After a lengthy absence

Good afternoon one and all,
It has been some time since I have posted but I'm back for an update.
We are still enjoying warm and humid weather but the skies are grey and there is a lot of 'liquid sunshine' around.   Autumn is not far away though.
Mid-March I started a self-designed Memory Book for my God-Daughter's 18th birthday in July.   As a result the Historic Countries Sampler is asleep in its box having completed its journey through Scandanavia.  
The Memory Book started with the story, then the tacking out of the pages, finally deciding what colour to stitch the words and this past week I have ventured into adding colour.   I'm stitching on 28 count Cashel linen in Antique Mocha, using DMC 3799 for the words and so far Threadworx 1089 for the colour.  The photo is not true to colour as grey days are not helpful for my photography skills!   However you can see the subtle shading of the fabric.

In the manner of all good children's stories I have started with "Once upon a time" and the story travels from the day when Elaine told me she was pregnant right up to date.   On this first page the decoration is a Wessex stitch which is aptly named Margaret -  a subtlety which will be known only to me as my God-Daughter is not a stitcher.   The alphabet was taken from my Wessex Stitchery book and stitched freehand in one thread of DMC.   My God-Daughter has three names and so each initial will be a different stitch - the first being in Assisi

And finally a closeup of Margaret stitch.   Needleweaving with one thread is not as easy as it sounds and I admit to dissatisfaction with the closeup result but the effect is good so no reverse stitching on this one.

On a scale of one to ten my confidence in self-design is probably a minus three!!   And this adventure reminds me of the time an art teacher at primary school tried to get me to draw a picture using only one colour crayon - all 10 years old of me told him that was impossible.   Everybody knows that pictures are colourful!!
However the pleasure I am getting from stitching this Memory Book is off the scale and I hope and pray that Toni will treasure it and know that her God-Mother has added love and prayers into stitch.

Have a good day everyone