M Quertier 1799 Debut

M Quertier 1799

Ackworth School

Scarlet Letter

35 count stash linen lambswool?

Gloriana Silk India ink

The chart for M. Quertier 1799 has been in my stitching stash a long time.  M. was one of the first sampler charts I purchased from the Scarlet Letter.  M. is a big girl--she is 11" x 18 1/4" on 35 count linen.  Each time I would browse through my stash, I would say to myself:  "I really like this sampler, I really need to stitch it, it's a Quaker.  What was my reluctance?  I started it once and quickly realized the piece of fabric I had selected was not big enough and also realized M. was a big girl, a big stitch and she would take some time.    

Passion flower motif

Little is known about M. Quertier, I have previously written about her,  The Quertiers were a Channel Island family and M. was admitted to Ackworth as a special case.  My naive heart wants to believe M. was admitted as a special case because she was special.  She was intelligent, had potential and had exceptional needle working skills.  That's my story for M. and I'm sticking to it.

Garland motif with M's initials

There are so many questions I would like to ask M. about her sampler.  How long did it take you to stitch the sampler?  Did you choose/design the motifs or were they chosen and designed y someone else?  Was this a year long teaching project at Ackworth?  The initials MQ are yours, but who do the initials JT, MN, SW and AT belong to?  Were they your friends, your classmates, your teachers, members of your family, neighbors?  Why did you stitch the date 1799 three times?  Were you apprehensive about the turn of the century?  There are three garland motifs with initials, was this one of your favorite motifs?

Carnation motif

M. stitcher her sampler in 1799, my reproduction was stitched in 2017--218 years later.  Will my sampler survive as long as M.'s?  Did M. stitch her sampler outside in natural sunlight, while I stitched mine with cheater glasses and a Dazor light with magnifier?  Did M. do reverse stitching?

Am happy M. is finished and she has a date with the framer.  The Beatrix Potter and the companion sampler to Beatrix Potter are in my stash, they are loudly calling to be stitched.  I need a break from large samplers and Emma Lerch who was pushed to the side while I was stitching on M has been patiently waiting for me to return and finish the stitching on her.  For the remainder of the 2017 I will be working on Emma and smaller pieces before I start another Quaker.

M Quertier 1799 (the continued saga)

M. Quertier 1799

Ackworth School

Scarlet Letter

mystery stash linen (lambswool?) 36 count

Gloriana India ink

Estimated finished size 18 1/4" x 11"

Am still stitching on the Quaker Sampler.  Three of the inner motifs and the outline of some of the half medallions have been stitched since you last saw M. Quertier.  

Here is what she looked like before the addition of the three inner motifs and the outline of the half medallions in the outer border.  Gosh, does lighting ever factor into photography.  

Swan Medallion

I think the inner medallions are what attracted me to this sampler--they are all so different.

M. stitched the date into her sample three different times.  Wonder if M. and her school mates were as apprehensive about entering a new century as we were when we changed from 1999 to 2000?

One more inner motif and two outer motifs and fill in on six other motifs and M. will be off to the framers.  Do I see the light at the end of the tunnel a finish before years end?

The Divine Miss M (Part II)

M. Quertier 1799

Ackworth School

Scarlet Letter

Mystery Stash linen lambswool?

Gloriana India Ink

Miss M. has not been forgotten.  Life has forced her to take a back seat.  Am slowly, ever so slowly making progress.  I have moved to the second half of the chart and have stitched more than one half of the motifs.

Another one of my favorite motifs:  Miss M's cartouche.  Her beautiful initials with the date she stitched the sampler.  I haven't gotten there yet, but Miss M stitched the date on her sampler in three different places.  The year 1799 must have been important to her.

This motif used lots of fiber and required  a lot of time.

I was getting nervous about the size of the linen I had cut.  Whew!  There is going to be enough linen--one more motif and then the width of the sampler will be determined.

A few more football games, more documentaries, more stitching time for Miss M.

The Divine Miss M (M Quertier)

M Quertier

Quaker 1799 (Ackworth School)

Scarlet Letter

#103 India ink Gloriana silk floss

Stash Mystery Linen 

Yes, I'm still stitching.  There have been many distractions:  the heat, weeding, grass cutting, canning tomato juice, corn for the freezer, classes (basket and rug hooking) and the regular stuff aka life.

M Quertier's height is determined she is 11 1/8 inches in height.  I finally have the top most medallion and the bottom most medallion stitched.  I estimate four more medallions and I will be at the half way mark.  Whoo Hoo!

While I have been stitching M, I dug through my needlework books and found Jacqueline Holdsworth's book Ackworth School Sampler Motifs.  Jacqueline writes in the book:  It is typical of Quaker medallions to be stitched as halves or quarters.  M has eight full motifs and seventeen half medallions.  Our M was an ambitious stitcher, had a long school year or did she have a strict teacher at Ackworth?

Passionflower Motif--it is big and beautiful and one of my favorites which is surprising because I did almost as much reverse stitching on this motif as I did forward stitching.  This motif is also on the Beatrix Potter sampler and the Beatrix Potter companion sampler.

This is an undated sampler once owned by Beatrix Potter--the passionflower motif has been stitched into the sampler.

Butterfly Motif

Carnation Motif

Jacqueline calls this motif the Crown Motif (I think it looks more like a poinsettia)

While I have been stitching M, I have been re reading Carol Humphrey's book.  Am glad I purchased this book several years when I checked on Amazon it is right pricey.  Thankfully, Carol writes about M in the book:  It was also noted that the Quertiers were a Channel Island family, and in the extracts from the Minutes of Ackworth for 1800 is found this entry:  "Children from Guernsey admitted, one eight year old as a special case."  When I first read this, it made me a little sad.  Someone saw value in M and she is now a part of the Fitzwilliam collection of samplers--our M was indeed special.

The next motifs I will be stitching is a bird, garland and swan.  Am looking forward to stitching M's cartouche with her initials and date.  We are having a summer shower.  Ugh, I think I hear the weeds and grass growing but while the rains nourishes the flowers, I will continue stitching on M.  

M. Quertier 1799 Quaker Sampler

M. Quertier 1799 Quaker Sampler

Scarlet Letter

Stash Fabric

Gloriana Silk-India Ink 

Emma Lerch decided after the border on her sampler met with no fudging, she needed a break and headed south to soak up some rays and have some fun in the sun (spring break).  M. Quertier 1799 has been in my stitch stash for a long time.  Every time I go looking for a new project there is M. Quertier staring at me and asking:  "when is it going to my turn and when are you going to stitch me?"  After seeing Carmen's beautifully stitched Ann Grimshaw and Faye's beautiful Sarah Comfort Quaker samplers, I decided it was M. Quertier's turn.

Truth be told, I started M. once before and soon realized she is a big girl and the piece of fabric, I had selected was not large enough and stopped stitching after this motif.  Hmm, maybe I will finish stitching this one motif and turn it into something fabulous.  

M. stitched her sampler in 1799 at the Ackworth School in Yorkshire, England.  The Ackworth School was unique because girls received nearly the same educational instruction as boys.  Marsha Parker of the Scarlet Letter writes:  Out of this school came a fascinating style of needlework, characterized by a distinct, clear, formal style of lettering, unique symmetrical whole and fractional medallions with geometric, floral and animal motifs, a vocabulary of short sentimental expressions and other readily identifiable spot motifs.

Schoolhouse Red is a beautiful Gloriana fiber, but M. and I decided to stitch her in black like the original.  It has been a long time since I stitched Quaker medallions and I had forgotten what a joy they are to stitch.  There are several sets of initials on M.'s sampler and I wish I knew more of her story/history.  Are the initials the initials of her friends, family, teachers or classmates?  She wanted everyone to know she stitched the sampler in the year 1799 because it is stitched on the sampler three times.

The Beatrix Potter Quaker Sampler was originally available from Needleprint and has been out of print for several years.  Stitchybox Samplers has purchased the copyright and is re-releasing Beatrix.  From what I have read about this sampler, Beatrix Potter did not stitch the sampler, it was hanging in her home and because it was found hanging in her house, it was called the Beatrix Potter sampler.  Both the Beatrix Potter sampler and M. Quertier samplers contain similar motifs and I thought it would be fun to reunite these classmates.  (Oh the plans of mice and men, let's see how long it takes for the wheels to fall off the bus on this plan.)