Another band of Loara Standish

Indulged myself just once more to work on and complete another Blackwork / double running band on Loara Standish. Loara Standish' sampler is the oldest sampler to date found in the United States and the original one can be seen in the town hall in Plymouth, Massachussetts. I do love to do Double running stitch - it lends itself so well to stitch reversibly and I enjoy seeing
the patterns develop either exactly or sometimes see a different pattern evolve on the back side of the embroidery. I changed the colors and chose darker threads in the tan brown colors so that the pattern would be a bit more visible from far away. I debated if I should change the green color also and work the entire band in the darker color but then decided to work it exactly as recommended by Joanne. It was interesting also to note how Loara stitched this sampler in the truest sense - the narrower bands on top and on the bottom of the wider band are different patterns and it was interesting to note the dimensionality achieved in the center of the small flowers by simply using long armed cross stitch.

Closeup of texture and dimension