Embroidered sampler

In the pictureInside a vine border, zigzag bands divide the field into three tiers. In the top tier, potted flowering trees and a single black bird sit between two brown, dome-shaped trees with rounded tops; in the middle tier, potted flowering trees flank six lines of verse worked in brown thread. In the center of the bottom tier, "Mary Ann Reed 1813" sits inside a ring of leafy vine, with flower baskets standing symmetrically on either side. The thread is mostly brown, black and ocher, and the green and pale blue have faded. The whole cloth is rippled with wavy creases.

BackgroundThe verse begins "O Mark how swift these precious Moments fly" and, by way of the wheel of time and the thread of life, ends with a line saying that lost time never returns. Moral verses urging people not to waste time were often stitched on samplers. The record gives neither her age nor her birth year, so it is not known how old she was when she made it. At 48.3 × 38.1 cm, it is a little larger than Harriet Cates's 1823 sampler (43.2 × 36.8 cm), given by the same donor in 1984, and ten years earlier. Where that sampler is showy with its picture of a red house, this one is quiet, centered on text and plant motifs.

Puzzle tipThe three tiers are divided horizontally by zigzag bands, so fitting the band pieces first sets up the zones. The two brown dome trees in the top tier and the ring of leafy vine in the bottom tier are the most noticeable reference points. In the middle verse area the lines of lettering look alike, so match heights using the potted trees on either side. Tell the pale ground pieces apart by the direction of the shadows in the cloth's creases. Put the outer black edge and gray margin around last. 100 pieces works well.