Sampler!

Squeal! The postman brought us this goodie today! My mom cross-stitched this sampler for Elsa commemorating her birth the good old fashioned way. I love it, it's so special and will be something we will always have up on our walls to honor our first baby girl.

In the traditional sampler way, Marmie started with the alphabet and numbers, and then personalized it with the waves symbolizing her beach hometown, hearts because she's loved (what do you stitch when they're not? Daggers?), her name (in ombre thread!), her date of birth, pink bows because she's a girl, her birthplace, daisies for our home, siamese kitties for her first pets (Tyr and Thor are coming on the 10th!!), a saying for her day of birth, palm trees for Long Beach, her initials, her birth flower- the larkspur (I totally didn't even know we had birth flowers- wonder what mine is...? I didn't get a sampler for my birth, btw.), and the dorky saying she used to always say to Jan and me whenever we parted ways with her- "Be a good citizen! Be prudent!".

Close-ups. Her stitching blows me away, it's so exact! Did you know you always are supposed to cross the stitches in the same direction? Every single one of them?? Yeah I knew that, but I choose to ignore that suggestion. She does not.

 

I might still move it somewhere but I really like it here in her nursery. It's next to the bird print and above the rocking chair so we can look at it often. My mom suggested hanging it in the sewing room (soon to be playroom I'm sure) or a hallway but the colors are too perfect for it not to hang in the nursery.

Such a special gift! As soon as Elsa can talk Mom, I'll make her thank you for it. We love it! Now make one for me and one for Jeff, and two for the cats. Thanks!!