Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Royal Cats


Are you sick of cats yet?  Because I'm not!  I've been watching a sampler for a little over a week on eBay.  The seller had it up for a Buy It Now of $650, which I felt was a little much ... some bugs made a meal out of part of the upper alphabet long ago and made dessert out of a few other places.

BUT, the cool thing about this sampler is there are two amazing cats at the bottom of the sampler sitting on green cushions with CROWNS floating above their heads.  They are patchwork style cats, I'm assuming to look like Calico cats.  ROYAL cats!  They're all fat and happy on their pillows.

It was stitched in 1939 by a ten-year-old named Mary on what must be VERY fine linen (it's only 12 inches across.  When I'm trying to gauge count on a photograph, I picture something like a sheet of paper (which is 11 inches long) laying across the bottom.  There are a lot of stitches in those 12 inches.  Sellers of antique samplers are often not too concerned about the exact stitch count of a piece, although some will count it out for me if I ask.)

Anyhoo, I asked the seller to send me a better picture -- seriously, this picture was the best one he had up.  He had lots of pictures of the damage to the frame, but I couldn't even read the verse or the girl's name (I think it might be Mary Ann Buroughs.)  He never sent me a picture, so I made him an offer of about half, thinking...what the heck.

Anyhoo, again, I was just talking to my friend Kathy up in Milwaukee and wanted her to go look at this silly cats sampler on eBay (because she's a crazy cat lady, too.)  And oh no, the listing had ended.

Because the seller accepted my offer!

The sampler's got dogs, and birds, and butterflies, and the verse is a fairly familiar one about making Jesus your friend (which I like.)  I'll be excited to add another sampler to my brood, and that this one has cats is MWAH (meow?) ... icing on the cake.  What do you think of it?

Tonight I'm sitting here charting my Ragamuffin #2 -- that lovely Quaker.  The more I chart it, the more I love it.  The motifs are gorgeous, and I am realizing what draws so many to the Quaker style -- it's simple in a lot of ways, and very earthy and natural (with recognizable flowers and greenery), and the color palette is very pleasing.  This one only has about ten colors in it all-told, and I know it will be a lot of fun to stitch.

Before I leave, I'll tell you that my Easter kittens are doing great -- Peep, Bunny and Jelly Bean have all opened their eyes, and Peter is lagging a little (he's the smallest now.)  Jelly Bean is starting to walk with her belly held up off the floor, and Bunny is getting (sorry, Bunny!) fat.

We ended up naming the momma cat "Isabelle" after Joan of Arc's mother.  I liked the idea of naming her after someone young and brave (she is only seven months old or so, and under seven pounds.)  But she just didn't seem like a Joan to me.  She's doing a great job with her babies -- I'm so proud of her.

17 comments:

Debbie said...

I thought all cats with humans are royal cats!! lol Can't wait to see this one closer someday.

Debbie in Kansas

PS The check is in the mail.

Lauralee @ The Eclectic Stitcher said...

Love the sampler ~ congrats on winning it!

Love reading your posts about your foster babies. They brighten my day!

I do have a question about antique samplers and charting them. Are there any copyright issues associated with them? I received a note card many years ago which pictured an antique sampler. I loved that sampler so much I charted it so that I could stitch it myself. Must you own the sampler to do that? Very curious to know the answer.

HollyXSing said...

If you chart it, I will buy it:)

-Holly in VA

PS: It's great...another cat lover!

SharoninStitches said...

Love the sampler! Thumbs way up!

Theresa said...

@Lauralee -- I think if you chart things for your own use/enjoyment, it's all right copyright wise -- you just shouldn't publish/sell it. When I went to the Louvre in Paris, there were lots of artists in there painting copies of the paintings! There have been issues in the past of designers charting samplers that did not belong to them (and then selling the graphs). And let me tell you, it does not make the sampler owners very happy (nor should it.) I would be furious if someone took a sampler picture off my blog (one that I own) and charted it for sale.

Theresa said...

(And I rarely get furious!)

Cindy in Virginia said...

Love, love, love it! Congratulations on winning it! Now all of us cat lovers will be expecting a repro chart! Pretty please? Purr purr!

Poussy Stitches My Love said...

beautiful sampler !

bisous de France

Cari said...

Love, love, love CATS and this sampler is a 'must buy' when you get it charted!! That's the reason I procured and stitched Charlotte Clayton...the CATS !! Happy charting!!

marly said...

How cool! Congratulations on procuring this sampler. For us stitch wimps, a lone cat would make a fabulous little pillow!

Anonymous said...

Love the cat sampler! Love those sweet, tiny kittens! Most importantly...what happened to Scraps?
Angela

Theresa said...

Scraps was adopted twice and then the third time was a charm. He was almost totally blind, but a cat lover from Florida drove to Hattiesburg to adopt him. He's in a VERY good home and even has his own Facebook page (you can search for it by typing "Scraps Blind and Beautiful" in the Facebook search bar.)

Jeannine520 said...

Love it! Please chart it!!!

Vicki said...

Your new sampler cats are cute, but I just revisited Ragamuffin #2 and can't wait to see how you fill in the blanks. This is one I will stitch, for sure. LOVE the flowers.

Lynn said...

This sampler seems unique in that it has the cats on it. I've not seen one like it before. Congrats on your win!

Teresa said...

I CAN'T WAIT to stitch a repro of this one - pretty please do it next - I have itchy kitty-sampler fingers now :D

Anonymous said...

Congrats on your new sampler. I love it. The cats are great, love their crowns.
If you ever chart it, I would definately purchase a copy. It is very different, I see why you love it too.