Inspired by Janice Wright Greene’s red sampler wall, I decided to stitch red samplers and create my own red sampler wall. This design is a reproduction by Needlework Press called H. Purdy. The design was part of the Advent box released by Kitten Stitcher/Shakespeare’s Peddler in 2021. Mine was stitched on 36 count French Vanilla by R & R with NPI silk 575. Following the direction of Anne, my needlework mentor, I changed H. Purdy to Julia Shultz, a treasured family member. “Make it your own” were words Anne often shared.
My next red sampler will be Maria Davis, by Needlework Press. Her alphabet is stitched in eyelets. Maria Davis will be changed to Maria Stocker, another Grandmother.
A little about Julia. She was the daughter of Johan Martin Shultz/Shults and Maria Eva Stocker (my Great Great Great Great Great Grandparents). She was born in North Carolina. Julia grew up in Emert’s Cove which is part of the Great Smoky Mountains. Julia would have been one year old when Thomas Jefferson was writing the Declaration of Independence. She would wave goodbye to her father as he accompanied John Sevier and the Over-the-Mountain Men to Kings Mountain and defeat the British. She married Richard Reagan in 1796 and was a Mother to several children. Julia is buried in the White Oaks Flats Cemetery in Gatlinburg, TN.
