There and Back Again

 The plan was to blog just about every day while I was gone. The plan didn't happen, mainly because there were things going on,  places to go, people to see--and seeing people that I generally see only once a year is one of the most important reasons I go to this event.

However, Baby Girl and I took off on an expedition of our own one day. I've wanted her to visit Agecroft Hall in Richmond since the group took a tour a number of years ago. This year we had a chance to go and to see some of the textiles in their collection, so I signed us up and off we went.

Agecroft is a Tudor home that was purchased by a real estate tycoon who had it disassembled and transported from the UK to the US. It was originally planned to be the centerpiece of the development of exclusive homes he was creating a hundred years ago. Sadly, he died a year after Agecroft was restored, and most of the homes in the development were constructed in Colonial Revival style (guess what--Colonial Williamsburg was being restored at the same time!). However, the grand house is still the centerpiece of the development, and, according to family wishes, was open as a museum after its time as a family home had ended.

Due to a special arrangement, thanks to Catherine Jordan, we had an opportunity to see some of the textiles in their collection.

I like stitching sweet bags, although I haven't made any in the last few years:

The hypothesis is that this one was created from another textile.

I thought this was an interesting piece. It's listed as a book pillow. Books were relatively rare and quite valuable. You would rest your book on this cushion as you read.

There were also gauntlets on gloves:

This was probably all metal thread, which has tarnished with time. If you look closely, you can see gold plate filling the petals of the flower.

This is the top of an embroidered box (it was sitting on a red tablecloth). It's in remarkable condition, considering its age.

But the best thing is what was located inside, an unfinished needle book. Just goes to show that the more things change, the more they stay the same!

Tomorrow I'll show what I worked on last week.