cross-stitch · evenweave · 1888
a child made this. eight, nine, ten years old. the initials are hers, the year is hers, the leaves are her teacher's idea of leaves. she finished it and then she finished growing and then she stopped.
the lowercase began under the Z; one small a appears, ghost-light, before the work was set aside. consider the embroidered initial and the memory drawer two rooms down. samplers are how a hand learns; they are also how the hand is recorded.
field-note: she crossed her sevens. so does her great-granddaughter.
pomegranate · running stitch · blackwork · word · archive