Nancy's Antique samplers, Marie Baker, Catharine Baldwin 1836, friendship sampler

It's been a busy week. My mom is still in rehab for her hip replacement and is doing very well. She hopes to go back to her apartment next Wednesday and should be able to manage well on her own with a walker. I have been working on those baby quilts and have only one left to quilt; then on to the binding and they will be finished. After that I have to get going on my brother's Beatles quilt. Bill and I went to the local garden center, The Growing Place, yesterday. It was spectacular with so many things in bloom. I picked out lots of different perennials as I want to see what does well in my garden. Since we removed 5 large arborvitae last fall, I now have lots of sun--hooray. Bill is the Tomato Man and loves growing them. He even has specific varieties that do well for him. He volunteered to plant some of my perennials and I hope he will take an interest in my flower garden and help me with it. I have also been working on the Prairie Schooler ABCs and had to rip out some of the letters as they did not show up when I filled in the background with dark black/brown 3371. It looked good on the photos. What happened? Do you suppose they did not use the colors indicated in the chart? I was not a happy camper. Hate to rip. We had 8 of us at my Tuesday stitch/knit group. Mary brought her version of Carriage House Samplings My Town and we loved it. As always Mary added her personal touch changing things here and there. Of course, we all want to start it and do it the way Mary did hers! Always looking forward to the next project!

SOME MORE OF MY ANTIQUE SAMPLERS—
Looks like I need to straighten some of these. We did have that small earthquake nearby several months ago! Most of these I had reframed or at least I put acid-free foam core board as a backing.

MARIE BAKER, LANSING, TOMKINS COUNTY, NY 1823— 

This sampler is very faded as you can see. I bought it at an auction and loved the heart border. It is American. When I bought it, it was fitted into a tray.

This is the reverse but the colors are still quite pale with the exception of the green border on the hearts.

This is the back of the tray with green felt glued on.

After I ripped off the felt, I saw the corrugated cardboard backing. It is now nicely framed.

This is a very large piece—probably 6 feet long—that I received from my Aunt Dot. I believe it is a chimney piece meant to hang over a chimney. It looks Pennsylvania to me but that is only a hunch. It is stitched on a burlap-like fabric and, unfortunately, is glued to masonite! It is as heavy as can be. There is a rainbow over the barn. Love the American flag. No name and no date.

Notice that the chickens are as large as the horse. Look at the wonderful details on the barn.

There are window shades in the downstairs of the house. Most of the threads are wool.

CATHARINE BALDWIN 1836—

I also bought this sampler at auction. I think it had been cut off to fit in the frame in which I bought it. I had it reframed.  I assume it is American but have no basis for that fact. The border is honeysuckle.

Started this one by the Examplarary (sp?) and finished it in 2004. It is Joanne Harvey's own design.

Sorry for the blurry photo taken before I framed it. This is another Carriage House Samplings piece that I stitched on 28 count linen over one thread with half cross/continental/basket weave stitch. I filled in the background with probably 3 strands of the black DMC to cover. As I recall, I lengthened the bottom to add my name and town. Think it is a really cute piece and it is pretty small done over one thread.

In probably 1989 and 1990 my Sampler Group stitched a friendship sampler. It was very loosely organized with no rules. Some sent their thread preferences along with the fabric. We had a few problems with people not stitching their part in a timely manner but most were completed and they are all  very different. We stitched what we wanted on each piece so we weren't bored. 

Better go and get those baby quilts finished today. It's raining and very muddy in the garden so I can't finish planting those perennials I bought yesterday. Bummer! What I'd like to do is take a nap on this gloomy day as I spent some time on the couch last night starting at 3 a.m. during the thunderstorms . My big baby of a Golden Retriever doesn't like thunder and he can't climb the stairs any more so I had to sleep downstairs with him! Not fun to sleep on the couch. Be back soon. --Nancy