Mourning Sampler - Della Brantner Hawn

Mourning Sampler in memory of my paternal grandmother Della Brantner Hawn.

Mourning Samplers

Why did thousands of people, mainly young girls, do mourning samplers in the 1700-1800's? Why do so many of us love them now? I admit that they fascinate me. Some of the verses are terribly morbid, some poetic, all of them filled with pathos.

The picture above is the first mourning sampler I did. I was drawn to it for reasons I don't really understand. I missed my grandmother who had died a few years before I did this sampler. She was an important person to me and she was gone. Life had gone on without her as it always does, but I wanted to bring her along. Somehow working on this sampler and hanging it on my wall was a way of making a part of our lives. There was a link that people could see between a previous generation and me.

Working on it also brought me closer to my feelings about the loss of my grandmother. I was afraid of death. I couldn't stand the thought of it and avoided even the discussion of it. When my grandmother was dying, I told myself that she had lived a long and full life. She had stayed in her home until the month she died. I had seen her recently and had a good visit. I had been there when she was in the hospital and said my good-bys. It wasn't going to get any easier than this and I had to face it. It was time to grow up. I did, and the sampler helped. As I stitched the piece, I thought about the good things in our relationship. I thought about how lucky I was. The girl who made the original sampler dealt with a lot more death than I would in the 20th century. How many siblings had she lost? Did she even make it to maturity?

I'm sure that there are a lot of reasons for making these samplers. It was the response of a nation when our first president and leader, George Washington died. Thousands of samplers were made to honor him and to deal with the grief. More about that in the next blog.

Thank you, Ancestors

I like to do some research on a sampler style and then I pick one of my ancestors and include that person's name. After getting into genealogy, I realized that I had so many ancestors who came to the US when life was primitive. They emigrated because they wanted land and a better life for their descendants. Many came here for religious freedom. They were willing to undergo hardship for their convictions. Most knew that they would never reap the rewards themselves, but they did it for their children. The more I learned the more I wanted to honor these people, so I decided that I would make my samplers as a tribute to them. Some of these samplers I design and some are reproductions or in a particular style.

Most of my ancestors were here before the American Revolution. That meant that they endured a harrowing 4-6 month journey across the ocean, and there was very little here when they reached these shores...if they survived. I may have had a wealthy ancestor here or there, but most of my ancestors were small landowners. Their houses were built with wood they chopped. The food they ate was raised by them. Life was fraught with danger. There is a record in the church in Rhode Island that my ancestors went to. A couple was killed by Indians while they were on the way to church. My ancestors were there when it happened. Scary, isn't it?

Although these samplers are a tribute to these women, I have to be careful to stitch the tribute in such a way as to not confuse sampler collectors 100 years from now. Can you imagine what a chore it would be to date such a sampler? They'd have 21st century fabric and thread and a date of 1700. The more I learn about samplers, the more I learn about my ancestors..and about myself.

Dutch Sampler I

Dutch Sampler I: This was a very easy sampler and a lot of fun to work. The motifs are taken from German and Dutch samplers and was published in a McCalls magazine. I have a companion piece I hope to finish this year.

No Winter in Thy Year

This was a fun sampler based on the house samplers a young girl my stitch in the beginning of her education. I could just see a young girl working on this. She would have loved putting in the dogs and cats. What about that little squirrel looking thing just outside the yard? It gives me the feeling that these samplers might have been a lot of fun for young girls as well as a means of education.

1663

1663 This is a sampler I hope to get to this year. It is a typical Dutch sampler with sample bands on the left and the names of friends and family around the borders.

The Kingdom of God

This is a sample of the two column sampler. I plan to use this format for a genealogy sampler.

Sea of Time

In honor of Elizabeth Upshur Bowdion

Elizabeth Gelderner

This sampler I designed to honor my 6th great gradmother who was born in Holland about 1772. She married Adam Staats 28 August 1744 in New York. I chose motifs from old Dutch samplers and put her initials and mine in the center.

Mary Trimble 1812

Mary Trimble made a sampler similar to this in 1812 when she was 8 years old. I tried to make a faithful reproduction but there were too many areas where I could not follow her pattern. I decided to make a sampler that was based on her sampler instead.

Mourning the Smart Family

My design: Mourning the Smart Family. This was made to coordinate with the Joanne Harvey sampler and as a memorial to dear friends who were killed in an airplane crash.

Joanne Harvey Sampler

Joanne Harvey Sampler

Mourning September 11

Mourning those who died September 11

Mourning President Reagan

Some of my favorite Samplers

We've Only Just Begun!

Just give me a needle and I'll be happy! That includes knitting needles, tapestry needles, sewing needles, embroidery needles, betweens, cross-stitch needles and crochet hooks. If you can do it with a needle, I love it.

I think better with my needles in hand. If I have to plan for a party or dinner or holiday, I head for my knitting chair and grab whatever is in progress. If you "needle" you know that this is not a waste of time. My needles help me think. They relax my mind until is is smooth as glass and pretty soon things start to come slowly to the top. I have my planner by my side and jot down what ever burbles forth.

Whether I am wound up, exhausted or wounded, my needles smooth the waters until life gets back on track again. The busier I am, the more I need my needles. There is this Zen thing...or maybe Yoga for the brain. When life unravels, my needles bring back order.