This is the start of what may become the tale of two samplers and is actually a continuation of yesterdays post but for all those who swing by for links rather than chatter Susie Monday has a very good article about getting yourself going. 10 Ways to Unstick when You’re Stuck points you to ways that mean you can do something creative with your time rather than staying in a rut. So if you need to be energised try some of these tricks.

Yesterday my sampler had a visitor! Annie of Annies Crazy World came visiting and with her came her sampler. So we decided to photograph them as they talk to each other. Annie’s work is the thin sampler on the left .

Later addition: Annie has blogged her response too! - do check it out

As I said yesterday for years I have made samplers as a way of storing references to stitches. Of course they also act as teaching aids. I also always make them 15 cm (6 inches) wide. There uniformity has a sort of appeal. Anyway I stitched them all together and the sampler currently measures 33 ft 2 inches or 10.109 meters. I have a new section ready to be stitched on and I just lay it down next to the sampler.

Yesterday I said how appealing Annie’s format of being half the width is. I think you can see it here what I mean.

Annie became interested in how long various areas of stitches were (and I think she will say about that) But it quite spooky as for instance the area of herringbone on both samplers ended up being the same length.


This was a total accident and I stitch my herringbone sampler a good couple of years ago.

As I was comparing the sections of buttonhole on both samplers I saw that I had noted in 2005 the race riots in Sydney and Annie stitching this year noted Sorry day. It fascinates me how by chance both artifacts can become part of a larger story.

It was a really fun afternoon photographing them, looking and comparing and seeing how each of us had done things in a similar but highly individual manner.

On the left is the next section to be added to my sampler. As you can see I have introduced a border!

These samplers are very addictive. I think many people get put off samplers in school and think they are formulated practice pieces that just become too boring for words. If that happens you are listening too much to others or stitching to a preconcieved notion of what a sampler is, as they really are place simply to stitch, explore and doodle with thread!

mmmmm she thinks to her self as she toddles off to the work room … perhaps I should start a series of close ups … once a week or so … a detail … run a series … what contemporary samplers can be …