Whenever I am lucky enough to glimpse an antique piece of stitching, I can’t help but wonder about their stitchers, their lives and their personalities, while admiring their skills and artistry. I wonder about Jane Whiston, from 1818, who created the original piece that inspired ‘On Kindness’.
Jane’s little sampler touched my heart, and echoes (to me) the same kind of gentle personality behind ‘The Humble Sampler’. Jane’s little piece was stitched simply in black, with a pale, smoky blue key pattern for the border. Now, these are tricky to match up in the corners with a modern design program, so I don’t blame Jane for her very wonky corners – stitching that up by eye is an impossible task!
Jane’s sentiment was so sweet, I wanted to display it to its fullest, so I added floral bands of forget-me-nots (for rememberance) and anemones (for gratitude), while echoing her original design.
It’s not a large stitch – and would make a heartfelt gift to celebrate a friendship. My model was stitched on 32-count ‘Platinum’ by Zweigart, using 1 strand of 5 different colours from my Bookshelf Edit with Cottage Garden Threads: Hearth, Wingback, Woolf, Morrison & Austen. When stitched on 32-count, it fits inside a standard 8 x 10 frame – for ease of display and gifting. Alternatively, it would look lovely stitched smaller on a higher count fabric and made into a little pillow.
I can’t help but think that Jane was a kind soul, who I hope was blessed with wonderful friends throughout her life.
Some old samplers are but fragments, such as the two tiny pieces that inspired ‘Pennsylvania Prims’.
These two tiny fragments were sourced from a Pennsylvania Estate – with no more information attached. So enigmatic – I wonder what the stitcher was commemorating with those dates? Weddings, births, deaths? It’s impossible to know.
To honour her and all unnamed stitchers, this little set reproduces the two antiques, and is rounded out by two original designs. Quick, easy stitches; this little set would be very easy to personalise with dates that are significant to you. Please note that the dates are stitched 1 over 1, but you could easily stitch them larger or leave them out altogether.
The two antique fragments were stitched on rough, hand-loomed fabric in different colours. I chose to stitch mine on 32-count ‘Russian Caramel’ by Number12StitchCo on Etsy – a rich, deep gold that matches the original flowerpot piece perfectly. I used two strands of Hearth and Wingback to stitch all the pieces, meaning that you can stitch both ‘On Kindness’ & ‘Pennsylvania Prims’ with the same threadpack of Cottage Garden Threads.
Both charts are available to order from your local or online needlework store now, and the hard-copies, PDFs and threadpacks will be available from my Etsy store in a couple of weeks. I hope you enjoy happy wonderings about these pieces as you stitch them.
Mojo Stitches 