Sarah Braizear 1829 - The 2018 Queen of The May is the Hands Across the Sea 2018 limited edition chart to celebrate both Kings and Queens of Great Britain and May Day.

With a stitch count of 487 stitches (w) x 482 stitches (h) the sampler is stitched with cross stitch over 2, straight satin stitches, cross-stitch over 1 and eyelets. Because of the over-one sections, it is not suitable to work the entire sampler over-one.

May Day and the crowning of the Queen of the May has deep mythological roots in English culture going back to our European ancestors and even to the ancient Classical world. The May Queen was chosen, for her beauty, from the pretty girls of the village to reign over the May Day festivities. Crowned on a flower covered throne, she was drawn in a decorated cart by young men or her maids of honour to the village green where she was set in an arbour of flowers. Through the ages it has been many a young girl’s dream to be chosen as the May Queen and today it is still considered to be a great honour to be crowned the Queen of the May. Each year Hands Across the Sea Samplers will be choosing a sampler from their collection which Nicola considers to be not only beautiful but outstandingly so and worthy to be crowned our Queen of the May.

You can visit Nicola's page on Queen of the May for more details.

The sampler was charted with Au Ver à Soie® Soie d’Alger silks.

The model was stitched on Zweigart's Summer Khaki (green/brown) linen. We are also suggesting Light Mocha as an alternative. It's not a green/brown but more of darker tan and and is slightly lighter than the Summer Khaki. Light Mocha is a bit more like the photo on the cover of the chart.

Due to the large size of the project this will require a custom cut of the linen or a full yard depending on the count.

LINEN SIZES

The design area is 487 stitches (w) x 482 stitches (h). Our calculations have included a 3” margin for finishing and framing.

28ct – Design: 34.5″ x 34.5″ Fabric: 40.5″ x 40.5″ (cut size 1.5 yd 54x54)

32ct – Design: 30.5″ x 30.25″ Fabric: 36.5″ x 36.25″ (cut size 1 yd 36x54)

36ct – Design: 27″ x 26.75″ Fabric: 33″ x 32.75″ (cut size 1 yd 36x54)

40ct – Design: 24.5″ x 24″ Fabric: 30.5″ x 30″ (cut size 1 yd 36x54 - if you are willing to have a skimpy margin of 1.5" you can purchase a Stitcher's Half 36x27)

You will find the fabric listed in the Related Items below. Some of the Summer Khaki fabric is on backorder with our suppliers, but we have the Light Mocha in stock.

From the designer:

Who was BW? Sadly we shall never know who stitched this charming English sampler in 1831 during the reign of William IV.

We know there are at least another eight similar samplers that make us wonder if they were stitched at the same school or taught by the same school mistress. The samplers are different in their own right, but they share the same red brick stately Georgian building together with a fenced sweeping lawn or surrounded by a grove of trees. All have at least one cow lazing on the grass, except one which is from an earlier period.

BW’s sampler is surrounded by a delightful border of strawberries, and the birds with bright plumage reflect the English fascination with exotic plants and animals resting in trees and urns of flowering carnations. Two further sets of initials “G.W” and “M.W” have been stitched either side of the house, possibly her parents or siblings.

The verse is from the Hymn “Our God, Our Help In Ages Past” written by Isaac Watts in 1708 which has been sung so often on great public occasions – the Funeral of King Edward VII; the unveiling of the Queen Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace; on board HMS Prince of Wales in 1941 at a religious service attended by Winston Churchill and Franklin Delano Roosevelt as part of a conference creating the Atlantic Charter; at Winston Churchill’s Funeral; and in 2016 it was the Processional Hymn at the funeral of US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. It is known as “The Church’s National Anthem” and is a paraphrase of Psalm 90 – A Prayer of Moses the man of God. What is interesting is in 1738 John Wesley changed the wording from “O God, Our Help in Ages Past” in the Wesleyan Hymn Book and switched these two particular paragraphs around.

In the foreground two resting cows watch 2 small dogs and a mischievous rabbit frolicking in the grass. It is from these two cows that BW’s sampler became fondly known to us as “How Now Brown Cow” which is a phrase used in elocution teaching to demonstrate the rounded vowel sounds.

The dogs featured in the sampler could be Lancashire Heelers which is a small breed of dog developed for use as a drover and herder of cattle.

Skein quantities below are calculated based on 1 strand on 36ct fabric. The designer has provided a DMC conversion based on 2 strands on 36ct fabric.

Click on the thread type below to go to the order page for each thread type if you want to order individual skeins. If you want the entire set, see the Related Products for the Soie d'Alger and DMC color sets.

If you wish to purchase the Soie d'Alger in 4 separate groups we have broken them down into the following:

• Section 1 - Borders & Bargello (15 skeins)
• Section 2 - Inside Border (9 skeins)
• Section 3 - Lower section (9 skeins)
• Section 4 - Main section (5 skeins)

You'll find the smaller groups of Soie d'Alger, as well as the full set in our thread catalog.

Soie d’Alger/ DMC

0526 x 1 - 829 x 1 Golden olive – very dark
1745 x 2 - 3768 x 2 Grey green – dark
1812 x 1 - 3813 x 1 Blue green – light
1844 x 1 - 502 x 1 Blue green
1845 x 4 - 501 x 4 Blue green – dark
2145 x 2 - 730 x 2 Olive green – very dark
2226 x 1 - 3011 x 1 Khaki green – dark
2542 x 3 - 677 x 3 Old gold – very light
2543 x 2 - 3822 x 2 Straw – light
2912 x 1 - 3779 x 1 Terra cotta – ultra very
3724 x 1 - 3363 x 1 Pine green – medium
3725 x 2 - 3362 x 2 Pine green – dark
3726 x 1 - 934 x 1 Black avocado green
3745 x 3 - 830 x 3 Golden olive – dark
3815 x 1 - 833 x 1 Golden olive – light
3816 x 2 - 420 x 2 Hazel nut brown – dark
3822 x 3 - 676 x 3 Old gold – light
4126 x 1 - 838 x 1 Beige brown – very dark
4245 x 2 - 680 x 2 Old gold – dark
4524 x 1 - 3828 x 1 Hazel nut brown
4525 x 1 - 869 x 1 Hazel nut brown – very dark
4536 x 1 - 3781 x 1 Mocha brown – dark
S2578 x 1 - 407 x 1 Desert sand – dark