The People Chose Modern Samplers

This SAL is all about what you want to see on the blog.  Each month I ask for suggestions for themes and then put them up to the members of the IHSW Group on FB to vote for their choice.  This is what they have chosen:

April - Modern Samplers

May - Fire
June - to be advised

I have had a couple of emails from people asking what The People mean by Modern Samplers - well, as ever that interpretation is up to you!  But this post may help.

When we say a "sampler" we all tend to know what that looks like without actually needing a definition.  It will contain some of the following elements:

a border

an alphabet

numbers

spot motifs

a variety of stitches

a verse or motto

a name and date

We will probably think of the traditional antique samplers made by girls and young women in the 17th to 19th centuries and reproduced now by one of the many companies such as Hands Across The Sea or the Scarlet Lettter.

So what is a "modern" sampler?  One designed in the 21st Century?  One with "modern" motifs or a modern aesthetic or style?  Maybe a snarky saying or song lyric in the place of a Bible verse?

I Googled the phrase "Modern Sampler" and this is what came up:

Apparently Google thinks of electronics when you have a Sound Engineer for a husband and you share WiFi!

The next two pages were more helpful:

We have bright, modern colours, geometrics, modern books, space rockets and quirkiness.  It would be interesting to see what Google shows you when you type just those two words "modern sampler".


So what have I stitched that comes under the category?

A fun Birth Sampler with a modern alphabet in non-traditional colours:

Elissa Hudson from Cross Stitcher issue 249

This is a challenge piece where I took a traditional motif provided and added a modern equivalent to it to show both facets of myself as a stitcher:

The left side comes from Cross Stitcher magazine

The right side and wording is a Plum Street Sampler freebie

This is another example of a traditional design stitched in a modern way.  The original Pansy came from Marie-Therese Saint Aubin blog.  I took just the flower head and turned it into a Warhol-inspired quartet, colouring the fabric with that very modern item - the felt-tipped pen.

 This is one very modern sampler in my stash, it's out of this world in fact; The Little Alien Schoolgirl by Ink Circles:

My earliest memory of a modern sampler is one which my Mum stitched in 1972.  It hung on our middle room wall for my entire childhood and featured a cityscape and modes of transport including a plane.  But that would now be nearly 50 years old, so is it still modern?

Now it's over to you.  All you have to do is make a post on the theme of Modern Samplers, mention The People's Choice SAL (you can copy the picture I used at the top of this post and in my side bar) and my blog. Please link up using the URL of the actual blog post, not the home page of your blog. I look forward to seeing what you all post.

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Finally, I need your suggestions for the next poll. Any thing, no matter how obscure, weird or random will go into the poll. Keep the theme suggestions to a single word or two - so you could have Cats, or Blue, or Holidays, or Warmth etc. Really anything which could be illustrated in cross stitch.

Looking forward to reading them all!