Martha Jones 1792

Martha Jones’ well-designed traditional English needlework and other samplers grace a wall in the sitting room of my friend Marina. I was allowed to present two of her pieces to the public. Thank you so much!

Martha stitched the three elements of her sampler with fine wool yarn on wool in a few colours. In doing so she placed the Temptation and the Fall of Adam and Eve at the centre. At the bottom she described this scene from the Old Testament in a two-line verse (Adam and Eve when Innocent in Paradise where Plac’d, But soon the Serpent by the Act the happy Pair disgrac’d).

She worked her name in letters typical of the Quakers. Different-coloured watered tulips in the zigzag border frame the three portions of her work. Unique is the way Martha placed the figures of the year.

Crosses: 226 x 226
Size: 32 x 32 cm
Stitches: cross stitch, Algerian eyelet, gobelin stitch, satin stitch, back stitch