Ann Dickinson

Her name was Ann Dickinson. The year was 1819. Her age, 13 years young.

I recently acquired this sampler from a dealer that resides in the Northwest of England. I don't have much history on the piece, other then it originated from an estate auction in Ireland. The bottom of this sampler has a band of various trees, birds & houses all stitched rather close together... it was this bottom band that drew me to this piece. It then opens up to various motifs spaced slightly further apart with a center motif of verse and signature, in stitches, by Ann.

The words in the center verse have the characteristics of 18Th century handwriting. Upper case letters were used to begin nouns as well as to begin sentences.
The lower case s was written in long s (elongated form), at the beginning of a word, in the middle of a word, and when written twice, as in grass. The elongated s can be mistaken for an f. So the word "grass" as we now recognize it today looks like "Grafs" and "rose" looks like "Roafe", as stitched by Ann.

So it is these days you'll find me with magnifier in hand and on head as I reproduce this sampler into chart form to be stitched once again. Watch for this antique reproduction sampler pattern in 2011 some time.

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Don't forget today is Day 7 of the Home for the Holidays Blog Hop day! Hop on over to Lisa Bongean's blog at Primitive Gatherings. She will be sharing today a yummy molasses cookie recipe and a darling darling pantry jar wrap stitched from wools...perfect for tucking cookies in!

Have a good day,
Brenda