"I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille . . . "

Scorecards. These days we're deluged with every imaginable stat involving football, baseball, tennis, golf. The U.S. Tennis Open, college football, the NFL season, the World Series. Stats, stats, stats. The first cool breeze of autumn is accompanied by a confluence of sporting events and stats!

And so, in keeping with the spirit of the season, we present official stats of "272 Words," the Lincoln Bicentennial Sampler, direct from the commentators' booth at The Stitching Network:

"272 Words"

Stitch Count: 349 Stitches Wide x 375 Stitches in Height

Fabric: 32-count Lambswool from Wichelt Imports

Thread: The Gentle Art

Design Size: 21-1/2"W by 23-1/4"H

Framed Size: 29"W x 30-1/2"H

Frame Info: Professionally Framed at Where Victoria's Angels Stitch (more info to come)

It's tough to capture the true color of the linen in photos. To get a closeup of the frame in the top photo, I notice (sigh) that the fabric appears much lighter than it really is. Lambswool is one of my preferred "light" fabrics - it's a creamy color, but free of intensely-yellow undertones . . . like the color of freshly-whipped buttercream frosting. Lakeside Linens makes a beautiful creamy fabric color called "Magnolia." It's a little lighter, but in the same tonal family. 28-count Magnolia linen was used in this dog sampler.

My mailbox contains some questions about the blog photos -- where are they taken and with what type of camera? Is there special propping? I use a Canon PowerShot A510. The propping usually consists of a few height-adjustable music stands and foam core covered with lace curtains. Through trial and error, I discovered that the best photos occur in "artist's light" -- the clear eastern light of the morning sun. My living room windows face east and this (below) is the home-spun setup. Nothing fancy! Except for cropping, the photos are untouched and designed to show the actual features of the needlework, for good or for ill.

And that wraps up this edition of "Stitch Talk." Tune in next time for an action-packed play-by-play of chart making (!). See you at the next tailgate . . .