Another update

Here is Mary Wigham so far. I don't know how much more time I will be able to spend on her before Christmas but in the New Year I intend to get this finished ASAP.

Welcome

Hello and welcome to the Mary Wigham SAL for UK stitchers only. If you would like to participate in this gorgeous free design by the talented Jaqueline Holdsworth then you can email me at hazelhenry@hotmail.com stating "Mary Wigham" as the subject. I will then send you an invite so you can post pictures to this blog. More details about this SAL can be found here. If you are from another country then there will be other blogs set up for your specific country. See the Needleprint blog for details of who your leader is.

There is no pressure on completing this in a set time or working on it every month. However, as there are limited places on the blog, please only ask for an invite if you are willing to post updates regularly.

Look forward to meeting you.

Hazelx

Visiting Harrogate

Hi

I'm attending Harrogate Stitch and Knit on the 19th. Just wondering if any other Mary Wigham stitchers will be there and want to meet up.

Jayne

Sorry for not being around

Just to say a big "sorry" that I haven't been around very much on this blog. If I am honest poor Mary has not had a look in these last few months. My aim is to complete Beatrix within the year and then I can give my full attention to Mary. The Beatrix SAL has taken most of my attention this year and I probably "bit off more than I could chew" so to speak taking on this SAL too. Please forgive me. So from January, I will be posting a lot more regularly. Please someone tell me I am not the only one :-(

I love all the variations I am seeing and there is part of me thinking I might unpick and restart with some other colours. I am stitching the given dmcs over 1 on 25 count and it's tiny!

Anyway, please continue to post as and when you feel to. There is no pressure with this blog - it is just here for our own encouragement and motivation.

Hugsx

Mary's taking part in Quaker Week

Hi all
I'm Meg and a quaker living in Scotland. I started Mary in August but due to health and camera problems I haven't got any pics to post yet. I'm stitching her on 14 count natural Yorkshire aida using the threads from the chart and have now completed 2 sides.
I just wanted to share with you all that this is Quaker Week in the UK and my Mary is visiting Edinburgh Quaker Meeting House every day this week for me to stitch in between the activities. I was asked to take her along as on Friday the day is all about Suffragettes and Suffragists and in particular Eliza Wigham who was an activist up here in Scotland.
Yesterday I was asked to see if I could find out if they were related in anyway. From my brief research last night I know that they are both descendants of Cuthbert Wigham from Cornwood in Northumberland. Our Mary is his grandaughter and I think that Eliza may be his great great grandaughter. But it's a very complicated family tree as Cuthbert had 5 children and, so far, I have found 19 grandchildren!
I hope to get some photos of Mary this week at the Meeting House and I'll let you know if I find the connection. You never know there might even be some Wighams around on Friday to meet Mary!

The sides are finished

This weekend I finished the sides. Here is the latest progress pic.

Mary's travels

Mary visited the Westmoreland Show yesterday.

She didn't see any of the cows or the sheep, and none of the Cumberland wrestlers. Could be because her owner was in the rural crafts tent demonstrating bobbin lace.

Thought I'd take her for the outing though.

Her next outing will be to the 'Not just lace fair' at Pudsey. If any other Mary Wigham stitches are going to be there do you fancy meeting for lunch and comparing stitches?

More progress

Here is my latest progress pic.

Sewing Mary Wigham

This Picture was taken at the top of the Mount, Mount Maunganui, Bay of Plenty. NZ. We have been here since 1973 and this is the first time that I have walked to the top, the scenery is amazing. I just felt that it was a fitting effort for
"Mary".

A quick note

Just wanted to let you all know that I've just posted on my blog about Mary's travels while she was on holiday last week. It's a long post with lots of pics so I don't really want to repeat it here :)

Another Sunday's worth of stitching

Another progress pic. Hopefully next weekend I should get on to the final side.

Mary turns a corner

Having missed a couple of Sundays because of being on holiday, it was nice to pick up Mary again yesterday. I am now going along the bottom. I still need to decide what to do about the initials, I will probably miss them out all together or put the alphabet in their place. Someone else has done the alphabet (photo some where on Needleprint's blog) and it looked quite good.

Halfway through part 4

So far so good ! I am halfway through part 4 but have run out of steam somewhat. Anyway, here's a pic so far.

Cheryl's update

Here's my progress so far. I dont get much time to stitch so im gonna be slow on this one! Im not really keen on that yellow. I enjoy watching all your porjects grow. I love the colour changes some of you have made!

First start - at last !

Have at last made a start on the MW sampler .... doing it in Needlepoint silks on 25 count evenweave

Mary takes a break

This is my progress so far. The Blue Lagoon has now been replaced and a couple more medallions completed. I am now off on holiday for a few weeks so Mary will have to take a break as she is too big to take with me.

Late Starter

Hello from Morecambe.

I only discovered that this SAL was going on 3 weeks ago and so I started well behind most people. I've never done a sampler like this before even though I've been stitching for 30 years and have done a lot of cross stitch.

After seeing some of the beautiful version of the Mary Wigham I was inspired to do my own version and so it's on 28 count linen and I'm using Danish Flower Thread which is a favourite of mine. The choice of colour was straight forward...........it going to hang in my lounge so it's going to be mainly blues. I'm enjoying the challenge so far.

To do an Ackworth sampler is especially special as I was born and grew up close by in Wakefield, and had singing lessons from a man who was at the time head of music at Ackworth School.

Looking forward to seeing other peoples ideas

Jayne

Part #1 complete

I completed part 1 at the weekend, and will probably start the second part tomorrow, tonight we are having a family night out, a meal and then the new Harry Potter movie :-) so no stitching at all for me tonight.

Happy stitching:-)

Spam???

I got an email today from blogger saying that this blog has been marked as a spam blog!!! They had locked it so you can't post. I am hoping it is all resolved now. No idea how that happened. Hope no-one else has had problems posting. Anyway, here's to an easy rest of the month!
xx

Mary Wigham Biscornu

I thought I would show you my latest creation, a biscornu based on two of the motifs from the Mary Wigham sampler. The biscornu is stitched using the fabric and floss colours suggested on the original chart. The centre and corner motifs of the medallion side were taken from elsewhere on the sampler as were the corner motifs on the flower side.

Mary Wigham In The Black Country!

Hello! (waves), I'm Maggie and i live in the West Midlands, hence the title of my post! My apologies for being such a late starter. I have been watching everyone's progress with interest, it's really great how many different interpretation of colours there are out there! My colour choice has come from a couple of the French ladies (gentlemen??) i came across while surfing, i was so drawn to them and they match my house so well that i had to go with them :-)

I'm not sure of the DMC numbers of the French ladies, i just went in search of 2 browns and a red (ish) that went together and i'm liking the effect so far. I know that most of you are wayyyy in front, and i will do my best to catch up but, be warned, i am a s l o w stitcher, lol

Mary in Llangollen ....

... Where Wales welcomes the world!

This weekend, as most weekends, Mary went to Llangollen in North Wales. However this weekend was different as it was the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod.

In the spirit of this truly international SAL I decided to take a picture of Mary sitting on a bench on Platform 2 of Llangollen Station. In the background is the bridge which has been given the title 'one of the wonders of the Welsh world' with flags from other nations flying from it.


This is what she looks like after her international weekend.


Not as much progress as I would have liked but I have now removed and re stitched the medallion done in 'Blue Lagoon' which I think is a big improvement.

2nd Page done

It's too big for the scanner now so I have had to take a photograph and my camera skills are non existant therefore the colours are a bit off. It's coming on nicely and I am really enjoying the sampler.

Finally made a start!

I can't believe how late I am starting this piece - the fabric I ordered took almost two weeks before it was despatched, then went awol in the post, so I had to wait for another to be sent out........ Anyway, finally got my fabric on Thursday, and made a start with the first page. Hoping I'll be catcching you all up soon!

Mary Wighams Sampler

If you add the three xsts which are on the correspondening R/H side it will bring the motive up to the L/H side and it looks quite alright, I do hope that this is clear .Helenah

Part 6

is ready to download. Sorry if I'm a bit late with this one! x

Late Start from me....

I was a late starter doing the Mary Wigham SAL because I had to wait to get to my LNS, and also because of the bandwidth problem to get the pattern, but I have made it here now.
My LNS is not particularly good for larger amounts of fabric, and so I was limited to doing it on the only colour (mushroom) 28ct evenweave they had. I have chosen to do the pattern in 4 DMC colours, Chocolate 779, Coffee 841, Muted pink 152, and Ecru.

I started at the top left motif and then saw that it was not positioned precisely in the corner, so had to frog the motif, and start all over. I was so eager to forge on with the first part of the SAL,
and the fact that I am used to starting in the centre I didn't at first really see that the first motif was not exactly in the corner. Silly me!
I have noticed that the top right motif on the pattern is not symmetrical, probably because there was some damage on the original sampler, so charting was made difficult. I have looked at other ladies pics on here to see what they have done about it, and some have tried to put the pattern right where the flower joins the outer edging, and some have done it exactly as the pattern shows to do it. Now I am in a quandary as to which way to stitch it. Nevertheless I love this pattern.

I think the 'Blue Lagoon' has got to go!

Here is my progress so far.


I had a scary moment with Mary last weekend which you can read about on my main blog here.

Having stitched some more I think I will be frogging the medallion done in Blue Lagoon. I might still use that colour for some of the flowers, I don't know yet. Just out of interest the floss I am using, Caron Wildflowers, comes in 33 metre skeins, you cannot split the floss. Now I'm really stingy with my orts but I have just started my second skein!

Mary Wighams Sampler

As an Expat, I feel very privilaged to be a member of your blog.I am stitching mine in the original colours on 25 count laguna 1 over 1. and I am really enjoying it. I will be stitching mine in Papamoa, Bay of Plenty New Zealand.

First page done !

Finished the first page tonight, it's starting to come together ! I am really enjoying stitching on Mary and wish I had more time to devote to her, ahh, if only I didn't have to work lol.

How is everyone else doing ?

Jen F

Charts available

The charts are now back to normal and available from Needleprint blog. Please go there to get the latest instalments. I think we're up to part 5 although I'm no where near that far. Link in the welcome message at the top of blog. x

Update

I took MW with me to Woolfest last week and made really good progress on her

I also took pics of the places I've stitched her in and thought I'd share them here as well as emailing them to Jacqueline.

This one's not that unusal, in the caravan
But this one is :)
This is the cattle pen we had for our stand in the middle of a Livestock market

Another newbie

Hi my name is Shelley. I live in norfolk, I am 50 years young and have 3 children 8,10 and 14 and a wonderful hubby Fraser who has been a rock for me over the last few years when I have had many health problems. I breed miniature dachshunds and keep lots of animals and birds.
I have been stitching about 5 years now and although mainly into wildlife and botanical designs have recently started samplers and am hooked so this is a lovely one for me . I hope to use the original colours but haven't decided on a fabric yet. Hello to all and I look forward to seeing everyones efforts.

Needleprint downloads

Hi all. Just a quickie in case you were getting worried about how to get hold of the next parts of the sampler. Jacqueline said there were double the amount of downloads and it exceeded her bandwidth limit but she is not at home right now to change the server so she will do it in a few days when she gets home. They should be back soon enough. Keep checking the Needleprint blog. Thanks for your patience. Wips are looking great! Keep up the good work.

First Progress Pic

Well here it is my first picture of progress I am stitching it on Moss Green 28ct Brittney with Victorian Motto Threads, most of the finished motif was actually stitched on a day trip to the Spinning Jenny with Hazel

Another newbie

I'm Abi, another waiting for the downloads to start working again! Thanks so much for the invite - I can't wait to get going on this one!

Hi Everyone

Thank you for the invitation Hazel. I have been dying to do the Mary Wigham Sal, but was too long in signing up for it. Now I find that the Needleprint blogsite has exceeded its bandwidth, so I am going to be way behind all of you.

I am Dawn and live in Devon with my DH and DS aged 13. I haven't decided yet as to whether I will stitch the pattern in its original colours, or whether I shall stitch it all in one color. Cloth will be a 28ct, but as yet haven't decided which linen I will use.

All of the pics so far look wonderful. Just can't wait to get started.

Hi, I'm Val, thanks for the invite .... am very keen to start this one but will have to wait until the downloads are available ....

First update

Here's a scan of my Mary Wigham so far. I started Saturday evening and have managed to do a little each evening after work. Progress is slow but sure and I like how it's looking so far.

Jen F

Hi everyone

Thanks for the invite Hazel, I'm Lisa, and I live in Scotland with my DH, 3 kids, and my 3yr springer spaniel. I'm really looking forward to starting this sal, although I'll be a good bit behind some of you, I've decided on the fabric, it will be 25ct lugana, stitching 1 x 1, and I will be using the listed DMC threads
I love looking at everyone's progress, you are all doing great
I hope to get started as soon as my materials arrive

Further progress

Here is Mary after stitching yesterday. I managed to complete two motifs. I have corrected the motifs to make them symmetrical whilst trying to stick as close as possible to the real thing.

Hello everyone and my first scan.

Thanks Hazel for the invite. I began the lovely Mary Wigham last night and this is my progress so far. I am using 32ct Belfast linen and various different brands of floss but still keeping the original colour scheme.

To introduce myself, my name is Jen but I see we already have a Jen on board so I shall call myself Jen F. I am 55 years of age, happily married for the past 31 years. We live, together with our Boxer dog, on the east coast. I work full time as an office manager for an ice cream company and in my time off love to stitch, knit and walk my lovely dog. I have been stitching on and off for the past 10 years or so and love all different designs, samplers, Mirabilia, Teresa Wentzler etc.

All for now, I am enjoying seeing all the different variations of Mary.

Jen F

Hazel's Progress

Here's my small progress. I have a lot going on right now lol. I am stitching this on 25 count light mocha lugana and using the called for dmc flosses. Love it but it is slow going!

xx

A quick update

I have not been able to stitch much this week for one reason or another but I had a good session over the weekend. My internet link went down so all I could do was stitch (and cook, and clean, and taxi, etc etc!)

As you can see, I am not very far on as I am a slow stitcher but this is most enjoyable to stitch. I just love it. I love watching everyone's progress on this and as I see the next parts being stitched it encourages me to get on and stitch more! Hope everyone has had a successful week and that I will have more to report next time.

Grrrrrrr!!

I'm so sorry, I'm getting further and further behind ;(
I started late because of holidays, then had to order fabric............... hasn't arrived yet, and I'm chomping at the bit to join everyone. Hope I'll manage a progress picture next week!
Great work everyone, they're looking fantastic

First progress pic

I really didn't like the original fabric I picked out so last weekend while at a GTG I did a few floss toss' on Sparklies fabrics and this one won. It arrived this morning so I made a start (again!)

I'm not so sure about this!

In my last progress post I mentioned that I was stitching Mary in Caron Wildflowers, Blueberry. Thinking that this might be too dark I ordered two other colours in the same range. They were Azure Skies and Blue Lagoon. I have stitched most of the top left motif in Blue Lagoon. Now, I like the colour, but the colour changes are not very subtle and I do not know if it 'looks right'. So, I'm not going to finish this motif just yet but stitch the next one in the Blueberry and see how I feel.

I have enjoyed stitching this despite my reservations about the colour. Here it is so far.

Sorry I'm late!

Hello girls, I'm just signing in to say I'm sorry I'm late joining - I saw the initial post about this wonderful SAL the week before we went on holiday, and missed the first week. I've downloaded the first two parts today, and hope to get started over the weekend[unless I need to go and buy fabric......]
I'm Jacky, aka hadenmaiden, and I'm a stitchaholic! Sounds like a cue for an AA meeting, or maybe a S[titchaholics]A meeting ;) Anyway, looking forward to joining you, from just down the road from Ackworth.

Mary Wigham Part 2

is ready to download!

x

I've started

I had my delivery of supplies today.



It's not alot I know but I only had 20 minutes before the school run and I was desperate to start. I am stitching on 28ct and this part is in DMC 3041.