Jane Austen's Cross-Stitch Sampler
Long before Miss Jessica and I created our Jane Austen crafting exchange for the bicentenary of Pride and Prejudice I had made another Jane themed present for her. I had ordered two of the Jane Austen's Cross-Stitch Kit Sampler from The Jane Austen Centre in Bath. I have always had a love of embroidery and cross-stitch from a very early age when at a friend's birthday party I was given a little kit to cross-stitch a Scottie dog. I was hooked. I even started making my own patterns and designs, much to the delight of my grandmother, as I was her only grandchild who showed an interest or aptitude in a home art that she excelled at. What I love about vintage embroidery is that someone slaved over it and even a hundred years later it's still around, the home arts preserved for generations. What's more, if you are recreating a sampler that was made by someone you know or admire, either a family member or an author, doing the same task unites you across time.
At least that's the joy I anticipated when The Jane Austen Centre released their first two kits. Jane and I would be connected through this task! The other kit was a portrait of Jane, and personally, it wasn't the best design. But this design? It's taken from a sampler Jane herself worked probably when she was about twelve years old but adapted here to fit an oval composition. I'd never worked a kit bought from England before, so I didn't know if this is common or not, but they use a different amount of embroidery thread. Usually when cross-stitching, at least stateside, you double the strand so that it doesn't disappear against the ground of the fabric. The kit said to use only one strand. I did try this, but just as I knew would be the case, the thread just disappeared against the background. Luckily I had ordered two kits, so I had double the thread. Which means if I ever get around to making one for myself I seriously need to do some DMC color matching or order myself two more kits, which seems a bit of a waste of money.
But I seriously love how it turned out. I love that center of flowers and while not a religious person, knowing that Jane is the daughter of a rector growing up in parsonage the religious overtones are to be expected for various reasons. What I really love though is the use of very light yellow and cream threads that give the piece depth while at the same time not making the composition feel crowded. I had it simply but very elegantly framed by my friend Chuck at Meuer Art and Picture Frame Company. In fact Chuck framed it perfectly, with that silver frame being just the right counterbalance to the green matte and the colors in the piece. Complimenting but not overpowering. Also, an interesting note for those who want to get any cross-stitch framed, firstly look online for how to iron it, it's tricky but really works. But more importantly, because the fabric used is porous due to the nature of cross-stitch, make sure you get it stretched over a board that compliments the colors of the piece. If I had used a dark colored board behind the work, let's just say that it wouldn't have that airy elegance that it does.
My friend Jess and I years ago started referring to each other by our Austen handles, aka Misses Jessica and Eliza. In the spring of 2013 I texted Miss Jessica wondering what she would like for her birthday and she had an idea. It just so happened that 2013 was the bicentenary of the publication of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. As you now know over a month into my 
Madison College has a wonderful selection of wood type and when pursuing the drawers I found these stunningly large "P's" and was only sad for about half a second that there wasn't three of them, Miss Jessica being one of the co-creators of P, P and P, which is the Pride and Prejudice Colin Firth miniseries watched while eating Pizza. But in all honesty P and P works better. Because this was a quick one-off and not class work, where I was actually doing only two prints, one for me and one for her, I did this during open lab time. I didn't even do a full lockup, I just used some magnets and the showcard press, which is basically a proofing press. Funnily enough I had to do this twice, because I'm not the best at spotting typos when they're backwards. There might have been two "S's" at the end of "Misses" because I was going crazy that day apparently. So, on my second attempt I think I nailed it.
I originally went for too strident a color, a kind of spring green, and went all out metallic gold the second time around, because if gold doesn't say big two hundredth birthday celebration, I don't know what does! For those who do letterpress you might notice that there is actually more texture to the print than just from the wood type. I shall now impart a trick my teacher Beth showed me which I absolutely adore. What I did is I first printed the piece on a heavily textured paper. You pull the paper off and instead of re-inking you print again on a crisp clean sheet of perfectly flat paper. The impression of the textured paper remains in the ink on the wood type and transfers onto the new paper. I use this technique a lot because it just adds something extra, also ironically the textured paper is some of the paper I've used for my Jane Austen series I've been talking about. So this was the first non-illustrative piece I did in tribute to Jane. This was also the first piece for the gift exchange between me and Miss Jessica. Don't worry, there's more to come on that front!
For me Christmas has always been about books. Even before I was the biggest book nerd out there, Christmas and books went together like a hand in a glove. There was a local children's bookstore in Madison called Pooh Corner that I'd invariably get gifts from. They'd come wrapped in that way only a store could do with a little tag with Pooh and Piglet. Usually they were wrapped in brown paper, but somehow that didn't matter, that red yarn ribbon was just the right accent. My shelves still contain all these books from Christmases past; except for Maurice Sendak's version of The Nutcracker. Seriously, those illustrations are the stuff of nightmares. But there was always a frisson of excitement waiting for these books to come from friends and family. Unlike presents from my parents or grandparents, the rules about waiting to open them were more lax so I could often finagle an unwrapping within a few hours of their arrival, though once a package from my aunt somehow circumnavigated the globe before arriving long past Christmas. Luckily books don't perish. As for presents from my parents, my brother and I were often allowed to open one present on Christmas Eve. One year I picked a present that I had been intrigued with because of it's book-like shape. It was On the Banks of Plum Creek, which happens to be one of my favorite books in the Little House series. In fact I received all the books in hardcover that year, though my mom insisted that they be on display in our fancy bookshelves, because she was also a fan. Some years my parents were more cunning in their wrapping so you couldn't detect books from that distinct book-like shape. My brother and I received the entire Children's Illustrated Classics in a box that could have easily fit the both of us! But the true Christmas gift was when I didn't have to assemble anything for my brother, he of the ever elaborate GI Joe and Lego playsets, and I could curl up with one of my new books.
