I love doing or making something special to commemorate an important event, be it making a quilt, planting a tree or a rose or stitching a sampler, I’ve done them all, apart from everything else its a good excuse to make yet another quilt…or sampler…

The first birth sampler I stitched was for my niece, back in 1988. I chose a very pretty cross-stitch design which is probably still available as it was based on the frontispiece of Beatrix Potter books, you know the one. It was beautiful, I embroidered ‘Made with love by Auntie Margaret’ at the bottom so it would be under the mount of the frame, my little secret. 

The next one I stitched was quite a few years later, for my friends daughter, Kathryn. I decided to make a sampler that she would still be happy to have on display when she was an adult, which meant not the usual baby sampler of teddies and alphabet blocks. After all, a sampler is stitched to last a lifetime and more, so it needs to have lasting appeal.

I chose a design called ‘Yesterday’s Dreams’ from the book  ‘Home Sweet Home’ by Vanessa Ann (1988). It’s a very pretty alphabet design in cross-stitch decorated with Mill Hill beads. I  missed one alphabet out of the design and instead I embroidered her birth details and also her christening date and church. I’ve since used this sampler for a friends wedding and also my own     daughter’s birth sampler.

When it came to celebrating her sister’s birth (also my god-daughter) I found a sampler design by ‘Just Nan’. It was very pretty and I felt the words fitted the occasion.  I liked the fact it wasn’t just cross-stitch too, there’s bullion roses, eyelets, as well as beads and a heart.

So when you’re stitching a birth sampler, think outside the box, after all they are not babies for long. Find a sampler you love and adapt it.

Happy stitching 🙂