36 Squares

Amy at 39 Squares started a wonderful embroidery project at the beginning of the month: every day for 39 days she will embroider a one inch square, creating a sampler (five by eight, the last will be blank) that will showcase a variety of techniques and images. Lots of people have joined up to do the same, and of course I must too, because this project is perfectly suited to me -- small (making it possible for me to finish) and varied (so I don't get bored).

I decided on 36 squares because it is a square number (ha) and six is a prettier number than either five or eight (a perfect number, if you will). I chose 28 hpi (threads per inch) linen, because an even-count (same number of warp and weft threads) fabric will allow me to use counted-thread stitches if I want. I am also using leftover threads from previous projects:
and whatever doodads strike my fancy.

So, the first square. I was stuck on how to start, and thought it should be something personal to me. I thought about my initial, J, and that brought to mind all the beautiful illuminated letters we have been looking at in my History of the Book class, and the first square was born:
I'm really pleased with it.

The next square, then, needed to be writing to continue the theme:
I deliberately did not plan the writing out, so the look is what I intended. I'm not crazy about it, though, and I may redo it in the future.