Crazy Quilt 1896

Hi Dear Folk,

I hope your weekend is great.  We are in the midst of another heat wave up to 98 F most days.  A little hard to take in a no AC house, but I've made myself a lovely little seating area under the wisteria on the Pond Patio, along with a cool drink and a book it can be quite nice.

An additional display at the Mercer Museum, I so loved looking at this crazy quilt up close.  1896 Victorian Crazy Quilt, made from Wool, Cotton and Velvet, the stitching is especially interesting such detailed embellishments, this is what I truly enjoyed looking at.

Christy

Nantucket Basket and Other Finds of a Middle Aged Woman

Hi Dear Folk,

Our local thrift had a grand reopening in a different building just around the corner from their old location.  Mr. B. and the Boy got over earlier than I did, for which Mr. B. was rewarded with a $10.00 gift card.  But it's hard to pull your old bones out of bed after working a forty two and a half hour week, must put the half hour in.  So here I am standing in a forty-five minute line to check out, in which I would not have stood if it had not been for the fact that I am darn right stubborn and would not give up my Nantucket basket, the books I might have put down, but not the basket.

So here I am standing in line in front of an older couple, I guess their age at 77 to 80 or a tad older.  He's tall, well over 6' 3" wearing a baseball cap which had veteran of Korean War on it, so you can kind of figure his age.  In any case he's talking to a friend and says - yes I just moved into a condominium and the friend says "how do you like that" and he says "I don't I'm bored, I don't have my garage to work in and all my tools, but we couldn't keep the house up, the garden was too big and we couldn't mow the lawn anymore."

His wife asked me where I found my knitting and crochet book and I said they were all mixed in with the gardening books, so a lot of sorting still needs to be done.  I asked her what crafts do you like to do, she says knit and that she used to sew and reupholster furniture and that she had recovered several chairs and sofas for herself and the family, her hubby doing the wood work, but that was all in the past now.

So here I am thinking how much older than me are they, a max of twenty years older and how twenty years goes by in a flash.  For many years I have have thought my self middle aged, but how many years can you be middle aged.  Is it from forty to sixty or forty-five to sixty-five, I'm going with the latter because that would still make me in the middle age group, but if not then I'm in the elderly group see here;  then I would like to know how the elderly group is broken down is that young elderly and old elderly?

I was reading an article in the Guardian written by a young middle aged person see here and I'm definitely not in that group.  Although having your first child at forty kind of puts the whole time plan out of kilter with your peers, they are not sixty-two with a son just having graduated from college.

All this has been running through my mind as of late because I feel this is a transitional year of changes.  The Boy has finished Uni and is now home, with all the sagas that brings, of starting up on the next period of life, looking for a job or jobs, getting freelance work, landing a full time position in his field and then having too much work and too many irons in the fire and sorting out the balance.

I think it takes years to find balance and then something always comes along and upsets the scales, it can be both good and bad, so it is a constant tacking to the wind.  I'm at the point where I have to find the balance between life and work and how much can you par down to.

Bringing joy.

My Nantucket basket, this is why I stood in line.  I would like to think it's genuine, but I do not think so, but still lovely to have a replica, and I have used it.

Here is a piece about the Nantucket Baskets a video with Martha Stewart.  The history and craft is fascinating.

The Fair Isle design caught my eye, rather more knitting in here than crochet and as you know I like crochet.

Lang note books, pads, cards and calendars were always a favourite of mine.  In fact there was a store Mario's near where I used to grocery shop when Rob was a little boy; and after shopping at Genuardi's, Rob always called it Ge-nar-to-di, we would pop in and have a wander around, this old kind of pharmacy store with everything, long out of business now.  And I would buy a box of cards, so when I saw this little pad it was a nostalgia buy, as I think all their stationery is now made in China and the quality is not the same.

May use this for 2017, or Maybe something else will cross my path for my 2017 Diary/Journal.

Enjoying this book with lots of stitches.

Christy

Spanish Shawl and a Garden Wander

Hi Dear Folk,

My Spanish shawl bought in the town Picasso was born in Malaga.  When Rob was about fifteen we took a re positioning cruise out of NYC finishing in Barcelona.  It was a great deal stopping at Ponta Delgada Azores, Cadiz Spain, Malaga Spain, Ajaccio Corsica, Rome, Florence, Cinque Terre, Villefranche from where we caught the train to Monaco, and last stop Barcelona, where we spent a few extra days before flying home.  Such lovely memories.

My Popcorn tree from Africa.

Miss Grief who came to grief in the rain, now dried out and at least I get to finish off reading the stories.

Pond patio.

Pond patio with my little niche under the wisteria.  Do you like my footstool from my friend's aunt's house clearance, along with the little tile tables circa 1940's

Loving these hibiscus flowers, in my giant china pots and they and this bush did make it through the winter covered up.

Christy

Shepherds Hooks and Smocks

Hello Dear Folk,

This area in the museum was dedicated to animals, and especially sheep farming.  I was interested to see the shepherds hooks and the crates to carry the animals to market in.

As my great, great grandfather was a shepherd in Dorset, I was interested in seeing the shepherds hooks of old. My mum said that the relatives in Somerset had photos of him in his shepherds smock, I wish we had that photo.  It does seem though that smocks were worn by other folk, below we see bricklayers from Bedfordshire.

I do want to have a go at smocking I have a Folkwear pattern I would like to try.

Christy

Printing

Hi Dear Folk,

Smith Flatbed Press Made by the R. Hoe Co of New York, circa 1830.  These presses were in general use and superseded by the cylinder press in the 1860's.  As late as 1910 they were used to print broadsides.  Three hundred sheets per hour was exceptional production.

In 1916 this press was given to the Museum by Frederick Constantine, editor of The Bucks Count Mirror and The Express and Reform (German) both of which had been printed on it when he was a "printer's devil."  It is said that at one time it also printed The Doylestown Democrat.

I did enjoy seeing these blocks and imagining long benches with pieces of fabric for black printing, or wallpaper, as is shown here.

Printing has so changed in my thirty-five years of work in the industry.  You might enjoy reading these articles Printing Yesterday and Today , The World Beyond , Gutenberg's Legacy , Books Before Gutenberg  , Early Writing

Christy

Iron Stoves

Hi Dear Folk,

More thunder and rain, maybe, just maybe it will break the heat and humidity.

One stove I really liked and didn't seem to take a photo of was quite small and looked like a Gothic Cathedral.

Stoves really changed the lives of women in America, to go from a smokey open fireplace to an enclosed fire with an oven and cooking surface, plus heat was almost revolutionary.  I can just see a pioneer woman pouring over the Sears catalog choosing her stove.

Many people world wide still cook using wood, charcoal and dung, over an open fire.

Christy

Kitchen and Pottery

Hi Dear Folk,

Well a little peak into more window rooms at the Mercer Museum.  I do love my pottery and china as all my family and friends will attest to.

Now I do think these pans on three legs are great, don't you think they would be the best thing for camping?  But rather tricky to pack.  Would work so well over a camp fire.

I'm looking for a nice mortar and pestle, how about one to stand on the ground?

The garden has been well and truly watered with two giant thunder storms and one most of the night saturation of rain;  which is on the whole good.  However my colocynthis do not like it, they became water logged and are now shedding leaves like crazy, so disappointing, I never got out there in time to give them a hand.

Heat and humidity are meant to drop today, let's hope so.  Allergies have kicked in even earlier than usual which is mid August, so what's up with that?  Allergies are like a full frontal attack on the body and you feel attacked.  Landed up with a sinus and nose infection and am now on antibiotics and nasal cream, but feeling a tad better for taking them, four more days to go.

Felt so exhausted yesterday, so left work early got to the doctors just on time as is a busy time of day. Drove over to the drug store to pick up prescriptions and found out they had not run them through my insurance, so out to the car, get my medical insurance card, back in, more time spent running that through.  Did make good use of the time by finding a new summer nightdress on sale which I needed.  By the time I got home I was ready to collapse, ate dinner and went to bed.

Christy

Tortoise Shell

Hi Dear Folk,

This was rather an amazing collection of tortoise shell; which of course is illegal now, but I was standing next to a lady who said she bought a lovely mirror, brush and comb set in Mexico, so it must be allowed down there, although wouldn't it be illegal to bring it into the county? I don't know.

I do have an old set from my grandma, just mirror and brush.  I know you can buy hair combs on the internet but they are usually made out of water buffalo horns.

Look at all those hair pins and inlay work.

These mantilla combs are lovely.

Christy

Hat Maker

Hi Dear Folk,

The Mercer Museum was built with all these little window lit rooms, I especially liked the light throughout the museum and in my photos.

I thought I'd start off  with the Hat Maker.  I did like the hat blocks used for felted hats and would love to get my hands on a couple, I know you can buy them but they are quite expensive, there probably are other ways to get around not having a hat block.

Not sure how all these tools were used in hat making.

Christy

PS.  My book Miss Grief came to grief when I left her out on Sunday night.  It thundered and torrential rain came down. I woke up with a start and realized that I had left her outside and it had been raining for a while now, I ventured out in the rain to rescue her, but oh too late. She did receive TLC but is suffering from acute PTSD, as Miss Grief is a library book and not even from my library, I will have to replace her, or pay for her.

Mercer Museum, Doylestown

Hi Dear Folk.

We have been in a heat wave last Saturday got up to 103F.  The previous Saturday we decided to visit the Mercer Museum, they were having an open house, which always helps the pocket book.  It was very hot and inside was even hotter as made entirely of concrete and no AC.  Except in the new museum extension a rather controversial piece of architecture.

Henry Chapman Mercer built this to house his collection of pre-industrial USA tools anything of interest that a working man or woman used in their everyday life or trade.

We climbed all the stair cases up, if we had realized we could have taken the lift to the top and come down all the staircases.

This is the structure of the building inside, made of all poured in place concrete.

These photos remind me of  M. C. Escher's works.

Looking across to the Michener Art Gallery.

Here you can see some of the Moravian Tiles incorporated into the architecture, from his Moravian Tile Works in another part of town.  Personally I would love a few of his picture tiles set into an old farm house kitchen floor, just a dream of mine.

Christy