Sarah Harris Stitchalong

Thank you for suggesting a stitchalong for Sarah Harris' Sampler. Yes, let's have some fun together! Just click here to go to the Stichalong page to sign up.

Design a Coat of Arms With The V&A

I love the heraldic beasts on Sarah Harris' sampler - why is it that the lion reminds me of something out of the Wizard of Oz? We have to thank James I (VI of Scotland) for introducing the unicorn to the English coat of arms. And it struck me you might like to construct your own coat of arms - or maybe personalize the one you will stitch on Sarah's sampler, To help you there is a lovely design-your-own-coat-of-arms-game from the V&A museum to help you. Just click here for some heraldic fun. Thank you for all your brilliant comments about the Sarah Harris sampler - we would just like to thank Sarah and all those who over the years have kept this sampler safe for us to enjoy today.

Sarah Harris 1786 is Ready

It is a little after one in the morning here - but at last we have everything ready for you to enjoy Sarah Harris' sampler of 1786. There are three downloads for you - the chart is in a black and white pdf for you to print out. Then there are two bonus files for you - a fully editable Cross Stitch Designer file for you to customize to your heart's content and a little ebook of the best of Sarah's motifs for you to work on singly for small projects.
A little word about Sarah's sampler - I have the feeling that she was very much working out the diagrams as she stitched along - so the symmetry is quirky. Sarah's name has all but vanished and so we have reconstructed a corner where you can add your name to Sarah's. To purchase the Sarah Harris Sampler Chart and eBook just click here.


Janice at Traditional Stitches has kindly volunteered to make kits available for this sampler and you can contact her by clicking here.

This is My Second Mothering Sunday This Year

I have brought out my Mothers' Day cards from earlier this year for today. It is something of a luxury to participate in 2 Mothers' Days - and perhaps there could be more from around the world that we are missing out on. I love this image for its early depiction of a sampler and I would appreciate knowing where it comes from if anyone knows.....
Sherelyn sent me this evocative poem for Mother's Day to share with you:

WHEN I FEEL MOST LIKE HER by Judith Sornberger

When I stretch one small scrap of the world
across a hoop, forgetting everything
outside the wood. When I plant
a garden of cross stitches,
lay down my holy writs in magenta,
black, cornflower across linen.

When I run through drifts to drop
radish seeds into the snow,
loving the idea of the hard
red hearts pumping up inside
the silent earth more than I long
for their cool sting on my tongue.

When I ski beside Pine Creek,
my legs and arms remembering the way
back to some great-great grandmother
in Sweden. The hills a bolt of white
velvet unrolling out before me.
The trail, stitches I follow to her kitchen

where she's wedding seed pearls
to the bodice of a dress she'll wear once
and pass down to her daughter.
She stokes the stove, puts coffee on,
opens her back door to morning lying
like a gray-blue cloak over the snow.

She straps on skis and pushes off,
gliding through pink birches,
leaning toward sunrise, into the future,
breaking trail for my sweat, my heartbeat.
Her heart writing its one poem:
again, again.