Old Stitches

I have been very fortunate and been given this sampler.  It amazes me that things like this survive at all, it must have been treasured and saved from the skip several times during its life and now I will take care of it.

The details, at the bottom where it is discoloured, read:

Ann Wales Was Born June The 3 1782

Finish This Sampler May The 10 1794

I wonder whether this is Ann's family?  

The text appears regularly on samplers of the period.  It is attributed to the author of "Amazing Grace", John Newton (1725 - 1807), who is said to have written it for his niece to add to her sampler.  

The Wedding Quilt Revealed

I can finally share what I've been working on for the past few weeks, and why there haven't been any blog posts about the quilt in progress. Ta dah, the wedding quilt I made for my daughter and her wife who got married yesterday.

It's the pattern called Winding Ways and instead of the usual light and dark tones I added some medium into the mix which I think gives the pattern a bit more interest and movement.  

I, somewhat crazily as I didn't have a vast amount of notice, decided to hand quilt it. You know that I much prefer to hand sew and I felt the personal connection was very important for a wedding quilt for my daughter.  Blood, blisters and bruising aside, I finished with three whole days to spare!

I showed the finished quilt to the lovely ladies at Country Roads Quilters before giving it to Sara and Emma and they were very complimentary which made me feel very good, especially as I had a lot of problems piecing the blocks. I think it must have been because of the range of fabrics, different weaves and densities although they were all quilting cottons, but while one seam could be perfect, the next could be as much as an inch out! I have never unpicked as much on a project as on this one.  Still, in the end it all came together and the important thing is the love in all those stitches and that the newly weds had a wonderful day and love their new quilt.