Simply Samplers: Spotlight on Samplers

Welcome to the Simply Samplers Spotlight on Samplers Page! Wander through this page at your leisure, and focus on a selection of samplers in greater detail; ... if you are spoilt for choice, the Sampler Spotlight will make a random selection for you.

Barnaby's Rainbow Sampler: Barnaby was a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel who was my friend and stitching companion for many years. Read his story, and about how the sampler I stitched in his memory won a prize...
A must for all those stitchers who share this hobby with their pets.

Mary Batchelder: Mary was aged 16 when she stitched her silk on linen in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1773. it is now on display at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum.

The Branwell/Bronte Samplers by Lori Bell: Lori writes about the Bronte sisters and the samplers that they all stitched. If you would like to work a reproduction copy of one of their samplers, Moira Blackburn has kits, which are available from Willow Fabrics.

The Story of the Chieveley Sampler: In April 1996, our local auction house came into possession of a sampler depicting our church in Chieveley. Here is the story of how this sampler came back to the village; we now know a great deal about the life of its maker Eliza Gibbons, thanks to its new owner. You can also obtain charts to stitch this piece of history.

Ann Holewil's sampler: Ann was one of a number of school girls taught by schoolmistress Juda Hayle in the Ipswich area of East Anglia between 1691 and 1710. Three samplers stitched under her direction are in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; and a fourth, Ann's, has recently become available in the United States for the purchase price of $65,000, and funds are being raised to purchase this sampler for the textile collection at Colonial Williamsburg.

Mourning Samplers: A series of Interviews on Mourning Samplers with Susan Deaver Olberding by Margaret Davaz, (aka CameoRoze). This article is her summary of the Stitch Chats in America Online's Fiber and Needle Art room on June 28 and 29, 1996. You can also take a look at a silk needlework mourning picture.

Hannah Otis: Hannah came from an illustrious American family but she may well be remembered longer than any of her forebears as the stitcher of the most expensive needlework picture ever sold. This charming and historically important piece of needlework was bought at Sotheby's on Saturday, January 20 by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, for $1,157,500!

The Three Ships Sampler: In December 1606, three small ships set sail for Virginia; I was lucky enough to see replicas of these valiant voyagers, when I visited Jamestown in December 1993, nearly three hundred years later. The Three Ships sampler is my celebration of their epic voyage and you can obtain a chart from Samplery.

Sarah F. Williams: This is a sampler with a difference! For Sarah painted this rendering of a traditional sampler in water colours and graphite, circa 1938. It is now housed in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.