The Learned Wife Sampler...

The Learned Wife Sampler

One of the things I did yesterday was to put up a few photos in our master bedroom. I decided that I'd put up on of my all-time favorite samplers between Handsome's and my photo. This is "The Learned Wife" sampler from Kingsland Designs. (I wish it were one of my designs, but it's not.) I'm especially fond of the verse...

"One did commend me to a wife both fair and young,

that had French, Spanish and English tongue.

I thanked him kindly and told him I loved none such,

for I thought one tongue for a wife too much. 

What love ye not the Learned, yet as my life,

A Learned scholar, but not a Learned wife."

This sampler is a reproduction of an original, dated 1740. I only changed one thing from the original design, and that was to change "French, Spanish and Italian tongue" to "French, Spanish and English tongue".

Master Bedroom Vignette

 

My sampler now hangs between photographs of Handsome and me. I took the image of him while on our honeymoon in Grand Cayman, BWI in 1984. My photo was taken by one of his photo students in a class Handsome was teaching in 1986 (I think).

The bottom photo is of the first litter of yellow Labrador puppies whelped by my first Lab, Bryn. Bannor is the dark yellow pup under the center top dog. This photo always makes me smile, and I love having Ban's picture where I can see it. I still miss that guy. (He was 16 when he passed.) 

And, yes. Bryn was the inspiration for Brynwood Needleworks. She was about four years old when I began my counted thread design business of the same name. That was almost thirty years ago!

So, another area of our farmhouse is just a little more "us". There's no rush. We're having fun and taking our time. Everything about life at the farm is slower paced. This might as well be, too.