The Beast Has Been Loosed

Welcome to what I hope will become an entertaining stitching diversion. Many of you are familiar with the rich history of Dutch samplers and their many symbolic motifs. One of the more famous of these is by Permin and is called Dutch Beauty. The sampler I am creating aims to have a little fun with wordplay, imagery, and basic silliness, all drawing from the wonderful style and sensibility of the traditional Dutch samplers. It seemed only fitting to title this project the Dutch Beast.

Each of the main motifs in this sampler has been designed to look like an authentic Dutch motif until you look a bit closer or start thinking, "What on earth?" The jokes are sometimes subtle enough that only a sampler afficianado will pick up on them without a hint. I apologize to and offer thanks to the Dutch.

Official-like Notice: It will never be my intent to offend - I promise not to deliberately toy with any obvious Christian symbols (crosses, churches, etc) but please recognize that so many traditional symbols have some biblical basis or parallels that I would be left with but a windmill and a dog if I let those alone also.

Let me introduce the first motif "Mark and Dave" and explain how this all got started:

So many samplers have a motif for Joshua and Caleb, the grape bearers. They were sent into Canaan to see what bounties were there and bring them back. The motif shows the two men carrying back such a large bundle of grapes that it boggled the eyes.

I love this motif and have in my stash pile a lovely sampler designed by Gigi (in red above). I live in a big wine growing area (the mid-Columbia Valley in Washington state), so the motif seemed particularly appropriate. I was wondering, if Joshua and Caleb were sent in today what they would find.

My answer came soon when my husband read from the newspaper that fishermen were all in a frenzy to catch the world record walleye - right in this region. Scientists predicted based on records, that it would be a beauty. Our friends Mark and Dave took my husband and headed down for the river, hoping to land Walter.

Did you ever see a postcard like this? I saw one once with two guys carrying a trout that big. I couldn't find it now so you'll have to settle for the giant rabbit and your imagination.

Well, once my mind starts on something it has to play out its course. I started looking at other Dutch motifs and couldn't help myself. Tune in soon to see the next travesty.

BTW, major thanks to Vikki Clayton for feeding this beast silk, and Pat at Lakeside Linens for providing the playground.