Warren County Historical Museum Sampler Exhibit in Lebanon, OH

On one of my trips earlier this year to the Cincinnati area I had the chance to stop at the Warren County Historical Museum in Lebanon, OH. They currently have an exhibit of schoolgirl samplers that runs through September 3rd.

Here is the museum.

This was my favorite  sampler in the exhibit. I love the red. 

Look at the steamship...

Many of the samplers had no information about them. The exhibit did include a Westtown School sampler.

Here are a few more pics...

Lovely border and parrots.

I was intrigued be the netting applied for her dress on this silk mourning piece.

And look at the fabulous dress on the other figure in the silk piece. 

Here is the whole embroidery.

I thought this one was very sweet too.

I had time to walk around the museum quickly. The exhibits had many dresses displayed from the 1860's to the early 20th century.

One display.

They also had a very nice Shaker exhibit.

If you go to the exhibit, stop and have lunch at the Golden Lamb Inn. It is a very short walk from the museum. It is Ohio's oldest hotel and has had many famous guests over the years.

I did not have time to stop, I was headed to the airport in Dayton but Lisa from The Inspired Stitcher did and she said it was wonderful.

I hope that everyone's summer is filled with fun and stitches.

I still have not found my stitching mojo, hopefully it will show up again soon!

Chris

Hello... It's me...

Hello Friends.

   How has your spring been? Full of celebration I hope. 

    I know that I have been gone for quite awhile, but Inthink I have been struggling with my schedule and some depression. Last month I finally started have a few full weekends at home. I have been feeling disconnected with family & friends. I have not been reacting to emails, except for work. Forgive me, those that have reached out to me. Your kind thoughts have been so appreciated.

     So how do you shake this off? I have not been stitching. I am trying to get back to it. Exercise? I need to make time for this every day. Any thoughts?

    Is it an age/hormonal thing? 

    I have been traveling and have seen some great things and April was rally month and that is always fun.

    Rich is fine. He is such a great guy. 

We participated in the NAMI walk in Raliegh on May 7th. I work in behavioral health so this is very important to all of us. It was an absolutely gorgeous day and it was great to hang out with some of my colleagues.

   I will try to catch you up on things over the last couple of months in some more posts.

   

I leave you now with my current view. I am on my way to St. Louis for an event in Alton, IL.  This is a pic of the steam/fog hanging over some rivers and waterways.

I have missed you guys.

Chris

Another Weekend in Georgia...Trying to Outrun Jonas(January Blizzard 2016)

Hello Friends!

    Thanks for all the wonderful comments. I am looking forward to being home and catching up on my blog reading and responses( I just can't seem to do this when I am traveling). And I have been traveling... I left home on Wednesday 1/20 and I am sitting at the airport in Cleveland starting my journey home.

   Before I get to my travel and some stitching I wanted to show you the lovely ornaments and pretty piece of fabric that I received from Catherine over at I Love to Stitch blog.

Catherine does beautiful stitching and beadwork. I don't bead or have anything like this in my collection of ornaments. Such treasures! I had the chance to meet Catherine last year during my travels. I am hoping to get up her way sometime this year. Thank you Catherine!

 I started my journey in Philadelphia. I had an event Thursday in Camden, NJ.

I saw this in the airport and it is my own motto of sorts. Dee at Tangled Up in Sticks &Strings sent me the link on the artist. 

  I didn't have much time to explore in Philly. Thursday night after my event I had dinner with one of my cousins, I should have left town but I didn't want to miss dinner. Wednesday I did change my plans. The storm was scheduled to hit NC in the morning and not in Philadelphia  until Friday night. I had to be in Rome, GA Monday morning so I flew to Atlanta.

Good thing too. My original flight to Raliegh was canceled and I have a good hour and 40 minute drive from the airport so chances are I would have gotten stuck in an airport or on the road...

  So to continue the saga, I get off the plane and learn that my inspection Monday was rescheduled to Tuesday... I was going to try to get home Monday night and then fly to Cleveland on Wednesday afternoon for an event on Friday... So let me just fly to Cleveland from Atlanta. I really don't have enough time to get home.

   So what to do with a weekend in Atlanta? Atlanta was due to get some snow/freezing rain so before going to my hotel I went to the grocery store with everyone else. So with provisions for the weekend I checked in and caught up in my sleep. The next morning I made a last minute stubhub purchase for the Fox Theater..

The roads were clear but it was windy and cold.

I have heard good things about this show.

The theater was beautiful. 

Stars in the evening sky inside the theater.

Before the show we were entertained by this organist. It makes you imagine what it must have been like when it opened as a movie palace.

   The show was excellent, exactly what I needed.

  On Sunday I packed up to head to Rome, GA. It was a gorgeous day so I drove to Stone Mountain to get a hike in.

It really is one big rock. This is the carving of Lee on the side of the mountain.

 I chose to take the trail around the mountain.

It was a beautiful day.

Everything was going great until I got to this part...

Ice was melting and water was running off the mountain and it was very slippery.

But should you go back? Will it be more dangerous? Or go forward? You know where this is going...

See my fabulous new prescription sunglasses? Well, they were a casualty of a slip and fall. I have a big bruise on my left hip this time but made it back ok.

I didn't feel like going to the top after that
even though I was halfway up and that trail was dry. I just wanted to finish the hike around the mountain. 

  Even with my accident it was a lovely day and beautiful hike.

  Then it was in to Rome. Unfortunately I did not have a lot of time to explore. It looked like a really neat town.

  The afternoon that I had some free time it was pouring.

I did drive downtown and saw this crochet-bombed sculpture.

  I did get some stitching on Mary Allen done when I was in Rome.

I have started some of the specialty stitches. There is a house that goes in that open area. I am enjoying working on her.

   So my extra weekend in Georgia was nice. The rental car I had was brand new and comfy(heated seats) and I got to see some wonderful things.

  Then it was on to Cleveland. I did have the chance to meet up with a colleague for dinner.

We went to the Forage Public House in Cleveland. The have all locally sourced ingredients with lots of vegetarian options. This is the pickle assortment of the day and lentil paté.

We also split this smores dessert. Yum!

The rest of this trip I bought my meals from the grocery stores. I am trying to eat better and exercise while I am on the road.

  My event went great yesterday and now   I am just anxious to be home. I am in Nashville now waiting for my next flight.

This is the beautiful sunrise as my flight was taking off from Cleveland. I am thankful to see something so beautiful.

  I have to get on a plane now. Have a wonderful weekend! 

Hugs!

Chris

   

A Weekend in Georgia

Hello Friends! 

  The weekend before last I packed up Syl(her inaugural road trip) and headed to Athens, GA for the MESDA textile symposium.

It was held at the Georgia Museum of Art.

This seminar focused on Georgia samplers and needlework. There is a catalog available for the exhibit from the museum gift shop written by Kathy Staples.

  The exhibit of samplers included 2 early GA tablet samplers from the mid 1700's that have the 10 commandments in verse, a group of samplers from a catholic school in Savannah, a sampler on loan from the National Archives that was used to obtain  a revolutionary war pension. There were quite a few more but these are some of the highlights.

They also did a quilt turning for us from the museum's collection.

This one was interesting.

Close up.

They had about 18 quilts for us to view,

from a crazy quilt to some art quilts.

  Another part of the event was a tour of some of the local historic homes. It was a whirlwind.

First stop.

The Octagon wings were added to the home in the 1850's, downstairs were parlor/office space and upstairs was the bedrooms, on side his and one side hers.

Stop 2 was part of the Athens visitor center. 

This home has gorgeous restored interiors.

I loved the wallpaper in thes rooms.

Stop 3.

This house reminded me of the Josephus Hall House in Salisbury, NC. The main house has the same floor plan and 15 foot ceilings, and very wide center hallway.

Some of the interior.

This dining room is in an addition at the back of the house. I meant to take pics of the stairway and the beautiful pocket doors but as I said this was a whirlwind.

  One of the best things about these events is catching up with friends.

This is my friend Susan. We had dinner with other friends too. Such a nice time.

  I do have a funny story. At lunch the last day a woman sat down at our table and we were talking about our textile interest, she said she did Hardanger and taught once in a while. She was pleased that I new what Hardanger was and that it was something that I wanted to try. As she left  I saw her name tag, it was Janice Love and of course I have her books.

So another great sampler adventure in the books!

Thanks for traveling with me!

Chris 

International Folk Art Museum Santa Fe, NM

I had the chance to visit the International Folk Art Museum last Sunday, January 10th.

  The museum is located on Museum Hill in Santa Fe.

This is at the entrance to the museum complex. It is where the Santa Fe Trail ends.

On the way into the main gallery there are these wonderful paper stages. This one looks like a nice place to live.

   The main gallery is filled with lots of things from all over the world.

This is a crèche from Poland.

They had quite a few examples of these tin foil churches also from Poland.

Here is a beautiful Sailor's Valentine.

But I was here to see these...

Most of these samplers are European.

Lovely.

Beautiful stitching.

These don't look like they are queen stitches.

What do you think? Rice?

I think this might be the one American one in the collection.

White work.

What a beautiful display.

Gorgeous patterns.

This spot motif sampler is all queen stitches.

If you are ever in Santa Fe this museum is a must see.

They attributed this chest as Italian.

Here is a close up of one of the door panels.

   They also had an exhibit on Flamenco.

It was very interesting.

Amazing costumes.

Very beautiful.

This museum exceeded my expectations. It was a wonderful way to spend a morning.

Thanks for traveling with me.

Chris