A Bluestocking Knits

The "Virtue Outshines the Stars" sampler by Darlene O'Steen, one of my must-do pieces — about six months of fairly steady stitching.  I confess that I was getting a bit weary of it towards the end, but I'm very happy with the result!  I used the original DMC colors — on 32-count linen from xJudesign in "Milk Chocolate" — but made a few tweaks here and there, re-spacing the alphabets slightly, centering the elements that were (curiously) not so, and as I mentioned previously, changing out the uppermost flower in the vases in the bottom band — though on the whole, obviously, a superb design, I think one of O'Steen's best.

Lots of queen stitch! — here in the flowers in the border and horizontally as a small dividing band, an unusual use for it but effective.

The new-to-this-piece larger flower is from O'Steen's "Tudor Rose Sampler" in her The Proper Stitch book, here with the arrowhead stitch center in 3045, the outline in 356, the double-backstitch "tips" in 356 + 358, and the satin stitch in 758.  I'm not entirely pleased with my choices, but I do like the proportions much better now —

One of my favorite details is the birds in the upper corners! —