The sampler is highly unusual because it was not worked by a schoolgirl, but by a teacher who intended it as a “sample” for her students. Perhaps this explains why the needlework was never framed so that it remained easily accessible for instructional purposes. Martha Mulford expertly worked her design so that it incorporates a range of stitches, including tent, outline, flame, queen, cross, and couched satin stitches.

The pleasing composition is closely related to one that was introduced during the 1790s among the Quaker schools situated in the Delaware River Valley, specifically in the vicinity of Philadelphia and nearby New Jersey. The enduring popularity of this design spans over four decades with examples dating through the 1830s. Among needlework scholars the pattern has come to be identified by the mansions and gardens that are central to the composition.

The design of the Mulford sampler has sparked discussion about its fabrication. As worked into the embroidery, Martha Meek was born in Ohio in 1796; however, she did not fabricate this piece until she was 28 years old in 1824.  It has been suggested that young Martha attended a boarding school in Philadelphia, which would explain her familiarity with the mansion and garden embroidered samplers; however, there is no indication that she or her sister, Cynthia, were educated in the East. A more plausible explanation is that these motifs migrated westward through the Pennsylvania and New Jersey schoolmistresses who established Quaker schools in Ohio as early as 1803.