin' might be the life for me if I didn't have to work so dang hard! I swear, who would have thought building and planting a farm was so much bloody work?

Yes, of course, I know that running a REAL farm is TONS of work and that our farmers should be given saint hood for all the back breaking work they do!

But, this is the sampler farm I'm speaking of. Anyway, I managed to get the main house up and built, the first grove of trees planted (it's hard to plant full grown trees, you know), a split rail fence built, the lower crops planted and by then I was EXHAUSTED. I thought when I began building the big, red barn that my Amish neighbors would be over to assist and that sucker would be up in a day. But, NO! They didn't show - not one single man did I see coming over the hill with tools in hand, ready for a hard days work. So, it's just me. Who knows when that barn'll get built now? Now, for all you sampler reproduction purists, don't cringe but, I am either going to finish the alphabet that is vacant in the last section or, I will add a verse about farm living, reaping and sowing or something like that in that blank section. I am also going to add some numbers after the & symbol in the second set of alphabets. I wonder why our young stitcher never finished? I'm always changing things up to make them mine and I don't know why this should be any different.

I HOPE to have The Farm Sampler completed in the next week.

I LOVE how small the house and farm lands are in comparison to the rest of the sampler!

But, here's where I have a confession to make. The house, the trees and the barn are all stitched in a full cross stitch (over one). But.... the crops and the fence are done in a half cross (also over one). Or, if you prefer the hoity-toity term for a half cross, I did the fence and fields in a tent stitch.

I don't think it makes one bit of difference, do you?

I just couldn't bear to do all that grass (I'm not even near the 1/2 way point) in a full cross stitch over one, so I cheated. There, I said it. I'm a farm cheater.

Don't hate me. ;-)

This weekend is Rob's birthday. He'll be 48 (yep, I'm the older woman!) and I know he'll just be thrilled to receive this:

I stitched this in honor of his mother and her family since most of the samplers around our house have my family info on them. I added the year of his mom's birth and death and then put Rob's Dad's initials in all caps followed by the children they had in birth order at the bottom. The buttons are placed on the glass to protect the innocent (his mom's maiden name). I think it turned out really great and I hope he'll like it. Don't worry - I did get him a gift card to a hockey store so he could buy new hockey skates, which he desperately needs (I know he'll like THAT)! This is Maude Eloise on 36 count something or other stitched with the called for threads. This was the SAL project for our Guild (The KSSG) this year and I'm so glad I've finished!

Finally, I am ready to go on Marianne Wenn. I sent the Navy Bean back to Lois at the Elegant Stitch (I just couldn't take the chance of ruining it by dunking it in coffee) and I received the Vintage Exempler today. LOVE it! I've also gotten quite a few emails asking for my color conversion so I'm going to list it here. If you post it anywhere else, it'd be nice if you let people know I gave it to you (send 'em to my blog - I love new readers!).

This is not to say that I may not change/add/delete as I begin working on this sampler but to me, these looked more like the colors in the picture of the sampler I saw on my computer screen (which is what drew me to it in the first place). I have gotten a lot of emails from folks saying they've ordered and plan to stitch this beauty, in addition to asking for my conversion. It will be fun to see everyone's interpretation of this because I haven't heard from one person that liked the DMC list that was provided. It was really bad, if you ask me. So, without further ado, Terri's Marianne Wenn Conversion:

Called for DMC Revised

906 GAST Chives 7074

725 WDW Curry 2220

312 GAST Midnight 0240

3818 GAST Baby Spinach 7050

433 GAST Dark Chocolate 1170

844 CC Blackbird

744 GAST Ohio Lemon Pie 7010

304 GAST Schoolhouse Red 7052

890 GAST Blue Spruce 0140

3761 CC Shamrock (you'd think it'd be green, but it's a light blue!)

3863 CC Country Lane

3713 WDW Hibiscus 2278

3706 CC Ladybug

842 WDW Pecan 1228

Please keep in mind that GAST threads (especially) tend to have extremely different colored dye lots so colors could be quite a bit different from lot to lot.

Hope this helps!

So, as soon as the farm is done, I will start on Marianne. I best not get waylaid from all the backbreaking farm work I have yet to do or I may never go back to it once sweet Marianne starts keeping me company!

By the way, anyone know why my pics are no longer clickable? I can't for the life of me, figure it out. For a while, I was posting by writing in word (that's where I got the cute font, Margaret) and then copying to blogger. Deb thought maybe that was why but today, I've don't my post the same old way I always have and still, pics won't blow up. I'm sorry, I know you really wanted to examine the over one full and half cross stitching!! Bummerr.....

Have a great weekend, everyone! Thanks for stopping by, for all your comments (I do so love getting them!) and for your friendship, too!

Blessings to all of you!

Peace,

Terri