Marjolein Bastin

Pecking Order Finished 2002

Four Seasons Collage Finished 2003

Marjolein Bastin, of Holland, is one of my favorite artists. I've admired her work for years and was delighted to discover the Lanarte charts almost as soon as they were available.  The first one I completed was "The Pecking Order." I thought I was stitching on 28ct. Starting in the middle and working to the right, I discovered I belatedly it was 25ct Lugana. At that point I had to remove an already stitched bird on the right, and then decide which one to leave out on the left. Ooops. The first picture is the correct sample. The second is my piece with 2 birds edited out. Next I started stitching "The Gathering," but all that straw and those feathers quickly were more than I wanted to do at the time. Setting that aside I began "Four Seasons." I started at the center bench, then the watering can to the above right, then the complete border before I began any more of the inner vignettes, which I stitched in clockwise rotation. It got set aside from time to time for smaller projects, and took almost a year to complete. I eventually got back to "The Gathering." I thought it was finished and  but when I unrolled to take the photo, I see I'm still missing a few stitches. I hate to admit it, but I knew my fabric size was probably a problem and sure enough, I had to delete a few stitches from peanut/string border to give myself a bit more fabric for mounting purposes. Not a good idea. I have yet to tackle "Spring in the Garden" and may just pick and choose individual designs rather than go all out on another large design - especially since the other two are still waiting to be framed. The real culprit, however, is severe carpel tunnel that restricts my ability to hold a needle for more than a few stitches at a time. The "Garden Sampler" is another chart I've yet to start and proably will never do in its entirety, if at all. I ran across it offered as a freebie at the  Better Homes & Gardens Austrailian site. As of MAY 2, 2008 it is still available for download. Be aware that green border uses a DMC varigated thread color that was discontinued at least 18 months ago.  The BH&G site does not include a large photo to refer to, so I took some time and copied a couple of the smaller vignettes into PatternMaker just to get a feel for the size and colors. I love the bright red radishes, cherries and strawberries, all of which would make good borders or small individual pieces for the kitchen, etc.  For a larger photo of a finished project see Sito di Sara. A limited number of Lanarte charts are available at your favorite local retailer. The Lanarte website illustrates all of their kits and has links to their US and international distributors, and the charts are available through many online sites.

The Gathering Finished 2003

Spring in the Garden Not even started and probably will never be stitched in whole - many of these designs appear on her calendars as well.

Garden Sampler Free Chart from BHG Australia 05/2008 Thisl chart is still available online. The key is a .jpg. Copy by using "save as."

Webpage Created April, 2004 Updated May 2, 2008