Thursday, April 7, 2011

Part 2 Colonial Williamsburg


The next section of art on our tour was ceramics, tiles, especially this wall of Delft which made both our hearts sing. We love Deflt of any kind (especially me) and so here are a few pics to follow:




Look at these old flower frogs/scissor frogs. Wonder if they used them for that in the day too?















this is so beautiful and breath-taking!



















Love this phrase!





a cup of tea?















a beautiful pin cushion for embroidery work.



These are still snapshots in the Dewitt-Wallace Art Museum. If you've been there before, you know the beauty of the preservation of history and art. Just cannot really be expressed fully but I definitely would take a visit there. You could spend at least 4-5 days with so much to see and do. We only had the day but it was filled with good treats.
More pics in part 3. I was so thankful for permission from the museum to share pics!!!

We did enjoy a nice lunch with some Earl Grey hot tea and lemon in between our adventures.

till later,
Jennifer

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

The Gold Nugget of our trip: Williamsburg, VA~~ Part 1

Bodyguard and I had a short visit through Williamsburg, VA and thoroughly enjoyed our tours and visit through the DeWitt-Wallace Decorative Art Museum. We also ventured through some shops there as well.  Our eyes did feast on alot of eye candy.

 I wrote for permission to share these pics with you, and Mrs. Mary Cottrill, the Manager of Hennage Auditorium/The Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg kindly gave written consent to share.

I bought a book in the museum store which is on Colonial Homes in Williamsburg and is very thorough with more pictures of the beautiful scenary and houses, colors, flowers, rooms, etc than I could ever capture in limited 8 hour trip. I'm glad that my hubbie planned and focused our trip on the Dewitt-Wallace art museum as I love anything art-related and he was right on target preparing for our visit. I had never been there before.

This is a long post of eye candy. I took about 160 pictures and will share some of them in a couple of parts. Click on the pics and you can read more and see more of the displays.

Part one~~~~
the basement floor--The Public Hospital







the mental patient's "living quarters room" --there were voices sounding like a patient conversing with a doctor and others, begging and pleading to be released. Quite distressing but very interesting as I do have a career in the medical field and to see how far technology and care has advanced is very relieving. The photos above were the doc's quarters.






a great timeline/snapshot here of what the hospital looked like in 1875.

Now turned into a wonderful museum of art.



an old "pill roller"



  This is part of the electrical machine they used for mental patients.
Thank goodness we have better therapies now.


and thank goodness our stethoscopes are a bit more advanced ;)
isn't that wild?





I think this would make a great sampler verse.





Up the stairs to displays, Body Guard did a happy dance when he saw these.



early guns--he had me take alot of pics but will share a few.



















The conservation of all the pieces is awesome! There is a whole area which discussed conservatory issues and had some items and how they disintegrated by certain elements. Very interesting.



This area of the museum is relatively new on the dressing and grooming of men and women of older periods.
We watched a video of a man dressing with all his essential gear and a woman with hers.







 beautiful purses















and of course, some gentlemen things, breechies







of course I loved the purses the most!





and the shoes, stockings and such.







and these are HUGE!  Nevermind umbrellas! ;)

and join me again tomorrow for part 2 of more pics and ventures.

Monday, April 4, 2011

Working on Pink Hill Manor in between minutes of traveling

Well, we have now scooted over to another spot on the Earth yesterday but before I left the city, I spent another hour in In Stitches needlework shop again as it WAS on the way and I NEEDED some threads for the patterns Tanya got me. I love the colors and it was like a kid in a crayon box looking at all the colors on the wall. While there, I went ahead and pulled some colors for some of my own patterns I designed and it was just a load of fun. It was quite crowded in there.

When I get back home Pink Hill Manor will be rested aside for me to do the Royal Wedding Sampler by The Sampler Girl. Got the threads for it yesterday! I think it will be such a pretty piece to have stitched and on the ready for the wedding which will air, I believe, in the US at 6am that morning.

My spread on the bed this morning before we jump in the car again.






picked up this yesterday too.





Pink Hill Manor by Blackbird Design

stitching on Irish Cream 32 ct R & R linen

stitching in hand so far

overdyed threads, many colors, muted pinks, browns, greens.

stitching this one individually for the "pink" area in our house!

I'm in love with Jakey Brown by CC.


Late yesterday we had a late lunch so by the time we got here, we saw a Cracker Barrel and ate for the 3rd time (ok by me!) last night. I got the Apple Pie with Vanilla Ice Cream. It was DELISH!  (Tanya, I dunked a chicken finger in honey mustard sauce for  ya LOL)

I then came to the hotel and unrolled my yoga mat and after 30 minutes of yoga my bones felt better from the ride.

I didn't work on stitching at all last night but fell in the nearest hotel bed from exhaustion. I woke up at 9am with breakfast on the ready here!  Nice! Woke up to the news to catch up and saw where a panel blew off another plane........thanking God we drove this trip. Too many plane issues for me to travel that way anymore.

BodyGuard and I miss Abbie so much......unreal so much. We called again and she is sorting out her dog food in colors and tempermental. She will probably pout a little by the time we get back.......but with the right dog treats and love she will be fine (hopefully). We've never left her this long. BUT, I found out there is a doggie store here somewhere so she WILL get a Tshirt!!

Well, severe storm warnings here late tonight and tomorrow with tornadoes, hail. Will be hunkering down here tomorrow with my stitching. I was thinking about all the folks all across the US being affected today and tomorrow. STAY SAFE!

Stitching through the Storm will be tomorrow's posting.

Until then,

Jennifer