Louisa Hose, England, dated 1840
Price: $1200, Sampler size: 4½" square

This is a wonderful miniature sampler, which Louisa Hose stitched in September of 1840. Done entirely in cross stitches with red and blue thread, Louisa worked a graceful cursive alphabet into the top half of her sampler; each line of letters divided by a single line of alternating red and blue cross stitches. She also fills in some spaces with little motifs, such as the decorative icon beside the O, as well as the one between the X and the Y. Simple little red leafy branches flank the W through Z. At the bottom Miss Hose stitched a straightforward lowercase alphabet, again in blue and red. Lacking sufficient space, however, she manages to squeeze in a tiny r through z in red below the line of alternating colors. The entire sampler is then framed in a diamond pattern using the same blue and red thread.

Worked in silk on linen the sampler remains in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted into a black beveled frame.