Ups and Downs, Part 1

For October, imagine this, I had another stitching retreat.  Up and down the east coast I went.  All I can say is that retirement is great!

So, let me share a downer with you with an ongoing issue we are having that is really getting on my last nerve.   We had an addition added to our house about 22 years ago.  This 16 x 20 room is where I spend almost all my indoor time.   A sunroom with windows all around.  It is where I stitch, where I watch TV,  where my desk is, where I watch the seasons change, etc.    We have had isolated tripping of the circuit breaker over the last 15 years, maybe once a year.   Since August it has progressed to a continual tripping and escalated to now it cannot even be reset.   I am on a first name basis with the electrician and all his staff.   They have tested every outlet, tested every switch, tested every thing plugged in, tested the outside GFI’s, been under the house, tested the draw on the breaker, replaced the 20 amp breaker with a new 20 amp, replaced the new 20 amp with 2 new 10 amp breakers and are scratching their heads.   Mr. Gloom and Doom, aka Mr. W, is freaking out that the whole house will need to be rewired (?).  Chill Geoffrey!  So for the last 4 weeks  I have dealt with heavy duty extension cords running from the living room and dining room into my sunroom.  Slowing the diagnosis has been all the rain and water in the crawl space.  Why not just avoid this room….well this is where the TV is, the internet comes in and where I stitch…..so a work around with extension cords.    I know that this is not the end of the world and almost everyone else has far worse issues but furniture pulled out and extension cords are starting to really get on my last nerve.  Ok, venting done.

On the upbeat, I was at Hobby House the first week of October.   You know, last fall when that retreat was posted and it was the only thing on my 2023 stitching calendar and then somehow, 2023 was filled with fun things to do.   I have a foreboding for 2024……the stitching calendar already had at least a half dozen events on it!  Yikes!   All I can say to defend myself is the words of my elderly friend Roxanna….she says, “do it while you can because there will come a time when you can’t”.  Besides, haters gonna hate regardless.

On the way to the Woodcliff in Fairport, we stopped at Corning Glass Museum in Corning NY.

  We made our own glass pumpkins.    It is filled entirely with my hot air!  

So glad I took pictures of the entrance area.  When we stopped back on Sunday to pick up our pumpkins, this was all gone!   Guess they are getting ready for Christmas decorating.  

I kind of thought the buildings were drab……. 

Set in the ‘bowl’ of a valley, beautiful views

Once I realized the studio had glass block wall construction, I looked around and saw what I originally thought another dull building, I now recognized as a modern spin of a barn

Wednesday morning found us heading south from our hotel in Fairport to Canadaigua, NY.   When visiting Hobby House in July we toured the Sonnenburg Mansion and Gardens.  Spotting information in the Billiard Room about the samplers that used to hang there, we found they were now housed in the Ontario County Historical Society.   We contacted the curator and arranged to make a visit on our next trip to the area.  If want to do the same, you need to reach out two weeks prior to your visit to find out if a tour is possible.  

This private tour did not disappoint.   Wilma T., of the museum, was so accommodating and so very knowledgeable.   She had pulled samplers from their archives and we spent a couple of hours gasping at the treasures.   Stacy had reached out to Beth Seal of Summer House and Beth hit the road at 5 a.m. in order to be at the museum by 10 a.m. and join Stacy and I.  It was an interesting spin to have Beth with us with her knowledge of samplers and things she could pick out that I, a mere lay person, would not.   

All the samplers in the collection are from local families or have tied to local families.   I love the tree in this sampler.    This is  Cornelia Ann Swan, 1829, age 10.

Full of queen stitches

Beth knew immediately this was a Dutch sampler.  She saw the ship, the windmill and the Dutch people.  The maker was E. Focken who was probably from Germany or The Netherlands.  It is silk on linen, dated 1776-1777.   This was part of the collection of Mary Thompson Clark of Sonnenburg.   She most likely bought it on her many trips to Europe.  

This is another Dutch sampler, maker unknown.   The stag is a common Dutch motif.  Also on loan from Sonnenburg.

This was ever-so delicate.   

The initials are for family members

This is Eleanor Barnard, dated 1790.  It is silk on linen.  On loan from Sonnenburg. 

This is Catherine Andres, dated 1797.  Typical Dutch spot motif.  

Crown on mid left each indicate a different level of royalty.

Minerva Pecks, 1829, age 10

Katherine Sornborger, 1780

The original in the left and reproduction on the right.

Matilda Gould, 1823, linen and wool

Maria Millington, unfinished and undated.

Jane Rollings, 1821

This one caused gasps around the table.  Things to note - top center, the blue bird with the banner, “The World”.    Created to Helen Wilder Bates, no date.    Embroidery on white silk.

It was so vibrant.

Australia is identified as “New Holland”.  

This is Elizabeth Stansbury, dates 1829

I really thought is was interesting how she top stitched the mortar for the bricks in the house.  

This is Eliza Jane Wilson, dated 1835.   The original top, reproduction bottom

Maker unknown, late 18th/early 19th century.

Agnes Bruce, thought to be wool on hemp.  Mid 19th century.

And there were many more we got to see.  Then we got to go into the archives!  

Look at the coverlets!  The National Coverlet Museum in Bedford PA is already on my list to visit. 

The samplers not currently in circulation!

Quilts!

All this and the Retreat hasn’t even started!    More to come.  In the meantime keep on stitching!