Thursday, January 3, 2013

Big Excitment!!

First, thanks to all of you who take time to read this blog and an extra thanks to those who comment.  I have very exciting news today.  When my sister sent the coverlet, she included an old sampler.  The coverlet may have to go back to her but she said the old sampler is ours to keep.  She got it several years ago at an auction and has done nothing with it.  The first thing I did was to get it off the cardboard backing-so bad for the sampler.  We kind of put it aside as it came the day before our trip.  Since we got home, the SBA and I have gotten into this sampler.  He loves genealogy so the first thing we did was to get the name of the little girl who stitched it. Her name is Elizabeth Mary Garbutt.  He did a family search and found her family in Ingleby Greenhow Yorkshire, England. The sampler was stitched in 1887. There are several sets of initials on the sampler so we were able to identify family members. The sampler is in rough shape but  we will do all we can to preserve it. Even more exciting, the SBA wants to chart it for me so I can stitch a reproduction. He is a former engineer and does very well with detailed work.  Plus he loves to keep busy and this time of year, things are a bit slow here in the Pacific NW.  So he has taken on this challenge with vigor.  I am one lucky wife!!!!!

 It is very faded on the front side.

 The bands are fairly elaborate.(top)

 Bottom part

 Notice how much brighter the back appears.









 We find that if you hold it up to the light things become much more clear. I love her verse,"By this you see what care my parents took of me." She was 11 years old when she stitched this sampler. Above the verse, you can see the row of family initials. Plus her parents initials JG and EAG appear in the second row of stitching. Her parents are Joseph Garbutt and Elizabeth Ann Garbutt .
This is so exciting to me.  Plus as I said , the SBA loves the graphing and genealogy! It is a project we will both enjoy. Plus we feel like we are helping to preserve a small piece of this young girl's life.

19 comments:

  1. Barb, That is so totally COOL!!! I can't wait to see what you do with the old one and re-stitching the reproduction. You are a lucky lady and have a super sister :-)

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  2. That is totally amazing! What a find and how lucky for you! My husband too is into genealogy, he's found royalty on my side. That's right! But he still won't bow when I enter the room. Must work on that. But anyway!!!! I am totally excited for you and hope you will keep blogging about this incredible piece.

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  3. That is wonderful. How lucky you are. Old samplers are rare.

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  4. This is so cool. What a treasure!

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  5. Lucky girl! Wonderful sampler.

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  6. How exciting. I know Ingleby Greenhow really well! It is a little village of stone built cottages about 30 minutes drive from my home. It has a lovely pub there call 'The Dudley Arms' where we would meet up with friends usually for one of their excellent meals. The village was first recorded in 1376, 500 years before Elizabeth picked up her needle. I think 'Garbutt' is quite a common name in Yorkshire. What an amazing journey your little piece of needlework has been on. Irene xxx

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  7. Wow, what a great gift!
    It's gorgeous.
    There sure is a lot of history there.
    That's cool that the SBA can reproduce it for you. That will be a nice winter project for both of you! Thanks for sharing it.
    Marilyn

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  8. Wow , what a gorgeous sampler ,and a lovely project to share .XXX

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  9. Wow! She is so sweet! I think your 2013 sttiching plan just changed. I can't wait to see how this project progresses.

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  10. That is so neat!! What a wonderful joint project that will be.

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  11. How wonderful to own an original sampler and it will be even more wonderful to be able to work on your own reproduction of it.
    Margaret

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  12. How exciting! What a great guy you have. Now, front colors or back colors, or something in between?

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  13. What a lovely sampler! It's always interesting to know the history involved in the sampler too. Can't wait to see the stitching! :)

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  14. You are indeed a very luck gal to have received an antique sampler as a gift. It is so cool that you DH was able to locate the stitcher.

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  15. How awesome!
    You are lucky gal to own something soooo unique
    Happy 2013!!

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  16. Such a wonderful piece of history to own!!

    Hope your new year is off to a bright start, Barb!

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  17. Glad you are back and had a nice holiday and visit with the family. And, glad you are feeling better.
    It will be a delight to follow along with the sampler project! That's pretty exciting that you have found out so much information already about the little stitcher and the names of her family.
    Your current WIP is going to be a real beauty! I have had that one on my "to do" list since I bought it when it was released... One day I'll get around to it!
    I am enjoying "Blessings" and have gotten a fair amount stitched already!

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