Carol wrote to tell me about a club she belongs to. This club is not a national one, but I thought it might inspire one or more of you to organize such a club in your town or area. What a great way to stitch and learn at the same time! Let me know if you decide to start a similar club. -- Theresa

This group is a spin-off of our EGA group. A loosely organized group of women who enjoy samplers: the history, stitching (original efforts or reproductions of existing samplers), collecting (VERY few of us have the monetary resources for this aspect), as well as the preservation & conservation of samplers.

The group is open for new members annually at an early September meeting. That group then determines a focus for the coming year. The number of participants is determined by the following month's meeting - averaging 15 - 20 over the past 3 1/2 yrs. This year we are researching & sharing motifs & members may choose to stitch the collected motifs into a random motif sampler of their own, stitch only selected motifs OR not stitch them at all.....just collect them.

Last year each participant chose a reproduction sampler to stitch. These could be ones found in kits, charts or even a family heirloom which she chose to share with the group. Each member researched her sampler &/or its period, school ect. & did a presentation of that information to the group. Sometimes we even shared a motif, alphabet, technique etc.

We also bring resources to the group: books found in the library, pictures, sources for handwoven, handdyed linens & the like.

I hope this is informative to you. This group is one of the joys of my life! So many samplers, so little time!! I highly recommend such a group to others who share such a passion as we do. We do have participants who "drop in & drop out" every year or so. Helps to keep us from becoming boring, I think.

Happy Stitching.

I thought you might want to know about our sampler guild. It's called The Examplary Needle Guild and was founded a few years ago in the Buffalo (NewYork) area. We have about 35 members and hold meetings every other month. We host workshops, stitch-ins, lectures; we also have special events where we hire a professional designer/teacher to present a program for our Guild.

She said they are planning a web site, and I will include a link to it as soon as they're online. Are you part of a sampler group? I'd love to hear about it, and so would your sisters.

Here's another letter from a sampler group organizer:

"I have been an EGA member for years, but when I was living in Atlanta, Ga., there were a number of us in EGA who really had an intense interest in samplers. From this interest and the compatability of 15 of us, we began the Magnolia Sampler Guild in 1994. We set up various committees, wrote bylaws, elected officers, designed our own nametag (a sampler), and met once a month. Our guild meets at Bulloch Hall in Roswell, Ga., which is the family home of Teddy Roosevelt's Mother, Mittie Bulloch. We have also researched the Park Service archives and found several samplers stitched by family members. One was a marking sampler stitched by Annie Bulloch, Teddy's Aunt, in 1843 and a second designed and stitched by his second wife, Edith Roosevelt which depicts Teddy's life. Both of these samplers have been reproduced by the guild, published for resale through the Bulloch Hall gift shop, and the reproduced samplers were donated to Bulloch Hall. Bulloch Hall is open to the public to tour. Each member of our guild stitched on the Annie Bulloch sampler and a history was prepared with photos, a signed list in each members handwritting who stitched on the sampler, along with the DMC colors, snips of thread, the reproduced graph was placed on the back of the piece in an envelope when the sampler was framed.

The guild has grown from 15 to 50 members at this time with people on the waiting list to become active members. We never thought that would happen when we first organized at such an early stage.

Establishing such a guild has been one of the most rewarding things I have participated in and I will travel to Atlanta this fall to attend their second annual sampler show to be hung in Bulloch Hall. I haven't seen my sampler friends in two years, but thanks to e-mail we keep in touch.

I always like to share things about my love of the needle and most of all samplers and their history. Thank you so much for the informtion contained on your web site.

Best wishes, Norma Flake

© 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