Sarah Miranda's Huswife

My friend, Anne, says every stitcher should have at least one heirloom piece.  In 2005, Diane Jordan (Sampler Cove),  Jackie Du Plessis  (It's Fineally Finished), and Lois Mouriski  (Elegant Stitch) put their heads together and created this design.

Diane working with the DAR Museum in Washington, DC used several of the quaker motifs from the Judith Townsend sampler for the huswife.  Other Quaker motifs on the huswife were taken from various Quaker charts published by the Scarlet Letter.  All net proceeds generated from the sale of this design were donated to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation in Dallas, Texas.  Jackie du Plessis designed the finishing kit for the huswife.

When I first saw this design, it sang to my heart.  It was a huswife, it was Quaker, it was red, the inside finishing was beautiful and elegant and classy.

Great GrandMother Sarah Miranda loved the color red.  One of her nine sons bought her a red taffeta petticoat.  It was probably one of the most elegant and expensive garments she ever owned.  My Grandfather Isaac said she loved to wear it.  Grandfather Isaac said it could always tell if Great Grandmother was upset by the sound of her petticoat.  If she was upset, Great Grandmother Sarah Miranda would walk very fast and the taffeta petticoat would make a swooshing sound.

There are two sets of initials on the huswife:  Great Great Grandmother Anne Elizabeth Caldwell Plemmons and  Great Grandmother Sarah Miranda.  There are two dates on the huswife 1855, the year Sarah Miranda was born and 1934, the year she died.

I did not finish the huswife, the other Betty, my finisher did.  The finishing is exquisite.  It is the finishing on the inside of the huswife which makes it elegant and classic and an heirloom.  All who have seen the inside of the huswife marvel at the incredible workmanship.  My friend Anne was right again:  "every stitcher has at least one heirloom piece."  Thanks to Betty, the finisher, Sarah Miranda's huswife is mine.