Long Dog Samplers

That mighta been me! I apologize right now, because I know how totally addictive they are!

I have finished St Sylvestre, have both Bagatelle and Paradigm Lost started, and St Germaine and Mouline Rouge in stash.

Topping my wish list is Plight of Fancy, with Renaissance close behind!

Caryn

Caryn, like Margaret, I'm curious as to how good the charts are. What has been your experience after working from them?

Mavia

There are mistakes, but since in general the patterns are repetitive, the mistakes are not that hard to spot before you stitch them! lol

So far I haven't worked on any with more than one color of floss, those might be harder to spot the errors in.

The one complaint I've heard is that they aren't really good about giving you an idea of how much floss you'll need. She did try to give a ballpark with Paradigm Lost, which I appreciated since I choose to use Gentle Arts Sampler Threads in Royal Purple. I'm not a big stickler about dye lots on a spot sampler, but it is nice to have an idea how much to order at once!

Caryn

Hush!!!!! Dare I come in with a very quiet Hear! Hear! ?

-- Jim Cripwell. From Canada. Land of the Key Bird. This creature of doom flies over the frozen tundra in winter, shrieking its dreaded call; "Key, Key, Key, Key rist but it's cold!!"

LOL!! I was waiting for your little whisper, Jim!!

Gillian

Would it burst your bubble to know that it isn't a major complaint I have, but one I heard from some folks on AOL who ordered one chart and then starting to whine?

Since I work mostly with DMC, it's not a huge worry for me. I probably wouldn't have bought the GAST without the use estimate she provided, but since she did I figured why not?

Caryn

Thanks Caryn!....Mavia

I'm working on Plight of Fancy now and I love it! The colors are just great. I've also finished St. Flovier. You can see them both in my "Works in Progress" album:

like the charts (they are clear and in black and white), but on St. Flovier the stitch count given on the front of the chart was incorrect. I stitched the number of stitches given for the top border (fortunately just a straight line of stitches), then started the next band. It was at least 10 stitches shorter than the top line. I finally just stitched the whole sampler and did the surrounding line last. When I started Plight of Fancy I did the same thing...I didn't even count so I don't know if the stitch count given is correct. That said, this is the most fun I've had stitching in quite some time! And while the piece is large, it's all just plain cross stitch...no blending or different stitches.

Lynn > A curse on whomever gave the address for Long Dog Samplers!!!

lrdavis wrote:

Lynn, What a great idea! I'm so literal minded with things, I would never have thought to do that. I have Plight in my stash as well. I'm saving up to get Vikki Clayton's silk conversion for it. I'm currently working on Bagatelle and St. Germaine. Like Caryn said, I think my one complaint is not really having a good idea how much floss I'll need for either one. "Bags" isn't a problem, since I'm doing it in white, and I got the overdye I'm using for the netting effect on sale at my LNS, so I bought all they had, just to "safe". Since St. Germaine is smaller, I chose a Needlepoint Inc. silk to use, and since it's a solid color, we imagine if I do need more, color matching won't be a problem. I can't wait to see progress images of Caryn's Bagatelle, since she stitches from the bottom up, and I stitch from the bottom down. I read on the Legacy EZboard that Bagatelle does have some errors, but I'm not sure just how accurate that is, since the other thing I read is that while it LOOKS like a mirror image chart, it's not. Another minor complaint I'd read about is the lack of clear directions. My one big question with Bagatelle was regarding the 'netting' stitches, and since Caryn's seen the original model in person, she's been able to answer that. I looked at your gallery of images and wow! Plight does look good! So does St. Flovier. The colors are just lovely. I keep eyeing the colored version of St. Sylvester on Long Dog's website with an eye towards doing it in a similar way, but I'm so leery of relying on my own color sense. Gak.. I'm such a huge fan of these designs I could run on.. darn Caryn for showing them to me in the first place... LOL Tegan

And I know it's bad form, etc., but I can't stand that I let the cat distract me and didn't catch that I actually stitch from the TOP down.. Chen was doing the "pay attention to me" dance in front of the monitor so I missed it. Tegan

I missed it too!! LOL What a mind-picture it makes, stitching from the bottom down!! The project I am working on, among others, is a Claire Murray kit. I am finding I have about 1.5-2 inches around the edge!!! Grrrrrrrrr!! I think it may land up being a pillow!! Gillian

No, it would not "burst my bubble" at all. I have been a scientist for as long as I can remember, and believe that some things are so "right" that eventually they will become commonplace. I now have enough information to convince myself that for *any* pattern, *anyone* *could* find out how much floss they need to complete the project for each type and color of thread, within plus or minus 5 percent. We see messages all the time about people running out of thread, sometimes with really disasterous results. Why others do not want to avail themselves of something that I would find to be ***EXTREMELY*** useful, I have no idea. But then, I believe in "just wars". (VBG)

-- Jim Cripwell. From Canada. Land of the Key Bird. This creature of doom flies over the frozen tundra in winter, shrieking its dreaded call; "Key, Key, Key, Key rist but it's cold!!"

Jim,

I know you have worked out your personal usage...# sts from a single skein of floss.

Have you ever posted it anywhere?

I know some folks might fight it useful for trying to calculate their own floss needs for projects like the Long Dog Samplers.

Caryn

Gill, you can always sew some muslin around the edges to add the width you need for framing. I've done it a few times....

Joan

That had crossed my mind. However it is on blue Aida, and is a cat, bird and flowers. Not exactly my cup of tea, but I bought it on sale some vacation. It would look quite spiffy as a pillow. I would have to buy some fabric, and make the back, and maybe a 2-inch border around the front! It isn't finished yet, so no point rushing the planning!

This actually shows the needlepoint kit done as a pillow. Mine is cross-stitch, though.

Proof that I need both spell check and coffee before posting....

Change it to "find it useful" not Fight it useful! rofl

Caryn

The operative word is "could". It *CANNOT* be done at the moment, because designer/publishers do not provide enough information. I *cannot* even do it properly for my own computer generated patterns. I know *how* to do it, but Pattern Maker does not provide the right information on the symbols (*.csv format), so that I can do the arithmetic. Scott Horton is simply not interested in providing output in the *.csv format. *However*. When the Board of Longtitude was convened in, IIRC, 1714, it offered three prizes; one of 20,000 pounds if longtitude could be measured to one quarter of a degree; 10,000 pounds for half a degree; or

5,000 pounds for one degreee. Estimates much poorer than plus or minus 5 percent, but still quite useful, could be made today, *IF* designer/publishers would provide, for example, a symbol count.

-- Jim Cripwell. From Canada. Land of the Key Bird. This creature of doom flies over the frozen tundra in winter, shrieking its dreaded call; "Key, Key, Key, Key rist but it's cold!!"

Coffee may have helped, but not the spellchecker!!! After all, fight

*is* a word! LOL!

Joan

Joan

I know, but I was lacking both, got caught up in fixing a misspelling, completely missed a word I got entirely wrong! rofl

I think my fingers have a mind of their own now....they seem to choose words or tenses for me, without any input from my brain!

I'm sure some will say this explains a lot!

Caryn