Buttons and Samplers in Connecticut

                                                    back to my great adventure back east.

 We traveled to Waterbury,CT. to see the Mattatuck Museum, i think we are on our third day now.
can you imagine over 10,000 miniature works of art. Buttons! i have never seen so many incredible, lovely little treasures.

so tiny and unique





and who knew they had made so many Jenny Lind buttons.
Do you know who Jenny Lind was?
she was a Swedish Opera singer that PT Barnum brought over to America to sing in the 1850's
she was an incredible woman and worth researching.
she was born in 1820

  


cameo's too





                                                         and Blue ones too...................................




 OH MY!

 

Mattatuck is an amazing museum. besides the buttons they have  local furniture and a great exhibit of all the things that were made in Waterbury up until the 1960's which is more than you can imagine.
they have online their School Girl Samplers which is worth looking into. just go to mattatuckmuseum.org and go to Collections.

a sampler from Mattatuck love the trees.

Beth and Julie looking at the Stitched Samplers and the incredible Connecticut furniture in
Mattatuck Museum

and then down the street a beautiful church

and the church outside

the best group of friends you could ever want or imagine
after a long day of walking thru Waterbury and the Mattatuck Museum we took a rest in the park.
maybe Becky was thinking of a nap but needless to say we had a great time.
later we went to Thistle Needlework in Glastonbury,CT. i bought  the first 4 of the Berlin Woolwork Sampler and of course some silk thread.
our next stop is New London, CT at the Lyman Allyn Museum
stay tuned or stay blogged.

                     "CONTENTMENT IS THE BEST FORTUNE"   Sarah Coup 1787

just Thankful

A Great NorthWest Thanksgiving

won't be needing this for a few months.YEA

love the way snow lays on my yarn art.

my poor little hybrid it is not going any where today. but i must admit it does pretty good in the snow most days.

I am thankful for all of you who stop by to read my little blog it means allot to me.
i hope your Thanksgiving is filled with all you love and the things you deserve.
remember this is the time of year to reach out to those in need as little or as much as you can.
eat a piece of pie for me.

gifts,projects and acorns

just a moment a break in my vacation photos. i know some of you are thinking " great we needed a break"
 any way i have some great friends who make me and buy me incredible gifts and i wanted to share some with you.

my dear friend Beth brought this back from her east coast trip this summer and i love it. she remembered that i had been working on the flame stitch on one of my projects and she found this in an antique shop. it is a stunning piece of work.

here it is open, on the inside is a piece of material for your needles. thanks Beth and i can't wait for our next slumber party!

this was a pin cushion exchange that i participated in this month and Annette from the Nederland stitched it. all i have to do is fill it and it is ready to use. she added some lavender to the white bag. i love the simpler dutch blue flowers.
a great exchange. thank you

here it is finished!

OK now i have a question i am done with this piece or am i?
 i could stitch the background with this bluish white thread or just an off white thread. i wonder,  i have so many projects to do should i spend the time to do this. i would love to hear what you have to say? i love this knotted piece it has been so much fun to work on and i will do another. the dilemma do i stop and frame or keep knotting??

here is a little acorn i made. when i was in CT. we picked up a ton of acorn caps and i added the nut with a little needle felting . such fun.

here is a gift i bought myself while back east. i was in love the first moment i saw it a unique necklace. so simple probably easy to make yet i have never seen one like it. i love that people have such different ideas. Creativity is amazing and it constantly amazes me.

I hope you have time to create.

Emma White and Prudence Crandall Samplers

i have so many things i want to share i hope you enjoy them as much as i enjoy sharing them. i decided after the first Historical Society we visited that with all the samplers we would be seeing i would break it down to Motifs.  I knew i would be taking tons of pictures so i thought why not concentrate on the motifs i love, trees, flowers, birds and sheep (this one is for my sister)  and unique stitches i tried to stay true to my focus but i did stray a bit. and of course i do need more experience in photographing indoors and no flash!
this was a great sampler and i love the trees, this was stitched by Emma White born in 1826.

not the best pic but you get the idea of the involved family history she stitched and the size. the flowers were lovely.

 a beautiful vest that we saw at the Middlesex County Historical Society in Middletown, CT. amazing stitches with such rich colors and to think it was worn most likely by a man.

here is a close up view such beautiful little flowers

our next stop was the Prudence Crandall House in Canterbury CT. Prudence opened a school in Canterbury in 1832 for local wealthy families. She was asked by a young black girl Sarah Harris if she could attend the school Prudence said yes and the story begins. The town didn't like this so they withdrew their daughters. Prudence decided to open a school for Young black girls and the state respond by passing the "Black Law" and she was arrested spent a night in jail , had many trials and someone tried to burn down the house. needless to say Prudenc left Canterbruy.
there is a sampler that Prudence had stitched in the house and the house is  filled with period furniture and local history. PBS did a story on Prudence and there is a book out about her if you are interested.

this is her house.

and the beautiful grounds

here is part of her sampler. worked in 1817, very simple and worked with even stitches.

another close up. oh sometimes pictures do not turn out the way you want them to. and no flash always makes it harder.

till next time

Historical Societies and My Vacation

i was going to start this post over an hour ago and then i realized i couldn't figure out all my pictures. so back to my file and labeling all those pictures. i am still not sure they are labeled right, but i really wanted to post something tonight.
 this adventure started with 3 of my best friends and my husband. It was filled, i mean literally overflowing filled with Museums, Historical Societies, Cities, Small Towns, incredibleTransportation and a little shopping!
Where to begin Oct.26 bright an early on the plane from Seattle,WA. to Hartford,CT. a bit of a delay due to weather in Chicago area but we did get off and landed without mishap. We had a hard time finding a place to eat since it was a bit later than planned but we found a great little pizza joint downtown East Hartford,CT. and the two men who ran it were funny and very gracious. with full tummy's off to bed and on with the show.

we woke early had a fast breakfast downstairs off to find coffee (of course we did we are from Washington state)and then first stop Middletown,CT;  Middlesex County Historical Society. We had made reservations and they pulled some of their stitched pieces just for us.

the historical society is held in General Mansfield house.

 a stitched sleeve and a pin cushion plus the beautiful basket it would set in.

                     a close up of the pin cushion.

and then this beautiful flame stitched seat cushion.

this is one of my favorites stitches i love the simple beauty of this stitch and the colors are magical. i have only tried it once on a needle book by Sherri Jones. I love looking at it as well as doing it. once you start the first row it falls into place after that. give it a try if you never have, it is fun.

and then a long piece of cloth with various stitched flowers and leaves.

 the colors were rich and the stitches were perfect. i wonder who stitched it and why? what was it used for?  the questions are endless and i for one am happy that Middlesex Historical Society has it in their collection. this is a place that is worth seeing the society also has a house filled with period furniture, civil war artifacts. the women who welcomed us in were generous with their knowledge and eager to please.

please check back in a few days i have tons of things to share and would love for all of you to see it.

Prudence Crandall house in Canterbury CT. next  and a few more pieces from the Middlesex Historical Society.

i have so many ideas and i can't wait to start stitching. i love when i come back from a great trip and my mind is full of things i want to make, need to make.

thanks for stopping by.