July 2025 - Part 1

July was a busy month.   Somewhere around the end of June/beginning of July, I just found I was overwhelmed with obligations and deadlines.   I decided to give myself some grace.   Land That I Love was not going to be done by July 4th and it didn’t have to be. Eliminate that imposed deadline.   Relief flooded through me.  

My eldest turned 50 on the 6th of July  - I don’t know how that happened.  It has to be the new-math.   I can’t have a 50-year-old-child!  I digress.   I decided to make her a scrapbook as part of her present.  Well plans so awry.   I had given her most of her photos already so what was I to do.    I went to her Instagram account and found a ton.  I downloaded and cropped them and had them printed.  This project had one delay after another and not necessarily of my doing and I realized the day before that I would need 20 hours of work to complete my vision and it was only 18 hours to her party and I would have to sleep, I just said to myself, self it is OK to not be done.    Again, pressure was lifted off my shoulders in a perceivable way.   Grace, I give myself the grace not to be perfect.  To be human, to mess up. My daughter was thrilled with the 40 pages I did have done and the book returned home with me to complete.  

As for stitching, I will be finished Land That I Love by the end of the month.   I loved this piece from the first time I saw it.  Ten pesky strawberries and one eagle wing and I will be done.   It is will mark my official start to (try to) work on a patriotic piece each month between now and next July.  I hope to get three or four small pieces completed.

This is my finished Pumpkin Head Lady from Harvest Friendship.  I am waiting to pass this on and get the next friend’s piece to add my ‘lady’ to it.  I will have to stitch her again two more times - once on my friend Stacy’s piece and then on my own piece.  

I was at Hobby House for 4 days.  Stacy and I held a Retreat for Delaware Valley Historic Sampler Guild.   There were 21 brave stitchers that put their faith in us to carry it out.   There are a 100 nuisances to think about when you are planning a retreat 6 hours away from home. Again, giving myself grace came to my mind.   I have a left hand and a right hand and I will do my best.  We pulled it off and it seems everyone had a great time.  So far nothing by rave reviews and inquiries as to when our next one will be.  Retelling our trip in chronological order, Hobby House will be in July - Part 2.

Of course, Stacy and I always incorporate some site-seeing along the way.   We stopped at Witch’s Stitches in Big Flat, NY.     It was a fun place to stop and I bought a few things.    

It is housed in an old church built in 1872.   The shop if full of all kinds of goodies and the owner it great.

Fabric, quilting, notions, wool, cross stitch, fibers, and more

We also stopped at Leroy, NY to visit the Historical Society.    It is pronounced La-Roy, not Leroy.    French I guess.

Originally the land office for the “Triangle Tract”, it was enlarged in 1822 into a home for Jacob LeRoy who was the Land Agent.  He and his wife lived here with their 9 children until moving to New York City in 1837.  In 1856, Samuel Cox, Chancellor of Ingham University lived in the house with his daughter.

Over the fireplace is Herman LeRoy, Jacob’s father.   In 1793,  Herman and his business partner purchased 86,000 acres from Leroy north to Lake Erie.  It was known as the “Triangle Tract”.  The Land Office operated to record the sale of the parcels of the tract of land purchased.  Daniel Webster, Senator from Massachusetts’s was married to Jacob’s sister, Caroline.   The couple visited LeRoy after being married in 1829.   This room was set up as it would have been in the 1820’s.  How cool to walk where Daniel Webster once walked.  

All the records of land sales were recorded in this book.

Across the hall, was the Front Parlor.   It was decorated as it would have been in the 1870’s.  Furnished in the Eastlake style complete with a gas chandelier.  

The sheet music for the LeRoy Two-Step has nothing to do with LeRoy.

Ingham University was initially founded as the Attica Female Seminary in 1830’s it later became the Le Roy Collegiate Institute, a literary college, college of fine arts and conservatory of music.   In 1857, it was  chartered as Ingham.    It was named after the two founding sisters.   Studies focused on the arts and music, botany, geology and math were also offered.   It was the first chartered women’s university in the United States operating from 1837 to 1892.  After financial difficulties the college closed in 1892 and was sold at auction to Yale University in 1895.   Yale had the site torn down.    It was located across the green from the LeRoy House.

Four sisters and their teacher at Ingram University. The walls were lined with paintings done by the students at Ingham.

The central hallway

This hair wreath was on display.  It hangs in the hallway.  Polly Russell of Linwood, NY made the hair wreath entirely of human hair.   She was born January 3rd, 1835 and died July 24th, 1913.  It was presented to the Historical Society by Mrs. Edward Lyttle, great niece of Polly Russell.

Upstairs we visited the bedrooms.

There was also a textile display.  

There was a large perforated paper display.

A very nice collection of  needlework smalls and tools. 

A bobbin lace display

Lots of quilts

Painting by Ingham student with little child 

Close up of petit point.  This is the lower left corner.

Coverlets

Leaving the home, we exited from a very deep back porch to beautiful gardens.  

I have to break here as we are only to the first half of our travel day.   

To be continued……..July - part two

Thanks for stopping by and traveling with me.   Keep on stitching

Summer Camp at The Country Sampler, Part 3

Geez!    So you have seen the trip out, you have seen our house and the store, now it is time for the Summer Camp itself.    There were a lot of us.   100 plus teachers and staff.

 

Just everyday stitchers but with a celebrity in the midst as well - Saltbox Stitcher.   I didn’t approach her.   I think it must be hard to be just another stitcher and enjoy the event without everybody coming up to you.   That’s just me and I don’t have a problem with those who did and got photos and autographs.    I will tell you this, because it surprised me.   I bet she is only about 5 foot 2.   Really.   She just always gave me the impression she was a taller woman.  

I did buy Bumblebee Etchings from Heart in Hand.  It was kitted up to finish as these large pillows and I was sold.   They are about 10 x 10 and all the linen, pearl cotton, trims and fabrics came with it.  

They were sold out of Floral Etchings or I would have gotten that too!

Across the alley from the store was a lovely little park to sit in.  There was a stage where they had music at night and food could be ordered from the adjacent restaurant.   One evening we ate al fresco there.  

We had three wonderful teachers.  So generous with their projects and sharing their knowledge.   First up was Vickie Jennett of NeedleWorkPress.    This was the sampler she presented as our class piece.   

They set up such lovely vignettes with their goodies. 

Next we enjoyed Kathleen Littleton of Cross Stitch Antiques.  She gave us quite an interesting talk about herself, her family (14 children!!!) and her needlework.

Her’s was the tale of two sisters.   Here are the originals.  

 And as she reproduced them.   We got each in the class with all the floss and linen needed to complete both.  She offered alternatives to each pattern with what we wanted to include as the verse on each.  You can see the longer verse peaking through between the two pieces.

Lastly, Stacy Nash of Stacy Nash Designs.  This is her inspiration piece.  

The outside of the stitching roll.

The inside showing where she used a piece of antique quilt to line the stitching roll.  Also  a pin cushion designed and finished as a mattress finish.

Retreat over and home again.   If you wonder how we see and do so much in our travels.   Well, we are on the road before the sun is up, that’s how!

On to the ride home.  We took a small detour into Michigan City, Michigan.   Stacy has the goal to visit all 50 states and she had not been to Michigan.   She got 4 on this trip and I think that puts her at 39 states.

  We went to their beachfront park and strolled around.   We had a great taco from their concession stand.   We walked out to the lighthouse.

On the right of the photo, that almost scaffold like structure is the ‘cat walk’.   It is how the lighthouse tenders got to the lighthouse before the concrete pier was constructed.

We talked to the local couple in the foreground.   They told us on a clear day you can see the skyline of Chicago.   It may look like it is clear but there was a lot of lower level haze, possible smoke from the fires in Canada.  And what looks like buildings on a distant shore is actually petty of the jetty’s the surround the cove and marina.   It offers from the harsh winters.

Look at this white stuff.    It was everywhere.   Flying in the air.   Accummluating in the corners and gutters at the toll booths.  Seriously, in places it looked like you could shovel it.

It looked like someone had blown the heads off 10,000 dandelions.    They said it was from the  Cotton Trees.    Cottonwoods?  IDK

Back in the car and heading towards home.   We found a consignment store in Gary, Indiana and had a walk about.   All I purchased was a yardstick to add to my collection.   It has to either have something about stitching on it or something from something local to where I live.    We picked out our holiday dresses.  LOL

Both days, Stacy did 90% of the driving.   I was sick as a dog but not really.   My granddaughter contaminated me at the Memorial Day picnic.   I got an annoying head cold.   Two weeks later on the ride home I was still hacking and coughing; all that sinus stuff.   She drove and I slept.  We also were out of luck stopping at places on the drive because it was  Sunday and most were closed.   She pushed the driving until 8:30 that night.   It made our last day only 6 hours of driving.      

Next day we stopped in Bedford PA.   What a cute little town.   Again we tried several antique and consignment stores and found only one open on a Monday.   Again some pursuing around, it is always good to get out of the car for a bit.  Guess what I bought - another yard stick.   Such a big spender I was at the town consignment store.  

All in all a great trip.   Not sure where our next big adventure will be.  We have a lot of little ones on the calendar.   The first of which is a Guild Retreat she and I are running for our Guild to visit Hobby House in Pittsford, NY.    Again, with the mantra all the way up will be - stitch from stash.   Going to be hard because in addition to cross stitch, Hobby House has a great wool section and a quilting section.   

Thanks for traveling with me.   I do enjoy your comments so much, I don’t always respond but I love them just the same.   Keep on stitching.