Elizabeth Clark, 1822

My New Year's Day start,

meet

Elizabeth Clark, 1822.

 

This is an antique reproduction

 that is currently in my hoop,

and

 I'm having a hard time putting her down...

 

The original is from my personal collection

 and

 is heavily faded.

I love faded samplers.  

I'm always intrigued

 with how beautiful

 a faded sampler

 can still look...

 

 When Elizabeth Clark arrived,

she was glued to a piece of wood.

  Over time,

 the glue had hardened,

 and the sampler

 pulled away from the board

 with ease...shew!

  I turned it over,

 and to see the sampler

 in her un-faded state

 made me gasp...

she is beautiful!

 

Sharing snippets

 of some of my favorite motifs...

 

Look real hard,

and you'll find a sweet little man

in the corner.

 

 

a large grape vine

stitched in a somewhat quirky fashion...

&

a lovely brick house

{sigh}

 

X X X X X

 

And here's where

 I am,

stitching row upon row of

 tiny clay bricks...

 

 

 

The verse on the sampler reads,

"with humble heart and tongue

my god to thee I pray

o make me learn whilst I am young

how I may cleanse my way" 

 

The sampler originates from Everthorp, England

 and may have been

 Elizabeth's second piece she stitched. 

  From my readings,

 most girls often stitched two samplers. 

 The first being more simplistic,

with the alphabet and a few motifs.

  These samplers

often times

 did not get displayed in the homes. 

 

 Their second sampler

 was much more

 detailed and elaborate.

  It was this sampler that was often hung

 by the parents

 in the parlor to enjoy.

 This sampler

 was somewhat of  a status symbol...

  one must remember,

that this was the only formal education

 these young girls had,

 at about a cost of $2.00 a day.