9.26.2013

More on Phebe Sampler!

I have some exciting news in regards to my September 19th posting about my Quaker sampler stitched by a girl named Phebe, and I wanted to share it with you all this morning.


Later in the afternoon on the 19th I received an email that said, please contact me about your Phebe Coffin/Griffin 1806 sampler.  I have information that might be helpful, too much to write...
 
OMG, too much to write!
Excited doesn't even begin to describe how I felt!
 
I immediately responded via return email to arrange a phone conversation, and minutes later I was chatting with the person on the other end of the email, who had a wealth of information,
Kathy Moyer of Dutchess County, NY.
Such a fun conversation, to converse with someone who shares the same passion about school girl samplers!

A big "THANK YOU" to
Barbara Hutson of
Queenstown Sampler Designs
 for directing Kathy to that day's blog posting!
 
 
I learned a little bit more about the Phebe Sampler from Kathy (all photos are snippits of the sampler, which resides in my personal collection)...
 

Kathy is writing a book, Nine Partners Boarding School and Its Samplers. Located in Dutchess County, NY, the school was opened in 1796 by New York Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) for both boys and girls who were from member families. Education for both genders, while practiced by Quakers, was novel in society at that time. In its day, the school was well known and widely acclaimed throughout the country. It influenced social and economic issues as well as sampler making.
 
 

According to Kathy, my sampler is the same format as one made at the school in 1803. The two share around 20 common elements. It is possible that Phebe learned sampler making from someone who attended or taught at the school. Kathy has been making presentations locally on “Dutchess County Samplers of the 19th Century” in which she discusses some samplers from Nine Partners school and many samplers with a Quaker influence, including some which are of the same format as those from Nine Partners. Her next lecture is in November.
 
 
She also mentioned that unfortunately, since there are no extant school rosters from decades of the school, including 1806, there is no way to know if Phebe attended.  Both Coffins and Griffins attended from various locations.
 

 
In 1806, sisters Lucretia & Eliza Coffin made the long journey from Nantucket, MA, to Nine Partners. Lucretia married a young man she met at the school, James Mott, and went on to become the most well known scholar of the school as a result of her activism with abolition and women’s rights. Upon her death, she was widely acknowledged by her contemporaries as the greatest American woman of the 19th century.
 
 
If anyone knows of any samplers from Nine Partners Boarding School or has information pertaining to the school, she would appreciate it if you contact me  and I will forward it to her. She has previously placed ads in SANQ and antiques publications and has been in touch with the Sampler Consortium all of which yielded a few samplers.
 
(I love Phebe's interpretation of this fat little squirrel...looks like a couple that I know, that can be seen hanging from my bird feeders!)
 
 As a result of her research, she has discovered around fifty samplers attributable to the school (but lacks photos of some of them). For years she has been tracking over one hundred Quaker families and thus will be able to include in the book genealogical and familial information on many sampler makers.
 
I am hoping this posting will put some feelers out there.   I know a lot of sampler lovers come here to visit :) and you just never know when someone may know something, or has seen something that could be helpful.    Kathy mentioned that many of the samplers that came out of the Nine Partners School had Nine Partners stitched on the sampler....something to keep an eye out for!  While the Phebe sampler doesn't have the words, Nine Partners stitched on it, Kathy mentioned perhaps Phebe was taught by her mother or aunt, whom may have attended the school themselves.
 
If only these samplers could speak...
 
 
 
With thy Needle & Thread,
Brenda

9.21.2013

Autumn

The morns are meeker than they were,
 the nuts are getting brown,
 
The berry's cheeks is plumper,


the rose is out of town.
 
The maple wears a grayer scarf,
 
the field a scarlet gown.

 
Lest I should be old-fashioned,
 
 
I'll put a trinket on.


                                                                             poem by Emily Dickinson 
 
Such a beautiful autumn-like day it was here in NW Iowa.
No wind and not a cloud in the sky.
The lake looked like a piece of glass.
 
A perfect day to
do a little baking...
 
&
 a little grilling...
 

 
&
putting some X's into linen...
 
 
Dear Weatherman,
I'll take a season of these sort of days!
 
Until next time,
Brenda

9.19.2013

Her name was Phebe

I've had numerous emails
inquiring about the sampler shown
 in my blog banner.
 

 
  So since it has been awhile,
 I thought it was time to check in with you all
 and tell you a little bit about the sampler!
  (Please pardon my early morning photos, they are a bit dark)
 
 
 For those hunting our website for this chart, there isn't one.
  I have not reproduced this sampler.
 I may someday,
 but for now it sits on top of my piano,
across from where I stitch...
I enjoy the beauty of this Quaker sampler every day.
 
 
 
 The sampler was located in New York State, in the lower Hudson Valley region. 
An area of early Quaker settlement.
 

The sampler was completed in 1806
 by a young schoolgirl named Phebe. 
The sampler features traditional Quaker motifs
surrounded by a four-sided border of Quaker half medallions. 
 The flosses are a deep midnight blue, grey blue and peachy salmons.


The only stitch loss on this piece
is where Phebe stitched her last name. 
 I can make out that the name ends in double f - en,
or double f-in. 
 The first letter is circular in shape, possibly a G or C...

 
Possibly Griffen or Coffin?  
 A little genealogy search may also turn up using those names. 


 If I decide to reproduce this sampler,
I probably will pop it out of its frame
and take a closer look at it's backside.

 
Often times you will find stitch loss easier to make-out on the backside.   


With the purchase of this piece, my curiosity has been piqued...
I want to educate myself about the Quakers. 
I've done a little bit of reading.
  History wasn't my most favorite subject in high school
 and
 wish I would have taken more of a liking to it then..
 

 I know we studied the Quakers and their role against slavery,
 but didn't retain much
other then that,
and that
 George Washington was a Quaker
 and
 so was Captain Crunch!!! 
 

I leave you today with a picture of my three girls...
Sarah Taylor (some of you may recognize her, she is available in a floss keep)
Allice Cooper
&
Phebe...the little girl whose last name is a mystery.
The three girls look so pretty together...
their threads coordinate so nicely!
 
X X X X X X X
Bringing you up to date on new items in the shop...
Lots of new patterns have arrived over the past couple of weeks
Stacy Nash
Blackbird Designs
Needlework Presses new book
Plumstreet Samplers
and more.
A shipment of floss keeps arrived, so that page on the website has been updated.
And lastly, we have more sewing bird clamp kits in as well.
 
The rush from market has settled down, things are back to normal in regards to shipping time.
Thanks for your patience.
 
Until next time...take care,
Brenda