… just stop reading right now. Why? This entry is all about red. Not just any red, mind you, red from Spain! My 36 count Vintage (don’t even ask me to go in to how long it took me to remember that word) Magnolia linen from Lakeside Linens arrived earlier this week and I’ve gone to town on Diane Jourdan’s
Spanish Rouge. The linen is all slubby and loosey goosey and Kathie grimaces every time she looks at it. It only goes to prove that I’m an old person and she’s not. I love stitching on linen; especially that uneven stuff that makes your Xs look like mutants. Not for all pieces, of course. But for samplers, I like the vintage look it gives to things. (Oh sure… there the word “vintage” just rolls off my tongue like any old sentence, but ask me what kind of fabric I’m stitching this thing on and I freeze up. BLONDE! *rolls her eyes*)

Ok back to my sampler… I finished the first band in an hour… and that’s only because Nikki ran off with a piece of my rubbery shelf liner stuff that I use to help keep the fabric (because it is kinda thin) from slipping in the QSnap and hid it under the chair. Here’s that one.
It has an “Alternating Double Backstitch” in it, where the top leg, the one that goes \ actually goes over two Xs worth. It sort of creates a herringbone look. In case you’re squinting for a closer look, here you go.
After that, I moved on to section two which is entirely cross stitch. It’s two colors of Vikki Clayton’s OMG Red series. *grins* This is only half of the pattern, but it is the full height of the second band. The fabric is all loosey goosey and my tension is loose so the Xs look a little wonky. No, it’s not me being an untidy slacker of a stitcher, it’s the way my stitching looks on this stuff. Rest assured that once the framer stretches and frames it all, it’ll look peachy. Oh duh Sue, I didn’t actually show you that picture yet, did I? See? I toldyas I was really blonde today. Here we go!
It got a little washed out from my flash so you can’t see how rich the reds are and you can’t quite see the vintage-ness of the fabric, but it’s there, honest it is! As a side note, at some point while I was typing all of this up, Maggie came in here and put a small stuffed snake on my shoulder for me to “babysit” for her… I don’t actually remember her doing it… but I now have this cute little stuffed snake sitting here watching me type. Wow do I have bubbles for brains. *shakes her head* I think I need to go do some more stitching.