Vintage View Sunday - Antique Sampler

Hi friends, I feel so bad that I haven't posted and even missed my own blog party last week!  

Sometimes life just gets too busy with work and friends and family 

and students and crafting and migraines!

But I hope you will enjoy today's post, my first Vintage View Sunday blog post!

Party-goer, Jann Olsen, from "A Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson" will be the featured blog.  

Her post is super sweet and features her absolutely adorable little granddaughter, Saydee,

"working" with vintage household toys, which got me thinking about how hard children 

had to work long ago.  Whether they worked on farms gathering eggs, planting crops, 

helping with the baking, watching siblings, or in factories during the industrial 

revolution, they were integral in the work that was necessary to survival.  

Life was serious business, without much time for the kinds of activities today's children enjoy.  

And death was an all-too present specter, which made their thoughts of sin and heaven

ever present, as illustrated by my oldest antique, the sampler below, 

stitched in 1792 by Mary Smith, "aged 11 years."

This must have been the epitome of young Mary's skill as the variety of stitches and colors attest.

The seriousness of life is captured in her verse (notice

 the letter S looks like an uncrossed letter f, common in the 1700s).

"Lord thou hast searched and seen me through,

"Thine eye commands with piercing view,

"My rising and my resting hours,

"My heart and flesh with all their powers.

"O may these thoughts possess my breast,

Where'er I rove, where'er I rest,

Nor let my weaker passions dare,

"Consent to sin for God is there."

Her name and date appear at the bottom in light blue, pretty difficult to read:

While we shouldn't forget our nature to sin, and we should keep our eyes on heaven, 

I'm so glad that life today isn't as difficult for any of us as it was then--something 

I try not to take for granted and try to be thankful for every day, 

even when I am overwhelmed with housework after a long day at the office, 

or the water heater floods the garage, or the car begins to leak oil--you know the kind of things. 

Our work still is so much easier and can actually be delightful, as little Saydee shows us with her household chores on her Grandma's blog, A Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson:

Using a variety of vintage toys, Saydee shows us how serious her household "work" can be:

Hop on over to Jann's blog and read this sweet post full of vintage toys and 

the cleverest writing.  You will smile with delight, I promise!

Please join the next Vintage View Sunday Party! 
 I'd love to see your vintage treasures!