"Buttons and patches and the cold wind blowing,
The days pass quickly when I am sewing"
~Author Unknown

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Wise and foolish stitching

A goal achieved feels very good! I set a goal to have one of my major WIPs finished by the end of August. My sampler of the Parable of the 10 Virgins was the piece I choose to finish first. It feels wonderful to know this sampler is completed and can now be framed so I can hang yet another sampler on my sampler walls in our bedroom.


This is a free sampler available from Gigi. It is really beautiful and well worth stitching. I decided to use colors that would work well with the other samplers hanging in my collection. I choose DMC thread ~ 3750, 3781, 730 and 3858. It was stitched on 40 count lambswool linen ~ 1 over 2.


As I have spoken of many times, I like to connect to the past with my stitching and quilting. I think this influences most of the things I do. I also love anything with an alphabet on it! This sampler seemed to call me the moment I first saw it on Gigi's blog for these reasons. In the 18th and 19th century, samplers were becoming more decorative and sophisticated. Biblical references through symbols and verses became common on a sampler. This sampler shows the 10 wise and foolish virgins from the Bible.


For anyone who may not be familiar with the text of this parable, I am including the text...

"Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
And five of them were wise, and five were foolish
They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:
But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.
And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.
Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.
And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.
But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.
And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.
Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.
But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.
Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh."

22 comments:

Nancy said...

I know you got tired of stitching these ladies in the end, but boy did it ever come out nicely. I love the colors you chose. Now you can proudly hang it on the wall. Hope you bought the right frame too. LOL.
Love you, Mom

Elizabethd said...

That is such a beautiful sampler, Heidi, lovely colours, lovely words too.

Tammy said...

Beautiful stitching Heidi, congrats on your finish!
Hugs2u!

mainely stitching said...

This came out so beautifully!! :D Congratulations on a lovely finish!

Kaaren said...

I love it, Heidi and thanks for the biblical reference as well.

I printed the pattern from the link you provided to put in my x-stitch file. Thank you for sharing.

Please show it to us once yoou have it framed.

Françoise said...

ooo So Beautifull!!!
Hugs
Françoise

angelasweby said...

Heidi, it's lovely. Congratulations. You really are tackling these goals :>)
The colours blend together so harmoniously. it will look wonderful on your wall.
I hope you manage to sort out the frame.
Hugs Angela

DonnaTN said...

Another lovely finish! The girls look good!

Anonymous said...

I've been admiring your sampler each time you put a picture up... it's beautiful and I can imagine it'll look gorgeous all framed up as well!! Well done on a great finish!

Mel said...

Beautiful work, I haven't cross stitched for years. I love the pattern, thanks for sharing.

Loved the biblical piece to go with the stitching.

Blessings,
Mel

Pondside said...

That's beautiful, Heidi. I had a look at the link - thanks for that.
This would make a lovely gift, with the text pasted to the back of the framed stitchery.

Margaret said...

What a beautiful finish Heidi. I love the colors you chose and it will certainly be a wonderful addition to your sampler wall.

Cindy at her Country Home said...

Lieve Heidi, dankjewel voor je lieve felicitatie! En geniet op je blog van de achtergrondmuziek... Heb deze film inmiddels al 10x gezien ofzo laat ik nu de dvd ervan hebben... zo MOOI! Liefs Cin x

onlymehere said...

Beautiful, absolutely beautiful! By the way, happy birthday to Jos! A little birdie told me he was 50 today!

Barbara said...

Heidi, I'm glad you finished the ladies, looks beautiful.

Hugs,
Barbara/MO

Saskia said...

Good that another project is finished.
And thanx for letting me know the playlist isn't working anymore in europe. I have to make a new one
Love the music on this blog though.
Saskia

Anneke said...

hallo Heidi,

de 10 maagden zijn mooi geworden! een echte sampler wall in je slaapkamer, wow! dat lijkt me genieten, kijken of mijn DH er ook iets voor voelt...

My name is Riet said...

Dank je wel voor je visite.Wat een mooie blogs heb je. Prachtige sampler. Fijn als je weer iets af hebt hè. Ik vind je quilted krans zo mooi en een erg goed idee.
Ik moet altijd erg wennen aan de herfst maar het komt toch weer vanzelf.
Groeten van Riet

faerieeva said...

How wonderful to have something finished, and something that beautiful.
BTW, after a more than two year enforced holiday from stitching, I am back with a vengeance. Instead of easing back into it slowly.. I have committed to embroider a cremation funeral pall for our church.
It's always been an ambition of me to 'one day' embroider an altar cloth for the church. I always thought that I would do that after I was retired or something. Or at least did not have small children around. But when the oportunity came along to do this, I said yes without thinking.
Now I need to make a small sampler to show the possibilities and then I will start on the actual project. Insane, isn't it?

Jennifer Ann Fox said...

I love the colors you chose!
Very pretty design. Will have to check out that site.

Jennifer
Feathers in the Nest

http://www.feathersinthenest.blogspot.com/

Solstitches said...

Congratulations Heidi!
That is a beautiful sampler and what a great feeling to have achieved your goal.
I am all but finished my Beatrix Potter at long last. Phew, what a relief!

Hugs,
Margaret

Anonymous said...

Thankyou for liking and stitching my freebie Heidi

dank je wel dat jij mijn freebie
zo leuk hebt geborduurd

Gigi

www.gigirdesigns.canalblog.com
www.gigir.canalblog.com