Cover photo: Pink Ribbon from Book 1, Summers Remembered. Stitched by me and framed at Hobby Lobby.
This post includes the designs featured in the first 10 books of Paula Vaughan’s cross-stitch designs. To see the rest of her work, and to read my hints for finding these out-of-print patterns, please visit my main Paula Vaughan post.
Book 1: Summers Remembered. There are two patterns in this book. Pink Ribbon is shown on the front cover. This design features a Dresden Plate quilt, a quilting hoop, a large sewing basket, and a straw hat with a pink ribbon balanced on a fence post. Blue Bonnet is shown on the back cover. It features a Grandmother’s Fan quilt draped over a barbed wire fence. When I stitched this one, I omitted the “barb” stitches to make it a wire fence, so the quilt wouldn’t get torn by the fence! The design also includes a chair with a blue bonnet hanging on it, and a small sewing basket on the ground beside the chair. Published in 1985.
Book 2: Aunt Verdi’s Porch. There are two chairs on a front porch, with a ruffled curtain visible through the window behind the chairs. One chair has a sewing basket and a straw hat. The other is a rocking chair with a crazy quilt draped over it. Published in 1986.
Book 3: Yesterday’s Dream. This design appears to be set in a storage room, or perhaps a sewing room although no sewing machine is visible. There’s a spinning wheel, a sewing basket, a pitcher and basin, and a storage chest with one quilt draped over it and a small stack of a few other quilts on the side. The main quilt’s pattern is a little difficult to identify, but might be a Grandmother’s Flower Garden, although it doesn’t really look like hexagons, or maybe a variation of Trip Around The World. If anyone knows more about the quilt pattern’s name, please comment to let me know so I can update this! Published in 1986.
Book 4: The Upstairs Sewing Room. One old-fashioned blue dress is on a dress form, and appears to be complete. The seamstress, who has apparently stepped away for a moment, seems to be sewing a matching dress on her treadle sewing machine – maybe a mother and daughter set. There’s a sewing basket on the floor near the machine, and another basket in the back with a quilt draped over it. I’m not familiar with a traditional quilt pattern like this, but it’s something made with triangles! Please comment if you know the name of this quilt block. Published in 1986.
Book 5: Reflections of the Past. This design features a fancy pink dress on a dress form and also reflected in a large mirror. A storage chest holds a Double Wedding Ring quilt. A hatbox and a pair of boots complete the scene. A window behind the mirror features a ruffled white curtain, and the room is wallpapered with light pink flowers. My booklet appears to have experienced a tea or coffee drip at some point, but the brown splotches on the wall are not part of the cross-stitch pattern. 🙂 Published in 1986.
Book 6: A Bouquet for Elizabeth. The book in this piece is titled “Flowers,” and I believe is in honor of poetess Elizabeth Barrett Browning. I don’t have a source for that information, as I heard it so many years ago. If anyone comes across a source, I’d love to update this post with the information. A basket full of wildflowers and a straw hat with a blue ribbon complete the vignette. Published in 1987.
Book 7: Wedding Ring Bouquet. This design features a Double Wedding Ring quilt mounted in a hoop, with a basket of roses and other flowers sitting on it. A ruffled white curtain decorates the window in the background. Published in 1987.
Book 8: A Cameo of the Past. This piece features an armoire with a couple of old-fashioned dresses hanging in it, a quilt draped over the door, a couple of pairs of shoes, some straw hats and several additional hatboxes, and a sewing basket. I think the quilt is a Rose of Sharon variation. Please comment if you can identify the quilt more precisely. Published in 1987.
Book 9: Victorian Bouquet. This design features a cream-colored pitcher with blue accents, filled with a bouquet of wildflowers. An embroidery hoop holds what appears to be a work-in-progress, like the embroiderer stepped away momentarily. A window with a ruffled white curtain is visible behind the flower bouquet. Published in 1987.
Book 10: Yesterday’s Garden. This book contains two designs. Yesterday’s Garden features what appears to be two seed packets, or maybe it’s a seed catalog based on the size of the blue bonnet hanging on the corner of one of them. Or maybe they’re posters? One of them does appear to have a nail holding it to the wall. A small basket of flowers, a few flower pots, a gardening glove, and a trowel complete the picture. From the Garden shows a watering can, a wooden tray filled with flowers, a gardening glove, a couple of seed packets, and another trowel. Published in 1987.
Happy stitching!
— Elizabeth
More Paula Vaughan posts: Paula Vaughan ~ Text-only Books List ~ Books 1-10 ~ Books 11-20 ~ Books 21-30 ~ Books 31-40 ~ Books 41-50 ~ Books 51-60 ~ Books 61-70 ~ Books 71-80 ~ Other Books ~ Magazines