Thanks to Debbie A who reminded me to post a note about how to make a donation to support Plimoth Plantation in general or the jacket project in particular. And thanks to Lois, who saw in a recent post that we were accepting donations and wrote to ask me how to go about it. Here’s the scoop:

Please make out your check to “Plimoth Plantation” and direct it to:

Kim Corben, Development Department

Plimoth Plantation

PO Box 1620

Plymouth, MA 02362

If you’d like to support a particular project or function, please be sure to write on your check (memo line) “embroidered jacket” (for this project – it will buy the last supplies we need and support the exhibit that will go with the jacket), “colonial wardrobe” (this would support all our work of dressing the first-person interpreters, like buying cloth and buttons and shoes), or “textile conservation fund” which is dedicated to preserving Plimoth’s three samplers (two 17th-century and one 19th-century) and any other historic textiles the museum may acquire.

Any undesignated contributions will go into the general operating fund, which is also good; that pays the electric bill, among other things.

Here’s a picture for today. Embroidery volunteer Carli brought this to show & tell last session, which started on Halloween. It is her own design. She was strongly encouraged to write up the directions, both because everyone wanted to make one and because it uses GST – click on the image to enlarge, and look for the sparkle!

to the Loudoun Sampler Guild! They sent a $250 donation to the Textile Conservation Fund!

This is even more wonderful when you know this story – the original estimate to conserve “EC” was about $3800. The Mayflower Sampler Guild donated $1000 specifically to conserve “EC” which kicked off the Textiles Conservation Fund shortly after the new year. Then, not too long after, the Swan Sampler Guild made their largest single donation yet – $2500 to conserve “EC”.

Karin was thinking that, even though the initial estimate was a little higher than we had in hand, we should just go ahead and “scrape up the leftover somewhere.” I seconded her thought and she made an appointment with a conservator.

And then this showed up, completely and totally out of the blue! And such a fortuitous amount, too. Thank you, thank you, Loudoun Sampler Guild!

Today we had our first UK stitcher on the jacket, and our second, and our third! Sarah, Susan and Anne are all here for Celebrations of Needlework in Nashua, NH this weekend. They came by, with stalwart stitcher and lacer Robbin for the day to stitch on the jacket and visit the shop. It was a pleasure to meet them all. I hope they have an excellent time this weekend and enjoy the stitching.

Tricia was here, too, and she brought new sets of directions for the instruction manuals – we now have directions for the strawberry flower and the rose, to go with the ones for the pansy we got last time. She’s working on the prototype for the columbine, which I’ve been fascinated with from the beginning – it may finally force me to try working with the GST just so I can work one!

A few months ago I let you know that the Mayflower Sampler Guild donated $1000 to kick off our Textile Conservation Fund, with their donation earmarked for the conservation of the “EC 1664″ sampler in Plimoth’s collection.

Today I have some exciting news to share: The Swan Sampler Guild has donated $2500 to the same cause. (The above link is to their current newsletter, which has the announcement of the donation on page 2.)

We’re all delighted and most grateful for this generous gift. These two gifts should let us begin the conservation on this fantastic 17th century sampler right away. Karin Goldstein, Plimoth’s Curator of Original Objects (because we have a separate curator for reproduction artifacts) has been in touch with a conservator and is hoping to schedule the work very soon. I’ll keep you updated, of course.

Here are some photos of herself, in her as-yet-unconserved but still very much loved condition.

Plimoth has owned this sampler since 1994 or 1995 (I can’t quite remember) and Karin and I have always wished we could do something with it. We’re both pretty attached to it; buying it at auction was one of the first things we did in our new (then) jobs. We bought it together, and were so giddy that we’d actually won that we forgot to go up to do whatever you do at the table in front after you’ve got the winning bid. It was the first and last thing I’ve ever bought at auction. We were pretty young and silly.

Anyway, we, and the EC, owe the current state of affairs directly to the jacket project. A rising tide lifts all boats as they say here by the ocean, and without the jacket project, and embroiderers traveling to Plymouth, and our wanting to show our guests a good time, and Karin being willing to trot the samplers and other needlework related treasures out for each new group, no one would yet know EC was there, or have gotten excited about preserving her, and we wouldn’t have received these wonderful donations. So there you are. Another success to chalk up to this superlative garment.

Thank you to all the members of the Swan Sampler Guild and the Mayflower Sampler Guild.

I can hardly believe that only a week ago I was searching around for blog topics. I’ve now got quite the list, and I’ll get back to current-status photos of the jacket pieces right quick.

samples received: Lisa G (embroidery); Susan L (lace)

One thing that touches me every time is how grateful the stitchers are to be involved in the recreation of this jacket. It amazes me, because I feel so grateful to all of you – after all, if you didn’t show up, on the blog, in person, by buying kits, by contributing your knowledge and experience, by stitching, well, I don’t even like to think about it.

I need to thank the members of Team Lace for their hard work developing the lace kits that are winging their way all over creation these days. (So many in fact that Kathy asked Tricia to put together another dozen!)

First, a huge debt of gratitude to Carolyn H, who spearheaded the whole endeavor. Without her energy and commitment, the lace would be nowhere.

Holly van Sciver of Van Sciver Bobbin Lace for consulting for development of the lace sample kit, and especially making the final pricking for both the kit lace and the Laton lace (the one we’ll use on the jacket).

Shirley E — working on a final version of the pricking
Robbin D, Catherine K — beta testing the instructions and pricking
Tamara D, Devon T, Susan L — helping out with identifying period appropriate techniques, and especially with working diagrams.

The last two posts have sparked more thanks. This from Robbin:

A large part of the thanks (to the Mayflower Sampler Guild for the donation to support the sampler conservation) goes to the designers over the years who have given us designs for Christmas ornaments. These have been turned into limited edition kits that we’ve sold to raise the conservation funds. So thanks also go to the designers who have given us designs over the years — Martina Webber (Chatelaine), Ellen Chester (With My Needle), Rae Iverson (Moss Creek Designs), Lauren Sauer (Forget Me Not in Stitches) and Catherine Theron (Theron Traditions), along with Linda Connors, our outgoing program chair who arranged for so many wonderful donations.

And from Jen:

I have to agree that Wendy is awesome. She is humor, wit, mischievious devil and guardian angel all in one. One of the many blessings of working on the jacket project is meeting the other fabulous and generous folks pushing and pulling it into existence.

Well put.

Here are answers to Robbin and Linda’s questions from the comments. This new blog program has the capability for us to create and post pages that can be linked to, which will give Rich and me the ability to put up a page with, say, a standard write-up of the Textile Conservation Fund, plus a couple of Karin-approved pictures (I’ll ask her for those next week, Robbin). Then anyone could download that to share with guilds or local needlework shops or what have you. In the mean time, check out the blog entry for November 14, 2007 titled “Ta-Da!”

Which brings me to more gratitude. I was able to find that entry in about 30 seconds flat, thanks to Lyn from Ontario, Canada. Lyn has undertaken an extraordinary job in service to the cause – she’s indexed the entire blog. Last October she brought me a binder with the first 5 months of the blog printed out on numbered pages (sounds obvious, but isn’t) with an INDEX of topics. To see our work all put together like that, looking like an accomplishment, and with the gift of time Lyn had lavished on organizing my chatter, well, I was just overwhelmed. I nearly blogged about it several times, but it was such a special treat, I didn’t have the words.

Yesterday I found a box in my office with an updated index. Lyn’s note said “I thought 250 days was a good time for an update of the indexed blog text.” 250 days. I hadn’t thought of our odyssey in those terms. Anyway, when I wanted to know where the textile fund announcement was, I merely flipped to the index and then right to the page. This index is helping immeasurably as I manually recategorize the old entries and add tags. I still don’t really have the words, but being able to see the blog in a concrete, whole form like this is more than a gift of a time-saver. It’s sort of a gift of encouragement.

Here are two pictures of Lyn, one of her skilled hands working as she has done more than one session already (and planning at least another trip as soon as the SNOW is gone) and another of her looking over a project with Sharon. I didn’t get many pictures of Lyn because she was always at the frame.

So, thanks. Thanks to all of you, for giving me a reason to keep writing.

Yesterday, when I mentioned the Textile Conservation Fund and thanked the Mayflower Sampler Guild for their donation, I neglected to thank the Fund’s godmother. Wendy of Wee Works and Tokens & Trifles not only suggested that we establish a fund for the conservation of Plimoth’s samplers, she pretty much insisted on it. It wasn’t that I didn’t think it was a good idea, or didn’t want to encourage donations to support these textile treasures, there was just so much to do and things kept falling off the bottom of the list. But thanks to Wendy’s persistence, we have a fund, and it has been kicked off handsomely.

The whole stocking-knitting phenomenon gets chalked up to Wendy’s credit, too. She saw the awesome potential of this blog long before I realized it, and prodded me to ask for needed knitting volunteers here. So far we’ve sent out over 40 kits for gloves and stockings, and I just got another volunteer offer today.

Wendy does more than have good ideas, though. Here she is embroidering during one of our lightly attended sessions around the holidays. She did the very first blue strawberry flower the other week, too. She pinch-hits for Tricia as coordinator and trouble-shooter during sessions, and she’s taught a lovely commemorative needlebook stitching project to each session’s embroiderers (she designed it, too).

Thanks, Wendy.

This project has a life of its own, as I’ve said many a time before, and it’s been making friends not only for itself but for me too. I’m pretty lucky to be along for the ride.