Remember Now Thy Creator: Scottish Girls’ Samplers, 1700-1872 - Naomi Tarrant * Now available from Amazon starting £15.10

The long awaited book by Naomi Tarrant is ready to buy now. Your best purchasing possibility in the UK is via Amazon but see below for details of publisher and a book distributor if you live elsewhere. Naomi writes: Samplers are a unique type of artefact, blending together artistic expression, teaching tool and historical document. They identify their creator and can reveal much about their lives and families. Samplers are often celebrations of intricate detail and exuberant design, meant to teach young girls the skills they needed for working embroidery. This volume considers samplers made in Scotland within the context of girl’s lives. It is illustrated by a wide selection of pieces from public and private collections and shows the remarkable variety that was made by young girls as they learnt needle skills. The aim of this book is to look at samplers made in Scotland as well as their place in the education of girls, putting them within the social context of the period. The time spanned covers the first emergence of a specific Scottish style and ends with the introduction of the 1872 Education (Scotland) Act which made schooling a local government responsibility. The contents include a brief history of samplers, before considering the documentary evidence for samplers in Scotland and the earliest surviving pieces. Schooling for girls and the importance of plain sewing samplers are dealt with before looking at embroidered examples, the various types found in Scotland and how certain designs appear to be specific to this country. An important aspect of Scottish samplers is the use of family initials that allows for tracing the makers in various archive sources. During research for the book the author, Naomi Tarrant, came across an old sampler made into a bag among the Seafield Papers in the National Records of Scotland. “It survived because it contained the executory papers of Lady Ann Duff, who was born in 1725 and died in 1805. There are no known samplers made by Scottish girls surviving before the early years of the eighteenth century, although there are documentary records that they were made from at least the mid sixteenth century, so this was an exciting find. Although it had no date and its maker is unknown, it is possibly the oldest Scottish sampler that now survives, dating to at least the mid-seventeenth century.” Photographs and a fuller details on the piece feature in the book.
Click here to purchase via Amazon.

Click here to contact the publisher - Society of Antiquaries of Scotland or alternatively from: Books can be ordered from Booksource: 50 Cambuslang Road, Cambuslang, Glasgow G32 8NB Tel: 0845 370 0067 orders@booksource.net

SOLD Teri's Christmas Stocking Chart * Shepherd's Bush * £5 €7.50 $20 Shipping Included

I went into Marks & Spencers to buy some biscuit treats for Richard and had the Total Christmas Panic Attack. I just stopped short of ordering a bronze turkey to feed the five thousand. Phew. But I realized I need to catch up with some stitching.... These Shepherd's Bush stockings are darling and make great presents for every Christmas to come. There is a full charted alphabet so you can personalize them for your loved ones. The chart is in mint condition and usually sells for £7.50 (without postage).

SOLD Christian's Christmas Stocking Chart * £5 €7.50 $20 Shipping Included

These Shepherd's Bush stockings are darling and make great presents for every Christmas to come. There is a full charted alphabet so you can personalize them for your loved ones. The chart is in mint condition and usually sells for £7.50 (without postage).

SOLD Tina's Christmas Stocking Chart * £5 €7.50 $20 Including Shipping

These Shepherd's Bush stockings are darling and make great presents for every Christmas to come. There is a full charted alphabet so you can personalize them for your loved ones. The chart is in mint condition and usually sells for £7.50 (without postage).

SOLD Quakers & Quilts Sampler Chart * £10 €15 $25 Including Shipping

I am so proud, now I look back, to think of how many great designers like Karen Kluba have been inspired by the Ackworth School Pattern Book and the comprehensive set of quaker motifs we made available without any license fees to new designers, saying - Go ahead, use these charts and make new designs, keep the spirit of Quaker samplers alive - with just the simple proviso that they didn't chart replicas of samplers in Quaker Schoolgirl Samplers from Ackworth. Here is a wonderful design - I love it. In addition to the main sampler shown there are several mini projects for you to enjoy. If you would like this chart pack (pattern only) and can pay via PayPal, then just click on the flying angel below. All shipping is included. (If you don't live in the UK or Europe the price is $25 to include extra shipping costs.)

SOLD 3 Christmas Sampler Charts * Prairie Schooler Set 1 * £10 €15 $27 Shipping Included

Ho ho ho lots of fun stitching these Prairie Schooler minis

and these Christmas ornaments.... get together with stitching friends and really enjoy the run up to the holiday season with lots of shared fun and laughter while you stitch.

SOLD 2 Christmas Sampler Charts * Goode Huswife & Kathy Dieter Barrick * £6 €9 $20 Shipping Included

I am a great lover of Pennsylvanian Dutch samplers with all that calming space around the motifs and this sampler above from the Goode Huswife is one of my favourites. It makes a perfect Christmas gift to hang on the wall with all the other messages of Christmas cheer. But why not make it for yourself? Below you can see the sampler from Kathey Dieter Barrick of Barrick Samplers, another great designer from the USA. Simply beautiful - and yet so fun and quick to stitch.

SOLD 3 Christmas Sampler Charts * Prairie Schooler Set 2 * £10 €15 $27 Shipping Included

More good cheer from The Prairie Schooler. You can stitch the 12 Days of Christmas as a special festive sampler - or make tree ornaments of the individual days - or - here's another idea for you - how about making a special advent calendar using these designs as pockets - a bit more special than the long run of 25. (How many sleeps till Christmas? - How many is that? - That's foreveeeeer!)

On that subject - I must tell you a story. When my niece was young she would get so excited about events that one year her parents decided they would not tell her it was Christmas until Christmas morning. Every year this story gets told rather like the Threee Wise Men and every year I hope that one year (hopefully within my lifetime) her parents will receive official forgivenance.

SOLD 3 Sampler Charts * Prairie Schooler Set 3 * £10 €15 $27 Shipping Included

Not strictly Christmas, but the individual letters of this alphabet would make delightful ornaments for any tree. They also make wonderful projects for the younger members of your family who you can guide in your footsteps and pass your skills on to - as well as some chosen family history... what better way of building memories?

I love animals - it's special to include them in our circle of familiars at Christmas - we have much to be grateful to them for!

SOLD Margaret & Margaret Sampler Stocking Chart One * £5 €7.50 $20 Including Shipping

A very pretty and stocking from Margaret and Margaret, this time, for you to stitch with love. 'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.... There is a full charted alphabet so you can personalize it for your loved ones. The chart is in mint condition and usually sells for £7.50 (without postage).

SOLD Mary Beale's Sampler Stocking Chart IX * £5 €7.50 $20 Including Shipping

A joy to give and a joy to stitch. More wonderful charted stockings to stitch for that special personalized gift. This is a beautiful traditional design from Mary Beale based upon a band sampler. There is a full charted alphabet so you can personalize them for your loved ones. The chart is in mint condition and usually sells for £7.50 (without postage).

SOLD Mary Beale's Sampler Stocking Chart VII * £5 €7.50 $20 Including Shipping

A joy to give and a joy to stitch. More wonderful charted stockings to stitch for that special personalized gift. This is a beautiful traditional design from Mary Beale based upon a band sampler. There is a full charted alphabet so you can personalize them for your loved ones. The chart is in mint condition and usually sells for £7.50 (without postage).

SOLD Robert's Christmas Stocking Chart * £5 €7.70 $20 Shipping Inlcuded

These Shepherd's Bush stockings are darling and make great presents for every Christmas to come. There is a full charted alphabet so you can personalize them for your loved ones. The chart is in mint condition and usually sells for £7.50 (without postage).

SOLD Peter's Christmas Stocking Chart * £5 €7.50 $20 Shipping Inlcuded

These Shepherd's Bush stockings are darling and make great presents for every Christmas to come. There is a full charted alphabet so you can personalize them for your loved ones. The chart is in mint condition and usually sells for £7.50 (without postage).

New Light on The Mystery ( & Earliest Recorded) Ackworth Sampler

If you remember I had a lovely email from Nigel telling me about a new found Ackworth School sampler. The sampler comes with a slip of paper on which is the following text: I wish this to be given to Jane Kerchiss / MARY MAW BARBER ne BAYLDON / was born 24 December 1818 must have / been very young when she did this SP. The mystery was that there was no Mary Bayldon or Baildon or Mary Maw or Mary Barber at Ackworth School. However many of you have been researching and it looks like we can now flesh out the story, thanks to Janet Littlecott. (Who is a very special person having helped with much of the research into personal histories for the Feller Needlework Collection - many thanks, Janet.) Looking more closely at the sampler, Nigel found initials and a date in a medallion at the edge of the sampler - DJ 1787. So this makes this sampler the earliest known Ackworth School sampler to date. With this information, Janet was able to give us the following narrative: Ann Jones was the daughter of Thomas Jones (died in April 1778 aged 39 years in Gainsborough) and Deborah Jones (died on 4 August 1817 aged 71). Ann Jones, herself, died on 16 November 1789 aged 16. The ceremony was carried out by her uncle John Maw. Deborah Jones was probably not poor - she inherited £450 from her father at the age of 21. She also left a will which bequeathed money to her niece, Ann Maw. The connection between the Maw's and the Jones' families is that two of the Burt(t) sisters married a Maw and a Jones : Deborah Burt(t) married Thomas Jones and Mary Burt(t) married John Maw, a mustard manufacturer. Many thanks to everyone who shared the information they had.

ALL SOLD * Micheál and Elizabeth Feller Collection Article in Country Life * £7 €10 $20 Including Shipping

It has been an exhilarating two months while the Micheál and Elizabeth Feller Collection was on display at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. I do hope you were able to visit - and enjoyed your visit!

You might not have been aware that Country Life published a beautifully illustrated article by Mary Brooks, the exhibition's curator. The article is 4 pages in length and is a wonderful complement to the exhibition literature and it comes with the entire magazine in mint condition.