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Wednesday 22 May 2013

400 Followers Giveaway

I recently acquired my 400th follower!  Wow, considering I've been blogging for just over 2 years, that's 4 people a week joining the blog!

Here's a picture to illustrate how I feel about the love and friendship we share online:

This is the latest instalment in the Thread Pickerz SAL on FB.
Stitched in De Havilland rainbow thread on 32count evenweave


I will be having a small giveaway to celebrate my lovely followers.  There will be something stitched, some cotton fabric (I have found a great shop that sells lovely fabric for backing ornies and want to share), maybe a cover kit or chart booklet from a magazine, some threads, buttons, ribbons, that sort of thing.

I've been trying to think of a good way to do the Giveaway, I do like to make you work for your prizes and it makes for fun reading too.  Then this morning I finally finished updating my Happy Dance Blog.  This has been a massive WIP in itself as I've been stitching for 20 years now.  I have added photos of every single piece I have and an entry for those I don't have photos of.  I have put exact dates where known and estimated when unsure.

One thing is clear - babies hamper your stitching!  Pre-baby I was averaging double figure finishes per year despite working 6 days a week.  For 2009 (Small Boy's birth year) I managed 2.  Since the discovery of the internet output has quadrupled!! Although to be fair, most of it is cards and small projects, freebie challenges and the like.


One of the entries I most enjoyed putting together was the Millennium Sampler.  Produced as a kit to celebrate the Year 2000 my Mum and I redesigned it between us.  I stitched a tree in the centre featuring my parents' and grandparents' surnames and mine (as it was at the time).  The outer squares I stitched as charted but around the middle there were several names of famous people who have made a great contribution to life in the last Millennium.  So why were there so few women?  Is that why it is known as His-story not Her-story or Our-story?  So Mum and I put our own list together.  We tried for a local flavour where possible, hence the inclusion of Constable and Cavell, a mixture of male and female, people from all walks of life (art, science, exploration, politics etc).  I also wanted the four House names from my Primary School to be included (Hillary, Drake, Scott and Columbus) and we wanted people that helped the poor as well as the rich.

Here's our final list with links to relevant websites -


Constable (John) - artist born in Suffolk and best known for his painting of the area
Cavell (Edith) - nurse born in Norfolk, executed during WWI for saving many lives, both Allied and German.
Hillary (Sir Edmund) - mountaineer/explorer, first person to reach the summit of Mt Everest, my "House" at Primary School
Earhart (Amelia) - aviation pioneer, first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean
Elgar (Edward) - composer, best known for Pomp and Circumstance
Sharman (Helen) - first Briton in Space (Interview here)
Drake (Francis) - English sea captain in the time of Elizabeth I, one of the "Houses" at my Primary School
Fry (Elizabeth) - Quaker and prison reformer
Dickens (Charles) - Victorian author and social critic
Curie (Marie) - physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize Winner, see also the Cancer Care Charity named for her.
Chanel (Gabrielle "Coco") - fashion designer
Pankhurst (Emmeline) - leader of the Suffragette movement which won the right for women to vote
Jenner (Edward) - physician and pioneer of vaccination
Bronte (Anne, Emily and Charlotte) - 19th century authors
Scott (Captain Robert) - Royal Navy officer and explorer, known as Scott of the Antarctic, one of the "Houses" at my Primary School.

The fourth "House" at Primary School was Columbus (Christopher) and he was already featured in the main squares so I didn't add him to the middle design.

So, back to the Giveaway, the question is - 
who would you have included on your Millennium Sampler?

You only need give one name.  I don't expect a long list like mine!  I am really quite excited about reading your answers.  I know my followers come from all over the world so I'm expecting some names that are new to me, as maybe some of mine were to you.

Rules - you must be a follower and must leave a comment with your choice of name(s) by Wednesday 29th May, 2013


Finally, the more eagle-eyed of you may spot gaps in the more recent blog entries on the Happy Dance blog, that's because I don't show pieces that are gifts or prizes until the recipient had seen them first.

33 comments:

Vickie said...

Oh Jo! How awesome. I will have to think on this and come back. ;)

Julie said...

Seeing as they have just found the body of Richard III locally here at Greyfriars, i guess he would have to be included in my millenium sampler (if i was stitching it now of course!)

If i had been stitching it at the time of the millenium, hubby and i would have had something special on there as we were finally married in the millenium.

Good luck to all your entrants, i'll have to pop back and see what other answers folks come up with and congrats on reaching 400 followers.

Sandie said...

It may sound corny but I'd put Diana, Princess of Wales on my list. Apart from being a "human" royal - one who came from the people into Royalty, she gave birth to 2 amazing sons who are carrying on her charity fundwork. Something which other royals before were either unwilling to do, or were less than willing to own up to! So Di for me!

Jo who can't think of a clever nickname said...

Hi Sandie,

Actually the entire Royal Family have always done masses of charity work, started by the late Queen Mother who visited the people of London during the Blitz after she refused to be evacuated to safety. What Diana was good at was publicity, she knew how to work the media machine to her advantage unlike the older royals who have always mistrusted the press.

If you google The Duke of Edinburgh award scheme and the Prince's Trust you will see two very long term examples of Prince Philip and Prince Charles' involvement with young people in particular.

I think Harry in particular is doing a great job with young people, he does seem to have his mother's rapport with young children and is very natural with them.

I'm going to be very interested in how William and Kate raise their new baby too.

Angela CG said...

I think I would have to put Harriet Tubman. She accomplished so much with so little and is such an inpiration.

Unknown said...

Amazing sampler Jo and I love how you and your mum adapted it to create your own unique piece of stitching.

My lovely prize arrived today - thank you so much. The sweet bunny tote is absolutely adorable and will be very much treasured. It's up on my blog for WOYWW this week.

Florence Nightingale I think I may have included for the social reforms she help to create and her apparent selflessness to help others less well off than herself.

Have a great week of stitching Jo. x

Dani - tkdchick said...

Your millennium sampler is spectacular.

Kielrain said...

Your sampler is amazing.

I think I would have to put Albert Einstein on mine.... or Nicola Tesla. Also Helen Keller.

I am bad at just doing one name I guess.

Unknown said...

I think I'd have to say Tolkien. He's a genius!

Count me in, please! :)

Mouse said...

ohhh well done in adapting the sampler and also congrats on the 400 followers ,,,, names for me would be Deanna Durban and Margaret Fontayne :) as I can sing like one and wanted to dance like the other ...;0 love mouse xxxxxx

good luck to all who enter too btw xx

lanybleu said...

Your sampler is gorgeous. Well done on 400 followers a great achievement.

On my sampler I would put Charles Dickens on mine, wonderful writer.

Linda said...

What a stunning sampler Jo. You and your mom did a fantastic job.
I know I'm weird, but a would go with more of a modern approach and say Elvis Presley. He did so much for rock and roll that I grew up with.
Also Princess Diana. I literally cried for months and months when she was killed in that auto accident. I lost my MIL the same year in an auto accident.

Linda

Sonya said...

I was going to say Cook, but I see he's on the outside anyway. Second choice that seemed obvious was Hillary. It's a lovely sampler!

Karoline said...

I believe that public Royal charity work goes back even further: Queen Victoria's daughters were very involved in charity work & there is the Alexandra Rose day launched by Queen Alexandra in 1912 to raise money for other charities. The Rose days are still going strong.

Christine said...

Congratulations on 400 followers!
I'd scratch Jenner and replace him with Montagu (Lady Mary Wortley Montagu - wikipedia link here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Mary_Wortley_Montagu )
Lady Mary introduced inoculation against smallpox (using live virus) to Britain in 1721, having seen the practice whilst living in Turkey. This was 75 years before Jenner spotted the connection to cowpox. She never gets any credit because she was a woman and because the Turkish origin of the idea meant it was unchristian.
Don't get me started on phallocentricity in the history of science...

Clare-Aimetu said...

Congratulations on your 400 followers - this is something I need to look at for my blog as I have no idea how to follow others or record who follows me (learning time come JulY)

Your Millennium Sampler is gorgeous - I stitched it too taking 18 months and it travelled on all our holidays and short visits so I know where I stitched some of the squares. Unfortunately ours is framed but in the attic now.

Margaret said...

I did a Millenium sampler too but a different design. Who would I include? Well as I am only a colonial (LOL) I would want a New Zealander to feature - Sir Edmund Hilary, Lord Ernest Rutherford, perhaps even Sir Keith Park. Or how about Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. OK, maybe they are not so well known as some others mentioned but we here in the Antipodes have contributed some notables to the parade of names in the UK Millenium Brag Book!

Giovanna said...

Congrats on the 400 followers! I would include Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, and Neil Armstrong. And I'm racking my brain to find women with a millennial impact to add to your excellent list (it's sad that it's so difficult compared to finding other men!)... How about Queen Elizabeth I? Heck, I would also consider Maria Callas, she was a wonderful artist.

Thanks, I enjoyed the challenge :-)

Chocolates4Breakfast (Terri Malinovich) said...

Congratulations on 400 followers! I love your sampler and were I ever to be so inspired to stitch something that amazing, I would include George Washington, first president of these United States, and I'd have to include Betsy Ross, our flag designer (I love colonial history). For a contemporary, I'd include the Fab Four - the Beatles. I've loved them since I was a young kid and their music is still vital today.
Fun to see whom everyone includes.

Annie said...

Congrats on reaching 400 followers! I would love to be entered in your contest. On my millennium sampler I would have to include people like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, all the way up to Barbara Walters, who paved the way for women in broadcasting. I think all the people who went against the grain to right wrongs and make things easier for us today should be honored.

Anna van Schurman said...

I might have included Ada Lovelace and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. I've been blogging for ten years, but my rate of followership is only one every two weeks. I guess I'm an acquired taste! ;)

Kaisievic said...

Hi Jo, What a great idea and I love the Millennium sampler - is the pattern still available? I would love to do an Australian version. So, being from Oz, a few people I would include are important Australians:

1. John and Elizabeth McArthur - early squatters who began the merino wool industry in Australia which helped create the nation's wealth in the 19th century
2. Caroline Chisholm - she helped young women in colonial times with housing and jobs, thus saving them from destitution
3. Dame Enid Lyons - the first Australian woman to sit in Parliament
4. Fred Hollows - eye doctor who volunteered in 3rd world countries to save people's eyesight
5. Victor Chang - pioneer heart surgeon who was tragically murdered in 1991
6. Nancy Wake - "The Grey Mouse" - an Australian woman who bravely worked with the French resistance during WWII.

Lots more people I could name but I will stop there.


Congratulations my dear friend on 400 followers - you have such a wonderful blog and are so generous with your time (running the blog hops) and your lovely stitched cards and gifts that we are very luck to have you.

So please count me in (and come visit me soon as I plan to have a belated 300 follower giveaway when I get myself organised !) ,

stitchy hugs, Kaye
P.S. Sorry about the essay!

Erin said...

The more I thought about it, the more I couldn't pick just one person... :D I think I'd do a "Diabetics of the Millenium" sampler. LOL I'm a Type I (juvenile) diabetic, and I absolutely love hearing about other people with juvenile diabetes who've done inspiring things. At the top of my list would be 2 Olympic athletes - swimmer Gary Hall, Jr. and cross-country skier Kris Freeman. Freeman finished 45th in the 30km pursuit at the 2010 Winter Games...he actually had a low blood-sugar episode in the middle of the race, and lay down on the course. Thankfully a nearby coach knew what was happening and gave him some glucose. And rather than quit then, Kris got up and finished! Just thinking about that gives me chills (and not because it would have been cold LOL). Here's another account of the story:
http://www.diabetes24-7.com/?p=107

The Crafty Princess said...

Very cool Millennium sampler Jo!
If I was stitching one I would have a slot for Dr. Victor Chang. He was a Chinese Australian heart surgeon who was murdered during a botched kidnapping. By all stories he was a very kind and selfless person and a committed surgeon. His prodigy was the surgeon who performed heart surgery on my dad who was the 3rd person in the world to have a human heart valve transplant. So without Dr Chang my dad may not be alive and well today. I would also have one for Princess Diana. She was such an inspiration to women and her legacy is still positively influencing people around the world!

Good question stunner! And congrats again on your 400 stalkers.

xox Alicia

Shebafudge said...

What a gorgeous sampler! I love the way you changed it and made it 'yours'.

I know who I would pick Frederick Banting. For the simple reason if he hadn't discovered what insulin did in 1921, I wouldn't have my daughter today. Sorry, a really morbid reason but he has to be my number one pick from 20th Century.

I'm off to have a look at all your happy dances :)

Katie said...

What lovely hearts! The variegated thread is soooo pretty! Your millennium sampler is gorgeous. Oh, but what a hard question! I couldn't possibly pick one name. Here are a few that come to mind, in no particular order:
1. Edith Hamilton (considered the greatest female classicist. Not a big deal to most, I know, but being a classics major who is crazy about those Greeks and Romans, she's a bit of a hero to me.)
2. J.R.R. Tolkien (only the best fantasy writer ever, and a totally incredible linguist and super awesome person.)
3. Leo Tolstoy (possibly the best writer this millennium, and a man who understand life better than most anyone else.)
4. Martin Luther (brave enough to try and reform a corrupt church, and hey, I'm a Lutheran.)
5. Dietrich Bonhoeffer (amazing Lutheran theologian who died fighting the Nazi regime.)
6. Nicola Tesla (inventor most famous for AC current)
7. Frédéric Chopin (basically the best Romantic piano composer)
8. Jane Austen (writer of witty romantic novels who laughed at society and understood "love" better than a lot of people)
9. Thomas Jefferson (yeah, okay, everyone knows who he is)
10. Steve Jobs (made a lot of amazing computer-y things and knew how to get people to buy them)
11. Tim Berners-Lee (invented the World Wide Web. Basically, the internet. That's a pretty big contribution)

Sorry for the super long list. :P I just thought of so many people!

P. G. said...

Great question and awesome sampler! This really got me thinking and I quickly came up with:
Jane Goodall (I just met her! She is amazing!), Nicola Tesla, and the Dalai Lama. I'd have to think some more to come up with an author but none comes to me quickly. Thanks!!!
Pam

Southpaw Stitcher said...

Congrats on 400 followers! The first name that popped into my head (even though I'm not Catholic) is Mother Teresa. I'm surprised no one has mentioned her! And I have to agree on Nicola Tesla. Everyone has heard about Thomas Edison, but Nicola Tesla was a visionary who hasn't gotten enough credit.

Kerryp77 said...

That's an amazing project... My answer would be the Queen, as she is awesome, or maybe Elvis as his music changed the face of pop culture

Nicola said...

Oh this is a hard one and it depends at what angle you want to come from. Today I feel frivolous :o))

I am going to look at which female influenced me and funnily enough she is on your list too.

Coco Chanel - I admire her for her creativity, drive and how she understood the essence of being a woman. My love of design comes from her jewellery and fabrics she used. However, the reason I would choose her is that my love of her clothes made be work extremely hard so I could to treat myself plus when I gave up smoking the incentive was the money saved would buy one of her handbags.

Am I shallow ??????????

Maybe I should have said Mother Teresa but that would be coming from another angle. LOL

Aurelia Eglantine said...

Congratulations on your expanding readership! 400 is quite a milestone :) I'd like to enter, but I'm afraid my answer is a bit dull, LOL. I'd focus on the Y2K computer crisis, that's really what I remember most about the millennium ;) That, and the radical sci-fi hopes for the future (hovercars! moonboots! spacesuits! beam-me-up-Scotty! machines, LOL!)

Fiona said...

Congratulations on your 400 followers. I would add Alexander Graham Bell or John Logie Baird as they were scots.

Lija Broka said...

Congratulations!

I would put on Paulo Coelho for his inspiring books. They have that make you feel good style.

And Mark Rothko, just because he is a cool artist who was born in the same town as me.

I might even look up local church records to find somebody unknown from many years ago ... a regular nobody that most of us end up representing.