Smith Sampler

At least I called it the right name. It will always be Smith House to me.

Before I get into this . . if anyone looks, I changed the projects on my Projects 2021 page and put them in alphabetical order. I had originally planned to list them in the order in which I started them, thinking I might shame myself into not letting projects linger and not get finished but then with just a few projects, I realized they were harder to find. If I mentioned that I’m working on Smith Sampler (which isn’t listed yet because I haven’t started it) and someone wanted to see what fabric or floss I’m using, it would be hard to find once I get 15 or 20 projects started (like next week!). No . . I’m not going to do that. Stop laughing!

OK . . so the Smith Sampler chart and the floss arrived yesterday. This was my first purchase from The Attic and it’s kinda like a rite of passage to have something from The Attic. Every floss tuber I watch starts talking about The Attic . . Carolyn and Jean . . and then they stop and wipe away their drool, and continue with the floss tube. Now I have something that came from The Attic.

This is 40 sound Woodland Newcastle Linen and would possibly work.

I wish I had started stitching and stash building when it was easy to find linen! It is frustrating now to find what I want.

I keep comparing 40 count pieces I have, as well as 36 count to see if I like any better than Woodland.

I went back to the linen used in the piece on the cover. Therein lies part of the problem. It was stitched on 46 count Vintage Autumn Gold but they go on to say that the 46 count is a good bit lighter than the 40 count and lower counts. I saw that after I found a fabric that closely matched the 40 count Vintage Autumn Gold online and I was thinking it looked so much darker than the sample. They recommend 40 count Vintage Mountain Rue which is impossible to find so, once again, I got out all the 36 and 40 count linen I have here.

This is Legacy Linen, which I have but the one I have has way more splotches of color.

This is the Legacy I have. I like splotches and I think I might use this one . . but I don’t know for sure.

This is Vintage Meadow Rue they’re recommending.

This one is 40 count Light Mocha, which I also have.

The photos below were taken on the Light Mocha.

All except one of the floss colors show up.

The lightest color shows up with one strand. Great! The only one that doesn’t isn’t used anywhere except where it is surrounded by other floss colors so it will work fine.

Here are the Legacy and Light Mocha together.

I had to laugh going back and proofreading this post. I’ve put a total of 8 pieces of fabric in the project bag, one at a time, thinking that’s what I would use, then changed my mind. I need to close my eyes and pick one!

At this moment, I think I would go with the splotchy. I’m putting both of them in the project bag. Looking at the two together with the floss on them, I do like the splotchy fabric better.

I’m not starting this for at last a month . . or tomorrow . . who knows what I’ll feel like doing tomorrow but at least or this evening, I don’t have to decide. But . . you see this isn’t always a quick and easy process.