Dutch Sampler

Today I want to talk about my "non-antique" Dutch sampler. My first acquaintance with this sampler was when my aunt S. gave an example of it to my grandparents, probably when I was in high school. I loved that sampler! but I knew that, in the normal course of things, I would not inherit it, since it came from another branch of the family.



When I was working, after college, a co-worker had scheduled a trip to Holland to visit family. I showed her a picture of the sampler, and asked if she could look for something similar for me to stitch. She was very happy to have a "treasure" to hunt for during shopping trips. She could find nothing like it in the shops, but discovered the exact pattern in a magazine stashed in a drawer in her mother's home. When she returned, she brought me a copy of the pattern! I was thrilled.

The colors listed in the pattern had numbers next to them... and I didn't know what they meant. I discovered they were DMC numbers, and I would be able to stitch the sampler in the exact same colors as my grandparents'. I thought that was a marvelous idea, to number your colors so you could match them exactly. That fact will give you a little insight as to when this saga took place; the date stitched on my copy of the sampler is 1979. I think it is the first thing I ever stitched on linen.

The stitching itself was a joy. The pattern was clear, the motif style made it easy to follow, and to see the sampler come to life under my hands was amazing.

Last year when I posted a picture of this sampler on my Flickr page, a friend from a class I was taking, Ati from Norway, told me the name of the designer, and sent me another sampler design by the same person. I never dreamed, the first time I saw this sampler, that I would ever be able to stitch it, and even less, that I would ever be able to find another pattern by the same designer. I love living in this day and age!