Scarlet Letter--Hannah Breed

It is a rainy, overcast winter day at Thistle Manor and the perfect day to make stitching progress on Hannah Breed.  Am so appreciative to Nicola for challenging everyone with her red letter year of The Scarlet Letter. The Hannah Breed sampler has been languishing in my stash for years.

Hannah is being stitched on 32 count vintage examplar liner by Lakeside.  (am still having anguish over the R & R 18 Century Brown).  Am using Kreinik Soie d' Alger silks.  My second challenge with Hannah (the first being the linen) is two of the silk colors.  The colors were so light, when stitched onto the linen, they were lost.  I wanted to stay as true to Hannah's original sampler as I could, but made the decision to use a darker color.  The colors for Hannah range from very pastel to bright blues and reds.  Am thinking Hannah used the fibers she had or perhaps borrowed fibers from someone else.

Several years ago, friends were visiting with their young daughter.  I remember the daughter asking her Mother if I was learning my ABC's because there was an ABC chart is every room!  Well, Hannah must have been learning her ABC's because she has stitched five sets of alphabets into her sampler.

Am waiting for a couple of fibers to fill in the missing letters of the alphabet.  Was so anxious to get started stitching on Hannah, I started before all the fibers arrived.

As we enter 2013 I will leave with the words from one of my favorite prayers;

May the roads rise to meet you, may the winds be always at your back, may the sun shine warm upon your face, the rains fall soft upon your fields, and until we meet again may God hold you in the hollow of his hand.