French Red and White Darning Sampler with Out of Order Alphabet wooden souvenir The two blades pull all

The two blades pull all of the way out and then close back up with ease and stay tight

com] It is also not clear to me that these were ever produced in volume--there was a straight sided striped mug

as do the markers

but I thought they were worthy of rescuing from a pile at the flea market

I believe it is a Tagua nut that was carved to make this little head

French Red and White Darning Sampler with Out of Order Alphabet wooden souvenir The two blades pull allI'm forever ogling antique darning samplers, especially very old Dutch ones, which are just exquisite (and very very dear.) This French one, done by a 14 year old Chantal Cheviot (signed on the edging on reverse) in the earlyish 20th century I would guess, is not one of those but I really like in other ways, including for the out of order alphabet, the reason for which I have no idea! The darning exercises on the bottom half were truly that one can