WIPGO Week 4 – Mute But Not Silent

My final project for January’s WIPGO numbers is Mute But Not Silent by Amy Mitten. I was introduced to the Tudor Rose Sampler Guild via this class Workshop in September 2021. It is not a reproduction sampler, but is designed in the style of Dutch Hindeloopen samplers from the 17th century. The threads are tudor silks that Amy dyes herself under the brand name “Fibers to Dye For,” and they’re all fabulously named with murder mystery names. She also has some threadpacks for Hands Across the Sea, Blackbird Designs, and Scarlett House samplers if you’re looking for excuses If I had a lot more money, I’d be buying ALL of the floss just for the names!

The motifs in the sampler represent clues in a murder mystery story that was included with the chart and read in the class. Amy also showed slides and some photos of images that inspired the motifs, giving context to what objects were, what they represented, or how they were used in everyday life at that time.

It was a very interesting class – fun to learn some history behind a sampler region I knew nothing about. It also was my first time learning how to do hemstitching and cutting threads (eek!! heart attack!!!). I have survived the panic about taking scissors to the fabric, but with a little more practice, I think I will be okay.

I’ve worked on this a bit here and there, but it’s a piece I really need to sit and focus on due to the heavy counting – so it hasn’t been a priority of mine in recent months. This is a longer-term project. I don’t have it planned for completion in 2023. Maybe 2024, but likely this one is going to be a couple more years out because the detail work is pretty intense. It’s gorgeous though. I will be happy to one day finish it and get it up on the wall.

For this month, I think I have a miscount in that green ring I’m starting at the bottom. I’m not going to work on picking that out just now. Instead, I’m going to continue to work on those two large H’s at the top, since they have a bunch of embellishment left to go. I really should finish each motif individually before moving onto another one!