July - Part 2 - Jell-o and Hobby House

 Before leaving the LeRoy House, we visited the basement.   

Scissors!  What stitcher is not fascinated with scissors?

Lighting from the era.

Pottery

Cold storage.   The day we were there it was in the 90’s and this basement felt so cool and comfortable.

Basement kitchen

There was quite a collection of Morganville Pottery.   Circa 1829-1900.  Among the longest produced pottery of the area of Genesee County, NY, it was documented in the 1850 census with Fortunatus Gleason and his son listed as potters.  During the 1870’s, the pottery was operated by Charles Ford, nephew of Gleason and by James Johnson. Cousin to Gleason.   The Morganville Pottery site was excavated in 1973 by the Rochester Museum and Science Center in cooperation with the Royal Ontario Museum.   The site features the foundations of the pottery building and two floor kilns.  Also a large amount of pottery fragments were found.

Crossing the back yard lead us to the LeRoy Academic Institute that was erected behind the house.   Built in 1865, the house became a  boarding house for teachers and students of the Institute.   

The original school bell.

The school house now houses the Jell-o Museum.   Leave it to us to find the quirkiest places.   Only bad thing was we were in the mood for Jello by the time we left and they didn’t sell any!  

In 1897,  Pearls Bixby Wait trademarked the name  Jell-o.   Created by he and his wife, May, they had four flavors - strawberry, raspberry, orange and lemon.  In 1899, Wait sold Jell-o to Orator Woodward of the Genesee Pure Food Company.  Woodward marketing Jell-o by sending out salesman to promote Jell-o.   At one house they would give samples of Jell-o and at the next, they would give Jell-o cookbooks.  

Tee-shirts in all the colors of Jell-o 

Yes, there is always room for Jell-o

Paintings of the iconic dessert

Can you guess which state consumes the most Jell-o per capita?    Keep guessing.   I won’t reveal until the end.   LOL

Jell-o cubes at the museum entrance.

Delivery wagon from the early 1900’s

Everything from Baseball cards to Barbie’s!

Hockey players

Three little kittens ate jello!

Mid-century factory workers.

The best hostesses brought out the Jell-o dessert.   Jell-o salads were a standard item brought to dinner parties during the 50’s and 60’s.

We made it to Hobby House by late afternoon.    We had a Meet and Greet in the Lounge at 8 pm with all the stitchers.  

Beautiful samplers displayed everywhere.

Great collection of Winterbury cases in sumptuous colors.

Fibers from all the different providers.

Wools in every color.

A beautiful building inside and out.

 And then the little tricksters that were attending….somehow found out it was my birthday and Todd brought out a cake for me.   It was Lynda’s birthday the next day so I had her blow out candles with me.   They got me for sure.  

Not a lot of purchasing was done.   A wool pattern, two pieces of wool, scissors set (to put in my yet to be completed jewelry box/sewing box) and a patriotic chart.

We had a couple of Mike-it/Take-its.   Here the stitchers were making beading scissor fobs.  

Amy and Becky brought the Delaware panel for the America’s Tapestry.  They are coordinating the drive to have the panel stitched in time for the 250th birthday celebration.

Each of the 13 original colonies has a tapestry that will depict a lesser known contributor for the Revolutionary War.   This is Major Henry Fisher.    He was a pilot boat Captain from Lewis, Delaware.  He devised an early warning system to alert Philadelphia when British ware ships entered the Delaware Bay.

Games were played, stitching was done and fun was had.   Now after a few days rests, I am up for saying we will do this again.  It was a lot of prep work but the enjoyment was worth it.  

Utah.   Utah residents eat more Jell-o than residents of any other state.  Who knew?

Between everything do on, I was able to start Cabin in the Woods.   This is from Flossibility.   It is the suggested piece for Stitching in the Smokies in Gatlinburg in November.  

July was supposed to be a month of finishing.   That didn’t happen and hopefully, it fit into my August plans.  We all know that no magic little fairies are coming in the night to finish is for us so it is going no where.  Again - giving myself the grace to know it is ok to change plans.  And I made no progress on my Civil War quilt at all.

Thanks for stopping by and traveling along with me.   Keep on stitching!   And now I rest until the next trip.