Last weekend I had the good fortune to visit Sassy Jacks Stitchery in Weaverville, NC to hear a lecture from a stitching idol - Nicola Parkman of Hands Across the Sea Samplers. It was absolutely awesome to hear Nicola speak about the samplers in her collection and about the samplers that she has reproduced through Hands Across the Sea Samplers. Nicola was just as I imagined. Gorgeous, smart, funny, and an absolute treasure trove of information. Her joy at learning more about the girls who stitched the samplers is so obvious. This was a chance of a lifetime!
I'm on the left in the photo below and Teresa (Girl With Needles) is in the middle. Teresa and I are longtime friends and traveled together. To the right is Chris of Tot Hill Farm Stitches blog is to the right. This was my first time to meet her but she too was so very sweet!
Nicola brought with her several original samplers that HATS has reproduced. When Thou Art Rich is below. There is a glare in the photo that really does not enable the true beauty of this sampler to show. I have this one ready to go and have been seriously thinking of starting it soon.
Jane Vaughan 1724 is on the left. The sampler on the right is one Nicola is working on now that is being stitched reversibly. She even had to carefully check to ensure she was showing the front.
Nicola and I
We also got to see what is being released at Market. Our class project is inspired by one of the new releases (shown below) and for that one, we were able to purchase the chart early. The project was designed around the freehand stitching in this sampler.
Our day ended with tea. Truly a delightful day!
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17 comments:
This looks like such a wonderful time! I’m sure I’ll see your progress on the sampler at Sebring, right?
It sounded like you had a wonderful outing. What gorgeous pieces you were able to see and share!
Hi, Jackie! I’m new to your blog, and enjoyed your post. I noticed on the sampler by Sarah Owlett that it says she was NINE years old when she stitched it. Isn’t that incredible?!
How fortunate you were to attend the event. We don’t have a single needlework shop in Idaho, which makes me very sad. But thankfully, I have the internet. If you have a moment, stop by my new blog, livetostitch.blogspot.com. I’d love to link to your blog from mine.
All best to you in 2018!
Sounds like a fun time.
The Samplers are gorgeous.
Have fun starting yours!
Marilyn
The Samplers are gorgeous, what a wonderful way to spend the day. Looking forward to seeing the progress on your sampler.
What fun for you....those samplers are out of this world amazing
What an exciting time. I had no idea Nicola was in our country. She was my first follower. And you saw Chris! I wish she would blog again. I met up with her once here in Wisconsin.
Jackie it sounds like the perfect trip to me. I'm glad you had such a wonderful time. RJ
So so cool! Lucky you! Does Chris (Tot Hill) have an instagram account?? I should check your IG post and see. Thanks for sharing. Soooo cool!
What fun! Nice little winter getaway with with all that stitchy goodness and companionship!
BTW - you look so nice in the photo. You should crop it and make it your blog bio picture!
What an amazing opportunity! I wish I could have been there. I can just imagine that her lecture was super interesting.
What a lovely day you had, Jackie! So glad the weather cooperated and you made it NC okay... It must have been a delight to meet Nicola in person along with other familiar names. And, of course seeing those lovely samplers in person and hearing Nicola speak were the icing on the cake! Thanks for sharing :)
It Looks and sounds like you had a wonderful day .... a day to remember. Those samplers are just incredible, a tremendous amount of time and effort in them. Beautiful.
sounds enchanting - glad you got to have this experience. Cheers Mel
What a chance this was for you to meet Nicola. I have been following her blog and have seen all these wonderful samplers she reproduces. Great pictures you show from the meeting. And it was lovely to see Chris on one of the pictures, she hasn't blogged in quite a while.
Did you buy one of the sampler charts?
It looks like you had a great time Jackie.
This sounds like it was a great day for you. I love that first sampler, When Thou Art Rich
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