New Reproduction In The Works

Hello Friends,

Well, it's been awhile since last I posted.  If you read my personal blog at www.samplermakerssamplerspot.blogspot.com ; you can see what is keeping me busy thesee days.  We have found a new home and Milady's Needle will be moving to Goodyear, Arizona.  We hope to be all settled by the end of September. 

In the meantime, I want to let all of you know that I haven't dropped off the face of the earth.  I couldn't attend the Nashville Needlework Market because of family illness which I previously posted about in Februray.  I won't be at the Baltimore Needlework Show because we will be in the midst of a move.  So, the next market I will be attending will be in the new year.  So, Milady's Needle is basically on a sabatical.  If I can I will try to get the new reproduction out before the end of the year.  At any rate, Milady's Needle will be back in the swing of things by the new year. 




I am working on a reproduction from my collection of antique samplers.  This one is called Anne Smith Blockley.

Here is a sneak peak of the reproduction:











Interestingly, there are two dates on the sampler.  One is located up in numbers section near the alphabet and indicates the date July 5 1823.  The other date is located in the signature line near the bottom of the sampler along with Ann's name with the date of 1834.  So, what does this mean?  Let have some guesses from all of you.  Is the date near the alphabet when she started the sampler and the date near her signature when she completed the sampler?  If so, that would mean that Ann worked on her sampler for 11 years.  Given the simplicity of the sampler, this seems unlikely.  Is the date near the alphabet her birthdate and the date near her signature the year she stitched the sampler?  Is the date  near the alphabet of family significance?  Take a look at the picture of the antique and consider what the significance of this might be.
 







Here is a peak at the antique.















So post your guess about the two dates and lets see what we can discover!!

I hope you are enjoying your summer and that you are getting lots of stitching done.

Until the next time,

Gloria