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Marion B Horsburgh 1866 ~ A Little Gem from Hands Across the Sea Samplers

Description

This sampler is brought to you as part of a series of “Little Gems” that are available only as a .pdf download by Hands Across the Sea Samplers.

Marion’s charming sampler was finished on April 6, 1866 when she was twelve years old. The young girl’s sampler was worked with wool on a ground of approximately 24ct. Contained within a border of plump red strawberries is a delightful cottage flanked by two pine trees with a lawn of luscious green grass. You could imagine the heroine of a fairy tale stumbling across this cottage in a forest glade.

Marion diligently plied her needle filling her sampler with baskets of fruits, flowering shrubs, several trees, including a heavily laden apple tree, two crowns, and four hearts. Her accurate counting and wonderful colour choices made her sampler a joy to reproduce and stitch.

Marion left a clue to her identity “Thurston” in her sampler, which has enabled us to trace her. Marion Burns Horsburgh, who was named after her paternal great grandmother, was born on April 1, 1854 to William Horsburgh and his wife Margaret, née Ford. She was baptised on April 23, 1854 in Innerwick, East Lothian, Scotland.

We do not know if Marion’s life was happy or sad, but it was a long life; 86 was a very good age. Whilst working with her sampler, we have fondly referred to it as the “fairy-tale cottage”. We hope that, just like a princess in a fairy tale, all Marion’s dreams came true and that she found her prince and they lived happily ever after.

There are 4 versions of the pdf. You will be able to download any or all of the following pdf and graph versions:

Version 1 ~ A six-page colour chart.
Version 2 ~ A one-page colour chart (intended to be viewed/used on your tablet, phone, laptop, or computer).
Version 3 ~ A six-page black and white symbol chart.
Version 4 ~ A one-page black and white symbol chart (intended to be viewed/used on your tablet, phone, laptop, or computer).

The project has been rated as suitable for needleworkers of all abilities and can be stitched on Aida or Linen.

Stitch count is 138 W x 153 H.

Marion’s sampler has been reproduced and stitched with the vibrant colours found on the front of the sampler today using a palette of ten colours from Au Ver à Soie’s range of Soie 100.3 We have provided conversions for Soie d’Alger, Fine d’Aubusson wool and DMC. Whether you are stitching the sampler on 28ct or 56ct fabric, with 1 or 2 strands, you will only require one spool or skein of each colour with the exception of colour #944 Soie d’Alger when using two strands on 28ct.

We have suggested a few different linen counts for you to choose from along with a few thread choices to stitch with.

The original sampler was stitched on 28ct linen with wool. If you wish to stitch your sampler on 28ct linen with wool we would recommend Au Ver a Soie’s range of Fine d’Aubusson. Call us for assistance with this choice.

Please check the boxes above to have the supplies added to your order.