Thanks, Marlorena. Currently waiting on a surgical slot, fingers crossed that they fit her in today and that it goes well. She's in good spirits, considering, although that may be the morphine. The photo of your unknown does rather look like mine, I have to say. Feeling somewhat thwarted, as my google fu is failing me on finding good close ups of the foliage of Wedding Day. I've ruled out the Rector, because of petal count, and also Kiftsgate, I've seen both in person and they have the aforementioned fringed stipules. Pretty sure it's not the species Sinowilsonii itself, Dr Manners has some nice photos on Flickr and the petals are indented not pointed and the canes on mine are definitely not ever purple or even purplish. Plus the leaves are considerably larger on the species. Nor do I think it's r. wichuraiana (or however we're supposed to spell it now) as the petals and buds are the wrong shape and the sepals on the buds, unlike on mine, don't extend past the point of the bud. Running out of other possibilities, I think, unless anyone else has any oyher guesses. Only problem if it is Wedding Day, is that I need to plan very carefully how to train it because it's in a great position to eat the house!

I hope it is one of the 'Schick hybrids' Its' a little yellow, I would take each of those out one by one, remove the soil and replace it in what ever England uses for cactus. Call Warren Withers phone # 1788 571900 a cactus grower, so is Gordon Rowley. You have excellent cacti growers in England. After you take them out wash off all of the soil. Start them in slightly damp soil and don't water for about 2 weeks. Use chicken grit,I think it was a #5 mixed with cactus mix of 10% only. Now top dress to keep the soil away from the body of the plant. If hot an dry (low humidity) water in the summer once a week, I have never seen Mamm. grow well as in England. Call Harry Mays he was our cacti repsentative in England for years. All of my regards to my friends in England, here is a product that may be still available in England Seramis www.seramis.co.uk this product was suggested for houseplants and has been tested on Haworthia, that lose their roots. Great for starting new cuttings, leaves, etc. I give up, it's too late to continue. Norma

That's a rather pretty sampler of the mid-19th c., apparently English. The motifs are typical to 9-year old girls' studies. Very plain cross-stitching which in sum make up lovely motifs. Most of the silk has retained its brightness, which is excellent. Marking samplers-those with alphabets and runs of numerals-are rather more common to American schools, although you will certainly see English marking samplers. And you will certainly see vast numbers of American motif samplers! The type of sampler depended on the location of its maker. A very rural girl of poorer parents would be less likely to have a school or governess to teach her the combined arts of stitchery, the alphabet and literature, and balanced visual presentation than would a city-dwelling girl near a school or one with wealthy parents who supplied teachers grounded in these feminine arts. In the US, Quakers established excellent schools from which some of the best samplers on the market derived. You'll find that most of us in the States aren't as well-versed in English samplers-the American samplers have been far more popular for a very long time, and American collectors often overlook great foreign samplers. I like English samplers but am still more comfortable with American samplers. Your sampler is in need of conservation, and the sooner the better! It's probably mounted on board, maybe even glued in place all round, which is very bad. Wood and paper leach acids into the fabrics (linen here), staining it that dark yellowy brown and making it very brittle. As palimpsest suggests, call the better auction show rooms about conservators in your area. Butterfield's would have a list of sympathetic restorers/conservators. If these professionals trust their inventory to the conservators that they recommend, then you can too. The sampler must be removed from its backboard and mounted on acid-free board, matted with acid-free matt, placed behind conservation (museum, UV-protective) glass, then it can be sealed in its current frame. It's in lovely condition otherwise-but do please get it away from the wood and paper. A good conservation remount with acid-free mount and conservation glass should cost $80 to $120-or at least it would around here in the eastern states. Further restoration (bleaching, gently referred to as "cleaning") will cost more. Don't repair the broken stitches. There aren't enough to fret about and too much "repair" becomes "attrition", substantially lowering the sampler's value. To sell it, you can place it at auction but expect to wait some time for the proper sale to come up in which it will be advertised. If selling to a dealer, you won't realise as much as you would selling to a private collector, as a dealer is in the trade to make a living, not to play philanthropist. Hunting for that private collector may take the rest of your life. Decide how much you expect for it based on what you paid, what it cost to obtain, the cost of conservation, plus the cost of selling. Then add a profit margin-no, real people in the trade do NOT 'double' the price paid, that's a tactic of hobbyists who can't be arsed to learn the trade. Sometimes you can, sometimes you can more than double the paid price, but far more frequently you'll have a rather slimmer margin. Use common sense and pay heed to what you learn when speaking with the professionals who can help you determine if your asking price is within current market expectations. You may be pleasantly surprised. It's a fine sampler. If you have a friend in the trade, ask him (her) if he'd consider taking it to his next antiques fair. Fairs are a nice way to get exposure for good items. Depending on the sort of fair it is (general, 1000 dealers of the car-boot sale variety v specialised, 40 or 50 dealers room-setting) you could make a nice sale. It might be the gem of the car-boot sale, or it could be the popular yet affordable treat at the specialised show. Since you're good at finding the treasures, I count on hearing of more wonderful things you find.

I absolutely love her and would buy her in a heartbeat! I'm a lurker, collecting old plates but somewhat "afraid" to start smashing, er nibbling away at them. May I ask what type of material you used? I'm assuming it was something other than from plates or tiles as they would be too thick due to the size of the little girl. Any info you could give me on the adhesive and grout you used would also be helpful. I would love to try something similar but obviously I'll have to try a few coffee-can type projects for starters. Again, your work is just beautiful....