the "hornbook fairy" (AKA a special friend)

I hadn't planned on doing a blog post today, but then I got the nicest note from JoAnn H. of Ohio, and I wanted to go ahead and share her story of a very special gift she received. The generosity of her friend is another example of some of the special friendships that have evolved through our shared love of needlework.

First, some background information. Bethany is JoAnn's daughter. Last week you saw the huswifs they had stitched and assembled together. The Quaker Hornbook project that JoAnn mentions today is a group only project. Her local needlework shop, Inn Stitches in Canton, Ohio, ordered the kits for a store group project.

JoAnn wrote, Bethany called me today and asked if I had read the email to you from Tommye B. showing her samplers and telling the story of her friendship with Karen and how Karen was always stitching gifts for others and how good it made her feel and through the years their friendship has grown and it makes Tommye feel good to stitch for others.

Bethany reminded me of the gift my friend Ronda had given me. The history: I had taken a class to do your small hornbook and when I finished the stitching I couldn't find where I had put the hornbook (so I wouldn't forget where it was when I needed it), Ever done that? The completed stitching has been in a drawer for many months and on a recent Thursday Night Stitch-in a wooden hornbook appeared where I was sitting and I didn't see who put it there. The next day the Hornbook Fairy emailed me to let me know it was her.

I have a hard time accepting gifts like that, but when Bethany called she suggested that I finish the hornbook and give it as a gift to Ronda (similar to Tommye and Karen) and if she doesn't want to accept it, tell her if I ever find mine she must finish stitching hers and give it to me as a gift. I thought that was a grand idea.

The stitched cottage in the photo was stitched and put together by Kim and Dee at Inn Stitches as a Christmas gift to me last year. I was truly overwhelmed with the gift. To think they would work so lovingly and long on such a beautiful piece and then give it away. Aren't stitchers the best people you can ever know?

Just to let everyone know how easy your finishing directions were to follow: I didn't start finishing the hornbook until 11 a.m. and was finished by 2:30 the same day and I even took time to eat a bit of lunch. Thanks Ellen for making everything so easy to do.

Don't you love hearing such wonderful stories?

JoAnn, your hornbook looks wonderful. I hope you are finding the hornbook threadholder useful.

I love the cottage etui also shown in your photo. In fact, I'm green with envy. Dee and Kim did a terrific job with that ... a special gift for a special person. Thank you for sharing a photo and also the special story behind your completed project.

Special projects: Just a reminder that the Quaker Hornbooks are only available to groups of 10 or more. Details can be found here. This is the only chart that I sell directly to stitchers. All other charts should be ordered from your local needlework shop.

Teaching projects: I often get inquiries about my teaching projects. These projects are class pieces only. I've not yet decided if I'll release them once I quit teaching.

Quaker Sampling I and II by Tommye!

Tommye B. of North Carolina has stitched both Quaker Sampling I and II!

The first photo is of Quaker Sampling I which she stitched for her dear friend, Karen. Tommye stitched her sampler on 40-count Navy Bean linen from Lakeside Linens using Waterlilies silk thread. She stitched it two years ago and can't remember which thread color she used. Although the photo is a bit blurry, I think you'll agree her color choice is wonderful.

Then Tommye stitched Quaker Sampling II for herself. She stitched this sampler also on 40-count Navy Bean linen and used Midnight Waterlilies silk thread.

I asked Tommye if she would share something about her special friendship with Karen. This is what she wrote:

Karen was in a stitch group in my needlework shop in Marietta, GA in the 90's. It started as a Just Nan class. At the end of the third session, another friend said, "What will we do next Thursday night? My husband is used to me being gone now." And our stitch group was born.

After a few years people started moving away. Karen took a job in Arizona in the mid-90’s and even though we haven't seen each other in years, we still feel like next door neighbors. Mainly because we have such a shared passion for needlework. Karen stitched models for my shop. The first one was a dolphin on 14 count navy Aida. She had never stitched on linen. Now she stitches models for Essamplaire, The Silver Lining, and various shops.

Her stitching is so perfect, I used to hesitate (for about 30 seconds) to stitch for her, but I realize she rarely stitches for herself. And stitchers, more than anyone else, appreciate the love and time that goes into a stitched gift. I've often said that if the recipient of the gift doesn't understand what went into choosing the pattern and colors, the time, and the effort in a gift, then they can't possibly understand the value and sentiment of the gift.

I still stitch a birthday gift every year for three friends in that group. Karen is one of them, and they stitch for me. As much as I love the things they stitch, I love the fact that they still want to do it more.

Isn't it fun to see the various color variations stitchers have chosen for these two samplers? All are so wonderful!

Thanks, Tommye, for sharing photos of your lovely work and also of your special friendship with Karen. I'm sure she was greatly touched by your kind gift and that it is a constant reminder of your special friendship.

Our little cowboy

Hopefully you had a more productive stitching weekend than I did. I didn't have a lot of time, and a good deal of what I stitched, I ended up "frogging". I wish I knew why I can't count. I finally resorted to putting in some vertical grid lines and that is helping.

I'm working on the Mary Busby Ackworth sampler which I love. This is such a beautiful sampler, and I'm most anxious to get it completed and framed so that I can hang my four Ackworth gals together.

I just had to show you the newest photos of Haiden that arrived last night!! Our little cowboy!! When I emailed my daughter, Carolyn, to get permission to post Haiden's photos, she told me that she had made the vest and chaps. (Of course, that pleased me.) It also brought back memories of the costumes I made for Carolyn and Stephen.
Some of you may remember that when I was in Texas in July I had hoped to find Haiden his first pair of cowboy boots, but I didn’t have any luck. I now know where to go when I return. At least I was able to get him a cute book entitled The Brave Cowboy by Joan Walsh Anglund. What a darling book it is! This will be the perfect thing to give him the next time we're together. Maybe Carolyn will even take a photo of him reading it in his cowboy outfit.

Quaker Sampling I by Becky

I recently ran across photos of Becky S.'s Quaker Sampling I posted on her blog, and I asked her if she would send me photos to show you. (Thanks, Becky.) Becky stitched her sampler in 2007.

Becky wrote, I was so inspired by this sampler when I first saw it. I did not see a stitched model of it but was so taken with the cover model on the chart itself that I knew I had to stitch it. It's just one of those designs you love instantly, without needing to see the "real" thing stitched up before purchasing.

I LOVE all things red, so I decided to use DMC 115 floss and 36ct. Flax. I love the way it stitched up and the overall look of the sampler, the colors, the motifs the frame I chose, it just all came together perfectly. I have enjoyed and DO enjoy and own MANY, MANY of your designs. Thank you, Ellen for such a gorgeous design and for your talents in the stitching world.

Becky's sampler before being framed

framed and ready to be hung on the wall

a close-up of the frame

Becky is from South Carolina and is known on the internet as "BeckySC". Perhaps you have seen some of her beautiful needlework. She is particularly fond of "smalls".

Thanks, Becky, for allowing me to share your lovely work. The red thread you chose is wonderful. The first photo nicely shows those color variations, and your frame beautifully complements your sampler. I hope you are enjoying having this sampler hanging in your home.

Floral Needleroll by Adana

Adana from Illinois sent me photos of her Floral Needleroll that she completed several years ago. Adana chose her own lovely colors, plus she added a twisted cord edging and closure. Isn't Adana's version beautiful with its cheerful colors? Look at the ribbon rose she put on the tip of the needleroll.

case closed

case outside, unfolded

Floral Needlerolls was one of my earliest projects. The title is plural because the product package includes directions for two versions.

The smaller version was stitched entirely over one linen thread and is approximately the same size as the antique that inspired this project. It was stitched using a combination of 32-count Dirty linen and Platinum linen from Zweigart, Inc.

The larger version was stitched using a combination of 32-count Olive Green linen and Light Sand linen also from Zweigart, Inc. This version is wider than the other one and was stitched over two threads except for the writing on the pincushion and on the needlepage.

There are two different color versions. Both were stitched using Sampler Threads from The Gentle Art were used. DMC color substitutions are provided.

These needlerolls were inspired by an antique which was probably Shaker. The antique has a badly worn bronzed leather exterior. On the interior are a wool needlepage and a leather pincushion.

photo of the antique that inspired the project, plus the outside view of

my larger needleroll and the inside view of my smaller needleroll

JoAnn and her daughter, Bethany, have been busy again!

In my June 22, 2009 post I showed photos of two projects that JoAnn of Ohio made for her daughter, Bethany, in Florida. Today I'm sharing photos of A Needleworker's Sampler Huswif from both JoAnn and Bethany. (This is probably my most popular class piece.)

Thanks to the internet, I've been able to follow their progress. Bethany's goal was to get her project stitched by the end of September so that when she went back to Ohio to visit her mother the two of them could assemble their huswifs and needlebooks together. Yippee--she made it, and earlier this month JoAnn and Bethany worked on the assembly together. I think you'll agree they both did an exquisite job stitching and assembling their pieces.

Bethany wrote, I thought I would send these photos off to you, I know how you love seeing your designs finished. Mom and I have really enjoyed our time together and this weekend was busy. We worked together step by step putting together your Huswif and what a wonderful time we had. Your instructions are like no other, even being away from this piece for months, it couldn't have gone any smoother. We both thank you for your talent and your wonderful designs.

front view of the huswifs and needlebooks

back view of the huswifs and needlebooks

view of the inside of the huswifs

Thank you, JoAnn and Bethany, for sharing photos of your beautiful work! I love the staging of your pieces to reflect the fall season. Also thank you for your very kind words. We work very hard to have very detailed and complete instructions, so it's always nice to hear that our efforts are appreciated.

I know you had a wonderful time together in Ohio and are looking forward to being back together very soon. Who knows--maybe I'll see you when I'm in Canton in May teaching for the Inn Stitches Spring Fling retreat. I know Kim is already making lots of plans for a great time!

Vaida, your blog give-away charts are now are their way to you in Lithuania. I hope you'll enjoy them.

It was interesting to see what charts the give-away winners chose. Janine from Australia chose My Needle's Worke Box and Agnes Scott. Patti from Great Britain chose Flowers for Lily and My Needle's Worke Box. Vaida from Lithuania chose ES's Floral Sampler and Tokens of Friendship and Love. Enjoy, ladies, and hopefully one day you'll have some photos to share on the blog.

Blog give-away update and WMN on Facebook

Since I haven't heard back from Kristen regarding my blog give-away, I've just selected another winner. The new winner is #24, Vaida. Vaida, please email me with your mailing address and let me know which two charts you would like. Janine and Patti, your charts were mailed out earlier this week and should be making their way to you in Australia and in Great Britain.

I've decided to try my hand at Facebook with a With My Needle page. Please bear with me as this will definitely be a learning curve for me. It will be interesting to see what develops.

I hope to spend some time this weekend with Mary Busby (reproduced by Doreen Holmes, Needlelace). I hope you too can find some time to stitch, even if it is just for a few minutes.

Sara adds her special touches to Petit Carnet d'Ouvrages II

I was delighted to receive these photos of Petit Carnet d’Ouvrages, Livre II from Sara S. who lives in North Carolina. Sara wrote, “I finally am getting around to emailing you these pictures! I stitched this a long time ago…well it seems like it anyway! I was so scared of doing the finishing. And really the directions were great. It really wasn't that difficult to do!

"I stitched it with regular DMC. I started with 815 and somewhere along the way I accidentally used 816, so instead of frogging it, I just interspersed the two colors and it ended up looking like I used a hand dyed thread!

“I changed the title and put "by Sara" on the front. I think it said book two maybe? And since I hadn't done book one, I didn't want to put book two!

“I am curious as to why there isn't a large N on the pages? I never even noticed until a 12 year old girl was looking at it and said, "Why is there no N?" I said, "Well I have no idea!“I'm working, quite slowly, on the turtles! I'm quite nervous about putting them together! I'm having a hard time finding the right felt to use, but that's just my excuse for now! I still need to actually stitch them!”

Don’t you love the way Sara personalized her little book by changing the title to read Small Book of Samplers and then by adding her name?

Sara is not the first one to inquire about the missing “N”. If you look at the alphabet in the second photo, you’ll see that there wasn't enough room for me to put the entire alphabet. I needed to leave out one letter. Sampler lovers are used to sometimes not seeing the “J” or “U”, so I wanted to do something a little bit unusual, by picking out another letter to omit and seeing how many people would notice. I’m not sure how I happened to pick the letter “N”. Regardless, I think this makes for an interesting bit of conversation, and you can see how well others look at your needlework if they notice the missing letter. Sara, I think you should reward that girl with a special treat for her keen observation.

Sara, you did a fantastic job with the stitching and assembly of your book. I hope you found a special place to showcase this little jewel. I keep my stitched books in a glass-front bookcase and have them all standing up. They look quite charming, in my humble opinion.

Have you ever had one of "those" days?

Wednesday was one of "those" days!!

The furnace repairmen were out once AGAIN to work on our furnace that is only 2-1/2 years old. They arrived at 7:30am. After multiple trips over the past year and a half, they have finally agreed that we have a lemon and will replace our current furnace next Thursday. They thought they had put a temporary fix on it, but alas not. For most of the day it would get part way through a cycle and cut off so we were running up and downstairs to restart it once we got too cold.

Then in the afternoon, I thought that I would burn a few papers that were in the fireplace before the man comes over today to talk about putting in a gas line. BAD mistake…the damper wasn’t open, and the whole house filled up with smoke like you wouldn’t believe … that is NO exaggeration. It was very scary. I called Tom who was at church, and he called the fire department. By the time the fire department arrived, with the sirens blaring, the fire was out, but there was still lots and lots of smoke. The wonderful firemen set up a fan to suck out the smoke, but it’s still rather smoky. Thankfully, there doesn't appear to be any smoke damage, but I'll know better once it is lighter outside.

Most of the afternoon and evening, it was rather chilly in the house to say the least with open windows to air out the house and a malfunctioning furnace. However after numerous phone calls with the furnace place and lots of experiments on Tom's part, the heat has been running for almost 12 hours without our having to run into the basement to hit the reset button. Wish us luck that this continues until the new furnace arrives, or we may be knocking on the door of someone who has heat.

We went out to dinner to get out of a smoky house and then off to buy a new answering machine since ours has “given up the ghost”. With all of the disruptive activities, I got very little stitching done on Mary Busby. Perhaps you had better luck than I did. I hope so.

Here's hoping that Thursday proves to be a better day for the Chesters. Poor Tom is already back at church. (It seems like he has been living there over the past two weeks.) Some of the plaster on the ceiling of our 150 plus year old church fell. It is suspected that the damage was caused by a lightning strike. Tom, as junior warden and long-time member of the Buildings and Grounds commission, has been overseeing the work. The hope is to be back in the church by Sunday, but that looks iffy since the scaffolding is still up. Hopefully, they'll be able to start painting today, and then over the weekend move the pews back in place.

This photo was taken in 1915, but things still look pretty much the same.

Thinking "outside of the box"

On Monday, I showed photos of several members of the Delaware Valley Sampler Guild working on their Petit Sampling Etuis. Their goal is to be through stitching the panels by February 2010 and then do the etui assembly together as a group. What a marvelous idea!!

Many guild members may do the assembly exactly as described in the directions, while others may make changes to suit their likes or needs. For example, Clara, one of the etui designers, made a round pincushion instead of a square one. She also used a bright rose lining fabric which was quite striking.

Here are some more ideas:

* If you don’t want the sides of your etui to fold down, leave off the gussets and lace the sides together.

* Suppose you don’t want to get into assembly at all. Have you thought about asking your framer to make you a casket (box) with openings on the four sides and the top to hold your stitched pieces? Wouldn’t that be exquisite?

* You could stitch one of the panels as a box lid.

* Another idea is to frame the panels, either individually or together on one piece of linen.

* And then there was Gabi’s idea (see the blog post from Saturday, September 26, 2009)--she adapted one of the panel designs to make a wonderful needlecase.

So you see the ideas are limitless. Those of you who know me know that I often think of a design as just the beginning. Take a design and see what you can do to make it special for you!!

view of the etui opened

Miscellaney: Thought of the Day, Give-Away Update, DVSG website

Thought of the Day
In the most recent Lacis newsletter, Jules Kliot wrote, “In these times of chaos when the foundations of all that we took for granted have been removed, we must understand that it is only the human spirit, residing in ourselves that can be the source of joy. It is our responsibility alone, to rekindle this spirit and believe in our hands.” I thought his thoughts were wonderful, so I wrote to get his permission to reprint his statement here. Thanks, Jules.

If you ever get anywhere near Berkley, California, make sure that you go to Lacis. Not only is there a wonderful shop, but there is also the Lacis Museum of Lace and Textiles. Check out the website and see the wonderful slide shows. You can also sign up to receive the museum newsletter.

I have been lucky enough to make it to Lacis twice. In hindsight, I could kick myself for not going with Tom to San Francisco over the summer so that I could make the side trip to Lacis. Lacis is easily accessible from San Francisco on the Bart.

Update on the Give-Away
I have heard from both Janine and Patti, but not Kristen.

Patti, your charts will be on the way to you in Great Britain today.
Janine, in your excitement, you forgot to tell me which charts you want. I’ve emailed you twice and haven’t heard back, so I don’t know if you have gotten my emails or not. I'm anxious to get the charts to you in Australia.
Kristen, please email me with your mailing address and the two charts you want so that I can mail them to you in Massachusetts. Unfortunately, I don’t have an email address to contact you. I hope you are reading the blog so you can see this note.

If I haven’t heard from Janine and Kristen by 12pm EDT on Saturday, October 17, I will draw two more names from those who were on the list.

Delaware Valley Sampler Guild
Last night I received an email from Lynn. Her guild, which was mentioned in yesterday’s blog post, now has a lovely website that you might want to visit. Lots of wonderful “eye candy”.

Members of the Delaware Valley Sampler Guild share photos of their Petit Sampling Etuis in progress

You may remember from my blog post of August 26th, that members of the Delaware Valley Sampler Guild chose A Petit Sampling Etui as their 2009 guild stitch-along project. Lynn D., one of their members, sent me photos of her stitched pieces which appear in that blog post.

A couple of weekends ago, the DVSG members had a weekend retreat in Ocean City, Maryland. Lynn sent me some more photos and wrote, "Our plan is to have our finishing session in February, and I'll definitely take lots of pictures there. It's been a lot of fun to see the differences in each piece."

The first photos are the work of Debi S. Debi's piece is particularly interesting because she changed some of the cross stitched areas to specialty stitches. Perhaps in a future posting, I can show a photo of Debi and enlargements of parts of some of her panels.

Debi's first panel was designed by Clara (The Stitching Parlor).

Her next panel was designed by Louise (Cherished Stitches).

This block was designed by Pam and Susan (Praiseworthy Stitches).


And last, but hopefully not least, is the block I designed.

The next four photos are of some of the guild members busily stitching away on their etuis in a beautiful surrounding.

Pat Y. certainly looks comfortable in her rocker. I wonder if she has a good view of the ocean.

Pat L. looks like she too is making great progress on her etui.

And here is Marnie B. comfortably situated on the lovely porch.

And last, but not least, is Kathy R. who also looks like she is making great progress.

Ladies, thank you for letting us see your wonderful work! As you well know, there is lots of stitching on this project, but I'm sure you'll agree it's worth the effort. I look forward to seeing your assembled etuis in February. Happy stitching!! Enjoy!!

A Petit Sampling Etui is a limited-edition collaboration project from the four companies mentioned above. More details and photos are posted at all of our websites. Only 2000 charts were printed. When those are gone, no more will be printed.

And the winners are.....

Thank you to all who left comments as part of my first give-away. I had so much fun reading your notes, many of which warmed my heart. Thank you very much!!

There were 65 comments left on the Monday, October 5 posting. However, one person left two back-to-back comments because she couldn't figure how to identify herself. This means there were really 64 individuals who left comments. I numbered each person, and then using a computer random number generator, chose 3 winners.

The winners (in the order chosen) are:
#60--Kristen
#7--Janine
#45--Patti

Kristen, Janine, and Patti, please email me at examplar@withmyneedle.com and let me know which two charts you would like and also your mailing address.

Thank you to everyone who participated!! You're all "winners" in my eyes!

Part of my sampler addiction.....

Some of you have expressed interest in seeing my Quaker "gals" hanging together. Unfortunately, that isn’t going to happen for a while.

My original plan was to hang my Quaker samplers in a corner of our family room, but that was before Mary Wigham came along and before I finished Dutch Beauty which turned out to be even larger than I thought it would be once it was framed. With 31 samplers hanging in our family room, there simply isn’t enough room for all the Quaker “gals” to hang out together. My new plan is to hang the Ackworth “gals” upstairs in our bedroom. However, I want to stitch Mary Busby before hanging the other three.

Meanwhile sweet little Rachel Ellis (from Westtown School) will remain downstairs and wait for Deborah Walker (from the Chester County Historical Society). Rachel, I’m afraid that it may be a long wait. There are others samplers and projects ahead of you in the queue.

I don’t know when or how I caught the “Quaker fever”. I guess it all began with Maria Spence (from The Essamplaire). I got the kit for this sampler at the first Ackworth seminar. After stitching Maria, I thought “Well, I’ve done one Quaker medallion sampler. Now to move on to another sampler type.” But then, I saw Ann Trump (from Needleprint), and I particularly like that she is shaped differently, rectangular, from most of the others I’ve seen. Then at the last Ackworth seminar, I "met" Mary Busby (from Needlelace) and fell in love with her beautiful colors. And then along came Mary Wigham (also from Needleprint), and I got caught up in the enthusiasm of the SAL. I really like that both Marys stitched “Ackworth School” on their samplers.

Maria, Ann, and Mary Wigham are framed and just waiting on Mary Busby. I put the three on the bed in my daughter’s room to patiently wait. Earlier today, I started studying their similarities. It was fun to find so many of the same motifs on the samplers. For example, both Ann and Mary Wigham have the same motif in the upper left-hand corner. On Mary Busby, that motif is also along the top but it is the third one from the left. Ann and Mary Wigham both stitched the same strange squirrel. Maria and both Marys stitched the same motif of a pair of birds facing each other. Of course, there are many more similarities between the four samplers.

Early this morning, I finished stitching on my newest model, Quaker Sampling III, and am now between model stitching so I picked up Mary Busby and started work on her. I don’t think I’ll get very far with her in the next few days before beginning stitching on another model, but I really want to get her stitched soon so I can hang the four Ackworth samplers together. Anyone have some ideas on how I can stitch faster?

Today is my mother's birthday. If she were still alive, she would have been 86 today. Sadly, she died nearly 4 years ago. I'm just thankful that she was able to see both of my children happily married.

The photo below is of my daughter, Carolyn, and my mother taken at Carolyn's wedding reception five years ago. Carolyn is sitting in her grandmother's lap. I love this photo of the two of them!!

Mother so badly wanted to be a great-grandmother ... something she never lived to see, but I'm sure that she must know that her first grandchild and namesake had a baby (her one and only great-grandchild) 20 months ago. How she would have loved to have seen and played with Haiden!

Happy birthday, Mother!! We miss you!!

A thank you...

Tom asked me to post the note below expressing his thanks for his birthday surprise.

Dear Stitching Friends,

Many thanks to all of you who sent me a birthday email. It was quite tricky of Ellen to ask you to write me, and my mailbox was quite choked for several hours. But it was really fun to watch things appear in the inbox, arriving first from the Asia/Pacific region, and then generally following the sun westward. Several more birthday emails have trickled in over the last week. It's amazing how stitching has connected so many people around the world.

Sincerely yours,
Tom

Flowers of Olde by Olga

Olga (known as Olenka's Stitches on the internet) sent me a photo of her version of my complimentary design, Flowers Of Olde.

Olga stitched the design on 28-count coffee hand-dyed linen with DMC variegated threads. She wrote, "The design attracted me by the usage of long satin stitches. I was wondering what carnations would look like made in these stitches. Your instruction on how to use overdyed thread is very useful. While stitching the flowers, I tried to make the centers of the flowers brighter to make them look more natural. I enjoyed stitching your design very much and I am satisfied with the result."

Don't you love the way Olga turned this design into a pinkeep? I also love her thread colors--so bright and cheerful. Thanks, Olga, for sharing a photo of your sweet pinkeep.

Flowers of Olde is a complimentary design. You can print it off from my website.

The On-Line Needlework Show opened today at 2pm EDT. This is a wholesale tradeshow which means only registered shops can purchase items. However, anyone can look at all the goodies. You can then ask a shop to buy something for you.

ES's Floral Sampler by Danièle

Danièle from France recently sent me photos of her lovely ES's Floral Sampler. This is my newest reproduction sampler.

Danièle wrote me in French, "J'ai choisi de le broder sur du lin Permin 16 fils "teint-thé", au petit point; les fils utilisés sont les soies Needlepoint préconisées". (Danièle wrote that she tent stitched the sampler on tea-dyed linen from Permin using the same silk threads I did on my model. Maybe some of the French readers can help me figure out how the stitch count. I presume that 16 fils is per centimeter, but I'm not sure. In inches, I'm guessing this is somewhere between 32 and 35 linen threads. I could be totally off base in my thinking. EDITED--Jane wrote me that 16 fils is equivalent to 40 threads per inch--WOW!!! As you can see math is not my strong point! Thanks, Jane!) The chart lists DMC thread substitutions for anyone not wanting to use the silk threads.

In the first photo, you can see that Danièle replaced ES's initials with her own.

Here is a closer view of Danièle's sampler.

Don't you love the frame Danièle chose and the way she staged her photos with flowers? How perfect for a floral sampler! Perhaps the flowers are from Danièle's garden. Thank you, Danièle, for sharing photos of your beautiful work.

The original sampler, from which our reproduction was created, was undated, but thought to be from around 1840. The stitcher didn't sign her name, only her initials. Wouldn't you love to know more about her? Surely, she must have loved flowers, but what else do we know about her?

This sweet little sampler is so charming with its lovely flowers and irregularities, particularly in the border. My model hangs over the desk in my office where I can see it often.

First Blog Give-Away, Miscellaneous Ramblings, and Answers to Your Questions

Several people have written asking questions about various subjects in my recent postings.

First, there was some confusion about the Ann Pennsylvania Peacock that I mentioned in my last post. This is not a reproduction sampler--it merely has the look of an old sampler. I like to stitch reproduction samplers as they are charted, but because this was not a reproduction sampler, I felt “free” to make the changes I did. The designer of this lovely sampler is Cindy Daly Bradford. Her company name is Little by Little. You can check with your local needlework shop about getting the chart, or simply Google the sampler name and see what you get. The girl on the sampler really does have arms. In my photo, it looks like she is missing her arms…poor thing!

Some of you asked to see a photo of the Deborah Walker sampler that I plan to stitch with my friend Carol. I haven’t had any luck finding a photo on-line. The chart is a very old one published in leaflet form by Just Cross Stitch. Deborah and her sisters, Rebecca and Mary, each stitched similar samplers. Margariet Hogue (The Essamplaire) reproduced Rebecca’s sampler. I don’t know if Mary’s has been reproduced. All three original samplers are in the collection of the Chester County Historical Society. Isn't it wonderful that the three sisters's samplers are together? I hoped that the CCHS would have their collection on line, but sadly they don’t. Perhaps they will some day.

I had mentioned hanging Ann Trump, Maria Spence, and Mary Wigham together, but then last night I remembered that I have one more Ackworth gal on my “to-do” list--Mary Busby. Mary Busby was reproduced by Doreen Holmes (Needlelace). I bought the chart and threads when I was at the last Ackworth seminar. I‘ve even put linen aside for it, so I guess there’s no excuse not to get to her. Mary will look so wonderful hanging with her schoolmates. However, I really must first stitch some models for the Nashville needlework tradeshow.

Ann Trump

Maria Spence

Several of you have volunteered to “house” some of my samplers. Hmm--wonder if I should rent them out. All kidding aside, I always seem to find room for just one more, but it’s getting more and more difficult.

This is my 100th blog post. Thanks to all who have written to let me know how much you enjoy my blog. As a way to both celebrate this small milestone, and also to thank you for visiting, I thought I’d do my first give-away. Please leave a note in the comment area immediately below this post, and sometime next Sunday, October 11th, I’ll do a drawing for some of my charts. The winners will get to chose what they want.

What I've Been Stitching

On Tuesday, I dropped off My Quaker Lady for framing at Carol's and at the same time picked up Mary Wigham. I'm quite pleased with the results. Now to figure out where to hang "her". I’m thinking of putting her with Ann Trump and Maria Spence, also Ackworth school girls.

I asked Tom when he photographed Mary today if he would also take a photo of Ann Pennsylvania Peacock designed by Cindy Daly Bradford (Little by Little). I finished this over the winter. One of the charming things about this sampler is the paper face which was included in the chart package. Since this was not a reproduction, I made some changes to the colors and design--some on purpose and then others accidentally. I then decided that I would put in my mother's (maiden) name and where she was born and grew up. I thought that this would be a lovely way to honor my mother. Several friends suggested that I add my name; there wasn't much room, but I did squeeze in "worked by her daughter Ellen".

While at Carol's, I saw a stack of sampler charts sitting on a table so I leafed through them. One that particularly caught my eye was Deborah Walker, a Quaker sampler from the Chester County (Pennsylvania) Historical Society. I have had Deborah on my "to do" list for some time. When I told Carol, she decided that she too wanted to stitch Deborah and we could do our own two-person stitch-along. Way back in 1999, the two of us did another two-person stitch-along when we both stitched The Embroideress by Joanne Harvey (The Examplarery). What a great time we had then and are now looking forward to working on Deborah Walker together!

Adorn Thy Heart by Linda and Kat

Today, as I was going through things, I came across two versions of Adorn Thy Heart which I completely forgot to show you earlier.

The first photo is from Linda. What a beautiful job she did with stitching this band sampler! And isn't the frame wonderful? It so nicely compliments the embroidery. Linda, I hope you found the perfect place to hang your sampler.

The next photo is from Kat Zak of Americus, Georgia. Kat left off the sampler verse and turned her piece into a beautiful wedding sampler for her daughter and son-in-law. Kat, I hope they're enjoying their sampler and have it hanging in a place of honor. (My son and daughter-in-law hung theirs in the living room for all to see.)

Thank you, Linda and Kat, for sharing photos of your work. I'm sorry that I forgot to post your photos earlier.

It's fun to see these two versions of Adorn Thy Heart together and compare them. By clicking on the words Adorn Thy Heart in the sidebar on the left, you can see two more versions of the same sampler.

In the previous post, I mentioned that it looked like Barbara had stitched an inscription at the bottom of the piece. She just wrote to tell me it reads, "Stitched with love for Lila Elizabeth Arbaugh by Great Aunt Barbara". Then over in the right hand corner she put the year, "2008". Barbara, I know your great niece will cherish this piece even more so with your inscription. Thank you for sharing the additional information about this special gift for a very special person in your life.