Wednesday, March 16, 2011

A Primitive Feeling

Lisa Roswell of The Primitive Needle was a delightful person - even though I never actually met her, I corresponded with her on several occasions and she was always friendly and gracious.  I loved following her blog, and was proud to count her among our followers here at A Note of Friendship.  Her sudden death was such a shock to everyone who knew her.   So many people had just seen her at Market where she'd unveiled her newest designs.  Like her other pieces, they were lively, quirky and quintessentially "Lisa"!  Her voice and her art will be sorely missed.

I have been toying with a quirky idea of my own for some time - a Dark Alphabet - one strongly influenced by the Hallowe'en trend we've seen over the last few years.  So here is my first letter in the Dark Alphabet series - a series dedicated to the memory of Lisa Roswell.

A is for Apple

To download a free copy of this chart click here.  After a new posting comes along, you will be able to find this chart under "Freebies" and as new letters are added, we will keep the listing up to date.

As you can see by the fact that we don't have a proper picture, I haven't stitched this yet, but I have decided to do it on Lakeside Linens' Vintage Tarnished Silver on 28 count.  I'm doing all the letters  together on one piece, for a spooktacular Hallowe'en Alphabet, and I think that linen will be perfect.  I've suggested DMC colors for you, but I urge you choose your own and really personalize this piece.  I'll be stitching with variegated silks, I think - I always love the truly antique look that gives...

I hope you like the Dark Alphabet.  Now, what shall we do for B - Beelzebub?  Brimstone?  Hmmmmm

14 comments:

  1. I love the idea of the alphabet. When you are stitching yours are you going vertical or horizontal. I was thinking of horizontal as a bell pull. Do you think that a 40 ct would do? I haven't yet looked at the chart count.
    I like the idea of beelzebub. I think it would go great with the adam and eve theme of the "A".

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  2. Hi, Rebecca - oh, I think that will look really cool as a long bell pull... I am thinking more of a traditional sampler shape - 4 across for 6 rows leaving two for personalization, which I will do flanking the last two letters at the bottom.

    40 count over two is a great idea - according to my calculations, that will be 3 3/4" wide, by just about 2 1/2 vertically for each letter, making your whole piece about 65 inches long - hmmmm - maybe you'd better do two abreast...

    Beelzebub calls to me, too, but don't tell anyone, hahaha.

    Julie

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  3. Thank you for your freebie:) what a nice gesture for Lisa's family.

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  4. What a fun idea! Love it! Thank you for the chart! Beelzebub -- oooohhh cool!

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  5. Oh wow, thanks! What a neat idea. Lisa was such a special woman and this is a wonderful way to remember her.

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  6. Hi Julie! I've been listening to you talk about this in group and I'm so glad to see it finally realized. take your time and have fun with it. Brimstone gets my vote as one of my favorite Pendergast books is called Brinstone...just saying. love ya'
    babs

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  7. What a fabulously cool idea! I love it!!!

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  8. I am so sorry that the link on "here" didn't work properly when I uploaded the blog post - I don't know which gremlins got into the mix, but when I find out, I'll be sure to get rid of 'em! Meanwhile, I've fixed the link, and you can also click on the picture to get to the chart.

    Sorry for the mixup.

    Julie

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  9. I think this is a great idea, especially to honor Lisa and her sense of humor.

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  10. What a great idea. I haven't had a lot of time to stitch lately, but I plan on stitching Halloween stuff this year. Can't wait to see what you come up with for the rest.

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  11. Hi, I've found you via Susan at the Yellow Flower Meadow (a great blog http://yellowflowermeadow.blogspot.com/)
    Thank you so much for starting this alphabet. I'm currently stitching Lisa's By the Light of the Moon as part of a FB SAL. I'd love to join in with this one as well.
    Freebies are great for me as often we can't get the USA charts here in UK.
    How often do you think you'll produce a new letter?
    Thanks once again.

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  12. Jo - thank you for pointing us to that pretty blog! It's lovely - and I always like to see what "everyone" is stitching!

    Glad you like the freebies - we'll be trying to get these all out in less than a year, which means one every two weeks or so... We'll do our best, but of course, the best laid plans...

    Julie

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  13. I've just tea-dyed a piece of evenweave for this project! Just checking the dimensions - 26 letters plus 2 blank for personalisation = 28 so 4 wide by 7 tall. So 300 x 371 (assuming I stitche the border round each square). On 28 count over 1 = 10.7 inches x 13.25 inches.

    I figure if I stitch the border over 2 to grid it up it'll be quicker! Then one square every couple of weeks qualifies it as several "smalls" rather than 1 big project which would break my New Year's Resolution!!

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  14. Jo, that's brilliant - I love the idea of stitching up the borders ahead of time to delineate the space and over two for quicker stitching!

    Look for the next one later today....

    Julie

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