There is a definate lack of publications regarding historical Nova Scotia needlework that specifically deal with samplers and embroidery...two that I have managed to find are "Needle Arts in Nova Scotin Women`s Lives: 1752-1938" published by the Nova Scotia Museum
and "A Record For Time by Deborah A. Young. (OOP)http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/library/library.asp?ID=15011
I am also searching the net for mentions of genealogical files of Lucy Parker and schools in Digby N.S. at the time this was stitched...I have my doubts that the sampler was taught at a school....it was likely either copied from another sampler, or from a pattern produced by a local lady who taught sewing and embroidery....
I am immediately struck by one unique feature of the sampler...the alphabet around the perimeter that is stitched outside the border...it reminds me of Spanish samplers in how it is stitched turning 90 degrees on each side...except Spanish samplers rarely included alphabets at all....
I have not found this on any other sampler from either Nova Scotia or anywhere else....I need to order a copy of the reproduced chart so I can see the stitches used more clearly...
Most of the time the only record of an early American or Canadian woman`s life was what she left behind in the form of needlework...a lot of women couldn`t read or write in rural areas...they had a hard life, and a lot of the needlework they did leave behind was of a utilitarian nature such as clothing, and was thrown out as it deteriorated...or quilts, which were rarely signed and although some were handed down in families, the details of the makers life have become blurred...
These women deserve a voice...samplers are one way of preserving their history.
I changed the trees...I just wasn`t in the mood for weeping willows I guess...what do you think? This is what the sampler is supposed to look like...as you can see, I have changed a few things...
