Designing a Cross-Stitched Sampler

One of my greatest passions is counted cross-stitch. I love to create samplers, and I have found that designing a sampler is one of the most interesting and satisfying ways to display my cross-stitching. Being one who bores easily, I found that samplers are a way to do the craft I love without getting caught up in the monotony of using the same color of floss or the same pattern over and over and over. And besides, the recipient is always pleased about receving a personalized gift such as a smampler that I made just for them. The latest sampler was one that I created for my mother-in-law. Every year, we give her something that is dated and personalized from the grandchildren...that usually is in the form of a sweatshirt or wallhanging with handprints and names on it. Normally, that is fine, and she does love receiving those. But recently our family moved about 1500 miles away, which makes it rather difficult to get the seven grandchildren together to make such a gift. So, I decided to take it upon myself to create a sampler, which would not only be dated and would include the names of all seven grandkids, but would be something she could keep forever without real wear and tear (like a sweatshirt would get). I began by flipping through my fairly large collection of Aida cloth and selected a beautiful wisteria-colored piece. After that, I went through my floss and decided on a color family to use, which would both complement and contrast the material. I chose the more muted tones, ranging from one end of the spectrum to the other. When I was satisfied with my choices, I moved on to the "Where do I start" phase! To begin with, I listed all the grandchildren's names on a piece of paper...that would help avoid me getting frustrated after doing a lot of stitching and then realizing that I'd missed a name, after it was too late. That would potentially be a nasty scene, so I didn't take any chances. Also on that same sheet, I jotted down a saying or two that were appropriate to the mood of the sampler. I also wrote my initials (typically one lists the initials of the stitcher on the project) and the year of completion. Having done that, here came the fun!!! I started by browsing through some cross-stitch books and leaflets which I've collected over the years. I picked out some beautiful alphabets and numbers as well. I started with an alphabet in the upper left hand area of the Aida, and proceeded to stitch the entire alphabet. This would set the size of the sampler, and it would give me some guidelines to follow as I progressed through the piece. I followed by adding a name here and there, either vertically or horizontally, randomly throwing in an ABC here and a 123 there. I also stitched in the nicknames the kids call their grandmother, a qutotation, and my initials and the year of completion.

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