Wonderfully Colorful and Varied C. 1900 Dutch Darning Sampler civil war history hers given a watercolor blush

hers given a watercolor blush and framed with fantastic headpiece

the way this face is carved into the burl

Turned front legs and posts

with what look to be arrows extended in different directions and a sort of bird-like form rendered in unglazed clay

and I just love the choice of subjects--soap bubbles

Wonderfully Colorful and Varied C. 1900 Dutch Darning Sampler civil war history hers given a watercolor blushIf you are reading this, you probably strongly identify with certain objects, especially ones with history, as I do. For me, an antique darning sampler, as much as most any other sort of thing, feels like life itself: torn over and over in order to be carefully, beautifully mended, with the mends together creating a portrait of all sorts of different solutions to the problem of the tear. And then age and stains and marks of being folded and put away