I have been trying to finish pieces and I have two completed pieces to share.  The first is a small bargello box.  This was the September meeting topic for the Lake Michigan Sampler Guild.  I started the piece in the meeting and finished it Sunday evening at home.  I had a choice of colors but picked purple so I could give it to my daughter.

The second finish is Eve by Lori Markovic of La-D-Da.  I used Needlepoint Silk on a piece of 40 count linen.  The colors are beautiful on the green background.  I love samplers with Adam and Eve on them or depictions of the Garden of Eden.  This Eve and Eden remind me of C.S. Lewis's descriptions of Venus in his book Perelandra rather than a Biblical description of Eden.

Name tag and trip to Scarlet Letter

I finished my name tag for the Lake Michigan Sampler Guild last night.  The threads are a combination of Olde Willow linen, Vicki Clayton silk, and Crescent Colors cotton floss.  I adapted a Guild Anniversary Pincushion design for the name tag.  Today, I went to the open house at The Scarlet Letter near Sullivan, Wisconsin.  It was a nice day for a drive despite all of the dire weather forecasts and I was able to admire samplers and hooked rugs and shop for as long as I wanted.  I came home with two sampler kits and a chart and copies of Amy Mitten's Autopsy of the Montenegrin Stitch and the new book about Sweet Bags by Jacqui Carey.  I also had an opportunity to admire the multicolored alpacas before I left.