Year of Starts #9

The year is just flying by, isn't it? Welcome to Fall (for the northern hemisphere)! :)

Last week I continued working on Jinn, yet another neglected HAED, but also one of my favorites. I just love the colors in this one! I could stitch those background swirls forever, which is probably a good thing since it's most of the design. This session was a little challenging with the confetti, but I think I made some decent progress on page 2:

It just looks so cool! I love the way those colors blend into one another, and how the same gray can look purple or green or brown depending on the colors surrounding it. I think I'm through the worst of the confetti, so I should make better progress next time around.

For the year of starts, I picked up a new to me chart from Plum Street. This is one of her reproduction samplers called Ann Barson Loughbro 1837. I've only spent four days on it so far, but here's my start:

This is on 40ct Light Exemplar, stitched with a mix of Classic Colorworks and GAST. I really enjoyed stitching those little motifs. They stitched up pretty quickly. I thought that third motif was a crown, but since it was asymmetrical, I determined it was a lamp (like, for genies?). Then I noticed there's another one farther down the row, and yes, it's supposed to be a -symmetrical- crown. But I already had the stitches in and I like the variegation, so I left it. It's one of those instances where the original stitcher made a little mistake, and the designer chose to chart it in. I think that's cool, but I wish I had noticed it sooner.

I also loved stitching that border. I vacillated for the longest time, wondering if I should stitch it in the called for white or a darker color. At the bottom, the border actually switches to gold (I guess Ann ran out of thread) and I thought that might look nice. But then I thought It might be too heavy for such a small design, and I'm liking the lacy look of the white. (It shows up better in person.) The design is super simple and beautiful, so I didn't need to look at the chart to stitch.

My favorite part about this chart, though, is the verse. It might be a bit morbid, but I like that it speaks of death as a great equalizer. If you can't read it from the image, I'll copy it here:

Hark from the tomb a doleful sound
My ear attend the cry
Ye living men come view the ground
Where you must shortly lie
Princes this clay must be your bed
In spite of all your towrs
The tall the wise the revrend head
Must lie as low as ours

Nice, huh? And she was 11 when she stitched that.

Well, that's all I got for this time. Hope you're enjoying the transitioning seasons without too may allergies. Happy stitching!