Hello again,
Oh dear. I am sure you do not want to hear much about Brexit. Who does? In fact, I am one of the few people (I imagine) who were buying fabric from Zweigart in Germany before we joined the EU! It would come in to Dover and be put in a cage, where it stayed until I paid the duty on it. As soon as we joined, I was celebrating. My fabric would come straight to me with no bother. I forgot, though, that Zweigart have a factory in Switzerland and that that is where the rolls of white Aida are made. My fabric still went in the cage! Most of our fabric and thread does come to us from the continent, of course. I am sure the firms dealing with it will have made plans and, in the event, there should be no problems for us. I have not heard the question of embroidery supplies being raised in Parliament, although most other things seem to have been. What I did think is that you might like to see the face of Brexit. Here it is:
Isn’t she beautiful! Brexit belongs to my son, Stefan, who lives in Dubai. He is in a fifteenth floor flat, so she is a house cat. This is fortunate as it means he does not have to stand at his back door calling “Brexit! Come on Brexit! Hurry up Brexit.” Even in Dubai this might be seen as odd!
NEW DESIGNS
I have been busy. It is all the fault of the sampler tours we have taken. For a long time I was a little cool where samplers were concerned but I have warmed to them very much and now know how worthwhile it is to study them. Some are just beautiful, others are my take on cute and many are just quirky! This set me collecting motifs in my spare time and I now have around 3000 of them. To display them I set about designing some samplers, each to be a size 12 ins x 16 ins when worked on a 16ct Aida or 32 count evenweave, as this size of frame is easily available. I have done sixty-two of them to date!
Now the first batch of eleven are ready for you to see and, I hope, buy. Kits are ready for either fabric and chart packs are ready too, but downloads are giving me a technical problem so far. I am working on this.
If you would like to see more of any of them or to buy a sampler go to stitchdirect.com . You will see some of the samplers straight away, but if you want to see a particular one you can also put the article number (shown here next to each of the titles) in the search box and it will bring up the sampler for you.
Aphabet Sampler 1 2019005
A traditional sampler with some splendid people – note the long, long legs of the man on the right and the sailor outfit of the one on the left. Enjoy the dogs and the flowers and birds that adorn the bordered area. Notice too the stripey cat and the cartouche, which can be personalised with letters from the alphabet.
Alphabet Sampler 8 2019012
More wonderful flowers, a simple alphabet and a few birds intermingling with other motifs. There are a handful of hearts too, so this could be a good sampler for a couple or an engagement perhaps. Mind you, I stitch just for fun and mostly just for me!
Alphabet Sampler 9 2019013
Quite a different colour scheme, but you will find that the palette used over all the samplers is a limited one, so set together on a wall they will complement each other very well. On this sampler there are many flowers and a choice of cartouches for some initials.
Border Bands Sampler 1 2019018
Honeysuckle, Carnations and Lily shapes are recurring features on old borders. Here they are particularly sumptuous with wonderful variations of form. In northern Holland, on one of our trips, we saw a wonderful set of sheets decorated with such a border. Feel free to set about your sheets too. It might take you a while, unless, like the rich of Holland and elsewhere, you have a set of staff to do this for you.
Border Bands Sampler 4 2019021
Spring time shades give this sampler the feel of wildflowers in a meadow. As almost always, the formation is one of a curving zig-zag form from which a variety of plants are able to grow together.
Fruit Sampler 1 2019035
This is another favourite motif, appearing very often but never quite the same from one sampler to another. I have been amazed by the different baskets and bowls that were thought of and the birds who happily join in on whatever is happening on any sampler.
Men with Dogs and Birds Sampler 2019039
I am sorry about the guy who, because he has a bucket in each hand, cannot hitch his trousers up a bit. Others are a little smarter as they pose or parade themselves. There are owls here , as well as the birds the men are handling and then there are the dogs… My favourite is the dachshund type one at the bottom. He seems to have a lot of legs and feet!
Bird Couples Sampler 2019042
There is symmetry here with some particularly lovely vases and baskets of flowers. The birds are in pairs and cooing at each other it would seem. This as a wedding, engagement or anniversary sampler is appealing and a little different.
Swans and Flowers Sampler 2019044
Not quite all these birds are swans, but they are white and in the world of samplers exact forms are not the norm. The deer has joined them as he is rather handsome sitting in his bower! I am currently stitching this one and enjoying it lots!
Vases of Flowers 1 2019047
This sampler certainly has something of a chintz look to it. The style was immensely popular in the 18th century and I understand why. Once more, a variety of flowers are formed on the same plant, something which Nature cannot do but a designer can! The designer in this case may well have originally been in India with a copy or adaptation made in Europe.
Women Sampler 1 2019055
The women had to have a sampler of their own too! The spinners are busy and Justice is there in three forms – interesting that she should be a woman… There is one old lady, some younger ones in their finery and just what the two at the bottom of the sampler are doing with the person who might be in a bath I am not sure. What I do know is that I found them all!
I do hope you have enjoyed this trip down Sampler Lane. Do stitch at least one of them for yourself. Often a motif can be stitched in an evening or so and this adds to the satisfaction of seeing the whole piece build over time. Let me know how you get on.
Best wishes,
Mary
Mary Hickmott Designs 