Yesterday when I was looking at The Scarlett House charts in my collection and I came across this:
Honestly, I looked at the cross stitched piece and I thought . . what is this? That house looks so pretty and is stitched so well, I thought maybe someone else stitched it! Then I remembered stitching it and why I put it away. I wrote this blog post when I last worked on it in the middle of June.
If you look at the chart, the urn/vase of flowers under the house looks totally off center but in reality, the house wasn’t centered. I centered the house then I thought . . I don’t really like those trees on the sides of the house and the verse on the sides of the urn just don’t seem to fit. I am not criticizing the designer – it just doesn’t look right to me but I love the blue house so I’m going to finish it.
I considered ending it after the blue house, adding borders and being done.
Now, I’m thinking I might come up with a smaller vase of flowers or even a fruit bowl and stitch those on either side of the house, then stitch a line of some small design, then maybe come up with a verse to put towards the bottom, then put Ellen Carr’s name, the date and my initials and the year, then finish with the final border.
Since Scarlett September doesn’t start til September 1, I may spend the rest of this week charting some possible motifs that I can use.
If you have any ideas about how I could change this up, I’d be happy to hear them!
Dorothy Matheson says
I like the trees (Ok I really like trees). I also like the urn but the flowers are too bright so need to be a bit smaller and the two redish ones need to be different color. . The verse is OK to me. But changing it is fine also. Such a pretty piece.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
My understanding is that the verse wasn’t on the original sampler but was added so I don’t feel obligated to keep it as it is.
Ginny says
I think Jo Kramer did this chart and changed some things on it. Why don’t you reach out to her.
Nancy Hardgrove says
I would probably replace the trees with something from Brenda Keyes’ motifs source book. I’d leave off the urn and flowers at the bottom, and I would use a different verse. I love the colors, the house, and the border, but the sampler really does look awkward as it is. I actually like those trees, too, but not on this chart. Unfortunately I won’t be stitching it because I signed up for that club too late to get this one. I’m glad you are going to finish it, that house is really pretty.
Donna in KS says
I like the trees. I would make both the same, either with the hanging fruit or without. If you don’t like the flowers and poem, find something you do like that will fit and I’m sure you’ll end up with a beautiful piece!