On the Road Again

Because life gets in the way, I had to leave Ellen's second class at lunch time yesterday. But, before I did, I got this much stitched.

The needlebook which will fit into:

The huswif on the left (although I'd love to take the class for the one on the right, too).

Ellen teaches a small for just about every project. In the small, she covers any unusual stitches or techniques you may need for the main piece. It's very helpful, and not overwhelming, although I do have a good bit of spaghetti on this one that I will have to deal with before I can proceed.

Anyway, we hit the road at lunchtime and the less said about that trip, the better. I'm not sure what measurement Google uses to determine travel time--and they do say that road construction and other delays can affect the estimate--but seriously--OK, enough venting on that subject.

We decided to stop on the way home at the Museum of Appalachia. We visited this site on the way home from a wedding and said, at the time, we really would have to return. So we did. It only took thirty-six years for it to happen, but we returned.

The structures and artifacts were collected by a single individual over a lifetime, brought to the site, and set up as they might have been when first constructed.

They are furnished, at least partially, as they would have been on the frontier. Keep in mind at the time they were built that Tennessee was the frontier.

A grouping of buildings

A frontier McMansion.

Can you imagine raising nine children in this house?  It had two rooms and a loft, which could be accessed from the front porch.

And on that note, we are going out to dinner.  And, quite frankly, after seeing how generations of women had to work to feed their families, three times a day, day after day, I feel just a wee bit guilty about it. Not guilty enough to go out and grind meal and slaughter a critter, but just enough to be thrilled to live in this day and age!

Seriously

Google Maps gave the travel time from Naperville, Illinois, to Berea, Kentucky as approximately six hours.

They lied.

Lovely Lady's Worke Box

Today I took the Lady's Worke Box workshop with Ellen Chester and the Lake Michigan Sampler Guild.

This is how it will (hopefully) look when it's complete.

This is what I managed to accomplish in class today.

Actually, considering how little I usually manage to stitch in class, I did quite well.

It was a very enjoyable class and I was able to spend time with friends from days at Jeannine's sampler gathering. They made me feel very welcome.

Ellen, of course, brought the models for her trunk show.

When I saw the array, I realized that there are a lot of these pieces sitting in the finishing basket, waiting to turn into something.

I probably should spend the rest of the year finish-finishing instead of stitching.

Road Trip! (many pictures . . .many, many pictures)

I love road trips. Love 'em, love 'em, LOVE 'EM!

And Dearly Beloved and I are on one.  We started out at the crack of dawn yesterday, heading, eventually, to Illinois and a class with Ellen Chester and the Lake Michigan Sampler Guild.

We had decided to spend our first night on the road at the Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill in Kentucky. The Inn there puts you up in one of the many buildings scattered about the property, all furnished with simple Shaker furniture (and modern conveniences.)

However, when we arrived--there was no internet access in the building where we were lodged,  the bars on my phone vanished and reappeared with no rhyme or reason, and the TV satellite connection was down.

I almost panicked.

No technology? No phone or email or Big Bang Theory?

And then I looked around:

At this . . .

And this . . .

Such peace and tranquillity.  Who needs technology?

We decided to poke around the Village, and were taken on by a most insistent tour guide.

He accosted us shortly after we left our room, and led us down the path. If we stopped for too long, he sat down and stared at us until we decided to move again.

Of course, I found things of interest in the displays.

Marking stitch and a pincushion and a tiny basket.

Perfect storage for stash (this was close to nine feet tall).

A nineteenth century lady's workbox, which reminded me of the caskets I've been studying.

The perfectly outfitted workbasket.

And, of course, a sampler.

We had dinner at the Trustee's Dining Hall and fell into a heap in our very comfortable bed.  This morning we had to leave for the next leg of our trip.

We very definitely will go back to Pleasant Hill. I kept thinking what a perfect place for a stitching retreat, whether with friends or alone.

(Did I stitch while I was there? Uh . . . no. I was in bed at 8:30, sound asleep, and didn't wake up until the alarm blasted me out of bed at 7. I will admit I didn't sleep much the night before . . .remember Christmas Eve when you were a little kid?  That was me.  I plan to rectify that tonight.)

It takes a village

Tonight was the first meeting of our year for the Carolina Sampler Guild--and a lot of us had completed our Elizabethan Etuis from the class with Betsy Morgan held last spring.

It looks like a little village.

It was fun seeing everyone again and hearing what people had been up to all summer.  And it was interesting seeing how everyone had personalized her casket.

And now I need to throw a few more things into the suitcase, make sure I've packed my magnifier, and hit the hay. I will try to blog over the next few days, depending on internet access and level of exhaustion.

Running around in circles

No stitching for me tonight . . .

Dearly Beloved and I are getting ready to go gallivanting. We're heading out early Thursday for a road trip. I'm heading to Illinois to take two classes with Ellen Chester and the Lake Michigan Sampler Guild. Dearly Beloved has planned an itinerary to take in historic sites and sights along the way both to and from.

So tonight I'm doing some last minute laundering and packing and organizing.

And why am I doing this tonight instead of tomorrow night?

Because our first meeting of the year of the Carolina Sampler Guild occurs tomorrow night. As I was stuck with elected to a second term as president, I have to be ready to preside, so I've been organizing myself for that duty as well.

I had hoped to at least stick a needle into Morning Has Broken tonight, but at the moment I'm trying to decide whether or not to take her with me. I had another project lined up, but I think Morning is winning out.

And the dryer just buzzed.

Bordering on Obsession

I expected to dither for weeks as usual. I didn't expect to fall in love with this sampler as I stitched.

Here are today's borders on Morning Has Broken. I started the sawtooth border after getting some of the floral border in, which made the outer design easier to count.

I generally get very bored with borders. I think that's one of the reasons I like 17th century band samplers--no borders. (A friend reminded me that band samplers are basically a series of border patterns but I put my hands over my ears and sang"lalalalalala" very loudly. I don't want to think of them as borders, so I'm not.) However, this one has so many little sprigs and tendrils and other curlicues that it doesn't feel like I'm working any kind of border. The outer border is long-arm cross and sawtooth. I enjoy stitching both, so I'm having a lot of fun with this.

To avoid getting bored (and boring), I went stash diving for another SL repro to stitch as part of Nicola's Scarlet Letter year challenge. The one important factor in choosing the next SL project is size. If I'm going to become obsessed with Morning Has Broken, I do not need another big project right now.

Here are the candidates:

#1

#2

#3

I'm leaning toward #1--love that pink house--but I can be easily swayed. Any suggestions?

And I just realized this is my 300th post. Good Grief.  I have said this in other places but I'll repeat it here. I hear that all the cool kids are hanging out on Pinterest and Instagram, but I think I'm going to totter on with blogging until I run out of things to say. My family will tell you that is unlikely to happen.