"DESIGNS THAT REFLECT OUR
AMERICAN HERITAGE"

Welcome to my blog. I'm probably very much like all of you who love the needlearts. My life revolves around family, friends, home and all things that help to make for a more contented life. When time allows; cooking, gardening, decorating, and collecting are my joys. I look forward to sharing all of these things with you. I also hope to keep you up to date on what is going on at Homespun Elegance, in regard to the needlework designs and the "Plain & Fancy Wares" that we offer.

Wishing you "Many Happy Stitches".
Sandra

Friday, February 17, 2017

A Tribute To George Washington

Good Morning!

Well, President's Day is approaching and in tribute to our
first president, George Washington, I want to share a design
I did in collaboration with The George Washington Foundation
based in Fredericksburg, Virginian.
Here is a repeat of the blog post on July 1, 2010.
~~~This design is available in my ETSY shoppe ~~~
www.etsy.com/shop/HomespunElegance

Time to share with you what I worked on during my vacation.  Quite a while ago I started talking with The George Washington Foundation about doing a piece of needlework to commemorate Ferry Farm, the boyhood home of George Washington and his family.  The original site of the Washington house was excavated in July 2008.  Exciting times for sure. Many, many items have been excavated from the grounds before and since then.  It is an ongoing adventure.  This summer the archeologists will be investigating areas believed to be the location of some of the farm's outbuildings.  For all of the exciting details, visit their wonderful site.


During the archeological digs, many enameled creamware fragments were found, dating from 1765 to 1775, dates which coincide with the end of Mrs. Washington's residence at Ferry Farm.  The artifacts represent pieces from such vessels as teapots, tea bowls, saucers, slop bowls, milk jugs, and sugar pots.  The ceramics are hand-painted over a lead glaze with red, black, yellow, and green floral designs.  Believe it or not, shards were found with a "cherry" motif!  I'm sure you remember the legends about George and the cherry tree.  To have found a "cherry" on a ceramic piece is just perfect.  This was the inspiration for the cherry at the center of the sampler I recently designed. 

 Here is a picture of the shards that I worked with.  Note that the colors are not as bright as they probably were at the time of their use.  Having been buried all this time has softened them.  The colors I chose are more like what the shards look like today.  Even with all the DMC floss available, I was still not able to match the shards perfectly.

  The design is based on a typical 18th century sampler style.  It features the initials of all family members that lived there, the dates of residence, and other motifs of the period.  The center oval contains my interpretation of the cherry and cherry blossom motif.  I feel so honored to have been involved in this project.  I am also working on needle necessaires, such as a scissor and needle case and a pinball 
featuring the "cherry" motif.

If you are ever in the historic Fredericksburg area, you might enjoy the tour and all the artifacts on display.  Visit the website to find out all the interesting things going on at Ferry Farm.

The Ferry Farm "Cherry" Sampler will be sold for the first time at the July 4th festivities, actually the festivities will take place on July 3rd in Fredericksburg this year.  The actual sampler will be displayed at the gift shop at Ferry Farm.  I do not know if this design will be available in your area shops because of the subject matter.  So, if you would like to have it, please email me or call me at 540.371.6377.  The price is $13.00 plus postage (the frame is also available) and a portion of each sale of this design will go to The George Washington Foundation to further the wonderful research and many activities that will continue at the site. 
Here it is!   


This design is available in my Etsy Shoppe ~
www.etsy.com/shop/HomespunElegance

Saturday, January 7, 2017

Christmas House Tour

Hi Everyone!
I cannot believe it has been so long since I have done a Blog post,
but you all know how it is at Christmas.  I seemed to use Face book 
because it was so much easier and faster.  Hope that was OK
with all of you, but it is a New Year and I hope to be better.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
So many of you asked about my annual Christmas tour.  I feel
terrible that it didn't happen in a more timely manner, but
here it is and I hope you enjoy it.
I do love Christmas (maybe a little too much) and I spend an
enormous amount of time decorating and then of course taking
it down and packing it away is equally as time consuming.
Plus, it is not any fun.  I never want the season to end.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
You will probably notice that I use a lot of of designs 
in my Christmas decorations.  I do have my favorites and they
tend to show up year after year.  My wish is that I had time
to stitch all the other designs out there by others that I love 
so much.  Maybe in another lifetime. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Living Room
Dining Room
Foyer 
Kitchen


Keeping Room
Necessary Room
~~~~~~~~~~~~
I hope you have enjoyed my
Christmas House tour.  I hate
for the Christmas season to end
but I am looking forward to a new
year of stitching friendships with
all of you.
Many Happy Stitches,
Sandra






































Saturday, October 8, 2016

Beginning My Autumn Decorating

Good Evening Everyone!
I hope everyone is OK from the effects of the hurricane.
We have had a lot of rain here in Virginia but nothing more
and feeling so grateful for that.  It just seems that there are
more and more awful situations in our country from 
weather issues ~ tornadoes, flooding, fires, and now hurricanes.
Will it ever end?  I so hope that the winter is not going
to follow suit and be awful.  Let's keep our fingers crossed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
On a lighter, happier note, I did a little Autumn decorating
last week and wanted to share.  If you know me at all you
know I love Autumn and October just seems to make
me smile and lift my spirits.
One of my favorite quotes ~
"I'm so glad I live in a world where there
are Octobers".
Anne Of Green Gables
(one of these days I'm going to design something
using that wonderful saying)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I haven't done any decorating out doors yet.  That will
come after the rain has let up, so maybe next week.
Just love finding all the unique pumpkins that
are available now, so I have to go pumpkin hunting~
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here's my little tour!
My kitchen window~
A felted black cat that I made years ago and still love~
Love these funky reproduction jack-o-lanterns~
A favorite Autumn wreath~just the
perfect colors!
Candle light and Autumn just goes together!
I painted this funky turkey~
Love turkeys and this beeswax one is
the perfect color for my guest bathroom~
Now this is a major acorn~
Tansy Annie, acorns, pine cones, and
nuts.  A sweet little wreath!
Don't you love funky gourds!
I stacked all kinds of Autumn goodness to
make this centerpiece~
Every year I made a stack of pincushions
to mimic a stack of pumpkins~
Gourds on my Keeping Room mantle~
A single baby pumpkin just says Autumn~
~~~~~~~~~~~~
I hope you enjoyed my minimalist Autumn
decorating.  Sometimes I think less is more
effective, don't you?
~~~~~~~~~~~~
~October ~ 
you are so special!
Sandra