Rosamonde Sampler began as a very small idea. I had a purse that I loved...honestly, I wish I had a photo of it. But it seems a few years ago I was not the shutterbug I am now...so no photo.
I did make a quick sketch of it. (Of course:) A small truth about me: if I love something (or someone) I will sketch it, usually over and over. It would be very easy to tell what I was "loving" by flipping through my sketchbooks.
Anyway, I wanted to stitch a small little fob to hang on the handle of my purse. I was thinking my initial on one side and a small flower on the other side.
That's where the pink flowers in Rosamonde Sampler started and it grew from there...as usual. It was going to be in golds and greens, since my purse was a beautiful shade of mustard.
But I had this beautiful piece of linen in this dusty, faded rose and once I decided on that the rest came together beautifully.
I originally planned to finish it as a pillow, but I found this frame at Hobby Lobby, which I think is "perfection" for this design.
I added a strip of a green fabric from my stash to the bottom of the design so it would fit the frame and a velvet ribbon trim from Dames of the Needle called "Victorian Wallpaper".
I prefer to lace my designs whenever I can, so that's what I did here. I used just a few tiny dots of Roxanne's Glue-Baste-It to the ribbon to hold it straight. Then I wrapped the ends of the ribbon around to the back and stitched them down.
The frame was actually an easel-back. I peeled that off and added my own sawtooth hanger for hanging on the wall. A paper backing to keep out the dust and...c'est fini!
I'm Robin, the designer behind October House. You've found my blog, where I ramble on about stitching and sewing and anything else that catches my fancy!
I love quiet colors, gentle stitches and making things by hand.
"My best friend is a person who will give me a book I have not read." - Abraham Lincoln
