commemorating a special occasion...

I was recently asked me if I do custom designs. I’m sorry time doesn’t permit me to do any, but I made the following suggestions to the needleworker who inquired specifically about a wedding sampler. Perhaps these ideas are things you might like to consider also. Many of the same ideas would also work well for a birth or anniversary sampler.

Adorn Thy Heart
Below you can first see a photo of the sampler as it appears on the chart cover. I also sticthed the design as a wedding sampler for my son and daughter-in-law as shown in the second photo. You can also create a smaller sampler by omitting some of the bands on the sampler.

When This You See

Leave off the text and perhaps a couple of bands at the top, and put the wedding information there.

Let Virtue Be A Guide to Thee
Leave off the alphabet and verse and put the wedding information in those areas. If you want a smaller sampler, leave off the floral border and just do the area inside the inner border. Another idea is to do the outside borders and the inner border, and put just the wedding information on the inside.

Kind and True
Leave off the verse and put the wedding information in that area. Another idea is to lengthen the sampler by extending the side bands, and put the wedding information at the bottom of the sampler. Family Ties

Leave off the verse and put the wedding information in that area.

Family Record Samplers
Put the last name (surname) of the wedding couple at the top, and then put all their wedding information in the area below that. You can still keep the cartouches on either side and put the surname initial there. Leave off the names of the grandparents. Put the family surname initial at the bottom in the center cartouche.

Let your creative juices flow and see what you can do to create a special commemorative sampler which will surely become a family heirloom!

Adorn Thy Heart by Anita

I was delighted to receive photos from Anita of Staten Island, New York who stitched Adorn Thy Heart, a band sampler with 22 different stitches. If desired, you can use cross stitch for the majority of the special stitches.

The first photo shows Anita's sampler before framing. Anita was so proud of the back of her sampler that she sent me a photo of that too. Anita says that she likes to be an enabler--not only of cross stitch.

Years ago I got to meet Anita in person when my husband and I were in NYC. Anita met me at our hotel and took me to the garment district where we spent hours looking at beads, buttons, trims, and dupioni silk. I still have such fond memories of our day together. Thanks, Anita, for that day and also for sharing the photos of your beautiful work.

The photo below shows how Adorn Thy Heart can easily be made into a wedding sampler by replacing the text on the original sampler with the couple's names, wedding date, and location.

I made this sampler for my son and daughter-in-law. I wanted a sampler that was not so "wedding-ish" that it would be relegated to the bedroom. I am delighted that Stephen and Michelle have their sampler hanging in their living room. It is hard to believe that they celebrated their 6th wedding anniversary in June. Where does the time go?

Others have adapted this sampler as an anniversary sampler and as a birth sampler for a girl.

The story behind the Family Record Samplers

Having just returned from visiting our grandson, Haiden, in Chicago, today seems like an ideal day to share the story of his birth sampler.

Several months before Haiden was born, Tom asked if I was going to design a birth sampler for him. We knew that our daughter, Carolyn, was going to have a little boy, but we didn’t know his name. In fact, his name was kept secret until his birth. I hesitated a bit before answering Tom, because this was something that I had thought about but had not worked on. I knew that if I were to do a birth sampler, I wanted something classic, not cutesy--not that there is anything wrong with cutesy, but I wanted a sampler that wouldn’t seem too babyish in a few years. I had lots of ideas for a girl, but none for a boy. Tom’s inquiry got the wheels in my brain turning.

I almost immediately began work on a design that would show not only the baby’s full name, birthdate, and location but also the names of his parents and his four grandparents. In fact, by the time Haiden was born, I had his sampler all stitched except for his name and birth information.

Haiden was born a week before the 2008 Nashville Needlework Tradeshow where I was able to show his finished sampler (unframed) next to a newborn baby photo. The following week we delivered the framed sampler to him.

I stitch my own models which gives me lots of time to think. I thought, what if someone has twins and needs to put two names on the sampler or perhaps they want to do one sampler with the names of two children to create a family record? This is when I designed the “Chester” sampler. Slight variations had to be made to the center cartouche in order to accommodate two names and birthdates. I stitched Tom’s and my names and our parents’ names along with those of our two children, Carolyn and Stephen.

As I was stitching this new version, I thought, but what if someone has more than two children? I needed a way to accommodate more names. For this version, the “Watts” sampler, I went back to my grandfather’s generation. Papa was one of 6 children. Again variations had to be made in order to accommodate that many names. It was interesting to do the research on this sampler because I had to locate the birthdates of my grandfather’s siblings. I feel like I am honoring him along with his parents (my great-grandparents) and his grandparents (my great-great grandparents) by preserving this bit of family history.

I consider all three of these samplers family heirlooms. They hang in my office. (Yes, I had to restitch Haiden’s birth sampler since he has the original one hanging in his room in Chicago, and I need a model).

The package for the Family Record Samplers contains charts and instructions for making all three versions. Instructions are also included for what to do if you have any very long names. Each sampler records family history and would be perfect not only as a birth sampler, but also as a family record.

You may remember that last Monday, May 11, 2009, I showed the Family Record Sampler that Anna stitched for her grandson. She personalized her sampler by leaving off the grandparents' names and adding the names of her grandson’s two sisters. As you can see the possibilities are limitless.

5 versions of An Emblem of Love from all over the world

I designed An Emblem of Love in 2005. The motifs I used are original ones many of which were inspired by old Quaker motifs. I first stitched a polychrome version, and then decided to stitch another version using one overdyed thread color. This required two charts that were very similar, but the one-color version needed some areas omitted--for example, the birds' eyes.

In 2005, Tom and I celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary so I dedicated the samplers to him. While not designed specifically as an anniversary sampler, several needleworkers have also stitched these samplers to commemorate an anniversary or other special occasion. The samplers could also be stitched as a birth or wedding sampler by adding the necessary information; some of the motifs may have to be moved in order to have enough room for the inscription.

Below are several versions of An Emblem of Love. (There'll be another one next week that has a special story.)

The first sampler was stitched by Dany. Unfortunately, I no longer have her email so I don't have any details about the piece.

The next sampler was stitched by Carol Sutcliffe.

As you can see, both stitchers chose the polychrome version. Aren’t their samplers beautiful?

Next are two one-color samplers.

The first was stitched by Catherine ("Catherine abc" as she is known by many on the internet) of France. Catherine wrote, "I've changed the wording for a French one "A nos amours". It is a wording we use in France to celebrate love in a generic way (love = "les amours" when you talk of the special feeling of a person or a couple, you use the plural, it's more romantic and more poetic than simply "l'amour". Les amours du poète... the love of the poet... ). "A nos amours" can be said when we drink to a special moment... And I've planned to frame it and offer it to Didier for Valentine... when we clink our glasses of champagne ! I've hidden a little "n" for my Noémie because she is one of my loves !! (another reason for the plural!). " Can you find where Catherine "hid" the letter "n" on her sampler?

The second sampler was stitched by Robbin Douglas of Massachusetts. Robbin wrote, "I stitched it with Vikki Clayton's premium silk in a Jewelweed mix that she did for me. I worked it as a 5th anniversary sampler for my husband so I had to work on it when he wasn't arround. We went to Disney World for our 5th anniversary and I still wasn't finished, so it came along and I worked on it at night or in the morning. I finally finished the last stitches the morning of our anniversary. My husband was up and walking around but not awake yet and had no idea what I was working on!

I wanted to use all 3 initials (since otherwise it was a lot of D's and the J's at least broke things up) so I moved a few things around to accomodate that and added both dates as well. DH wasn't sure about it at first since it's different from most things that I've stitched (and that we have hanging) but it hangs proudly in the room where I intended to hang it."

Aren't these two samplers striking in just one color? I don't know which I like best--the polychrome or the one-color version. I guess that is why I stitched it both ways.

The last photo in this blog post was submitted by Giovanna of Bologna, Italy. Giovanna wrote, “The chart, An Emblem of Love, was kidnapped for some time by my mother, Sybil, who selected it as the perfect design to celebrate the 50th wedding anniversary of her sister and brother-in-law last summer. So I'm sending you the picture I took of the sampler after Mum had it framed. It really doesn't do much justice to the real thing (argh, a reflection sneaked in...): it is absolutely charming, and is now hanging in my aunt and uncle's home in England (Mum is English).

It's the multicolour version of An Emblem of Love, with slight changes for the personalization. It's stitched on platinum Belfast linen (32-ct), with the suggested threads, except for the swan: a slightly darker thread was used for it, to increase contrast with the background.

Mum and Dad took it up to England and presented it to Aunt and Uncle on the day itself, and it was received with great enthusiasm. They drove up for the party with the sampler carefully stored in the car - so the poor thing withstood being transported across a good part of Europe and ferried across the Channel :-)

I hope you like how Mum used your design, and please know that it has given us all great pleasure to see the stitching develop and to brainstorm on how to personalize it. "

Yes, Giovanna, I really like what your mother did with this design, and I am honored that she chose it to give to her sister and brother-in-law on such a special occasion. Thank you for sharing both the photo and the story of how this sampler came to be.