Sometimes I get neat e-mail from readers that really wouldn't fit in any other section of my home page. I'll put a potpourri of notes and stories here, and I hope you enjoy reading what I get to read. If you have a neat story, send it to me and I'll add it in this section.
"Just to pass this along, a neighbor of my dad had a daughter who died at the age of about 31 from complications caused by diabetes. this young woman, for whatever reason, only had the sight of one eye. When her mother went to clean out her daughter's home, she found a horde of completed cross-stitch projects under her daughter's bed! She had done almost all of the L&L angel series (one of them was the Angel of Love and it is gorgeous!), countless samplers and lots of other intricate things. Unbelievable! Anyway, the mother is having all of this work framed. She gave my stepmother the framed "Angel of Hope" and wants me to come over and see everything after it has been framed.
This is really just a bit of totally useless information, but I was so amazed at the beauty of the work and not a stitch out of place that I could see. The kicker is that this lady seemed to work on the most difficult things and had only one eye!
Inspirational, don't you think?"
Gayle
"Thank you for writing and asking if I would like to be left on the mailing list. It has proven a great site to recieve mail from and have enjoyed being reached out to by fellow stitchers and those who feel it is a hobby that helps relieve stress. Please leave me on the list, and I look forward to any new people who plan to send mail. The following may be benificial as a story you may want to write about on your site.
I recently recieved e-mail from a women who is a fellow stitcher who lives about 300 miles away in another province. She found Theresa Venette's home page and found me on the pen pal section. My listing includes the information that because of my history with a mental health disorder I found sewing and cross stitch very a calming and theaputic activity, and that it gives me time to think things thorugh, teaching me to relax about lifes ups and downs.
The women mailed me a message that at first glance was informal and breezy in tone, but there was an undercurrent of saddness and loneliness that was a clue to me to try to look into it more closely. Over a few e-mails back and forth I discovered that she was very depressed and had no family or friends to turn to. The computer was her window on the world and as her depression was worsening her view was clouding over. After a bit of convincing , a few well placed hints, I cagoled her into see her family doctor and tell him about her outlook. After not hearing from her for a few weeks, my heart sank thinking that I had alienated her from even writing me, or worse yet, her depression had truly taken over. Late one evening with all my house hold chores done, my daughter in her bed asleep and my husband out at a meeting, I sat looking for new mail. The women after weeks wrote back.
I opened the e-mail quickly to reveal that she had indeed gone to the doctor and that after a breif period in hospital was home again and better then ever. Her spirit in the words was happy, and excited to have a fresh start to her life again. She was planning to travel to visit family, was sewing again and indeed going out into the community for the first time in many, many months.
This story is not about what I did to encourage her to see her doctor, it is about a women who looked for help when she needed it and bettered herself for it. She is the hero for saving her own life and using what is at hand, the computer, doctors, the community in doing so.
Cheers and good luck with the business
Terry Edwards Frampton"
"Hi Theresa! My name is Sandy Thompson, and I live in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. I found u today as I was surfing the net to find out some info on "antique samplers" and I happen to come across U on my search!
I am so excited, that I must share my recent "find" with someone, and thought maybe u have further info on how to care for these items.
Recently my husband went to a "yard" sale at an old farm, not far from our home....He was digging through a box of mostly picture frames and old pictures, and asked the lady how much? She said, oh, every item in that box is $2.00 each as I cleaned out some old cupboards and just want to get rid of this stuff." Well guess what.....as he removed some of the pictures, he came across 2 samplers!!!! They were both framed, although the frames seem to be "50's" style.....a newer looking pine.....however, they had very long wires hanging from them (approx. 2 ft. of wire on each frame!!! they must have been hanging from the ceiling!!
I will decribe the one I like the best 1st( It is signed by a little girl by the name of Margaret Ingram Aged 11 yrs. 1866......and I notice the last "6" in the yr is stitched outside the border(the reason probably due to the "d" on the word "aged". This one is both upper and lower case alphabet, with a row of stitching under each row of letters....and now I just noticed that the upper case letters are in "2's" ie AABBCCDDEEFFGG etc.
The second one is similar, except it is not signed, and is in different colours......I notice that the young lady used a very light yellow in both samplers(on one line only, and is difficult to read, untill u look very closely) Both the samplers are 8x12 and are quite primative looking, but its almost like I am making a "connection" with the person every time I examine them......Isn't it wonderful that they have survived all these yrs?
I have a b&b here in Peterborough, and my house is full of antiques, and of course these samplers only enhance the other items more, and of course want my guests to enjoy them too!!
Well Theresa, I must run for now , but if u can tell me if I should have these in "special glass" to avoid fading or anything u can share with me, I would appreciate it!!! My husband has decided he will go back to the farm and ask the elderly lady if she knows the history on the samplers........I feel kind of bad though that she didn't know the value of these lovely samplers, and my husband should offer her more $$$ now.....what do u think? Well hope u can take a few min. and send your thoughts......ttyl, Sandy Thompson/ Blue Willow B & B"
(I told Sandy she should try to get any information she could about the samplers since she still had a tie to an owner. I also told her she should talk to her local framer about framing the samplers properly, which might include museum quality glass. She responded...)
"Thank you for the advise(I have printed it) and will go to the frame store this week to check 4 museum glass as I really agree that they must be protected!
My husband went back to the farm, and apparently, they were selling all this "stuff" for someone who had recently died, and had asked that all proceeds from the sale go to the "Deaf" assocciation as there was a member in his family (still living) who is deaf.
I guess everything had been stored in their house and they just wanted to get it out of there. I wish we had been there earlier in the day, as there must have been other treasures! Did I tell u that we also got a lovely "pastel" of a little girl(looks approx 7-10 yrs old) I like to think it may have been Margaret Ingram( the girl who did the sampler) although she was 11 yrs old. The dress she has on is all "eyelet lace" ......this must have been a real "challange" 4 the artist to do in pastels.....but I have it hanging in a "place of honour" in my living room.
My husband informed me that when he went back to the place where the sale was , even though they didn't know the complete history on all the photos and samplers, they were able to give him the name of another person who does know, so I guess we plan to try to get out of town in a week or 2 to do further research, so will let you know what "turns up." -- Sandy
I don't know who wrote this, but I've seen it here and there. Maybe you'll appreciate the verse too?
STITCHER'S VERSE
Cross-stitchers are a different breed
The things we hope for, the things we need.
We wish for floss to finish that row.
We sometimes wish our guests would go.
We wait all day for that time to be
That special time- that time for ME
Each needle is threaded, the colors arrayed,
Scissors and chart have been carefully laid.
Now we relax, this is our pleasure
Stitching this piece of soon to be treasure.
We always ignore that mental warning
Stitching all night makes it rough in the morning.
But time's unimportant, we don't heed clocks
We just need floss and a sewing box.
Our project awaits us , now we proceed.
This must be heaven~what more do we need.
(Sent to me by Evelyn.)
I realized that I owe you a "thank you" for your web page. Sometime early in February I received an e-mail from "classicmac" Pam McIntosh in Ohio in response to my guest book entry. We have become fast and furious friends - have so many things in common it is quite scary - and I am now stitching samples for her shop, rather like a barter system as she frames my pieces for me in exchange. It is really quite wonderful because I get to use all the most current threads, etc. and stitch all the new stuff and don't have to worry about what I'm going to do with it - it just goes to live in the shop in Ohio. Anyway - thanks to you for this wonderful opportunity to meet people from "away" places - I wanted you to know how much fun it has been and how much I appreciate you and your terrific page. --Lois Mouriski
"My wife Caroline bought an antique sampler recently from a junk shop and we were trying to find out if it might be worth anything. It was done by a girl of 10 called Mary Owen in 1810. It carries a really nice religious verse; I think it must be from a hymn:
Amidst a thousand thoughts I rove
Forgetful of my highest love
Why should my passions mix with earth
And thus debase my heavinly birth
Why should I cleave to things below
And let my God my Saviour go
It has lots of strange symbols, like birds in trees, birds on trees, birds on their own, crowns, owls on perches, ships and even a solitary cow.
It's not in very good condition. I think it is silks on linen, but the colours are quite faded and the linen has a couple of small holes in places.
And even if it isn't worth a lot, we quite fancy keeping it, but really need some advice on having it reframed. Any thoughts, given its condition? The frame isn't the original.
However, apart from the financial value (which may be little), we might have a go at trying to track down this Mary Owen's history - the historical value may be much greater! -- Andrew Barnes - England
(See my reply to Andrew in the FAQ section. - Theresa)
(Brenda Gouws, from Durban, South Africa, wrote to me about her experience of charting an old sampler for her local museum. - Theresa)
"I said yesterday, that I was going to take my finished sampler to the Director of the Local History Museum. Well, I went to see her today and she raved about it. She kept telling me how brilliant she thought it was and when I suggested that we compare it to the original, she and I rushed over to where the samplers are housed. We were really pleased with the result and she has now asked me to reproduce as many as I can. It looks as though this was quite a successful venture.
The museum wouldn't let the sampler go off the premises, so I used to go in and spend time counting stitches, taking notes and matching threads. They made me wear white cotton gloves to touch the sampler. I would then go home and put whatever I had on my computer. I'm using the X-Stitch Designer programme. When I'd done what I could, I would go back and do a bit more. It took me months. I would have loved to have stitched the sampler in silk as the original, but I needed a large range of colours to get as close a match as possible, so I've stitched the piece using DMC stranded cottons. The original sampler was on a yellow linen of about 30 count. I couldn't match the fabric colour very well and have chosed Wichelt's Sandstone Linen in 32-count as the best match."
(Not to toot my own horn, but here's a note I received in August from Teresa Wentzler! And no, I can't give you her e-mail address -- I need to respect her privacy! - Theresa)
Hi Theresa!
I just wanted to say thank you for your smashing web page! I am very new to the 'Net and your page makes me feel very at home!
You have a wonderful amount of information that I'm very happy to see...(especially the information about framing!), and I've really enjoyed browsing through your guest books. The added bonus of free original charts (what charming designs!!!) is something that makes your site something special indeed...
I've notice that you update your page quite often, so I come back on a regular basis to see what's new!
Again, many thanks for a wonderful page!
Best wishes,
Teresa Wentzler
© 2007 Theresa Venette. Articles on this site may be reproduced in needlework group newsletters or other handouts with permission of author and proper attribution. Send questions, comments and suggestions to: xspeddler@yahoo.com