Clox on Sox - Christmas Infinity Download

I made a resolution this year that I would be better prepared for Christmas. I don't know if November is too late to start, but it is better than January. Over the year I have been squirrelling away special little delights to give as gifts, so I am not starting from square one, which is a great boost. A couple of weekends ago, while looking through some 16th century pattern books, I found some lovely patterns for stocking clocks, and I thought what could be a better decoration for Christmas Stockings than some pretty Renaissance clocks? It took me a weekend to make these in between other work, so if you are looking for inspiration for a gift exchange, then here you are. I have made up some scrolls of linen and thread to go with little patterns I have designed, and there are punch spices, little tubes of gold needles, and then all it will need is a walnut or almond for the toe! If you would like an Infinity PDF and JGG download to make your own for $8, just click here.
(You might not be able to see on your screen, but the pattern comes with sock outlines for the clock designs.) There is an on line German museum dedicated to hosiery: click here to visit.

Viji's Finished Mary Wigham Takes a Tour and Meets Gandhi

You may remember Viji from Chennai in India who is was stitching her Mary Wigham on blue Aida - well she has finished. Congratulations Viji!

She tells us: 'At last, I completed the Mary Wigham Sampler. I am attaching photographs of Mary Wigham's in front of the Gandhi Monument on the beach at Pondicherry, a few photographs of Mary in Mahabalipuram (a sculpture city). It is also called a Mamallapuram. The Five Rathas are known as Pandava Rathas also. The Lion and Elephant in front of these caves are sculpted wonders as they are carved out of a single stone. Victor was able to take phtographs of Mary's Sampler in front of these lovely places. I enjoyed stitching Mary's Sampler so much. I have no words to thank you for bringing Mary close to people like me who stay so far and would never had an opportunity to know about her but for your efforts.'

It is lovely to share your Mary Wigham, Viji, and your stitching companionship. I am so impressed by your husband's placing something beneath your sampler to keep it clean while taking his pictures - that is really thoughtful.

Sources for Tulips

I have a great love for the tulips which figure at the top of this Goodhart sampler (G82). They led me to another sampler in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (T15-1952) and allowed me to posit an identity, Mary Basham, for the maker of the Goodhart sampler. It is always a wonderful moment, as some you may have experienced for yourselves, when some seemingly small clue allows you to 'return' a sampler or other artifact to its maker. There are a number of sources for the tulip on Mary's sampler stitched in 1778, but there is something about this one of 1730 - the subscribers' page from Robert Furber's Twelve Months of Flowers - which caught my eye. Possibly it is simply a deception of the tulips' placement at the top corners of a border framing a rectangular centrepiece, for no other florals are matched. Robert Furber was 'Gardiner' at Kensington and the illustrations in his catalogue were painted by Antwerp artist Pieter Casteels, and be inspiration to the Dutch-born still-life paintings Jacob van Huysums.

The Needle Work-Book of Nelly van Maarseveen

I love beautiful needle work-books and many years ago I found this book in my aunt's collection. To my mind, it is one of the most delightful. Originally made in 1886, it was republished in facsimile form in 1981 and is still readily and cheaply available via internet second hand book shops in the Netherlands. It is well worth the hunt and the postage!