E F G H I....where are you?

A big package arrived yesterday,

with a new, old sampler inside.

I opened it

and just sat with it on my lap and admired it.

So long, that I forgot to make supper... ;)

The fact that our needlework will outlast us

makes every stitch seem more worthwhile.

It's verse reads:

Why should I say tis yet too soon

to seek for heaven or think of death

a flower may fade before tis noon

and I this day may lose my breath.

Margaret was 11 years old.

She completed her sampler in 1825.

Sweet little meandering strawberry border...

There is some stitch loss in the alphabet.

It may take a bit of research through my library of sampler books to locate this alphabet

for the missing letters

if my eyes and magnification fails me. 

 The missing letters were probably stitched in purple floss. 

After studying many of my samplers,

front side to back,

I notice that the purple floss always fades

to a faint gray,

and was more susceptible to stitch loss.

Probably had to due with the dying process of that color of thread.

If you look real, real hard you will also see a little border between the rows of letters.

I can make out that there was a tiny orange center stitch with probably 4 purple stitches around it.

I may need to personalize this portion of the sampler, as it is pretty hard to make out what was stitched between the portion that I can make out.

E F G H I....where are you?

The antique is worked in wool and silk threads on canvas ground.

I will be working the reproduction in silks.

Looking for those exact floss matches...

Little red houses always tug at these heartstrings...

The bottom portion of the sampler is filled with all sorts of fun things to stitch...
a  red brick house with a garden,  a shepherd,  and a shepherdess tending their flock of sheep.

This will be my next project to tackle.
Hoping to start charting this weekend
 and it will be my "casual summer stitch".
 Hoping to release the chart sometime this fall.

With thy Needle & Thread,

Brenda