Here’s some juicy news from Janet Granger:
I have just launched a couple of new samplers on my website, which you might like to look at. The saying on the first sampler is ‘A Token Of Love’. It is an ‘Ackworth’ style of sampler, which is much more unusual than the ‘band sampler’ type, or ones with a phrase or saying on them stitched in rows that we usually see. The Ackworth school was opened in 1779 near Leeds, Yorkshire. It was a boarding school run by Quakers, taking in both boys and girls, where the girls were taught embroidery of a very distinctive kind. The surviving samplers from this school have in recent years become very collectable, due to the unusual way that the girls stitched their sampler designs. Rather than the more common designs of the time, where lines of alphabets and numerals took pride of place, they used a method of stitching medallions freehand on the fabric, which gives a very pleasing, but naïve, look to the samplers. It is thought that this was a way to teach them about mathematics, particularly fractions. The phrase ‘A Token of Love’ is taken from wording used on items made by Ackworth schoolgirls as gifts, but still using the same medallion style of decoration as on the samplers. I have interpreted this style for one twelfth scale, to make a sampler which would be suitable for any late Georgian or early Victorian doll’s house.
The second sampler features the phrase ‘Count Your Blessings’ across the centre of the sampler. It is mainly stitched in shades of royal blue and gold, with olive green lettering.
This second design is featured in the latest edition of Dolls House World magazine (the April issue, number 223, which is on sale during March 2011). It is the fourth in a series of sampler designs that I am doing for the magazine over the next few months. If you get yourself a copy, you can stitch the design from the colour block chart included in the magazine. You’ll need a piece of 32 count evenweave fabric, a size 26 tapestry needle, and some Anchor stranded cotton. If you prefer to buy the full kit from me (which includes a stained and varnished wooden picture frame, to mount the sampler in), then you can take advantage of the special offer in the magazine to get 25% off the usual kit price. Just quote the Discount Offer Code listed in the magazine when you buy online from my website, and you can buy the sampler kit for 6 GBP instead of 7.95 GBP.
Remember that, for items ordered via the website, p&p is free, worldwide, on orders of 10 GBP or over (under 10 GBP, there is a flat rate charge of 1.25 GBP per order).
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