First part is ready

Part one is ready except for the brown line. Linen is vintage grey and the threads are so far DMC colors. Waiting for part two. This is great fun.

Part 1 Finished

Hi, everyone!  I'm Linda from western Wisconsin.  I'm a newbie here, and this is my first SAL.  I'm not a new stitcher, though, having done some sort of stitching since childhood.  We won't get into that, however.

This is part 1 finally finished.  I started late because I joined late and then had to wait for my fabric to arrive.  It has, obviously, and I have just completed this today.  It is stitched on 28ct Sterling from Picture This Plus (my favorite LNS for fabric) using Donna's charted colors, except for the yellow, which is changed so it would show up better on this material.  I'm stitching 1 over 1.  Now, that it's done, I'm anxious to continue with Part 2!  Happy to be here!

Finally!

Using 20 ct white aida from Zweigart that I dyed blue and a mixed bag of floss.  Mostly DMC and Victorian Motto hand dyed with  a few other brands of over dyed mixed in.  Am using only one strand as two looked too bulky!  Changed the pinks to corals for the roses and changed all the greens to less yellowed colors.

Finally Started!

  I got the first part finished just in time for the 2nd!! Oh well, at least I am up to date, so far!!  LOL
Can't say that about some other things I'm working on!

40 ct. Lakeside Pecan butter
w/ called for DMC

  I love the colors Donna chose for this so I haven't changed any out yet, just the sun, which I thought would look good in an over-dyed.  I'm not very happy with what I chose so I will probably change it out at some point.  Also waiting to stitch the arched line until I am ready to roll the scroll frame.
   Such a fun stitch!  I can't wait for the next part!!  Laura

add me to the hat

Please put my name into the hat for the drawing.

I think I figured out how to post!!!!!!!!! :)))))))

Panel 1 is completed!!! And I LOVE it, immodest of a "prim girl" color and styles but something about this piece called to me and I've dnjoyedtjis month so much.

I stitched on cream Lugana, 28 ct over 1 with called for DMC

Thank you Donna for this treasure

At long last stitching!

I finally got top make a start on my Harbor.  And you know what?-- She does bring great serenity.  :)  

I am using a cream (generic term -- I'll have to check the label on that linen pile again, sorry), 32-count linen and stitching over-2.  I intend for the most part to use the called for threads, but I m changing the roses to red flosses (a pair of Anchors and a DMC) and I will probably change the water to Belle Soies (or whatever their new name is... I keep forgetting).  So far, so good, but I will admit to chanting continually in the back of my mind.... "Please Lord let me not have miscounted... Please Lord....."

I finally had time to photograph my progress and get this posted!  The linen I am using is 32-ct Vintage Country Mocha.  I changed up the colors a bit on the roses to resemble one of my favorites in my garden ... "Mon Cheri".  Anxiously awaiting our next installment!

Finally started

The linen, Sweigart Belfast vintage grey, arrived yesterday. I like the colour. A few stitches before bedtime.

Photo share from Marcia and Diane

This is a message from Marcia

Here is my completed month! Fun! 

Stitching on 18 ct. Lite oatmeal fiddler
Used DMC called for except - 

 Strawberry fields, weeks, medium 
Roses - Tea rose, gentle arts, light

Sun's rays - Honeysuckle, weeks, light
Cranberry, gentle arts, dark


Hope these changes will work with what is to come! Enjoying having a large project divided into monthly goals. 
Curry, weeks, dark



Thanks, Marcia




*****************************************************************************

This is from Diane
 Here is my finish for part 1 of your beautiful sampler. I am stitching it on Zweigart's Vintage Country Mocha, 28 count, and using the recommended DMC threads. Even though the picture doesn't show it, the sun shows up fine on the fabric and is not washed out. Looking forward to part 2!
Diane

Struggling to find the right fabric

Hi everyone--

Nice to see all the pictures of your starts. I'm struggling to find the right fabric for my piece.

I want to lightly paint the sky section of the fabric so it is different from the rest of the ground, but I can't find a fabric that I like the base color enough to use. I wan't something that will look good with the rose border, but will also look nice underneath the painted sky section. I'd love to use a green, but whoever heard of a green-blue sky? White is too stark for me, and I haven't yet found brown that I like, or that isn't too dark.

Part of the issue is that the fabric needed is so big. There aren't any stores near me that sell pieces large enough for this piece, and I don't like to order online for stuff like this, as the fabric in person can sometimes be very different from the online picture. It's a lot of money to spend on a piece of fabric I might never use.

Yesterday I tried tea and coffee dyeing some fabric I had in my stash, but the tea dye came out too red and the coffee dye didn't get dark enough.

I'll keep looking, and will be keeping an eye out on the colors you all are using on your pieces. Maybe something will inspire me!

Hoping to get started soon, otherwise I will be WAY behind...

Carol S.

Finally started :))

I actually finished my other stitching obligation last night and started on SH with such excitement!! I've tried & tried to post s pic of my fab and fibers and it just won't let me. I'm so happy to start I figured I'd just post anyway. Any ideas from people on how to post your pictures? I seem to be able to comment and post but I can't get a picture attached :/

Part 1 is Finished

I finished Part 1 of  the Serenity Harbor sampler.  I used the recommended floss and it is stitched on 32 count golden sand linen.

Michele from Boca Raton, FL

dont panic

Dont panic if you try to find "Serenity Harbor Sampler Continued" blog, it is still there but has a name change, Here is the link  We have 3 blogs for the project :), We have so many people that want to blog and I am happy to add another but it will take me time, I am working on it and will send out more invites to more people on Thursday. So don't panic, everything is still there., but it is just inconvenient to re-link to the new address, sorry.

I'm fickle!

Well, I'm starting over!  Wasn't happy with my natural aida so I am trying something new.  Have ordered good white aida and am going to dye it a very light grey blue with a hint of green.  have changed my colors to warmer ones too!  Glad there's not an abundance of stitching to do this month!  Love seeing everyone's progress!

A fabric photo from Christine

This is from Christine she finally got her fabric in and has decided on two silks from Mo's sale for the roses. The fabric is 36 count "Sterling" from picture this plus. She can't wait to start stitching!! I think the fabric looks beautiful

Block One Finish

Well I finally finished Block 1 and have to say I enjoyed every stitch on this.  I am so looking forward to Block 2.  I think it took me a little longer than some of the ladies because as much as I wanted this to be done and posted, I was stalling the finish as I am going to be really eager for the next block.  I also love seeing everyone's posts and how all of us are doing what we want. I want to use a few overdyed threads and love thinking of ideas for those too.

Anne L's progress

 I'm making slow but steady progress on the sampler.  My fabric is 32 ct light examplar from Lakeside Linens.  I'm stitching  2 over 2 using Donna's suggested colors.  I should have part 1 done by the time part 2 arrives.  :-)

Happy stitching!
Anne L
 

fast stitchers

wow, I am still on the sun.  I am so impressed at how many have gotten the first chart done.  I love reading the blog every morning.  Thank you Donna, I hope we don't make you crazy with all our questions.  Hugs to all

Serenity Harbor News

I just sent out emails with this same letter but I wanted to make sure everyone could see the news.

Serenity Update 1/5/2015

Just an update on this first month.

Is your PDF Missing?

I sent out the PDF charts early this month as a Thank You and a Happy New Year but they will be going to your email boxes on the 3^rd of every month. I do have some people that have not received theirs yet and I have gotten questions about that, I have misspelled some email addresses, so if you do not have yours yet please check your spam folder or email me and I will check the Adobe program to see what went wrong.

Be Patient With The Mail, this was the 1^st time :)

Since this was the first month, we have so many shops that have joined us and it was a very hectic Holiday season for the post office there a few shops that have not received their mailed charts yet. Please be patient they are on the way. For February and all of the remainder months the charts will be going out to the shops approx a week before the PDF’s are emailed on the 3^rd. This will give time for the postal system, and I will ask shops not to give charts out until the 3^rd so we will all be the same. I will not be able to transfer your account from a shop to my PDF list because this had already started, the billing is in place, and shops have made a commitment.  

Blogger Invites

One more thing; we have 2 blogs running and many have accepted the invite. This means you are able to post pictures and communicate with others about your progress. If you are not going to post but just accepted the invite please delete your membership. I still have room for people to join on the second blog but it is almost full. I do not want to start a 3^rd blog. If you are not blogger savvy and would like me to post your pictures for you please email them to me with a note about them and I will gladly share them for you :)

No Blogger invite Yet!!

If you have not received an invite for blogger and you will participate with comments and post please email me, I will find you on the list and send you an invite. We have approximately 35 invites that have no response so I will be deleting those to make room for 35 others.

So a BIG thank you to all and email if you have questions

Have a good week

donna

Panel one is done.

Have just finished the first panel - lovely project!  I'm using 35ct Lambswool linen, over one with silk threads.   The palate was done by Cathe Re at Needle in a Haystack and I am using the darkest/brightest colour choice for the roses.  Have spent a day or so experimenting with many variations on rose colours but in the end I liked this one the best.

An update from Debby

She got a bunch of unknown evenweave for a great price recently. While it's a bit lighter than 612, she still wanted to try doing some type of overdye process to use on the sampler. She got some spray fabric dye in blue, tested it and then went for it. It turned a rather purple color on the fabric and she's not sure if it's the color of the fabric or the unknown fiber content, but we think it looks good - interesting anyway.

She's hoping to go through her over dye threads and find colors for all or at least some of the colors used in Part 1. She's going to try to use stash as much as she can, so color changes may be a frequent activity throughout the year's work on this sampler!!! What fun - She doesn't normally do things like this.
But I think it is very creative,
Good luck Debby and looking for more of your progress
donna

Rose color changes

Decided I would like redder/rosy roses so am using Gentle Arts Cranberry for the darkest, Weeks Strawberry Fields for the medium and Gentle Arts Tea Rose for the lightest color. Think I have enough. Please keep in mind, these were all purchased a long time ago so may be different if purchased today. Will send a picture when I have one rose stitched.

Finished Part 1

Luckily I got to stitch quite a bit over New Year's while my husband watched football games.  I finished up Part 1 yesterday and I have to say, I am extremely pleased with my fabric choice.  It is a bit unconventional for this pattern, but I love it!

32 ct Linen from Silkweavers, stitched 2 over 2.

Some info about the grass areas

In case you are looking to change some of the grass shades by using some over dyes, here is the list for the grass in DMC that I designed with. 

Grass  (starting from the bottom up)

Shades in the foreground down by the large house and lady under the tree:

730

732

733

734

Next layer of grass above the 730’s and to the right of the scene are:

3051

3052

The center pathway is 829 and to the left of the scene is 832 and 833

The islands and grass areas around the water are:

829

832

830

Here is a little of my work in progress on Serenity Harbor.  I should have just stitched today instead of making some soup in the crockpot but it is so cold and rainy here and making some soup sounded like a good idea.  I would much rather stitch.  I am loving this already and just have fallen in love with these colors.   I am stitching mine on 40 ct. Parchment by Weeks Dyeworks with mostly DMC and a few overdyed threads.  I find myself looking forward to stitching on this and will have the first block done soon.  

The first photo share from Nita

This is from Nita, she sent me the photo to share for her. She is stitching it over one on Lugana Summer Khaki 

Thank you , just beautiful :)

And ME again

If you have ordered the fabric from Fabric Flair please be advised that the cut for the 28ct is 45 x 17 

The  stitched count size works out to be 12.21 x 39.80

Shops usually add 3 inches some only 2 inches extra on each side.

So Fabric Flair has added 2.40 inches extra on the width and 2.6 on the length for each side. You should be fine if you measure down to start and find the center,  some people do prefer more extra fabric and some are all set with 2 inches, so Fabric Flair is in the middle of the road with these cuts.

Since this is such a long project it would be advisable to finish the edges so they do not fray to much as time goes on. 

donna  

   

A bit of info from ME

I was just asked form Carol about the size for the sky area because she was thinking of maybe painting some of the area or using a different media for a special effect. 

Ok,  I put my thinking cap on :)

The sky starts with the sun at stitch #29 and ends with stitch #79, That will leave 50 stitches for the sky and you can figure from there depending on what fabric count you will use how many inches; but don't forget that around the sun the outlined back-stitch area does curve around.  

An other alternative to add to the sky area is to use a 1/2 cross stitch in different areas to give more shading. Some areas with 1 strand of floss and maybe other areas with 2 or 3 strands.

 I am thinking of coloring in some sky areas too because the sun is not standing out enough for me on the grey from Fabric Flair. I don't want to take out the stitches and change floss so I will maybe do some back-stitching or ? (still thinking)

AND one more thing note: I have only used cross stitches with some French knots and back-stitching so  you will be able to stitch this design over (1) because I have no other specialty stitches.

donna

I am excited to get a start on this sampler. I will go through my fabric stash this weekend and pull threads and hope to start by Sunday. I can't wait to see how everyone's will look on different fabrics and thread changes. Always exciting to start a  new project!  Cheryl

Good start

Sorry, I finally figured out how to post here! Tech-challenged!!

Was able to start stitching this afternoon. Using suggested DMC floss colors and 18 ct. Light oatmeal aida cloth.

Excited! Getting back into cross stitch after knitting for a few years!

no chart

Hi Donna, I still don't see it, I checked my spam not there either. 

No Chart???

Has there been a problem with the delivery/sending of the first chart? Haven't received my e-mail with a pdf.

Did the charts go out?

Good Morning Donna and Happy New Year.

Did the first charts go out?  I am so excited I have my Lagana 28ct ready and waiting.  Have a safe and healthy New Year.

Nancy

Happy New Year To Everyone

Happy New Year to everyone who will be stitching Serenity Harbor with me this year!   What a fun way to begin the new year and so much to look forward to.  This is such a beautiful sampler and it is going to be so much fun seeing everyone's progress.  I am going to stitch today and ignore the cold and wet weather outside. Thank you Donna for all you have done to make this happen!    Debby

Happy New Year!

I have just joined this SAL, received Part 1 this morning, and am excited to begin stitching.  I will be using a 26ct evenweave, but haven't decided whether to do it over 1 or over 2.  I'll be using DMC floss with maybe a few overdyed's thrown in.  This is my first SAL, so this should be fun!