Linen Stitcher

I suspected that posting a picture of my rolled-up finishes would cause some dismay among my readers, but I had no idea! If I didn’t feel bad about hiding them away before, I sure do now. So much so, that you’ve all guilted me into action.

So behold, I bring you my second finish-finish in just one week (c’mon, be impressed, because that’s a LOT for me!):

Designer: Prairie Schooler
Pattern: Book 9, Johnny Appleseed
(Stitched on 36 count white linen using recommended DMC threads with a few substitutions)

Several of you enjoyed my “Three Bears” timeline, so here’s one for “Johnny” as well.
(WARNING: It’s a long story, since this project has an even more checkered past, but if you aren’t interested, at least scroll through to get to the picture at the end of the post.)—

1985: Bought “Johnny Appleseed.”

1986: Stitched “Johnny Appleseed.”

1987–1989: Splurged and had “Johnny” custom framed using conservation methods, including THREE acid-free mats, UV glass, and acid-free mounting. Loved the finish so much I decided to stitch more patterns from Prairie Schooler’s nursery series, including

—1990, “The Bear and the Bees”
—1994, “The Three Pigs”
—1995, “The Three Bears”
—1999, “Mary Had a Little Lamb”

1999: Purchased custom frames for the whole series, but to save money, I decided to shift custom-framed “Johnny” to a different frame to match “The Three Pigs,” and use the “Johnny” frame for “The Three Bears.”

And that’s when the whole plan fell apart. Literally!

See, when I unframed “Johnny,” I discovered that my splurge on “conservation” framing had bought me two acid-based mats, not acid free as requested, and most shocking of all, MY NEEDLEWORK HAD BEEN MOUNTED ON STICKY BOARD!! That’s right, my meticulously prepared needlework was adhered to the backing board using adhesive. ICK!

1999–2005: These were the lost years.

These were the years during which all of my custom frames and finished, pressed needlework sat abandoned in a box under my bed while I periodically tried various methods to remove the adhesive from “Johnny.” Removal started with oh-so-gentle, made-for-needlework cleaner and gradually progressed to Asphalt-Be-Gone, which was the my-project-is-already-ruined-so-it-couldn’t-do-any-more-harm cleaner. During one particular black period, I even used a citrus-based (read: acidic!) cleaner.

I’m not proud of it, but desperation will do funny things to a stitcher.

2006: Resigned to the fact that I was unlikely to de-stick-ify my precious needlework, I decided that I loved it enough to stitch it again. Searched through my stash for the pattern . . . only to discover that I had sold it at a garage sale for buck or two.

AAAAGH! Will this nightmare never end?? (Nope, not quite yet.)

Decided to purchase the out-of-print pattern on Ebay (Admit it. You know where this is going.) . . . only to discover that it was selling for $25 to $35!!! GULP!

This time, desperation worked in my favor. I actually located the pattern in a craft lot on Ebay that included old crochet magazines and badly out-of-date cross stitch patterns. It wasn’t described, but I recognized it by the book number (no name) and the tiny corner of the pattern showing in the picture.

Care to guess how much I paid for said lot? Would you believe $4? The nightmare is over, right?

Wrong.

March–April 2007: New start plagued by linen that doesn’t quite achieve the same finish size—thus rendering my already cut mats unuseable—and modern-day DMC floss colors that are vastly different than 1985-era dyelots. It’s too painful to relive here, but you can read about it in excruciating detail here, here, here, and here.

February 2009: Framed “Johnny.” And that’s all I have to say about that!

For those of you who made it this far, I only have this left to say:
One small step for “Johnny,” one giant step for my sampler wall—

I know I need to paint my walls a more interesting color, but according to you guys, I should be spending my free time framing my needlework.

P.S. Would you forgive me the long post if I told you that my next framing project is already underway? Stay tuned.