May I present John Foster 1885!

Here he is...my darling, John Foster 1885....completed on the first anniversary of our meeting. Isn't he just grand????

John Foster 1885 - Historic Stitching

36ct Belfast Linen

Antique colorway - Weeks Dye Works cotton fiber & DMC

The pattern had 2 colorways, an antiqued palette (which I chose) created from the front of the original sampler and a brighter more colorful palette of the original colors taken from the back of the sampler. The color of the linen is a little more grey than I would have liked, I think that he would have been better stitched on a warmer toned fabric. But at the time, I was being frugal with my purchases and I wanted to stitch him on a 36ct fabric...flax was what I had on hand. The floss toss wasn't bad but the floss is in warm tones and I think overall it would have been better not to have that warm-cool tone tug-of-war that's going on now. It's ok, though, I love him and it's such an accomplishment for me to finish anything anymore, I'll take my happy dances anyway that I can get them! I got such pleasure from stitching him once I got over the initial bumps in the road with the miscounting threads and stitching with the wrong colors. The second half of the sampler went surprisingly fast and even though I thought I would get bored stitching the house, it was actually the vines and fir trees that got boring at times.

One of the things that attracted me to this sampler was that it was stitched by a man (or boy) and I wondered if this was John's home, a school setting or a product of his imagination. I won't really know, cause the information with the sampler had little to say about John and his life. I was particularly interested in the upper section of the sampler, I imagined that John loved animals and gardening. Two of my favorites!

As far as framing him goes...that's going to have to wait a little while, the DH and I have to work out what we are going to do with the contractor...we got a contract from the lawyer - his initial retainer is $3K...just to get started and the cost goes up from there...we are discussing cashing in stock now. I can't even think about all of this now. I get stressed and I just cry. I am doing a lot of praying for this situation, so if anyone believes in the power of prayer, please add me to your prayer list!! And if that's not your thing, keeping me in good thoughts would be just as appreciated.

Next will be another project from my WIP pile, not sure what I'm going to focus on just yet. I started BOAF's Peace Sampler (another house themed sampler) and I do have Martha and Beatrix on deck if I want to stitch a Quaker girl. Right now, nothing is saying STITCH ME! so I'll just wing it today and stitch whatever I feel like for now.

I should finish up Hinziet's Air Force for the Cadet, I only have about 2 hours to go on it, finishing up the borders and stitching on the charms. I have the frame too, I wonder how much it would cost if I mounted it and took it to the framer to add a piece of glass and spacers.
The Cadet is coming home this Thursday for his between quarter break and it would be nice to have it all finished for him to take back to school the following week. He was to come home yesterday but decided to go skiing in Quebec for a few days with 3 other ROTC buddies. (Lucky him.) His situation is smoothing out somewhat, he's not completely out of the woods yet.

Oh, I should mention this, if anyone wants this pattern, please post and let me know. The pattern is in excellent shape, the original was kept in a plastic sleeve and I made a working copy of the pattern to use when I stitched him.

I hope you are having a great weekend and thanks so much for visiting!!!