Friday, May 23, 2014

Mary Campbell of Scotland, a tribute sampler

All of my Grandparents passed through Ellis Island and came to this great land of freedom and opportunity. My Grandmother came from Glasgow Scotland a long, long time ago.  She was very proud of her Scots heritage as I am. My mother told me that she often spoke of William Wallace and how proud the Scots were of that brave and determined man. She also loved music.....lots of different kinds of music. I remember when I was 5 and would go spend a week with my Grandparents....she would play opera music.....which I wasn't too fond of at 5 years of age.....and then she would put on the records of the bagpipes......now THAT kind of music I learn to love. I still get a shiver up my spine when I hear a bagpipe.......and it takes me right back to my childhood and spending time with my Grandmother. The first song I remember was Scotland the Brave......and still my favorite to hear on the bagpipes.
      I want to design a series of samplers as a tribute to Mary Campbell. This first sampler is "My Teacher". In future samplers I will incorporate a stone house as so many of the Scots samplers have.....and I think I will do that sampler in reds, green and gold as a Tartan cloth might be. I have a lot of ideas for motifs and border elements......and I am lucky that we have such a vast supply of materials to design with.....elements that were in short supply many years ago when our ancestors were designing samplers.
   I will be sending this sampler design off to the model stitcher in Alaska today and then I will start on another tribute sampler. I have a lot of plans for this year....a lot of designs I hope to put to paper and have them stitched. I hope to find some time to do some of the stitching.....by the time I am done with a pattern I am starting on another one and they get very time consuming to say the least. Add dyeing a few hundred thousand yards of floss, counting and putting it on the cards.........and you can imagine how busy I am.

I hope all of you have a wonderful Memorial Day. We have so many brave people that have fought for this country, my husband included. He served 31 years in the Army as a Colonel and received several medals in Vietnam when he was injured while saving his men. My grandsons are the first to thank him for serving his country. Those young men make me proud!

Have a wonderful weekend. Thank you for stopping by.
Nancy

12 comments:

  1. What a lovely first tribute sampler you have created, Nancy!

    Have a wonderful weekend!

    Robin in Virginia

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  2. Thanks to all of our brave veterans and those currently serving. I, too, have ancestors from Scotland (from South Uist, in the Outer Hebrides). Hope you can relax a little this weekend.

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  3. It is lovely Nancy!

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  4. Beautiful sampler! Your future one(s) with the stone house and reds, green and gold - I can just imagine it. I would love to stitch one of those. :)
    Have a pleasant holiday weekend, Nancy.

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  5. Since I too have a strong Scottish heritage, I look forward to this series! I love the simplicity of the one you just designed.

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  6. I am interested to see how they turn out. There is a small bit of Scottish in the family.

    I just started Trimming the Tree and Jingle as Ye Enter this week. I'm loving working with the fabric and floss so far.

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  7. Le sampler est magnifique felicitation bon week-end Marie-Claire

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  8. This newest chart is absolutely lovely! Simple, yet elegant and a perfect homage to your grandmother!

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  9. I'm joining the group regarding heritage. I'm Scotch-Irish on dad's side, distant relations still in Nova Scotia. I remember spending time with my grandparents and my grandfather always had the bagpipe records playing (yep, I'm that old). I can't listen/watch a piper without it bringing me to tears. I look forward to your charts. Happy Memorial weekend. To any service members/families - thank you.

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  10. A huge thank you to your husband and all those that have served and are serving our wonderful country. If not for all of them we would not be a free country! Please pass that on to him for me.
    Love your sampler, simple but strong.
    I have some Scott in me too. Love to hear the bagpipes.
    Looking forward, as always, to your new designs.
    Judy in Kansas

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  11. Another lovely sampler Nancy....and thanks for sharing the story of your grandmother :) I visited Scotland last year and admit that I was enthralled with Edinburgh..more so than London..would definitely go back!

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