Ann's original sampler measures almost  26"x 26" and is stitched in crewel wool on a loose weave linen close to 28ct. The model was stitched on 40ct Zweigart Linen in Summer Khaki, with AVAS silk matched to the front of the sampler.

The design area is 341 stitches (h) by 393 stitches (w) and is in the main stitched in cross stitch with a small amount of satin stitch and some Algerian Eyelets, making it suitable for an ambitious beginner.

The booklet is produced in full colour with both colour and symbol blocks and there is a page overlap of 5 rows for ease of use when changing pages.  

Ann’s sampler has never been framed. It has been very neatly hemmed and then spent a very long time, folded up in a draw, which would account for the colours being so bright. It has stitches missing and the linen is much damaged where it has been folded. Considering that by the time she was 18, Ann was recorded as a dressmaker, she was not a careful stitcher at the age of 12, with cross stitches crossing in different directions and sometimes straying over a third thread. However, she has stitched a very pretty sampler, inspired maybe by the flora and fauna of the beautiful island on which she lived. I have nicknamed the sampler “A Jersey Lily” after the flower motifs that decorate the band under her name.

The sampler is packed with detail and Ann has used her linen well. There is a central motif of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, underneath a rainbow spanning two large pillars, complete with apple tree and serpent. Pots of flowers top the pillars and either side are motifs of birds and plants and two milk maids, possibly Jersey milkmaids? Above the rainbow is the verse:

Self Examination

At Evening to myself I say,
My soul where hast thou glean’d today,
Thy labours how best to wed?
What has thou rightly said or done?
What grace attain’d or knowledge won
In following after God?

                           Charles Wesley ( 1707-1788)
Above the verse are random motifs of moths, strawberries and two very strange looking animals and the whole sampler is bordered by a pretty honeysuckle border.