Christmas decorating, open house party

Hello, I know I have been missing for several weeks...I have been busy getting ready for a Christmas open house party that I held yesterday afternoon for about 40 friends and neighbors.  That may not sound like so awfully many people to those of you who are used to entertaining, which I am not.  For me to get ready for this, cook and decorate the house, took nearly every waking moment for two solid weeks!

Here are some pictures of Merry Wind Farm decorated for Christmas.  I hope you enjoy.....

First, the side porch, which is the entrance that we use for company.  The door opens straight into the dining room.  There are three doors together right there, the left goes into the mudroom, the middle to the dining room, and the right door into the kitchen.  It's funny because when people come they don't know which door to knock on!!  The Merry Wind Farm sign was made by a local artist, and I made the Williamsburg type plaque with pineapple underneath.

The dining room, with the table nearly ready.

Also in the dining room, next to the back stairs, a collage my mother made out of tissue paper years ago.  I just love it!!

In the family room, my primitive tree, decorated mostly with ornaments made by me and all the ornaments that my son made when he was little.

Also in the family room, old stepback  cupboard with antique horse weathervane on top.  I made the Noah's ark set years ago from a pattern in a magazine that went out of business.

On to the living room...pewter in pie safe with old YULE blocks.  The pie safe was made for my ancestor for his daughter as a wedding present.

Living room, with old chandelier and Christmas tree.  

Christmas tree and antique c.1840 Scottish tall case clock.  I saw the stencil design in one of Judy Condon's books and just loved the subtlety of it.

Living room fireplace.  The photo on the mantel is my great, great grandparents.

On the mantel, a collection of antique angels.  The ones in the middle were purchased in occupied Germany after the war, my husband's father was in the air force.  

Stockings that I have made through the years going up the stairs.  See how I have progressed from the simple one on the left to the crazy quilt on the right!

And finally, a little bench made by a local artist, that echoes my sentiments exactly!  I just love it!!   I just noticed that one of my cats snuck in the picture at the bottom!   Merry Christmas to All!  Hugs, Melinda

The Night Before Thanksgiving, and All Is ......

Peaceful!!!  I am not running around like a crazy person trying to get all the last minute cleaning and cooking done!!  I am not rushing out to the grocery store for last minute items!!  I am not picking up the turkey at the turkey farm!!  I am not worrying over how to set a beautiful table for tomorrow!!

You may ask, what am I doing?  I am relaxing, playing on the computer, and enjoying a beautiful, rare, late November day in Ohio!  That is because for the first time in 55 years, I am going to somebody else's home for Thanksgiving dinner!   Yippeee!!!!!   I have been invited to my son's girlfriend's house.  He is now 21 and they have been together since they were 16.  All I have to do is make a dessert for tomorrow.  

So... since I'm sitting here at leisure, I thought I'd share a few photos.    From the back of the house looking at what was the original milk house with root cellar below.

The horses enjoying the day .. they were clean and pretty yesterday, but not today.

Here are a few of my samplers going up the staircase, along with a Civil War flag that we found in the attic.  It was in bad shape but I had it framed to try and preserve it.  It has 34 stars, which means it is from between Kansas statehood in 1861 and West Virginia in 1863.  I had read that people did not display flags back then like we do now, that only military and ships had flags.  So that makes me think that whoever lived here during the Civil War must have served and brought the flag back with them.  I have researched the Quaker family who built the home in 1805, but they had all moved away within 20 years and I have never gotten around to researching the later owners.  

Here are some more samplers at the top of the stairs.

And more ... hope this is not too boring.  This is Dutch Beauty.  There was a yahoo group formed years ago for people stitching this sampler.  It took me four years on and off to complete it.

Just 2 more ...  Sarah Willson, which is probably my all time favorite.  I first saw the actual antique sampler on Scarlet Letter's site, and just had to stitch it, so I got all my stitching friends to write to her so that she would chart it.  Sorry for the flash..

And lastly, Jane Atkinson  .  Hope you all have a peaceful and happy Thanksgiving.  

Hugs,

Melinda

My New Pasture Ornament!!!

Hello, all,
I am enjoying what is surely one of the last beautiful weekends here in Ohio.  I want to show you my new ornament!!  Pasture ornament, that is hehehe!!  Now that I no longer ride,  due to dr.'s advice after a hip replacement, I adopt horses that no one wants from a wonderful organization here in Ohio called New Vocations.  I have adored horses ever since I am can remembe, in fact my parents bought this farm 35 years ago so that we didn't have to board our horses.  Boarding facilities never took good enough care to suit us.  I got my first horse when I was 16, as a bribe from my mother to put off getting my driver's license.  Unlike most teenagers, I was tickled to death to have a horse instead of a car!!


My new horse is named Tanzanite, she is a registered off the track Standardbred, as are the other two.  She is 14, and after racing served an Amish family in Indiana for several years, who called her Blossom.  She has some arthritis in her front leg, as a result of over 10,000 miles in harness, and deserves a nice retirement.  Here she is peaking out trying to get up the nerve to join the others.

Ok, here I am, aren't I pretty???

Here is Anna, she is quite a big girl at age 20, and she thinks she is quite special as she was Ohio filly of the year 17 years ago.  She isn't as old as you think, as I had a previous horse live to be 45!  Anna is quite busy asserting herself as head mare today.

Here are all three together.  The third horse is a gelding named Pip's Affair "Pipsy".    No one wanted him as he was raced so much that he had a suspensory injury, which is basically the ligament between the ankle and foot.  He is now completed rehabbed and enjoying the  good life.

 That's all for now, time to get back down to the barn and feed supper.
Hugs,
Melinda

Shopping Karma Was With Me This Weekend!

What a fun weekend I have had!  My best friend was down from Akron visiting, and we just  shopped and talked 'til we dropped!!!

First of all, there was a Hospice Shop sale... they were selling stuff that was donated from a neat local shop, with primitives among other things.  Came home with a Christmas tree for $10!  Now I have to return the one I ordered for $125.  It doesn't look like much now, but it will!!  It even came with lights.

Lots of other neat stuff ............ all at great prices and for a wonderful organization!  I don't know what I would have done without Hospice when my father and husband died.

Then, it was time to shop for quilting and stitching projects!  We have decided to start a Civil War  sampler quilt, which mean shopping for some new fabrics and pulling more out of the "stash". This is what I came up with... turkey reds, browns, mustard for the backgrounds, blues and greens.

We also chose our next sampler to stitch together.  I love her verse.  We picked something small for now, and after the holidays will get into something larger.

 

Speaking of Civil War, I am also working on putting these antique pinwheel blocks that I have, which are from the 1800's, together with these hourglass blocks to make a small quilt.  I just love how she pieced together bits of fabric to come up with a piece large enough for the pattern...so different from how we just go to the quilt shop today and buy what we need!

As you can see, a good time was had by all!

Enjoy the rest of your week...

Hugs,

Melinda

Greetings from Merry Wind Farm on a blustery Ohio autumn day...


I thought I would post a little about my favorite type of schoolgirl samplers...Scottish samplers, namely Scottish House Samplers.  I recently purchased an antique Scottish house sampler on ebay, Mary Inglis 1830.  Note the house, the family initials (the ones in black indicate deceased), the laurel around her name, the large eyelet alphabet, and the trees on either side of the house.  I would love to chart this so I could stitch a reproduction of Mary's sampler.

Compare this sampler with three Scottish reproductions that I have stitched.  First, here is Isabel Redie 1816 (chart by Scarlet Letter).  Isabel was a more accomplished stitcher, as evidenced by the intricacy of her arcaded bands and alphabet.
There is a similar large gabled house ...

Then we have Agnes Scott 1810 (chart by Ellen Chester of With My Needle).  Once again ... a very similar house and black initials of deceased family members...

There has been much research into the source of the large house so frequently depicted on Scottish samplers in the early 1800's, but nothing has ever been found.  Was there a real building somewhere, or was is just a pattern used by many teachers?


Finally, a Scottish sampler without a house, but with the same laurel and trees.  This is Jean Scrimgeowr 1779 (Scarlet Letter again)

I do not claim to be an expect on any of this, far from it, just an embroiderer who loves stitching and Scottish samplers.  I hope you have enjoyed looking at them.


Have a nice weekend!  'Til next time ....
Melinda

On September 29-October 1, I was privileged to take the wonderful 3 in 1 Creative Workshop, a primitive rug hooking class right here in historic Tipp City, Ohio.  The three nationally known teachers were Ali Strebel, Nola Heidbreder, and Karen Kahle.  They offered a different approach to a rug hooking class, in that different patterns could be interpreted many different way, thus everyone's rug was different.  


The subject this year was Geometrics and this is how I chose to interpret my design.  Much care was taken to make the hit or miss design look like an antique rug, following Karen's advice and examples.   I learned so much about color values and what all you can mix into lights and darks.


The class was wonderful and the shopping for hand dyed wools and other goodies in their shops was to die for!!

So, what do you think?  Does it look like an old antique rug?


Hugs till next time... Melinda

Anne Maria Clarke sampler

Here is the latest sampler that I just finished stitching yesterday.  It is a beautiful reproduction of Anne Maria Clarke's sampler stitched in 1824/1825 at age 12 (in the 13th year of age is 12).  She dedicated her sampler as an invitation to LaFayette, who made a triumphant return tour to America.  This was an enormous deal at that time, with the entire country celebrating his return.   The original sampler is in the collection of the Valentine Museum in Virginia.  A good deal of the original verse was missing, and I did not want a blank spot on my sampler.  I spent several weeks researching everything I could find online about Lafayette's visit,  reading books, poetry, and songs.  I was unable to find the original print source of Anne Maria's verse, so I used other phrases that I found that worked with the rhyming and cadence of the verse.  Although Anne Maria did not stitch all of it herself, I feel she might have used these words that I chose.

The sampler is stitched on 35 count linen using cross over one and two, rice stitch, and a queen stitch variation in the border that is my own creation, since I disliked queen stitch.  The reproduction was an online class by Margriet Hogue of The Essamplaire  in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada.