A Note of Friendship

Delaware Trip Finale

2012-01-31T17:55:00.000-08:00

We are now bringing you to the end of our trip. We thank you all for being armchair travelers over several installments of our blog. We hope to bring you on many more journeys in the future.

Picture courtesy of Barbara Rombold-Gillies

So we are now at Saturday the final day of the Winterthur Needlework Conference. Truly if you are ever able to treat yourself to a trip, the events at Winterthur as at many of the museums are wonderful. The only problem we have is we want more time! Even another half day would be great so that there can be more time during the event built in to actually visit with the other attendees. There is so much to share of what you are learning and hearing as well as just catching up with people you haven't see since the last event in many cases! Also we never seem to have enough time to truly see the exhibits at the museum because we are taking advantage of all they are offering. Now I can hear you all saying, why didn't you plan an extra day there during your visit. Yes, we can do that part, but the time with other attendees is more difficult. So if you are listening museums give us more time, also time to shop! They have the most wonderful stores, and it's not just because they had special products we designed for them for this event. They had so many things we wanted to buy! But I ran out of time and was almost late to my tiny turtle class. So they didn't get as much money as I might have been tempted to leave behind. Ok, off my soapbox of the more time to visit message and on to the end of the event and the other wonderful speakers and classes we were treated too.

Saturday morning Karen Hearn, Curator of 16th and 17th century British Art, at the Tate Britain in London spoke on, "Wrought with Flowers and Leaves: Embroidery in Tudor and Early Stuart Portraits."

Many portraits of the period were shown featuring exquisite clothing that featured embroidery and black-work details. Gold paint was used to show gold threads of the embroidery in the portraits. Was it to make embroidery look like embroidery or to look like actual plant-life? The shading of the flora and fauna in the use of brushstrokes that looked so much like long and short embroidery stitches of some of the paintings were so beautiful. Such skill was shown in the details.

Detail of Jane Seymour portrait Hans Holbein

William Kentish Barnes, introduced as Bill Barnes, Golden Threads Brimstone Cottage, Proprietor, East Sussex, UK. Spoke on Goldwork: Its History, Development and Use in the Modern World.

This gentleman was fascinating and we were so disappointed that they ran out of time to actually finish his talk. He just had so much to say. There is such a history to this trade. He also had such a sense of that English humor, it sometimes took a moment to know he was joking with you. Mr. Barnes is the gentleman who Trisha has worked with to create so many of the special threads not only for the jacket project, but many of her historical projects, so that the stitcher today can use threads as close as possible to the ones used historically for the same purpose. They also were selling some of these special threads in the gift shops. I know I brought home a few of these pieces of candy, as I like to call my threads, but I haven't had a chance to try them out yet.

We were told about the drawing process of how these threads are created. Pulling the thread through the various size holes or drawing it through as is where that term comes from; how silver wire was covered with gold leaf to keep the cost down; how the industry has changed through the years and the causes of that and why it is no longer produced in that manner by most. You never know how much history there is on an area such as this until you meet someone who has been through so many changes and worked in it for so many years, sadly seeing it becoming a lost art.

Nicole Belolan, Ph D student, Program in the History of American Civilization, University of Delaware spoke on, "The Blood of Murdered Time: Connoisseurship and Context of Ann Warder's Berlin Work Collection."

Nicole put together her talk from a group of materials in the Winterthur collection. This article was published in the winter 2011 publication from Winterthur so you can access it there if you are interested. There were 95 Berlin patterns in the collection, silk on linen sampler, thread on winders, bible prayer book that was embroidered, receipt book for knitting, crocheting and other needlework, needle-book, chatelaine...it began with a letter asking for a slipper pattern in 1859.

Berlin work slippers in the Old Sacramento Living History Museum

It discusses the use of needlework by a chronically ill women that allowed her to not only fill her time but to enrich her life and reach out to family and friends through her needlework. To read more on this fascinating subject, see this article by Nicole Belolan on the Decorative Arts Trust website.

The last speaker before moving on to our afternoon classes was Dr. Lynn Hulse, FSA, Tutor in Contextual Studies and Former Archivist of the Royal School of Needlework: Editor of Text, the Journal of the Textile Society. She spoke on, "The Late 19th Century Revival of Crewel Work in the Jacobean Style."

The Royal School of Needlework was founded in 1872. Dr. Hulse's talk took us through a bit of the history of the school and the studio work performed there. Some of the pieces shown were that of Lady Carew. She was taught to embroider at the Royal School. 1899 seemed the beginning of her work with the studio, by Dec. 1920 there were 19 panels, 32 chairs and a settee cover were completed.

Image from EVERY WOMAN'S ENCYCLOPAEDIA

After 20 years of stitching in the Jacobean style, they turned toward the Chinese style. Also shown were 23 panels that had been donated to Griton college in 1922. The pieces were designed by the RSN studio being run by Mary Eleanor (Nellie) Whichelo, and were a modern interpretation of the 17th century Tree of Life Design.

A peek into the RSN Handbook of Embroidery 1880 showed split and stem stitches used for outline, long and short stitches, feather stitch and French knots. Techniques changed as the years progressed from block shading to more subtle shading.

A book is due out this year on the Lady Carew Embroideries, which were absolutely exquisite. We will have to keep our eyes open for this! For a look at what the RSN is up to these days, follow this link, or sign up for their newsletter. Or, if you get the chance, arrange for a visit to their workrooms in Hampton Court Palace - with such surroundings, no wonder they can do such beautiful work!

After we once again filled ourselves with delicious food and treats at the luncheon provided to attendees we headed as I mentioned very quickly to the other gift shop before meeting for our last class of the conference.

Julie and I took the "Tiny Turtle Thimble Pouch" class from Wendy White. Tiny is tiny and oh so cute! Wendy showed us many visuals of other little critters that are made in similar methods that she has studied in her research in preparing this piece as she visited collections in various museums. Our poor turtles didn't get very far along as we tried to work with the fine silk thread, that kept shredding in our ever so rough and dry hands. With all the work we do with paper, our hands are not friendly to the fine fibers. But we will just have to bathe ourselves in lotion before we truly get started on this piece. Believe me, it will be awhile before it comes to it's turn in the line up. But oh is it a cutie and Wendy was a delightful teacher. She is so patient and took her time with each student, working at their pace and level of proficiency to help them achieve this project. If you are in a guild and have not had her for a teacher, treat yourself and book a class. She showed us some of her class sample models and there are so many clever pieces.

Sunday would be our last day in the area and we gathered with our friends from Canada and Oregon once again to visit two last locations.

Patty Hrynenko met us at the Gloucester County Historical Society for our personal tour of their collection. Patty gave us a tour of the home and history of the Historical Society before sharing her sampler room with us. Her enthusiasm for the samplers was infectious!

Image courtesy of Barbara Rombold-Gillies

We learned about the Cross and Bible Door that we see on many homes of this period. They were to ward off evil, and the linked article at the historic houses blog illustrates how they got their name. Patty has been instrumental in doing much research into many of the pieces of needlework that are kept in their collection. She has also reproduced several of them into charts that come complete with the history of the girl and her family that Patty has found. One of the girls Patty shared with us was Lucy Hugg, who created her sampler at the age of 10 in 1806. She married Charles Hopkins at the Huggs Tavern and was related to Betsy Ross. We all thought the little paper piece stitched with the words "Scratch My Back" was cute, especially when we learned it was a striker for lighting a match. Get it? The striker on the back to scratch with the match to light it!

Last stop of the trip was at Historic Odessa, we were shown through three of the homes one of which we received a hearth cooking demonstration and were treated to tasting the special recipe as well.

Image courtesy of Barbara Rombold-Gillies

The Corbett family were Quakers, three times they were written out of the church! Once for liquor, one for dancing and another time for having slaves. They needed slaves to work the orchards of peaches that they grew. They were good Quakers in the sense that they had no portraits done.

One Sampler we viewed:

18 Mary P Corbet's Work 23

Short is our longest day of life,

And soon its prospect ends

Yet on that day uncertain date

Eternity depends

Some of the children went to Westtown school.

The other home we toured was the Wilson Warner house. Here we viewed a silk embroidery by Ann Jeffries a Wilson daughter, from the Falwell school in Philadelphia or possibly a school in Delaware, still to be determined.

There were several other samplers and embroidery pieces we viewed at these homes as well.

The recipe for Charlotte at the hearth cooking demonstration was delicious and ours was made with apples. You can stew any kind of fruit and season it in the way you like it best. Ours was seasoned with cinnamon and sugar. We learned that the blue wrapper that the sugar cones came in during the time period of these homes was used as blue dye when they wanted to make blue cloth. Nothing was ever wasted and this is a perfect example of this. The recipe calls for soaking a some slices of bread in butter, put them while hot, in the bottom and around the sides of a dish which has been rubbed with butter. Put your fruit in and lay slices of bread prepared in the same manner on top. Bake a few minutes, turn carefully into another dish and sprinkle with powdered sugar and glaze with a salamander. Not a salamander from the creek, a salamander from the kitchen is a metal spatula heated, that you put on top of the Charlotte to melt the sugar that's been sprinkled into a glaze. Similar to how they finish a Creme Brule these days. Instead of using a burner from the fireplace, which are some coals piled together on the hearth, hence "Hearth Cooking" which is what you would place your Dutch oven on to cook your Charlotte, I will try this recipe in my modern oven, but I think I might just try a salamander!

If you'd like to try it, the original, historic recipe includes baking in the hot coals of a fireplace in a Dutch Oven - and we've found this one from the Food Network where a historic enactor shows how it's done:

1 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoons mace

5 Granny Smith apples, pared, cored and sliced thin

3 fresh lemons, zested

6 tablespoons butter, cold

1 stick butter, melted

1 loaf French bread shredded into crumbs, reserve 1 cup

Butter

In a bowl, add brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and mace. Mix together. Reserve 1 cup of mixture to be used for topping. In a separate bowl, mix together apples and lemon zest. Cover the bottom of Dutch oven pan with bread crumbs and bits of butter. Layer bottom with some sliced apples and brown sugar with a few pats of butter on top. Repeat with another layer until the pan is filled. For the top layer, combine reserved cup of bread crumbs, melted butter and 1 cup reserved mixture. Sprinkle on top and top with more butter. Bake for 30 minutes until the golden brown.

They are not using a salamander on theirs - if you'd like to do that (or put it under the broiler), add a thin layer of brown sugar to the top after baking, then broil it to crisp it up.

We thank again all of the wonderful curators and volunteers who helped to make our journey through these special collections such a wonderful experience. Remember if you are traveling, you just might plan ahead and see if there are needlework collections at any of the areas you will be visiting. But you must plan ahead to make arrangements and appointments as most collections are not on view for the public. Special consideration and scheduling are needed. But it is well worth the effort.

Things That Go Bump in the Night!

2012-01-18T17:02:00.000-08:00

From goulies and ghosties and long-leggedy beasties

And things that go bump in the night

Good Lord, deliver us!

Before we get into today's post, we have what we think is wonderful news! In fact, this is so exciting to us, we have had to sit on our hands to stop typing it into an earlier post. We waited until it was official, but now it is, and we're so very happy! We met our friend, Joanne Lukacher, at a sampler seminar she was responsible for organizing at Vassar College quite a few years ago now. Since then, she has been writing a book on the Norfolk Samplers - a collection of samplers from Norwich, England and environs. These samplers span about 100 years and have a definite stylistic theme. This blog post by Joanne on the Hudson Valley Sampler Guild blog gives you a great introduction to the topic. We knew that Joanne was looking for a publisher, and as we talked with others to try to help her find the right publisher, it became obvious what we wanted to do. In the Company of Friends will be publishing this major work! We are ... excited, nervous, happy, shocked, joyous and amazed! This is such a grand adventure and we can't think of a better person to undertake it with than Joanne. Look for the book in the fall of this year - and now, we'd best get our noses back to the grindstone...

Here in Seattle we are having another forced "Snow Day". For several days we have been dodging snowflakes, and today the "Big One" hit! When it snows here in Seattle life comes to a standstill, we just are not equipped to handle this winter white stuff and today it is really trying the patience of the road crews and our local politicians in charge of keeping life going to some degree. But the news force are having a big day of it! Non-stop news of this car sliding here and this amount of snow there and a photo of this dog in how much snow! ? ! The rest of the country must just shake their heads and wonder at us. But those that are smart are tucked in with their stitching, reading, quilting, family games or watching some old movies, maybe some with "Things That Go Bump In The Night" in them. I know my family has enjoyed all of the above through the last few days. So grab a cup of tea, hot chocolate or whatever your drink of choice is and come along with our newest addition to the Dark Alphabet Julie has designed for you.

No we're not talking about Julie or I getting up in the middle of the night to use the loo! But I am sure we do bump around a bit and maybe if there were small children about they could be frightened by the sounds! Ok, that is not where we are going with this.

Things that go bump in the night, meaning frightening but imagined supernatural events.

The earliest known example of the phrase in print is in the 1918 in the Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies:
"To a people ... who ... believe in genii, ghosts, goblins, and those terrific things that 'go bump in the night', protective charms are eagerly sought for."

That usage suggests that the author expected his readers to be familiar with the phrase. Around the same time the phrase was incorporated into a prayer:

From goulies and ghosties and long-leggedy beasties

And things that go bump in the night

Good Lord, deliver us!

This was recorded in The Cornish and West Country Litany, 1926, but it quite likely to be much earlier.

When the Whole Earth Was Overrun with Ghosts

Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes

Wherein our Savior's birth is celebrated,

The bird of dawning singeth all night long:

And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad;

The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike,

No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,

So hallowed and so gracious is the time.

--Marcellus.

So have I heard and do in part believe it.

--Horatio. [Hamlet, act 1, scene 1]

This excerpt from D. L. Ashliman's Index of Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts explains it very well indeed:

Grose observes, too, that those born on Christmas Day cannot see spirits; which is another incontrovertible fact.

What a happiness this must have been seventy or eighty years ago and upwards, to those chosen few who had the good luck to be born on the eve of this festival of all festivals; when the whole earth was so overrun with ghosts, boggles, bloody-bones, spirits, demons, ignis fatui, brownies, bugbears, black dogs, specters, shellycoats, scarecrows, witches, wizards, barguests, Robin-Goodfellows, hags, night-bats, scrags, breaknecks, fantasms, hobgoblins, hobhoulards, boggy-boes, dobbies, hob-thrusts, fetches, kelpies, warlocks, mock-beggars, mum-pokers, Jemmy-burties, urchins, satyrs, pans, fauns, sirens, tritons, centaurs, calcars, nymphs, imps, incubuses, spoorns, men-in-the-oak, hell-wains, fire-drakes, kit-a-can-sticks, Tom-tumblers, melch-dicks, larrs, kitty-witches, hobby-lanthorns, Dick-a-Tuesdays, Elf-fires, Gyl-burnt-tales, knockers, elves, rawheads, Meg-with-the-wads, old-shocks, ouphs, pad-foots, pixies, pictrees, giants, dwarfs, Tom-pokers, tutgots, snapdragons, sprets, spunks, conjurers, thurses, spurns, tantarrabobs, swaithes, tints, tod-lowries, Jack-in-the-Wads, mormos, changelings, redcaps, yeth-hounds, colt-pixies, Tom-thumbs, black-bugs, boggarts, scar-bugs, shag-foals, hodge-pochers, hob-thrushes, bugs, bull-beggars, bygorns, bolls, caddies, bomen, brags, wraiths, waffs, flay-boggarts, fiends, gallytrots, imps, gytrashes, patches, hob-and-lanthorns, gringes, boguests, bonelesses, Peg-powlers, pucks, fays, kidnappers, gallybeggars, hudskins, nickers, madcaps, trolls, robinets, friars' lanthorns, silkies, cauld-lads, death-hearses, goblins, hob-headlesses, bugaboos, kows, or cowes, nickies, nacks [necks], waiths, miffies, buckies, ghouls, sylphs, guests, swarths, freiths, freits, gy-carlins [Gyre-carling], pigmies, chittifaces, nixies, Jinny-burnt-tails, dudmen, hell-hounds, dopple-gangers, boggleboes, bogies, redmen, portunes, grants, hobbits, hobgoblins, brown-men, cowies, dunnies, wirrikows, alholdes, mannikins, follets, korreds, lubberkins, cluricauns, kobolds, leprechauns, kors, mares, korreds, puckles korigans, sylvans, succubuses, blackmen, shadows, banshees, lian-hanshees, clabbernappers, Gabriel-hounds, mawkins, doubles, corpse lights or candles, scrats, mahounds, trows, gnomes, sprites, fates, fiends, sibyls, nicknevins, whitewomen, fairies, thrummy-caps, cutties, and nisses, and apparitions of every shape, make, form, fashion, kind and description, that there was not a village in England that had not its own peculiar ghost.

Nay, every lone tenement, castle, or mansion-house, which could boast of any antiquity had its bogle, its specter, or its knocker. The churches, churchyards, and crossroads were all haunted. Every green lane had its boulder-stone on which an apparition kept watch at night. Every common had its circle of fairies belonging to it. And there was scarcely a shepherd to be met with who had not seen a spirit!

More about the Night Before Christmas and Things That Go Bump in The Night http://www.huffingtonpost.com/varla-ventura/christmas-folklore_b_1159250.html

Newspaper articles regarding Things That Go Bump in The Night

http://library.sc.edu/blogs/newspaper/2011/10/28/things-that-go-bump-in-the-night-ghost-tales-found-in-historical-s-c-newspapers/

What frightens you? What do you believe about the supernatural, unexplained events in our lives? Since the beginning of time, people have tried to explain why this or that has occurred and yet we still wonder if it is or if it isn't! It has given us much entertainment not only at Hallowe'en but on those dark winter nights as we (not I, but my family) surf the television to find something to make their heart race a bit faster. Some entertain with a touch of comedy, others with such horror that nightmares occur. Below we have a few selected versions of entertainment that have used our theme of Things That Go Bump In The Night.

Gilbert O'sullivan even wrote a song that include "Things That Go Bump In The Night" in it's lyrics. Below is the first part of this song and you can see it performed by several artists.

Some people tell you you're better off dead Especially when you're in the very best of health Me I don't understand why Just like the din of those things that go bump in the night What does it matter Who really cares If you die tomorrow All you get are prayers If there's a God and there might Maybe he's in with those things that go bump in the night...

Video of Gilbert O'Sullivan song, Things That Go Bump in the Night

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uLVqP_eS3E

There is a different song, too, with Scooby Doo and Things that Go Bump in the Night

Many pieces of art have been created with the theme of, Things That Go Bump in The Night. Don't view these at Deviant Art if you have nightmares easily!

And finally, there is a Murder Mystery to watch.

Turkish Stitch

Turkish Stitch also known at The Three Sided Stitch, Bermuda Faggoting, Lace, and Point Turc.

It is considered a surface stitch as well as a pulled stitch and was originally used to insert a tape of needle-made lace to fabric. This stitch is worked as a backstitch and is reversible as each leg is worked twice serving as reinforcement as well. This stitch can create a nice dividing band for your samplers as well.

A good example is found in The Red Book of Sampler Stitches by Eileen Bennett

Online, you can see this stitch at Arts and Designs and at Needlework Tips and Techniques , both great internet resources for needlework stitches.

You will see that the Turkish or three-sided stitch was used to mark the teeth on the "long-leggedy beastie". It is easier to stitch the mouth first, then fill in around it with cross stitch for the beastie's body.

As always, click on the chart to go to the freebies page of our website to download the chart, or click on "Freebies" in the side bar. Have fun, bwahahahaha.

With Cunning Needle

2012-01-07T14:54:00.000-08:00

We are finally there, we have reached Winterthur and the event "With Cunning Needle: Four centuries of Embroidery". We are so excited as we have watched the progress of the jacket project on the blog The Embroiderer's Story. As you will see if you visit the link, this wonderful exhibit is over tomorrow - so do hurry to see it if you can.

We gathered early in the morning to hear several people talk about "the jacket" and excitedly wondered when we would get to see it.

Winterthur speakers - photo courtesy of Barbara Rombold-Gillies

Our first speaker is Dr. Tricia Wilson Nguyen and her talk is entitled "The Plimoth Jacket: Listening to the Makers"

If you have ever been to one of Tricia's talks you know it is hard to keep up with your note taking. Not only does she fly, because she has so much to get into the short time allotted which is never enough, but you get so entranced in the tale that you forget to write! So this is kind of what my notes look like for this talk.

- Final 27 motifs

- Plan for professional workshop

- Patterns from professional workshop are there clues that show certain pieces have come from the same professional workshops

So, hmmmm - would you understand much of anything I took notes on at this talk? I do a bit, but you had to really be there to see the visuals and understand it all. So we'll try to summarize a bit on what Tricia had to say.

She talked about the process of choosing the motifs for the embroidery, and how it was executed. One of their challenges was to have many, many embroiderers doing the work, and yet have it look cohesive. After much study and experimentation, it actually became clear that the more different embroiderers there were, the more the work looked as though it came from one hand. Now, she had X-rays of the embroidery and a very complicated model to explain this, but trust me - when you looked at the jacket, you didn't think - wow - I can see that people of all different abilities stitched on this. Yet they did - everyone who wanted to stitch was allowed to - and it looks wonderful! Tricia explained that professional embroidery studios in Elizabethan times used certain patterns available in broadsheets, and that you could trace certain patterns to certain embroidery workshops.

As she went on, Tricia began to talk of the threads used - how they heathered silks to shade between two colors, making a 2 ply, 2 color silk thread for this by making twisted thread themselves twisting from raw materials by splitting silk and twisting them together. Some colors were blended, then wrapped with metal threads, so workshops may have made their own threads as well as purchasing some.

The metal for the threads was pure gold and silver, often from melted down coins. There was also a lively second-hand trade to take the metal threads from old garments to return them to the "melting pot" (where the term comes from). Clothing was pawned for the gold and silver threads. A "Fripper" is one who dealt in "frippery" or metal lace - who melted it down for the gold or silver. Metal lace was actually coinage. The result of these pieces were to store value in them, to hold the silver and gold , the currency system of the day.

This was all so fascinating that it left us wanting more. Tricia suggested reading the book Renaissance Clothing and the Materials of Memory by Ann Rosalind Jones and Peter Stallybrass, about clothes remade and re-used.

The next talk was by Jill Hall, the Co-Manager of the Jacket Project and Scholar of Historical Costume, Middleborough, MA. Her talk was entitled " It's All About the Clothes"

Jill talked about placing the jacket in the context of the clothing of the period. A book suggested by Jill is Dressing the Elite: Clothes in Early Modern England by Susan Vincent. Besides the history of costume she talked about linens laundered with things to give color, such as loden and saffron. Clothing was primarily to protect from cold - cold was death in those days. But it also denoted your station in life. Jill talked of clothing as a marker of gender and age, as well as status and position in society.

After this we enjoyed a break, where much to the men's dismay we took over all the restrooms available! The women, of course, outnumbered the men greatly! During break we would dash around not only using the ladies' room, but trying to say hello to as many friends and acquaintances as we could before time was called to go back to our seats. There is never enough time to visit and discuss all that we have just heard with one another. The days are too short when there is so much to enjoy.

Our next speaker was Dr. Susan Schoelwer, Curator, George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate, Museum & Gardens who gave a talk entitled, "From Old London to New London: Tracing Needlework Patterns and Skills in Early America"

She began by discussing Connecticut and the blossoming of needlework in the late 18th century vs. the earlier plainer needlework, bold floral motifs on decorated bed rugs, Norwich canvas work, band samplers and the Patten School Silk Embroideries.

She said many of the patterns were shared by closely related women in the area. Printed pattern books of the 17th century were also made use of. There were also references to similar patterns found on plate glazes and headstones as well as the hand carved furniture designs from the Connecticut River Valley.

Charity was a popular story in the central medallion on many of the pictorial scenes worked at the Patten School. It is questioned whether 17th century pieces of embroidery survived to be examples for the later embroideries, or whether heritage needlework, through family network and kinship traditions were a way of passing on the patterns and skills.

The last speaker of the day before lunch was Pam Parmal, Curator of Textile and Fashion Arts, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Her talk entitled, " Artful Adornments: The Embroidered Accessories of Eighteenth-Century Boston Schoolgirls"

She discussed many of the schools and the work there. My notes fail me as I must have been suffering from lack of nourishment by now! I think I was on overload and entranced with listening to the speakers, as my notes became less and less. Hopefully some of the photos we have to share with you from the exhibit will make up for this lack of information.

So we lined up for lunch and shared a delicious meal with many new friends. Of course there were treats to give us some sugar to encourage our attention for the afternoon.

After lunch it was off in many directions as we headed to our workshops and tours.

My first was, "A Tisket a Tasket, Who Made the Casket" with Dr. Tricia Wilson Nguyan. I do have several pages of notes on this, but I must just say that it was a whirlwind tour of her research on caskets and the information she is finding that has lead her to some new discoveries of how the caskets were made and the materials used. I especially enjoyed the beautiful papers lining the boxes, and how maybe the real source for the boxes was book binders as opposed to cabinet makers for at least some of the parts of the casket. She not only had slides to share, but several real caskets to peer into and even touch!

Martha Edlin's casket in the V&A

Tricia is leading classes in casket making currently on her web-site and they sound quite fascinating. I only wish I magically had more hours in the day so that I could take this project on! She is having many of the materials created for this project and I think we will all enjoy the journey that several stitchers are taking with her in creating their own caskets. The current class is full, but she is taking names for a subsequent class. If enough people are interested, she may be able to have the supplies manufactured to make a second set of caskets.

Another V&A Casket

My next stop before the reception was a viewing of "My Favorite Things" with Linda Eaton, Curator Winterthur. She pulled a variety of items that are some of her favorites from the collections for us to see up close and personal and she told us a little about them.

Winterhtur reception courtesy of Barbara Rombold-Gillies

Time for the reception, but hey I haven't seen the exhibit yet or the jacket in person! So I dashed up the stairs and pretty much had the gallery to myself as the others sipped wine and appetizers and visited some more. I knew I didn't have to worry about nourishment, we had a group dinner planned afterwards at a local restaurant with several friends from far and wide.

If only we could all try it on, the jacket that is. It is so beautiful and one wonders what it must be like to actually wear something this splendid. Well if you look closely, you can see I took a chance and had a photo taken wearing it ! What do you think?

Day one of the symposium and I am out of breath and saturated with so many wonderful thoughts of beautiful needlework. Tomorrow there is more!

Several of our photos are courtesy of our friend and travel-companion, Barbara Rombold-Gillies, who takes much better "people pictures" than we do! Her blog, 1thread also shows some of her wonderful photos from this trip.

This week is your last chance to join us with our Tokens of Friendship subscription. We'll stop taking orders after January 15th! We are cooking up some lovely things for you - you love surprises don't you?

We Have a Winner!

2012-01-01T14:58:00.000-08:00

We want to wish you and yours the happiest of New Years! Let 2012 be the year we find peace, happiness in simple things and generosity of spirit. Life is precious and we need to appreciate every moment. Let us resolve to be the best that we can be, to support one another, to rise quickly to forgiveness and understanding, and to choose friendship over rivalry. This will make us all winners this year!

We also want to congratulate Sandra H. Ball - the winner of our New Year's giveaway! Sandra, please contact us at inthecompanyoffriends@gmail.com to claim your prize! We used a random number generator to choose the winner - we wish each of you could win - and hopefully, as we go along this year, there will be more giveaways and freebies that will help us all to feel like winners! Sandra has won a set of Mademoiselle's Peacock Accoutrements. We hope you enjoy them, Sandra!

Thank you to everyone who took the time and effort to write a comment, not only for this giveaway, but to any posts this past year. We read each one and treasure your support and friendship! We hope you will continue to join us each week as we find new and exciting things to blog about, news to share with you all, and hopefully, a little fun along the way.

Remember, there's still time to get in on our latest adventure - the Tokens of Friendship Subscription program. Who wouldn't love to find a gift in the mail every few months for a whole year?

Happy New Year to all!

Skeletons, Spanish Stitch and a Giveaway!

2011-12-19T18:10:00.000-08:00

Ah, yes, at this joyous time of year, of course, our thoughts turn to... skeletons!?! Our Dark Alphabet is coming along and we couldn't resist sending one more letter before the end of the year!

Calavera means skull in Spanish and by extension, skeleton. The Day of the Dead is celebrated in Mexico, Spain, Brazil and several other countries. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. Altars are built to honor those who have passed. Many go to the cemeteries and take special food and gifts to show respect and honor to those relatives who have passed away. The traditions of the celebrations vary by town and country and many include festivities such as parties and dancing.

The Grim Reaper is one of the most well known skeletons in stories passed down through the ages. In English, Death is often given the name Grim Reaper and, from the 15th century onward, came to be shown as a skeletal figure carrying a large scythe and clothed in a black cloak with a hood.

Of course we have movies to scare us that star the Grim Reaper and songs sung about the Grim Reaper. All of this plays into the fright we have come Halloween and skeletons ruling the night.

Even though many medical practitioners did not puzzle over the skeleton to the same degree that they did with other parts of the body, they all recognized their cultural as well as scientific importance. By the end of the sixteenth century, skeletons had become the quintessential image of anatomy. But they also continued to be an image of death, in the form of a grim reaper brought to life by the skill of the anatomist.

Skeletons have even found a place in the Japanese Manga comics via a Batman Script

It was thought that if buried with a stone in the mouth of the person who was feared, it would keep them from coming back as a zombie. A skeleton disturbing the peace of the current world.

Spanish Stitch

Spanish Stitch can also be called the Plait Stitch and often misnamed the Herringbone. But some think Holbein when they hear Spanish stitch, which can also be called double running stitch. So which one do you think of when you hear Spanish Stitch?

For our example today and in this chart we are using the Spanish Stitch that can be called Plait stitch as well. This densely formed stitch has a braided raised appearance. It was a common stitch found on many early American samplers.

This stitch is popular in canvas work and there it is used with a thicker thread to create a dense filled and raised stitch. It can be used for outlines or for filling in large areas and backgrounds. The horizontal rows are worked from left to right over two horizontal threads.

You can see examples of this stitch in Eileen Bennett's book, the Red Book of Sampler Stitches and in Jan Eaton's, The Complete Stitch Encyclopedia as well as here. (scroll down to Plait Stitch).

Julie used the Spanish Stitch on the tombstone in her design. As always, click on the picture of the chart to go to our Freebie page on our website, or click on Freebies on the side panel. Enjoy your stitching!

We are coming quickly to the end of the year. How does the time fly by so quickly? I hope you have all finished putting the last stitches in your new holiday ornaments and gifts that you have been stitching for friends and family. Some of mine didn't quite make it but will hopefully be ready for next year. I have a head start now.

We thank you all for coming along with us on our journey here on the blog and supporting us in the fun we have creating our unique gifts for all of you. We hope you all have a wonderful holiday season with hopefully some time to start that new project on New Years day! I know many like to begin a special project on the first of January.

Scissors have many superstitions surrounding them. Don't use your scissors on New Years Day or you will cut your good fortune in half! So when you start that new project on New Years Day, don't cut your threads!!!! We want to help to make the New Year start a bit brighter by offering a drawing for a set of our new Mademoiselles Peacock Accoutrements. Just make a comment on this post by the 31st of December and on January 1st we will draw the lucky winner.

Remember it's not too late to sign up for "Tokens Of Friendship", you have until January 15th to get your subscription in to become one of the lucky ones to have a unique surprise only available to members, sent to them four times a year. See the web site for details on how to join in the fun.

Philadelphia!

2011-12-12T16:58:00.000-08:00

Photo by Barbara Rombold-Gillies

Day three of our adventure took us back into Philadelphia. Today our group expanded to include three friends from Canada who had arrived for the event at Winterthur as well. Our first stop was at the Philadelphia Museum of Art , The Dorrance H. Hamilton Center for Costume and Textiles at the Perelman Building where their study rooms are.

Photo by Barbara Rombold-Gillies

Kristina Haugland met us with several items she had pulled from their collection. We had made several requests for pieces that our group knew they would like to see and she pulled a few she felt we would enjoy as well.

The Philadelphia Art Museum has over 500 samplers in all and this does not include the silk pictures, small accessory items such as wallet, and other sewing trinkets or caskets.

I must say that I took very little notes here! Hopefully the photos will do it all justice. Needless to say we were all like kids in the best candy store in town. Keeping our hands behind our backs, we tried to keep from reaching out and touching and trying not to drool on any of the exquisite pieces. We wish we could show you our photos but of course, the museum was very gracious in allowing us to take photographs, but stipulated that they could be for our personal study purposes only. I like to think that the venues we visit are happy to see us come and take our photos for our studies, and I know they appreciate it when we follow the rules they set out.

It is hard to pick a favorite, but seeing the casket up close and personal and having Kristina open many of the special drawers and hidey holes right in front of us was pretty exciting. There were two purses that I enjoyed as well and the 18th c. Italian purse one had a great double ruching around the edge that made for a great presentation of the piece.

Those were Becky's favorites - Julie had long been hoping to see some of the samplers from the Whitman collection that are now part of the museum's huge number of sampler holdings. Seeing Mary Wiggin's sampler in person was wonderful - she completely stitched the background on her sampler - in black! A lot of the rest of the stitching is in pink, which makes for a very striking statement! Another absolute beauty is Elizabeth Burton! This is a Juda Hayle sampler - and to my mind, the most beautiful one out there! I remember first seeing a reproduction of this sampler in a needlework store. It was spectacular! You can still see (and purchase) this chart at The Essamplaire in Canada, which you can reach from your seat in front of the computer via the online store. The link on Juda Hayle's name takes you to the Scarlet Letter's site where there is a description of the Juda Hayle school, and some other reproductions featured.

We both loved a truly wonderful piece of Hollie Point and Reticellia work so fine it is hard to imagine accomplishing the work.

Photo by Barbara Rombold-Gillies

If you go to the Perleman, notice the beautiful motifs around the door. Many you might see on a sampler. A lady from the museum told us that they all had meanings to the insurance company that originally owned the building. But of course the pen was put away at that time and do you think I can remember them!

Photo by Barbara Rombold-Gillies

Even though we can't show you our photos of the collection pieces we saw, you can search the collections on line and find many of the pieces in their collections there. Each of the links in our description takes you to the search results page for that item on the Philadelphia Museum of Art's website

Photo by Barbara Rombold-Gillies

We then worked our way into town and stopped for a bite of lunch. The day had turned to a beautiful Fall day, with bright skies and lovely for walking. So we left the cars parked and worked our way down the road towards our destination. There were many interesting shops along the way that caught our attention. We tried desperately to talk Lynne into a special pair of shoes!

M. Finkel & Daughter was our next stop. Amy Finkel welcomed all those attending the Winterthur Symposium to an open house at her shop. Amy is one of the premier sampler dealers in the United States.

Photo by Barbara Rombold-Gillies

Her shop is always full of wonderful examples of American, English and Continental samplers. Amy researches her pieces when possible to find the provenance of the pieces and any information that is of interest about the maker and her family. You can visit many of her current selections on line at their web site. Amy also produces a wonderful catalog called "Samplings" that you can subscribe to and is very useful as a study tool.

Off we went back to Delaware, we were like kids at Christmastime our heads full of needlework and waiting for the morning when Winterthur's Symposium would begin! Most of the outdoor pictures on our trip were taken by our friend Barbara Rombold-Gillies. Julie's camera was always set for close-ups of needlework, so she left it to others to capture the city and excitement around us. Barbara did a great job! Her photography is always great and she features a lot of it on her blog, 1thread. You should check it out!

Even while we're still appreciating the fun we had on our last trip, the opportunity for a very exciting trip hit our blog readers this morning! Jacqueline Holdsworth of Needleprint is working on a new event in conjunction with an exhibit of the Feller Collection at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. Mary Brooks is to be the guest curator. Aaaaaahhhhh! The planning on this is so early the dates haven't been set yet, but I've already been scoping out airfare prices to England. Julie was so lucky to be part of the first Ackworth gathering that Jacqueline arranged. This time, we're both determined to make the trip! Watch Jacqueline's blog for updates, and click on her flying angel to email her to let her know you'd like to be notified when registration opens!

Remember there is still time to shop our web site for those last minute stocking stuffers and gifts! We have a lovely new set of "Mademoiselle's Peacock Accoutrements" perfect for your favorite stitching friend or yourself. Shipping is by priority mail, so you can still receive it in time for Christmas. For a gift that lasts all year long, give our "Tokens of Friendship"! Lovely surprise gifts arrive in the mail four times a year, all wrapped and tied with a bow! These gifts will only be available to those who are participants in the "Tokens of Friendship" program. Let us be your secret Santa and we will send your friend or loved one a message of your choosing to help keep the mystery alive!

We hope you are all enjoying this holiday season with your family and friends. Julie and I are looking forward to our annual holiday tea celebration of another year together "In The Company of Friends" and seeing many of our friends at gatherings as well. We thank you all for sharing with us here on the blog and on our web site.

Christmas is Still Coming!

2011-12-08T11:30:00.001-08:00

Julie and I would like to wish you all a very "Happy Holiday" season with your family and friends! We thank you all so very much once again this year for your continued support of our business. We enjoy so much what we do, but that joy wouldn't be half as much fun if we didn't have all of you to share our creations with. So first and foremost thank you. We hope you are all looking forward to the New Year and all it has to hold.

Last time, we talked a bit about What's New over at our sales website. You responded, and the boxes are sold out! Thank you to everyone for your support - we will be working on a new boxed set early in the new year. If your heart is absolutely set on a boxed set, fear not - there will be more soon, and we are so excited about the new design we have in mind! We will also do a bit larger run of them, as we think they'll be very popular!

Our Tokens of Friendship program is also proving quite popular - you don't want to miss out - you have until January 15th to sign up - don't be late!

The last three new gift items that want to join your other favorite stitching tools are part of "Mademoiselle's Peacock Accoutrements" all adorned with beautiful cranberry ribbons that add a festive touch and a wonderful peacock motif.

We have a "Shoe" with thimble heel, and beautiful crystal head pins and needles ready to help you stitch a special gift.

We have a "Glove" that holds the scissors you need to clip the threads of those special gifts you are stitching madly

and we have a "Pocket" with a set of peacock pins, peacock counter and needles ready to take with you on your journey.

All of these are wonderful little gifts to pop into the mail or wrap up for your stitching friends, or slip under the tree for yourself!

We can still ship items to get to you in time for Christmas giving, so hurry on over and see What's New at In the Company of Friends!

Christmas is Coming!

2011-12-02T13:03:00.001-08:00

Yes,Christmas is coming and naturally, our first thoughts turn to a sky filled withmenacing birds????? Ah - R is for Raven- but more of that later!

FirstJulie and I would like to wish you all a very "Happy Holiday" seasonwith your family and friends! We thank you all so very much once again thisyear for your continued support of our business. We enjoy so much what we do,but that joy wouldn't be half as much fun if we didn't have all of you to shareour creations with. So first and foremost thank you. We hope you are all looking forward to the New Year and all ithas to hold.

We havebeen like little elves working in the workroom to finish up several specialitems perfect for the gift giving holidays and they are ready to share withyou! I am so excited, I don't knowwhere to start, if you don't want to listen to me go on and on, just head overto the web-site and go directly to our What's New page and you will see rightaway what we have been working on.

Firstfor our box lovers, we have another limited edition toy box full of all thelittle needlework accessories we enjoy creating. This box is called"Honeysuckle Cottage" and is in beautiful shades of deep dustyrose. There are Peacocks poking out allover this season, you will see more in our other selections as well. This box contains a beautiful hand paintedivory ruler, so we are sorry, but it can only be delivered to addresses in theUnited States. There are four minicharts in a tiny book, a needle book with decorated pins, a thread palette withcoordinating threads, a peacock pin-keep, shell waxer and more you must see toenjoy fully. Remember each box isunique in that they are faux grain painted, so each is a individual creation. This is a limited edition and when they aregone, they're gone! Update: They're gone! Thank you to everyone for your support - we will be working on a new boxed set early in the new year.

"Tokensof Friendship"

A Tokenof Friendship: A tribute of friendship; something by which the friendship ofanother person is to be kept in mind; a memento; a souvenir.

Treatyourself or surprise a friend. Betteryet, ask Santa to give you a year's worth of surprises with our new program"Tokens of Friendship". In the past, many stitched gifts wereexchanged as tokens of friendship. Wefind needle-books, pin-balls, wallets, pin-keeps, lovely scissors holders andmore that were given to commemorate a friendship in some way, and we love theseheartfelt little mementos.

Ouryear-long program will bring a beautiful wrapped token to your door or the doorof a friend you might want to gift with a subscription. The token will only be available to thosewho are subscribed to the "Tokens of Friendship" program. Theseunique special tokens will not be available for sale on our web site oranywhere else. The designs will be created just for those lucky enough to be inthe limited edition subscription program.

What awonderful way to bring happiness for a whole year to yourself or someonespecial to you. We are ready andwilling to help bring surprises and keep secrets!

Thelast three new gift items that want to join your other favorite stitching toolsare part of "Mademoiselle's Peacock Accoutrements" all adorned with beautiful cranberry ribbonsthat add a festive touch and a wonderful peacock motif.

We havea "Shoe" with thimble heel,and beautiful crystal head pins and needles ready to help you stitch a specialgift.

We havea "Glove" that holds the scissors you need to clip the threads ofthose special gifts you are stitching madly

and wehave a "Pocket" with a set of peacock pins, peacock counter andneedles ready to take with you on your journey.

All of these are wonderful little gifts to pop into the mail orwrap up for your stitching friends, or slip under the tree for yourself!

It'sbeen some time since we have added a letter to our dark alphabet and we don'tlike to disappoint our friends, so here we are with another deeply disturbinginstallment!

R isfor Raven and Rice Stitch

If menhad wings and bore black feathers,

few ofthem would be clever enough to be crows.

- Rev.Henry Ward Beecher

Everycountry seems to have folklore regarding the raven. Below are just a few togive you an idea of the varied stories that surround this distinct bird.

NativeAmerican

Black,to Native Americans, is a color of magical power, and only to be feared ifmisused. The Raven symbolizes the void- the mystery of that which is not yet formed. Ravens are symbolic of the Black Hole in Space, which draws in allenergy toward itself and releases it in new forms. The iridescent blue and green that can be seen in the glossyblack feathers of the raven represents the constant change of forms and shapesthat emerge from the vast blackness of the void. In Native American tradition, Raven is the guardian of bothceremonial magic and healing circles. She is also the patron of smoke signals.

Ravenat the Headwaters of Nass hat,Seattle Art Museum, attributed toKadyisdu.axch',Tlingit, Kiks.ádi clan, active late 18th - early 19th century. There are humanfigures crouching within Raven's ears.

Australian

InAborigine mythology, the Raven tried to steal fire from the seven sisters (thePleides), and was charred black in the unsuccessful attempt.

Hebrew/Christian

In theHebrew/Christian tradition ravens were considered unclean, representingimpurity, mortification, destruction, deceit, and desolation. Ravens were cursed by Noah for not returningto the ark with news of the flood receding. Yet,conversely, the Bible also says that ravens were the protectors of theprophets; they fed Elijah and Paul the Hermit in the wilderness. Also, ravens helped St. Cuthbert and St.Bernard. Incontradictory Christian traditions, ravens represent the solitude of the holyhermits, yet also the souls of wicked priests and witches.

NorthernEurope

Thepagan Danes and Vikings used the raven banner on their ships, in Odin'shonor. These flags, usually sewn by thedaughters of great warriors and kings, were tokens of luck on their voyages. Houses where ravens nested were also thoughtto be lucky.

InEngland, tombstones are sometimes called "ravenstones".

InCornwall, as in England, King Arthur is said to live on in the form of a raven,and it is unlucky to shoot one.

This site goes on to tell of raven magic and more symbolism. They also share many poems and versesregarding the raven and this site also shares many stories of lore and symbolism from various countries aswell as several images of these stories.

And ofcourse we have Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven". Here is one site thathelps us decode that famous poem. " Nevermore," Mournful and never-ending remembrance.

TheRice Stitch

Othernames that you might find the rice stitch masquerading under are the crosscorners cross stitch and William and Mary Stitch.

Therice stitch came to America from England and was a common stitch in the 16thcentury. One of the well known teachers, Mary (Polly) Balch who taught inProvidence Rhode Island, perpetuated the use of the Rice Stitch on samplers.

Manytimes this stitch was used in borders and incorporated two colors, one for thecross and one for the legs completing the stitch.. You can see more history and diagrams of the Rice Stitch andvariations in Eileen Bennett's book, the Red Book of Sampler Stitches. Inaminuteago.com has a nice description anddiagram, as does Kreinik. Bag Lady inStitches has a blog post with a very fine example of Rice Stitch used in acontemporary sampler.

Julieused the rice stitch over two to form the hillock the raven stands on. If you are stitching your project over one,complete the rice stitches over two and adjust the number to suit. There is enough empty space on the design tocompensate for any changes in size of the hillock.

Havefun and enjoy this festive time of year!

Another Wonderful Day in Pennsylvania

2011-11-23T16:46:00.001-08:00

Wednesdaywe headed to Chester County Historical Society, where we were joined by two of our longtime friends from the areathat we are so happy to see whenever we have a chance to come to the area.Kathy Lesieur who brought us the exhibit of Berks County Samplers several yearsago and Candace Perry curator of the Schwenkfelder Library and HistoricalSociety, who gave us the opportunity to publish their collection several yearsago and also create several special pieces from their collection as giftitems.

L-R - Beth, Becky, Kathy, Barbara, Julie, Lynne and Candace

Photo courtesy of Barbara Rombold-Gillies

Ellen Endslow greeted us with a wonderfulselection of samplers from their large collection of over 200 pieces. Above, you can see us excitedly gathered to look through the samplers. You can almost see us waiting for someone to shout "go!". This photo and several others are from our friend Barbara - and you can see more of her great photos on her blog, 1Thread. You can see from the photo what delights might await you if you make arrangements at some of these places - it's an amazing array, isn't it?

First Ellen gave us a wonderful overview ofChester County and how the area came to be and some of the special pieces heldin their collection. The county was founded in 1681 with a significantWelsh population as well as Quaker influences. Typical samplers from the area are multi-colored with bands, relativelynarrow with meandering borders. They included alphabets, verses and names andwere usually rectangular in shape. Most of the samplers are silk on linen groundwith a few wool on linen ground. Thefamous teacher Ann Marsh from Philadelphia died in Chester County. At her deathshe had $1209.19 pounds in probate. This was quite a sum for a woman who hadnever married. She taught sewing primarily.

Onething we learned here was what we had been calling the pendulum tulip on Quakersamplers is actually a Bluebell. You see these on both Westtown and Ackworthsamplers.

Rebecca Jones visted Ackworth school and brought back information to help the Philadelphia-area Quakers establish Westtown School. If you enjoy needlework fromthe Quaker traditions you will want to visit Chester County HistoricalSociety between December 2, 2011 and September 7, 2012, when they will displaya large collection from both their own examples and those of Westtown school.The exhibit is called "In Stitches: Unraveling Their Stories". For more information about the exhibit contact Chester County Historical Society, 610-692-4800 or ChesterCoHistorical.org; or Mary Brooks, Westtown's Archivist, 610-399-7834 or mary.brooks@westtown.edu.

We sawmany beautiful pieces and it was hard to choose a favorite as usual. A couple of special pieces were a Dresden workpiece by Elizabeth Taylor 1785 with a sawtooth border and insets ofneedle-lace. One motif typical of thearea are geographical trees formed with lines increasing in width, looking verytriangular or increasing and then decreasing and looking very diamond like.

There were also some German style samplerswith motifs all over including people, which isn't typical of the West ChesterArea.

Fromhere we journey down the street to a delight for our taste buds, to discusswhat we had viewed and to catch up with our old friends! The Lincoln Roomserves tea and light fare. We all indulged in the Tea for Two, with delicioussandwiches, scones and treats as well as pots of tea. We floated out of heresaturated in so many ways. But the day was not done and there was more to see!

Wedrove a short distance to Historic Sugartown and the wonderful shop, Van Tassel/ Baumann Antiques

where we were greeted by Ruth Van Tassel and her HusbandDonald Baumann. They are one of the leading dealers in Needlework Samplers inthe United States. They always have abeautiful selection of both American and European needlework, and are welcoming to all - not only those interested in buying, but anyone studyingthe history of these special pieces. Ruth is very knowledgeable and shares that knowledge graciously. Theyresearch their pieces and document them as much as they possibly can. Ruth keeps many notebooks and records forfuture use. The warm atmosphere andpersonalities are a treat for anyone visiting this area. Julie and I found so many treasures wewished we could bring home! Three girls did make their journey to Washingtonand you will see them in future products of "In The Company ofFriends". They are going to knockyour socks off when you see what we create for you with these special pieces. Iknow, what a tease! It will be worth the wait.

That concludesour second day on the road. You can seewe are on the run when we travel to get to as much as we can while we are inthe area. There is never enough time, but that always means we will just haveto make another trip in the future. Wehope you are enjoying your armchair travels with us. Next we will have another installment of the Dark Alphabet withthe letter "R". We hope thatthis week brings you much Thanksgiving with your friends and family. We arevery thankful for all of you who join us here on the blog, who support us inour endeavors with In The Company of Friends and everyone we are lucky enough tocall friend.

Stenton House, Wyck House and Germantown!

2011-11-14T12:17:00.001-08:00

Our first stop on our excursion to Philadelphia was at Stenton House, where Laura Keim graciously gave us her morning to lead us through the home and relate the history as well as show us some of the special needlework held there.

Stenton was the country house of James Logan.

It was built in the 1720's and was named after a village in Scotland where his father was born. Mr. Logan met William Penn in England and in 1699 accompanied him to Philadelphia. He became a leading man in Pennsylvania when Penn returned to England. Logan was a Quaker. He was a politician, scientist and scholar. His son William inherited Stenton after his father's death. William died on the eve of America's fight for independence leaving Stenton unoccupied by Logans during the American Revolution. The house was used for headquarters by General Washington and British General Howe. After the revolution James' grandson George Logan and his wife came to live at Stenton. In 1899 The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania became the stewards of Stenton. They opened it to the public in 1900. This stewardship has encouraged research and much of life in the 18th century has been interpreted from these findings.

You will enjoy many beautiful furnishings as you tour the home and gardens here. There have been excavations from the grounds that have yielded china from the 1760's and these are displayed for you to see in the dining area.

There are notes regarding Iroquois Indians who came to do trade and would camp at Stenton House. Many diaries and such were kept and these have given great detail to those who have been involved in the research and restoration of this beautiful home. Included in this were records from Hannah Logan Smith on her expenses that listed sewing supplies for a wallet for John Smith made by her when they were courting in 1744.

The needlework we enjoyed here was a couple of samplers one by Mary Logan and one by Hannah Haines. We also viewed a queen stitch pin ball, a needle roll with pin-keep, a wallet and a quilt.

Laura next took us to the other location under her curatorship, Wyck House - one of the oldest homes in Philadelphia. It was built around 1690 and grew as additions were made through the 18th century. Hans Milan a Quaker from Germany was the first to occupy Wyck House. Many generations have lived in this home, from the Haines and Wister families, most notably. The families are still involved in the home and community. There is an extensive historic rose garden and beautiful grounds. There are many programs offered for the community here that continues the use of the gardens and grounds.

The needlework treasures we viewed here are too numerous to list but we will highlight a few.

- Margaret Wister silk sconce from 1738 when she was 9 years old. Silk Thread on silk using long and short stitch.

-Ann Haines 1804 from Westtown. Quaker Floral motifs with birds and squirrels.

- Lucy Turpin, a freed slave aged 11 years New York 1815 Stitched for Jane B Haines a member of the female Association

- Ann Haines Extract 1804 Westtown Boarding School - this was shown in Betty Ring's book

- Sarah Haines was Ruben Hines' oldest and was studying at a school in France 1824, did two samplers at the age of 11. She died of a fever over a 10-day period.

- Hannah Marshall small band sampler 1776

Many wonderful needlework smalls and treasures and of course our time ran over and there was more to see!

We can't show pictures of everything we saw, but we were lucky to get permission to blog and show these photos to you. When you visit small museums and historical societies like this, always remember to respect their rules. Ask permission to take photographs for your own study, and don't publish pictures online unless you have been given express permission to do so. We were thrilled when Laura said - "please blog"! Remember that light is needlework's enemy -don't use your flash, and don't handle anything - the oils in your skin can be disastrous for textiles. Always ask your docent to turn a piece over or move it to a better spot.

We dashed from Wyck on to Germantown Historical Society where we joined Elizabeth Solomon and one of her lovely docents to enjoy the special needlework in their collection.

The Society currently serves as the home of Historic Germantown, a partnership between fourteen Germantown organizations joined by a common mission to provide knowledge and resources to help preserve Germantown's historic sites, interpret them to the public, and incorporate them into the life of the local community. Germantown's story is the story of founding and settlement, religious freedom and tolerance, patriotism, abolitionism, architectural excellence, industry, and community service

I have to admit my note taking became more of a list of names than details here, I was so overwhelmed by this time after lunch and our third stop of the day! There were Westtown samplers, others with Quaker motifs,

one commemorating the Battle of Tripoli in 1804 by Sarah Brland stitched in 1826, a beautiful hollie point and reticella piece by Amy Lewis in 1759 with a 9-patch layout and buttonhole stitch flowers in the center, lined with blue satin to show off the intricate work. Several other pieces drifted by as we oohed and aahed and then to top it off a few of their prized crazy quilts with wonderful embroidery accents were brought out for our dessert so to say. We again ran short on time and kept our wonderful hostesses over their scheduled time. They were so kind to share with us and we enjoyed it so very much.

Saturated with beauty, we headed to their suggested dinner location, The Valley Green Inn. It is located in the Wissahickon Valley of Fairmount Park in the city of Philadelphia. It is one of the last remaining roadhouses and the beautiful setting along the creek is a charming location.

The food was delicious and the service friendly and leisurely. It was just the perfect way to end our first day.

Q is for Queen of the Night

2011-11-06T16:11:00.000-08:00

If you have been waiting impatiently for the next letter in the alphabet, wait no more! We are lucky to find ourselves with lots to do and talk about, so we will intersperse a review of our travels and wonderful embroideries we saw with the letters in the Dark Alphabet. Julie is hoping to finish off the alphabet by the end of January, which will leave us time and space to talk of what we saw on our most recent trip, as well as any new things that come up, and poor Pandora has been languishing away in Colonial America wondering what will happen to her next! But for now, the stitch you knew was coming, yet dreaded at the same time, right? The Queen Stitch! But fear not - Becky has found two "Q" stitches, and while the Quodlibet stitch looks just as complex, I'm thinking it will be a little easier to do, and give a very similar look. So if you don't want to use the Queen stitch, you have a good substitute!

There are several versions of the story of the "Queen of the Night," one of the most popular being the one told in Mozart's, "The Magic Flute."

This has the music we relate to the Queen of the Night and you can hear a version of that here:

An old Turkish tale is one I enjoy. And then there are the visuals of this bird like woman usually seen naked, but you can see Julie has decided to make her a bit more conservative here for your alphabet!

In the Turkish tale I enjoy this part which involves embroidery, and Julie decided to add this to her Queen - she holds an embroidery hoop and an extremely large needle! Two sisters have abandoned a younger sister in the woods and believe her to be dead, but find she is alive and living with the Queen of the Night as her daughter. They plan their mission and how to finish her off, for she is the more beautiful of the three and they are jealous.

The women pretend to be overjoyed at finding again the sister they had mourned as lost, and congratulate her on her good fortune. When they had eaten and drunk of the good things she set before them, and were about to depart, the eldest sister produced from her basket an enchanted kerchief.

"Here, dear Rosa," said she, "is a little present which we should like you to wear for our sakes. Let me pin it round your shoulders. Good-bye, dear!" she added, kissing her affectionately on both cheeks, "we will come and see you again before long and bring our father with us." "Do, dear sisters, and tell my dear father that I will go to see him as soon as my kind protectress may give me leave."

Rosa watched her sisters from the window till they were out of sight, and then turned to the embroidery-frame, which she had laid aside on their arrival. She had not, however, made many stitches, before a feeling of faintness came over her; and letting her work slip from her hands, she fell back on the sofa and lost consciousness.
When the Queen of Night came home,

she went first, as was her wont, to the chamber of her dear adopted daughter, and finding her thus, she said, as she bent over the maiden and kissed her beautiful mouth, "She has tired herself, poor child, over that embroidery-frame; she is so industrious."

Luckily the Queen removes the kerchief and the spell is broken. The story doesn't end there; this story is much like our fairytales from history and like many, in the end the good prevail!

There are many versions of the Queen of the Night

and much artwork and stories. Again as usual we have only given you a taste of this history to tempt you to go further with your interest.

Stitches:
For the Queen we must have Queen Stitch!

Queen Stitch is a highly textured diamond-shaped stitch. This stitch did not appear on the earliest samplers but became one of the most popular stitches used in the 17th and 18th centuries for sampler making. Many small accessory items in Colonial canvas

work were created from this stitch: pocketbooks, pincushions and

needle cases. You can find more information on this stitch and its history in one of our favorite sources Eileen Bennett's The Red Book of Sampler Stitches.

The other stitch that can be used here if you would like to try a different stitch in this project is the Quodlibet Stitch. It is primarily a canvas stitch but can be used in counted work as well. You can use a variety of embroidery threads, but the stitch will be best shown in a flat thread, such as stranded floss or silk. This stitch will make an interesting pattern when alternate rows are worked in contrasting color. Our favorite guide for this stitch is The Complete Stitch Encyclopedia by Jan Eaton.

One last word on the Q stitches from Julie. A few years ago, I took a class that talked about a Princess stitch - or the lazy girl's Queen stitch. I don't find any examples on the internet, but it seemed to me to be a great solution for those of us who find that their Queen stitches look like blobs instead of nicely defined stitches... Instead of four legs, the Princess has three, one in the middle, and one on either side, each tacked down in the center - you might try it if the Queen stitch seems a little daunting. Of course, the Queen stitch is not meant to be looked at stitch by stitch, but as a whole ground - and it looks absolutely beautiful that way even if the individual stitches aren't perfect, I promise you. We've had the opportunity to look at some stitching in very close detail, and what looks lovely overall is not always expertly executed. That doesn't diminish it's beauty or value to us!

As usual, click on the picture of the chart to take you to our Freebie page, or click on Freebies in the side bar. Happy Stitching!

What We Did on Our Vacation

2011-10-31T13:22:00.000-07:00

Did you all think we forgot to come home from our trip? It was hard to return to the "Real" world after enjoying a week away with so many of our needlework friends. But it looks like we returned in the nick of time as they say. Look at the wild weather they are having back east already. We are so sorry for all the trick-or-treaters who have had their Halloweens cancelled due to snow!

We are going to literally run you through our trip today and then as the weeks go on, we will come back and give you a more intense view of all the things we saw and experienced. We were so wrapped up in some of our doings that we even forgot to take photos!

We left Monday on our flight to Philadelphia, Julie, Becky, Beth and Barbara - the 4 WW's off on another excursion together. We all had parts in planning for the needs of our trip! Beth in charge of car and driving, Barbara found the hotel and co-piloted the trip. Julie the group dinner and well, I tried to fit in as much as we could possibly do in the limited hours a day holds. It's never enough time and always means there must be another trip sometime in the future to see even more.

We were heading to the Winterthur Needlework Conference - With Cunning Needle: Four Centuries of Embroidery, but going all that way we decided to take extra days and see what other needlework collections we could find in and around the area. The link we've provided takes you to a wonderful online gallery guide provided by Winterthur.

Tuesday we started out at Stenton House with Laura Keim as our guide through their facility and needlework collection. She was a wonderful host and we so enjoyed the special pieces she had to show us.

From there she took us to the other facility she is in charge of, Wyck House. What a special treat to sit and be brought box after box of needlework samplers, smalls and tools to drool on!

Of course we were running late as she led us over to Germantown where we met up with Elizabeth Solomon for lunch and our next stop of needlework to view. At the end of seeing the needlework, they brought out a few of their crazy quilts as well, but later we learned that there is a special dress with much needlework on it in their collection to see. So we may have to go see Elizabeth again on our next round. These ladies were so generous with their time and sharing and we so appreciate it.

Wednesday we headed to Chester County Historical Society where we met up with more friends, Candace Perry from the Schwenkfelder Library and Museum, Kathy Lesieur, and Lynne Anderson from Sampler Consortium.

Barbara taking photos of the samplers

Ellen Endslow had brought out a selection of their samplers to share with us and also shared some of the information on their upcoming joint show with Westtown. If you are going to be in the area of West Chester Pennsylvania you need to mark your calendar to visit, "In Stitches Unraveling Their Stories" December 2, 2011 through September 7, 2012. It promises to be a wonderful collaboration of these two facilities.

After enjoying being up close and personal with these special pieces of needlework we all headed to the Lincoln Room for a lunch of wonderful tea sandwiches and treats with so many pots of tea, it left us floating to our next stop. Again put this stop on your trip if you get to the area, it was truly delicious and such a nice respite.

We ended Wednesday at Van Tassel and Baumann Antiques in Malvern, PA. Ruth Van Tassel is always so welcoming of needlework enthusiasts to her shop. She has much knowledge to share and many special pieces of needlework, smalls and tools that she offers for sale. She is one of the top dealers in our country for needlework samplers.

Thursday we headed back into Philadelphia. The day was beautiful with fall colors and our fearless driver got us through a traffic jam, a wrong turn on the city streets and a goose on the freeway! Luckily the goose in the middle of the freeway was going in the other direction. I think they had gotten the wrong day for the goose parade! Quite a sight to see, stopping all that morning rush hour traffic.

We started this day in the Costume and Textile Study room, The Dorrance H. Hamilton Center for Costume and Textiles, Philadelphia Museum of Art at the Perelman Building. Kristina Haugland was our hostess here to view a selection of samplers, embroideries, wallets and a wonderful casket. Again, being allowed to get your nose up so close and personal to these items is so different from viewing them in photographs or online. We do appreciate all the facilities who are getting their collections up online for us to study from afar, especially since so many of the needlework is never out on view. But nothing is as good as seeing them in person. We were all like kids in the candy store. Today, we were joined by Amy Mitten, Janice Spencer and Sandy Gaponow from Canada. Sharing these experiences with friends of like minds is always more fun!

We spent the afternoon exploring a few of the interesting shops

Lynne tried on a new pair of shoes

leading up to M. Finkel and Daughter, where Amy and her team welcomed all who were coming into town for the Winterthur conference to a reception at her shop. Again Amy is one to always welcome the needlework enthusiast to her shop to enjoy her beautiful collection of needlework samplers and accessories. She spends much time researching the provenance of her pieces and has so much knowledge to share. There we ran into so many friends that we see when attending these events around the country. Never enough time to chat and catch up with everyone, but it is so nice to have these opportunities to share our common interest.

Friday finally arrives and off we head to Winterthur for the first day of the conference, with over 250 in attendance from the United States, Canada, England, and Australia. Linda Eaton produced a fabulous event surrounding the wonderful jacket that was created for Plimoth Plantation by volunteers under the guidance of Tricia Wilson Nguyen and Jill M. Hall.

Becky tries on the jacket

We had daily lectures, workshops, tours and sessions. We left each day saturated with so much knowledge not only from the presenters, but those in attendance though there is never enough time to see it all or even shop! Winterthur, take note, add time for shopping pleasures and more visiting. I think instead of two days the conference needs to expand to 2 1/2 days and the last half of the third day should be for free time to take more in, more of the galleries, more of the people and much more of the shopping! We just need help in planning our time so we can truly take everything in to the max!

Sunday took us to New Jersey

View from a nearby rooftop

where Patty Hrynenko gave us a private tour of the needlework housed in Gloucester Historical Society's collection. This is one location that has it's needlework out for you to view without making special arrangements. So if you are in this area on a day the museum is open, do stop in. Patty has also charted several of the pieces in the collection that you can take home to stitch. In her charts she also includes the historical information she has been able to find about the stitcher and her family.

Last stop of the day and the trip was at Historic Odessa, where we had made arrangements to see their needlework and also was treated to a hearth cooking demonstration and tasting.

Not only did we taste, but they shared the yummy Apple Charlotte recipe with us. So do any of you know what a Salamander is? Not that slimy reptile like creature, a cooking salamander. We learned how this metal spatula is used to crystallize the sugar glaze on top of the Charlotte by heating it up and placing it across the sugar. Liken it to a Crème Brule topping !

We saw two of the historic homes, The Corbit-Sharp Home and the Wilson-Warner Home. Our guide Alison was very knowledgeable of the history of the families and shared with us as she showed us through pointing out the special pieces of needlework on display. She also let us peek at a couple of the boxes in storage that held special pieces of needlework. Some that had taken ribbons at the Chicago World's fair.

So you can see what a wonderful full trip we had, but more is to come as we come back and re-count in more detail some of the pieces we saw and enjoyed. Remember if you are traveling it is many times possible to make arrangements before your arrival with the various facilities to view the needlework in their collections. There are sometimes extra fees for this privilege and sometimes it is out of the goodness of their hearts to do this extra work and share with you. Many of the facilities will take a donation that they will put towards conserving their needlework and we highly encourage you if you are able to do so. This will help us all to continue to enjoy these special pieces from history. Also be sure to thank them. They do this above and beyond their regular work of the day and I know we truly appreciate the time they all gave us to let us enjoy the history that is held in their care.

So stay tuned for more of the dark alphabet and more of our trip in the upcoming weeks!

Happy Halloween to all.

P is for Phantom and Paris Stitch

2011-10-15T15:37:00.000-07:00

It seems an eon has passed since we last posted. Sometimes life really does jump up and put us in our place. Julie left for a holiday that was cut short by putting her back out, while Becky stayed home with the flu. Neither of us felt much like doing anything before now, but we are ready with our latest now. Julie has managed one more letter, which Becky has researched. But first - Jo has caught up to us.

Her sampler is looking so good - I'm excited to see how she finishes up now! You can usually see Jo's latest photos on the Art (Gallery) of Friendship page on our site, or at her wonderful blog.

Phantom may refer to:

* Ghost, in traditional belief, a physical manifestation of the soul or spirit of a deceased person

* Illusion, a distortion of the senses

The Phantom we most likely think of is Phantom of the Opera. Le Fantôme de l'Opéra is a novel by French writer Gaston Leroux. It was first published as a serialisation in "Le Gaulois" from September 23, 1909 to January 8, 1910. Initially, the story sold very poorly upon publication in book form and was even out of print several times during the twentieth century; it is overshadowed by the success of its various film and stage adaptations. The most notable of these were the 1925 film depiction and Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 musical.

The above from Wikipedia

Which actor do you think of portraying Phantom of the Opera? Julie's favorite in this piece is Lon Chaney from the silent version.

The Phantom is a deformed man believed to be the angel of music.

When I think of the Phantom of the Opera, it's a mask, a rose and of course that vivid music that you can feel through your body as it rises into a crescendo!

Paris Stitch is a line stitch used only on even-weave fabrics. It is worked in straight rows and has branched stitches from the upper edge. It is a variation of a backstitch. After the backstitch is made a vertical stitch is made. For a variation the vertical stitch can be made diagonally. If this stitch is pulled tight, it makes a pattern of holes along the row. It can also be stitched row upon row to fill in a shape. Examples can be found once again in the Complete Stitch Encyclopedia by Jan Eaton, one of our favorite stitch guides, as well as on line at several sites. This is from a needlework shop we might have the chance to visit next week in Philadelphia!

Julie has worked the Paris stitch for the teeth in the Phantom, so it is a very small test, indeed. She placed the vertical stitches going both up and down to delineate the yellowed teeth of our specter!

Julie and I are dashing away with friends to enjoy the upcoming event at Winterthur as well as several other venues of needlework around Delaware, Philadelphia and New Jersey! We are so looking forward to seeing many of our needlework friends at the event. If you are one of our followers and we haven't met you in person, do come and say hello! We love meeting our friends in the needlework world. We will have tales to tell of our adventures. We don't get to that part of the country often, so we like to make it count. Any time you are traveling, you should contact museums and historical societies in advance. Very often, you can make arrangements to see some of the needlework they so often have in storage. It makes for a very fun day!

As usual, click on the picture of the chart above, or under Freebies in our sidebar to go to our free charts and download your copy.

O is for...

2011-09-23T13:47:00.000-07:00

Before we get into our regular post, we want to congratulate Linda from Minnesota for winning our giveaway! Linda, once you get your address to us, we will send out your prize - one of our Blueberry Hill Boxed sets! It comes with everything you see here except the scissors! Add your own to our pretty little fob to complete your set, Linda. Congratulations!

O is for Occult and Octagonal Rhodes Stitch

The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus (clandestine, hidden, secret), referring to "knowledge of the hidden." In the English language, "knowledge of the paranormal". A name given to a number of magical organizations.

Occultopedia is an online source to all you need to know about the supernatural, paranormal and inexplicable. You can also find what attracts men, original love spells and psychic readings! All in one place!

What are some of the symbols of the occult and their meanings? Many of the symbols are the same as we see used in various art forms to represent things that are meaningful to the artist interpretation.

Some of these are the pentagram, hexagram and the all-seeing eye. The Shaka sign,

which to me means hang loose in the style of the islands, in the occult world is a witch sign or a moon sign also called Mano Cornuto (Horned Hand) in Italian; the gesture is commonly depicted on charms against the evil eye. It is unclear whether the gesture originated as an image of horns or as a "poking out the eyes" gesture, but ancient lunar goddess charms depicting animal horns were used for similar protective purposes and are probably related to the gesture. The use of the horns as a symbol of satanic belief is recent, and is evolved from its use by heavy metal musicians and fans. The horned Hand gesture is also used occasionally by Wiccans as a symbol of the "horned God" or as the horns of the Moon Goddess, depending on tradition.

You can find many of these various symbols and meanings in some of the sites listed below for further interpretations. Remember to take it all with a grain of salt, oh now what does a grain of salt mean? Where do we get these clichés, but from wise tales through the ages and some of them have various meanings in the land of good and evil.

Some people (particularly individuals involved in occultic activities) look upon the Occult as fascinating, harmless, mysterious, spiritual and a source of knowledge and healing power. Others (particularly conservative Christians) see it as being profoundly evil, criminal, destructive, life threatening, and Satanic. It is a word that generates horror and revulsion. Some of the practices of divination seem lighthearted such as tea reading, the Ouija board game, tarot cards, palm reading and others seem to tread on more demonic grounds.

The Crystal Ball is one of the methods of divination that has been practiced since the time of the druids. Many cultures have used this divining technique of crystallomancy for several years, although the use is not strictly confined to crystal balls, as water, smoke, glass and even the clouds have proven successful in finding images that are translated into the answers to questions, or receive messages about the future.

Psychics sometimes rely on crystal balls not merely to see through their clients' minds, but to cleanse their own minds. When conducting readings they need to have undivided attention and they can only do this by looking at a clear crystal ball. The clarity and flawlessness of the ball allows them to get rid of the impurities they have on their minds and in turn gain better concentration on their sessions with clients.

As you can imagine we have not even begun to scratch any of the surface of the Occult and it is a ground we tread lightly on, as we are only looking at the playful aspects for our "Dark" alphabet, but the occult plays many roles in history from the beginning of time and can be quite fascinating.

Octagonal Rhodes Stitch

This stitch is typically used on canvas and is used to cover a large area. But as with many stitches originally used in canvas work, we can easily use it in our counted work to add interest and texture. Especially depending on the fibers chosen for the stitch, it can be used to really create some great textures. This variation is worked in the same way the Rhodes stitch is done, with the stitches following each other in a counter-clockwise direction, so that they all cross over the same central point. But the outline shape followed is an octagon rather then a square and gives a circular appearance. Julie has used it for the Crystal Ball in her design as well as the O as in Occult. My source again is the Complete Stitch Encyclopedia by Jan Eaton.

As always, click on the design to go to our Freebies page and download this week's chart, or click on Freebies in the sidebar.

We hope you enjoy this lighthearted trip to "the dark side"... as we head toward Halloween we find ourselves thinking of spooktacular effects for our dark alphabet. Whoooo knows? There may be some more surprises coming!

Julie will be out of town for a week or so, starting this weekend, which means no changes can be made to the blog or the website. We hope you will not be inconvenienced by a short wait for our next post! Maybe some of you will be able to catch up. Since Julie expects to be stitching for much of this week away, she may have new pictures of her alphabet to share.

N is for Necromancy and Norwich Stitch, J is for Jo's Alphabet and W is for Winner!

2011-09-16T13:38:00.000-07:00

What a busy week! Jo sent us this picture - can you believe how great her alphabet is looking? Don't forget to let us know if you'd like to be entered in the Diabolical Plot!

Thank you to so many of you who entered our giveaway celebrating 200 members! We thank each and every one of you who stopped by to make a kind comment. Unfortunately, we can only have one winner. And she is......... Linda from Minnesota! Linda, please send us a note to us with your mailing address and your prize will be on its way.

Necromancy, Raising the Dead!

Necromancy is a special mode of divination by the evocation of the dead. Understood as nigromancy (niger, black), which is the Italian, Spanish and old French form, the term suggests "black" magic or "black" art, in which marvelous results are due to the agency of evil spirits, while in "white" magic they are due to human dexterity and trickery. The practice of necromancy supposes belief in the survival of the soul after death, the possession of a superior knowledge by the disembodied spirit, and the possibility of communication between the living and the dead. The circumstances and conditions of this communication - such as time, place, and rites to be followed - depend on the various conceptions which were entertained concerning the nature of the departed soul, its abode, its relations with the earth and with the body in which it previously resided. As divinities frequently were but human heroes raised to the rank of gods, necromancy, mythology, and demonology are in close relation, and the oracles of the dead are not always easily distinguished from the oracles of the gods.

Necromancy is found in every nation of antiquity, and is a practice common to paganism at all times and in all countries. There are mentions of Necromancy in the bible and throughout Christian practice. The Witch of Endor, described in the bible (1 Samuel, 28), summoned the spirit of Samuel in the presence of Saul.

There are also many references in Deuteronomy.

Necromancy continues to be a popular topic today as I read the local paper and found a local author has been chosen for an award for her book "Hold Me Closer, Necromancer" by Lish McBride of Seattle, a book that has been written for middle graders about Sam a skateboarder/vegetarian/fry cook who can summon the dead and gets kidnapped by a more powerful necromancer.

Again, we just give you a taste of this dark art! But believe me there are many places to seek more information for those wishing to indulge and possibly try their hand at raising the dead.

Norwich Stitch

The Norwich Stitch is also known as the Waffle Stitch. Predominantly done on canvas, you can also use this in your counted linen work. It makes a pattern of square blocks with raised diamonds, good for filling in large spaces. The block can be worked in various sizes, but must contain an odd number of threads. The diagonal straight stitches are worked across the square following the sequence shown in several of the examples below. The second stitch is worked over each preceding stitch until seventeen have been completed. The eighteenth stitch is taken under the last stitch that it crosses, rather than over it. Various weights of thread can add to the dimension of this stitch. My favorite book for this stitch is, The Complete Stitch Encyclopedia by Jan Eaton. You will see Julie has used this stitch to suggest a raised design on the tombstone in her chart.

As usual, click on the picture of the chart to go to our Freebie page and download the chart. Or, you can click on "Freebies" on the sidebar.

We hope you enjoy this raising of the dead!

202 Followers! Plus M is for Mummy and Mossoul Stitch

2011-09-05T16:21:00.000-07:00

Wow - we have 202 followers! We need to celebrate! Please leave a comment on the blog to be entered for a drawing to win a prize. You don't have to have a blog to enter, but since this is to celebrate our 200-plus followers, you do have to be a follower! If you have trouble figuring out how to become a follower, let me know - inthecompanyoffriends@gmail.com - we'll figure something out.

When we think of mummies what picture comes to mind? Boris Karloff in "The Mummy" is one many will think of.

Hollywood has dramatized the mummy in many of it's horror flicks for years now. Where did the drama start? Possibly in the Victorian era when Egyptology became a fad. It became fashionable to visit Egypt, pick up a few artifacts to bring home and decorate your home with.

In 1869 Louisa May Alcott wrote a book called Lost in a Pyramid: the Mummy's Curse and then there is the famous publication of 1821 called The Mummy which is the first use of mummy horror in literature. In 1871, the composer Verdi brought us the Egyptian themed opera, Aida. And we have Napoleon Bonaparte who founded the Institut de l'Egypte in Cairo in 1798 which discovered the Rosetta Stone

that finally allowed Egyptian writing to be deciphered in 1822 by Jean Francois Champollion.

So you can see the Mummy has had quite a history outside of the religious process of mummification. The art of preserving or mummification is quite a process. Let's see first you start by pulling the brains out through the nostrils. Hummm lovely, this was before embalming was learned. Then there is the process of drying you out with myrrh and salt solutions. They then proceed to wrap you up in flaxen cloth and stick you in box after box until you come to the last one the Sarcophagus. Many items that would be useful for the next life are also placed with the mummy.

Photo by Joshua Sherurcij

And why did they mummify a person? Preservation of the physical body was paramount, for without a home, the soul wandered and would be lost forever.

There is so much information regarding Mummies and mummification as you can imagine, so if your interest is piqued, then there are many more links and books on the subject to see.

Massoul Stitch

Our "M" stitch this for this entry is the Mossoul stitch which most of you know as the Herringbone stitch. It is a common stitch to sampler making and appeared as early as 1681. The Mossoul stitch is a type of Cross Stitch worked backwards from left to right. My source in my library is from Eileen Bennett's book The Red Book of Sampler Stitches.

Becky

This letter is not terribly colorful - this is when the color of your linen comes into play - especially when choosing the color for your mummy! I have made him entirely in Mossoul Stitch - over one - quite the feat! But I think the woven look will be a great effect - you can experiment a little to find the exact look you want, and of course, over two, it will be a snap! I used two red beads for the mummy's eyes (is this where the expression "beady little eyes" comes from?) As always, click on the picture to go to the Freebies page to download this chart, or click on Freebies in the side bar.

Have fun, and whatever you do, don't tell my mummy on me!

Julie

L is for Diabolical!

2011-08-24T14:40:00.000-07:00

Okay - so it isn't... But it should be! When we started running our Dark Alphabet, we hoped people might enjoy the little pieces. We could hardly hope that people really would stitch them! We design gift items, but stitching design is a special skill - one we admire very much, and Julie was eager to try. So, we began to offer our homage to Lisa Roswell, and hoped that one or two of the designs might please some.

Much to our amazement, Jo has taken very much to heart the idea of stitching the entire series. Unfortunately, even Julie wasn't keeping up to Jo in the stitching department, and feeling all alone, Jo's mind began to darken. Before long, she had hatched a very diabolical plot, and began looking for someone with whom to make a pact! We thought it a great idea, and have thrown in with her!

Stitch along with Jo and Julie on the Dark Alphabet - we're about to do L, so there's lots of time! Write to Julie and let her know you intend to do this. Send photos of your letters as you finish them - we'll post them in the Art of Friendship gallery. If you finish the last letter before Jo (and you have to be quick to do this!), she is offering a prize of a $10 coupon (to which we will add a little, too) to spend any way you like at our online store. If you finish before Julie (a MUCH easier task), Julie will give you a prize (she's still thinking what it might be). All you have to do is "sign up" by emailing Julie and send a picture of each letter as you go. Who knows - the winner might be you! So come on in - stitch along with Jo and Julie and see if you don't have some dark fun!

On another note, we want to thank everyone for your interest in our new products!

We sold out of boxes in record time! To be fair, we started with fewer boxes than usual. We found those little beauties after the manufacturer had stopped making them, and we scoured the internet to find all we could. We liked them so much, we made them our Sailor's Ditty Boxes even though we knew we couldn't make as many as we'd like - but we never thought we'd sell out in less than a day! Thank you! We are already planning the next box, and it will be something we can make a "normal" amount of. All our boxes are limited editions, though, so do check back to see how we are doing from time to time. We'd hate for you to miss your chance!

We've been extra busy the last little while - one of our new interests is the Jane Austen Society of North America, which we joined, along with our local chapter. We love Jane Austen's books, of course, but are also enchanted with the fashion of that era, so of course, any opportunity to dress up and go for tea!

We recently attended the 20th Anniversary Dinner of the Puget Sound chapter of JASNA. Such fun, and what friendly, charming people. They posted some pictures on their site, as well. There's always something fun to do, it seems!

L is for Lightning Bird and Long-Armed Cross

He looks like such a nice bird. I even told Julie it looks cute, not scary at all! But in history this bird whacks a punch in folklore. A mythological creature in South Africa the Lightning Bird is the size of a human, black and white in coloring and it summons thunder and lightning with it's wings and talons. It is associated with witchcraft and has quite an appetite for blood. Sometimes it takes on the image of a young man to seduce women.

Another name for this bird is the hamerkop. This bird is known to decorate its nest with anything from handkerchiefs to bicycle tires! Quite a sight to see.

In the Zulu culture someone who spends much time in front of a mirror is called thekwane, their name for the hamerkop, because they are like the bird that is found to spend hours beside the water's edge looking at their reflection.

There are many stories of the evil that strikes if you harm this bird... such as your hair falling out or you dying as a result or just evil befalling you. So even though it looks kind of cute, don't let it fool you!

The long-armed cross stitch is used for the ground the bird stands on in the chart - just a little bit for you to practice. There are many, many variations on cross-stitch, and this is one of my favorites.

This example is in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London

It lends a braided look to a design and is easy and fast to do. Also sometimes called the Long-legged Cross, Portuguese and Plaited Slav stitch, it's a versatile border or filling stitch, perfect when texture and solid coverage are required.

Instructions for completing this stitch abound on the internet.

Have fun with your lightning bird! As always, click on the picture of the chart, or on "Freebies" in the side bar to download the chart.

Will and Jo with A Diabolical Pact

2011-08-12T22:14:00.000-07:00

Oh, we've been busy the last few weeks. We love to play, but we do love to work, too, and this spring, after our hiatus, our creative juices started to flow, and we have some new products that we think will really fly off the shelves.

First of all, we have a whole new line of items - "Mademoiselle's Oak Tree Folly Accoutrements". We imagined a little French girl sitting under an oak tree and stitching with all her treasures around her. What kind of stitching treasures would she have? We started with a glove scissors pocket, complete with stork embroidery scissors;

moved on to a shoe etui, which holds a thimble, pretty beaded pins and, of course, needles;

and added a fan scissors pocket/needleminder/etui, which comes complete with dainty Storkette scissors, beaded pins, needles and a magnetic closure which doubles as a needle minder.

The thread palette, a sweet horn book needle book and matching bookmark fill up her sewing basket. Such fun!

And... ta da ta ra! We have new boxed sets! FINALLY! We started working on a nautical set last summer. As most of you know, a few wrenches thrown into the works slowed us down, but we kept at it!

We have two new boxes, on the nautical theme - The Sailor's Ditty Box - a lovely box with accordion fold pages, which we've filled up with toys and charts for you. The adorably colored fish scissors are to die for! Both boxed sets have now sold out - thank you all so much!

A companion to the Ditty Box, or just to have for traveling, is the Itty Bitty Ditty! Just big enough for a pair of Little Gems scissors, a needle threader, waxer and pin-keep, the box will hold your orts and the ribbon on the scissors, as well as the magnet in the lid will make sure you don't have any stray needles or scissors rolling down the airplane aisles.

Our boxes are all made of papier-mache, then grain-painted. That's the most fun part - we mix up our colors and make each box unique and beautiful! I just love the seafoam green we dreamed up for our nautical theme!

There are a few more new items - take a look!

Now, just where do Will and Jo come in? Not to mention a DIABOLICAL plot!

The last weekend in July, Becky and I traveled to Cedar City, Utah to attend a Swan Sampler Guild retreat. During the day, we learned finishing techniques for Betsy Morgan's Toy Chest Etui, and in the evening, we attended the Utah Shakespeare Festival, which is where Will comes in. The Swans really do things up well - we had so much fun, and met such interesting and friendly members from all over. We stayed in a gorgeous old Victorian house turned into a B & B. If you get a chance to go to Cedar City, you should definitely stay at the Iron Gate!

While we were there, we previewed our new items, including some we thought would be especially of interest to Swans, such as the Swan Lace Scissors Pocket, and matching Swan Lace Etui.

It's always so fun to show our "babies" to a new audience, and this was no exception! The Swan items are now all on the website, so if you're a Swan who missed the retreat, or just like these pretty designs, go and check them out!

Okay, you say - I don't see any diabolical pacts.... But wait!

Many of you, who are following the progress of our free Dark Alphabet will know that Jo is actually stitching it! I'm afraid, because I have been working to get things done for the Toy Box Etui, that even I have not stitched much, though I do intend to fix that now. But Jo is getting lonely... so she has devised a nefarious plot to get you all involved! Here it is in her own words:

"My plan is to invite people to enter into a "diabolical pact" with me to finish this first! I'm know people are collecting the patterns and I'm sure some are stitching but not sharing so I thought I'd challenge everyone to try beat me in finishing the letters A-Z. Not the personalised squares because not everyone will be doing those and I'm doing two! We're not halfway through the designs yet so there's plenty of time to catch up.

People would have to let you and me know they want to enter into the pact then email you a photo of their finished project. I will treat the first person to email you the completed A-Z in any format (sampler or individual ornaments) to something from your shop to the value of US$10 but only if they beat me to doing it first!

If I finish first then I take their soul or their first-born child. I'm not fussy! Seriously though, I just like the idea of having someone else to SAL with. This will not be open to Julie or any employees/friends/family who may have early peeks at the charts

They don't need a blog to take part!"

Even though I can't win, I do promise to try to keep up! And of course, In the Company of Friends will also throw in a prize to whoever finishes first! May the best stitcher win!

All that said, of course, we don't have a letter this week! But we do, indeed, have a chart for you. While we were in Utah, a few people noticed that I had stitched an extra "toy" for myself - a Ouija Board. Since a number of folks asked, and since it's my own design, we're offering that up here as our freebie this week. This is kind of an intense stitch (and of course, I did it over one to fit it into my space). But I think it turned out great!

So, click on Freebies in the sidebar or on the picture above to take you to the freebies page for the chart of the Ouija board. Choose your own colors, or look at my finished piece for inspiration. I colored it to go with the rest of my toys, but if I were doing this as a stand-alone, I'd probably do it a single, dark color on a warm brown linen, or all in muted brown threads.

Next time - back to the Dark Alphabet!

K is for Kelpie and Kelim Stitch

2011-08-06T20:00:00.000-07:00

The Kelpie is a mythological shape-shifting water demon in the shape of a horse from Scottish Celtic history that lures people, especially children onto it's back then takes them out into the water, where it kills and eats them.

Usually found in lakes and rivers, but I did find a YouTube video story that showed it along the ocean shore. What an alluring and beautiful creature with such a violent way about it. There are also stories of Kelpies in British and Irish history.

Our special stitch today is the Kelim Stitch, also known as the Knitting Stitch or Tapestry Stitch. It is considered to be a canvas stitch but often appears on samplers with Pattern Darning blocks and was perhaps a schoolroom exercise for repairing stockinette textiles, according to Eileen Bennett in The Red Book of Sampler Stitches.

This stitch can be affected by the weight of thread compared to the weight of ground fabric as told in Jan Eaton's book The Complete Stitch Encyclopedia.

Once again, you have just a taste of the stitch, as it is used to make the mane on the Kelpie.

Have fun with K is for Kelpie. To get the free chart, click on the picture at the top of this page, or on Freebies in the side bar.

J is for Jack-in-the-Box and Jacobean Couching Stitch

2011-07-19T15:00:00.000-07:00

What do you think of when you think of the childhood toy, "Jack in The Box"? Many think of the song "Pop Goes the Weasel", a popular tune the many of the jack in the box toys played as you cranked the handle waiting to see when that funny little clown would jump out of his box. It doesn't seem all too frightening, unless you have a fear of clowns. But do you know the origins of this childhood toy?

Depending on the country, the story varies a bit in it's telling, but most involve a devil! In French the jack-in-the-box is called a "diable en boîte", which means "boxed devil". One of the first jack-in-the-boxes was pictured holding a boot with a devil in it. Some believe that the name "Jack" was a reference to the devil, referred to as a jack - is this also where we get Jack-o-lantern?

There is a legend in England about 13th century English prelate Sir John Schorne who claimed to have captured the devil by trapping him a boot. This story may have contributed to the toy's invention as well, as illustrations were made of him holding a boot with the devil's head popping out of it. According to folklore, he once cast the devil into a boot to protect the village of North Marston in Buckinghamshire. This theory may explain why in French, a jack-in-the-box is called a "diable en boîte" (literally "boxed devil").

Of course, wind-up toys had been evolving since early Grecian days and there was a revival of this earlier technology with clockmakers beginning in the 13th century.

In 1570 a jack-in-the-box was a phrase given a name as a sharp or a cheat, who deceived tradesmen by substituting empty boxes for others full of money. So you see, this smiling clown came by way of more frightening times.

The Jack-in-the-Box has been one of the most enduring toys throughout the centuries. There are many stories and theories circulating about its origins. One theory is that it was a toy that was popularized in the 15th and 16th centuries, based on the very popular Punch puppet featured in the Punch and Judy shows seen in public squares throughout England beginning in the Middle Ages.

Early Jack-in-the Box toys resembled the jester Punch, with his white painted face.

The first documentation of a Jack-in-the-Box toy was of one made in Germany in the early 16th century by a clockmaker as a gift for the son of a local prince. The wooden box had a handle on the side that when cranked, would play music until a jack, or devil on a spring was suddenly released. Word spread among the nobles and the demand for this toy was created.

Technology improved, and by the 1700s, the Jack-in-the-Box had become easier to produce, thus becoming a common toy for people of all ages. The Cockney tune known as Pop Goes the Weasel became a frequently used melody in the toy. The Jack-in-the-Box itself became a frequently used image in political cartoons, featuring the face of the latest politician to be lambasted.

In the 1930s, the Jack-in-the-Box toy began to be made out of tin, rather than wood. The exterior of the boxes were stamped with images from nursery rhymes and the "jack" was changed to one of the characters featured in the rhymes. The music was the tune traditionally sung along to the rhyme. A huge variety of Jack-in-the-Box characters continue to be made today and make a great toy for young children, due to the surprise factor associated with it. Of course, many people who are merely young at heart enjoy them, too.

Word Origin & History

jack-in-the-box

1570, originally a name for a sharp or cheat, "who deceived tradesmen by substituting empty boxes for others full of money" [Robert Nares, "A Glossary of Words, Phrases, Names, and Allusions," London, 1905]. As a type of toy, it is attested from 1702.

Jacobean Couching Stitch

Jacobean Couching is a filling stitch that is made up of horizontal and vertical long stitches, which are couched at the intervals with a cross stitch. This stitch is especially effective done using two colors, one for the horizontal and vertical threads and another for the cross stitch that couches the intervals. You can also use beads for the couching stitch.

Jacobean embroidery uses many filling stitches to add depth and dimension to the popular plant life created during this time period of embroidery. Many refer to this work as crewel work when they see it. It was popular in ecclesiastical works, creating bed hangings and furnishings.

The internet has many sources for learning the stitch and some history and examples of Jacobean embroidery. You may wish to experiment with more of the filling stitches used in this type of embroidery as well. Julie has used the Jacobean Couching Stitch to make the harlequin design on the front of the box that Jack sits in.

Jo has reported that she has spotted my "deliberate" error - and since I'm not smart enough to have put in a deliberate error, I feel I should point out to those of you who don't want a "jock" in the box, that I forgot the tail on the a... a simple fix for you!

As always, please click on the picture of the chart to go to our Freebies page, or click on Freebies on the sidebar. Once there, click on A Dark Alphabet. You may have to refresh the page to see the latest chart.

I is for Inky Darkness - Two Sided Italian Cross Stitch and "assIsI" Embroidery

2011-07-13T18:05:00.000-07:00

Nyctophobia

Fear of the Dark

What makes you afraid of the inky dark night? So many tales of old tell us of the frights people have of the night and the dark. Do you have a favorite from your childhood that made you shiver and shake? Share it with us in the comments, we can all have a shiver or two before we take to our beds tonight!

I did use to think the movie "The Birds" was the scariest thing there was and then I had the opportunity to watch it a few years ago with my daughter. She loves scary shows! I don't enjoy them and so leave them usually to her and her dad and brother. But I thought I would show her mine from my youth. Gosh, it's surprising how different that movie looks now at this age. Those birds don't really appear all that real in many of the scenes now and when I was young I just thought they were so frightening! I still don't like birds flying around me too closely. Here is a web site I found that explains some of those fears we have about the inky dark of night.

Julie looked at lots of pictures of haunted houses before deciding which way to go with this week's letter.

Stitches for Inky Darkness

We are giving you two stitch options for this chart. Two sided Italian cross stitch and Assisi embroidery. Two sided Italian cross stitch may be difficult for those of you who are stitching over one. But will be a great effect for those stitching over two threads, and leaving the pattern showing in the negative space. For those stitching over one, we have given information on the AssIsI stitch.

Two Sided Italian Cross Stitch also known as Arrowhead Stitch

Once again my favorite guide and historical information on this stitch is from The Red Book of Sampler Stitches by Eileen Bennett.

This stitch is 2 threads wide by 2 threads high and can also be found by the alternate name of Arrowhead Cross.

The two-sided Italian Cross Stitch was rarely used on the American sampler, but was a favored stitch of the earlier 16th century Italian stitchers. This stitch was also found on the Jane Bostocke sampler of 1598 England.

In 16th Century Italian needlework this stitch was used as a pulled thread stitch and could be seen as a background stitch to early Assisi work.

The two sided Italian cross stitch can also be a reversible stitch, looking alike on both sides of the linen fabric by altering the stitching sequence slightly. You can see this sequence in Eileen's book if you prefer to do it in this manner.

AssIsI Embroidery

Assisi is a counted thread embroidery stitch that is historically found in Italy and fills in the background of the piece to create the image in the areas left open of stitches. I was lucky enough to visit Assisi, Italy a few years ago and saw several women working on their embroidery there in some of the shops where they sell their wares as well. I brought home a piece from one of the ladies I met in the shop and it has been a true treasure of mine.

Here is a free pattern to try.

As always, click on the picture of the chart to go to the Freebies page on our website. Another way to get there is to click on Freebies in the sidebar. Once on the Freebies page, click on Dark Alphabet.

Jo has been faithfully stitching away - she is so fast, and has our heads spinning - look at how spectacular her alphabet looks!

H is for Headless Horseman and Herringbone-Filling Stitch!

2011-07-01T15:26:00.000-07:00

Before we get into this week's chart and stitch, we would like to let you all know that we have slashed not only the head from this poor horseman, but the price of our wearable pins! (Sorry - couldn't resist.) We never have sales, and this isn't a sale, but a permanent drop in price. The wearable pin was one of our very first products and since then, we've branched out to add so many more ideas. We don't make many pins any more, and it occurred to us, as we were going over inventory, that the price of that item really wasn't in keeping with our newer pieces. We have tried hard to keep very affordable prices for all our items - after all, our company was born when we were despairing of being able to find any inexpensive needlework-related items in gift shops while we were on our travels. You want to bring gifts back for your stitching friends, but of course, as you and I know all too well, we are happily encumbered with so very many friends that we can't spend too, too much on any one item! Now this is getting to be a very long story, but the upshot is that we have cut in half the price of all our wearable pins - instead of $10.00, they now sell for $5.00 each! (And for shop-owners, our wholesale prices have also dropped accordingly)

Our next chart is H is for Headless Horseman.

The Headless Horseman Pursuing Ichabod Crane (1858) by John Quidor

The headless horseman has appeared in many forms of literature throughout history and throughout the world. Many countries have their own unique version of the headless horseman. We find versions in Texas, Ireland, Germany, India.... the most known version is probably that of Ichabod Crane and the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, based on a German folktale, first written down by Karl Musäus. It later was used as the basis of a story by Washington Irving.

Ichabod pursued by the Headless Horseman,"by F. O. C. Darley, 1849.

Some of the story of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow is based on true facts and one of the names that caught my attention was that of Van Tassel. Could this be a relation to our friend Ruth Van Tassel, who owns the wonderful antique shop in PA where we like to go and drool over her samplers?

The Sleepy Hollow Bridge Ichabod Crane didn't quite make it across.

The Texas version was created to stop stock theft on the ranches, he was called El Muerto, the Dead One.

In Barvaria, he patrols the forests. In India, he is called Dund and his head is tied to his saddle. In Germany, he is a bad person who had been condemned and rides with his hell-hounds chasing innocent people.

In Ireland, it is said that after sunset, on certain festivals and feast days, one of the most terrifying creatures in the spirit world, the Dullahan, can be seen riding a magnificent black stallion across the country side. Wherever he stops, a mortal dies. Clad in flowing black robes, the Dullahan has no head on his shoulders. He carries it with him in his hand, and because he is endowed with supernatural sight, he will hold the head up high. This allows him to see great distances, even on the darkest night.

But beware watching him pass by. You'll be punished by either having a bucket of blood thrown in your face or you might be struck blind in one eye. The biggest fear of all, however, is if he stops wherever you are and calls out your name. This will draw out your soul and you'll no longer be among the living.

Unlike the Banshee, which is known to warn of an imminent death in certain families, the Dullahan does not come to warn. He is a definite harbinger of someone's demise and there exists no defense against him - except perhaps, an object made of gold. For some reason, the Dullahan has an irrational fear of gold and even a tiny amount may be enough to frighten him off.

The Headless Horseman still rides today in Conner Prairie Indiana where at Halloween he will be your transportation through their Haunted Village. Conner Prairie is a living history museum, one I still have to visit one day!

Now you know more than you ever wanted to about the headless horseman that roams the world! Julie has designed one that is sure to bring a smile, not a fright to your piece!

As usual - click on the picture of the chart to go to our Freebies page where you can download this and other free charts and tutorials, or click on "Freebies" in the side bar.

The chart features the Herringbone-Filling Stitch, which is unlike any other Herringbone stitches I've seen. But it worked so well for the horse's mane, that we decided to go with it. Unfortunately, we couldn't find out much about it, but here is a good diagram about halfway down the page. You will see that I have used only two "bones" on each stitch, instead of the three shown, but it gives you a little taste of the stitch. Enjoy your "h" stitching!

NOTE!!!! While working on "I is for..." I noticed that two of the color symbols had been left off the H chart. I have now fixed the chart and so please take a moment to download it again. So sorry for the inconvenience!

Julie

Gargoyles and God's Eyes

2011-06-18T13:14:00.000-07:00

Originally a gargoyle was a water spout, mounted on the eave and directing water away from a building so that the water would not erode the mortar. If a stone carving carries no water and has a face or resembles a creature, these are technically called grotesques.

Over the passage of time the word gargoyle became the term used to describe any and all the fantastic creatures on a cathedral or other building. Folklore held that gargoyles are good luck and frightened away evil spirits.

During the 1200's when gargoyles first appeared (and at many other times), the Roman Catholic Church was actively involved in converting people of other faiths to the Catholic, often very keenly indeed (as the Christian but non-Catholic Cathars could testify). The argument for decorated gargoyles runs as follows: Since literacy was generally not an option for most people, images were very important. Since the religious images (if any) that non-Christians were accustomed to were of animals or mixtures of animals and humans (e.g. the horned god, the Green Man), then putting similar images on churches and cathedrals would encourage non-Catholics to join the religion and go to church, make them feel more comfortable about it, or at least ease the transition.

Myths held that gargoyles come alive at night and return to their place when the sun comes up! Some believed that these figures on the cathedrals would come alive at night to protect.....ward off evil and such. The ones with wings were believed to fly around at night keeping watch from the sky. Some of the explanations of the symbolism of gargoyles are found to have sexual connotations. Oh my!

The Washington National Cathedral has many gargoyles and even offers a gargoyle tour! If only we lived closer! If anyone takes this in, be sure to let us know all about it and what you learned.

Julie's Gargoyle chart has used the God's Eye stitch for the eyes of her gargoyle - which helps him gain a grotesqueness - otherwise, he kind of looks like a happy little puppy that someone put some wings on!

"May the eye of God be upon you."

The God's Eye Stitch is an isolated stitch used on even weave fabrics. It is similar in construction to the ribbed spider's web and makes a bold raised diamond shape with a long tail. It is a great accent stitch where texture or color is needed. One of my favorite sources for learning the stitch is, The Complete Stitch Encyclopedia by Jan Eaton. I have also included some web sites that show how to create this stitch.

God's eye or Ojo de Dios on Quemado Mountain, San Luis Potosi,Mexico, photo by Anaroza, 2007

You may remember making God's eyes as children, with two sticks as the base and wrapping the colorful yarns around them. This is a craft many of us enjoyed in our scouting days. Ojo de Dios is Spanish for "eye of God." It is pronounced "oh-ho-day-Dee-ohs" (the "j" is silent or sometimes has a light "h" sound). The " Ojo de Dios" or God's Eye is an ancient symbol made by the Huichol Indians of Mexico and the Aymara Indians of Bolivia. Ojos de Dios (plural) were discovered by early Spaniards when they encountered the Huichol (pronounced "wettchol") Indians in the Sierra Madre mountains of Mexico. The four points of the crossed sticks represent earth, air, water, and fire. In Bolivia, "God's Eyes" were made to be placed on an altar so that the gods could watch over the praying people and protect them. When one makes a traditional Ojo de Dios, one is expressing a prayer that the "Eye of God" will watch over them or the person they are making it for (oftentimes a child). The Ojo de Dios is also a physical representation of praying for health, fortune, and a long life. To some Christians, it means a prayer for "May the eye of God be upon you." In Mexico, The central eye was made when a child was born. Each year, a bit of yarn was added until the child turned five at which point the Ojo was complete.

In folk art, the God's Eye has been taken to new levels - even a God's Eye Quilt.

As usual, click on the photo of the chart to get to the freebie chart, or click on Freebies in the sidebar and look for A Dark Alphabet on the Freebie page of our website.

Julie has been stitching, and has C and F stitched!

She still hasn't caught up to Jo, but she's pretty happy.

Pandora Settles In

2011-06-08T19:51:00.000-07:00

On her second day in America, Dora awoke with some confusion. She had been dreaming of James, and that he had met her ship and they'd been married. When she found herself waking up in a strange bed and no sign of James, she wondered idly where he'd gone. Then she remembered. Captain Doble and his wife, Charity, had taken her in after telling her that James had died.

She fought to stop the tears from forming and wondered what to do now? Rereading the last letter that James had left for her, she realized that first she would have to find a place to live and make arrangements to contact Mr. Otis in Andover. James had mentioned taking a house for them - was that still available?

Over breakfast with the Dobles' she found that, indeed, the house had been taken for a year and was close by. If she wished, Captain Doble could take her there this morning. The sun was shining brightly on the harbor as they walked a few small blocks and came to a charming little house with a neat yard. We found a drawing of the house that we think Dora made some time while she lived there.

Inside, Dora found that James had brought in some basic furnishings, and she would be able to set up house very easily. In the desk found in the front parlor, was a receipt from the landlord for a year's rent paid in advance. For the first time since she'd left the ship, Dora felt like she'd come home. In the next instant, the full realization hit her that she would spend her time in this home alone. She hadn't really let herself believe this, but now, as she saw the careful preparations James had made for her arrival, she knew just how much she would miss him. It was too much for her to bear. She hated to break down in front of Captain Doble, and he seemed to understand, as he proposed that he "make an inspection of the grounds and garden to see if anything needed tending to" and stepped outside.

A drawing of Dora's yard.

Dora sank into a chair that had been placed by the fireplace, and realized that James' own hands had placed it there for her. She wept for the first time, and after a quarter of an hour, she knew that she would wait here for James to return, as she was not convinced that he was really gone. She'd be able to feel it if he were gone, wouldn't she? And they'd never found him. He could be ill somewhere, waiting to gain his strength before coming back to meet her. She'd wait.

When Captain Doble entered the house again, she greeted him cheerfully and asked if he'd like a cup of tea? She'd been rummaging in the cupboards and found some provisions were already here. She'd later ask Charity to show her where to do the marketing and she'd be able to manage very nicely. That afternoon, Charity and Dora were back in the little house, scrubbing and cleaning everything and getting all ready for Dora to move in, with the help of some of Charity's friends. On her third day in America, Pandora Boxworth moved into her own home, and began to settle in, making friends easily as she met the ladies in Charity's circle. No friend would ever mean as much to her as Charity, but it was good to have company, especially through the harsh winter. Now that she had a pretty little home, she began to feel very much as if she belonged in this new land, and as she talked with her new friends, and read the news accounts of the events going on all over New England, she began to realize that this new land was very different from her home in England.

Dora's pencil drawing of Charity.