In my hoop Liz Dunford’s sampler story
From the nineties to now… Liz Dunford’s CrossStitcher sampler has been on quite a journey before she managed to complete it over 20 years from first setting eyes on the design
You can almost exactly track the length of Liz Dunford’s marriage to husband Pete, from the moment she saw a sampler in CrossStitcher in 1997 to finally completing it this year …
October 1997’s issue of CrossStitcher featured a vegetables sampler, which caught Liz Dunford’s, of South Wales, eye. Over a decade later, when Liz graduated from university in July 2008, she decided the sampler would be the perfect present for her husband Pete to thank him for all his support. “We’d married a year previously and he loves cooking,” explains Liz, “It said it would only take three weeks, and I probably cut it fine to get it started.”
Of course the story doesn’t end there, something many other stitchers will be able to relate to! Liz didn’t finish it in time, but did tell Pete what she was up to. Over the years since, she picked it up from time to time, often just prior to an anniversary or Christmas in case it could get done in time for those milestones. “In that time we’ve moved house twice – in the last house we even left a space on the kitchen wall for it – which remained empty for the whole seven years we were there, we’ve had two children, and I’ve stitched some other smaller bits for the kids’ rooms,” Liz recalls.
FINAL HURDLE
However, thanks to having more time in lockdown, 13 years after starting it, Liz did it and the sampler is finally complete! “The veg sampler was definitely finished because I’ve had so much more time in the evenings during lockdown to stitch,” she says. “I have absolutely loved this bonus of lockdown! I had hoped to finish it for Christmas but I had to se le for buying a frame ready for it and giving the empty frame to Pete! (He laughed!) The project has been ongoing throughout our marriage, and often laughed about – it’s slightly weird to have finished it and have it hanging on the kitchen wall now! I can’t wait to have guests to the house after lockdown to see it though!”
NEXT GENERATION
Liz confesses that the length of time it took her to finish the sampler has taught her a few things, “When I read CrossStitcher, although I look longingly at some of the larger projects, I have learned that realistically I need to tackle the smaller projects! I love colourful but achievable designs, like the Easter cards by Durene Jones. The thing I’ve learned from doing this sampler is that I need to be more realistic about how much time a project takes, and be kind to myself if or when I miss the deadline (over and over again!). If anyone else has unfinished projects I would try to laugh about missing deadlines rather than stressing over it!”
Lockdown led Liz to stitch some smaller projects, “I stitched a Beavers picture for my son’s birthday,” she says. “When my daughter started Rainbows, and subsequently Brownies, I stitched a li le picture with the date on. For my son, I had to adapt the Brownie chart to make it look like a Beavers uniform, and charted the Beavers logo myself. I also finished a Three Nutcracker Soldiers picture, a year after the Christmas that it was intended!”
Now Liz has passed on her love of stitching to her kids, “When I finished my sampler they asked to learn counted cross stitch. They each chose a chart, I gave them some 7 count Binca and showed them how to do it. Charlo e obviously caught the stitching bug because she did it every spare minute and finished it within days! Joshua is still working on his castle. They both say they find it very relaxing and rewarding.”
This project has been ongoing throughout our marriage and often laughed about