Anniversary week - day 3 and the weekend

 Day #3

So let's take up where we left off, we got up on day three and knew we wanted to visit two places.  Our first stop was the Lane Motor Museum.  Lane Motor Museum features 150 unique cars and motorcycles and is home to the largest European collection in the U.S. The current exhibit focused on French cars!

As you can tell from the picture, it was another rainy day.  Perfect for a museum visit!  We couldn't decide if this building had once been a car dealership or just what it had been.  We later learned it had originally been home of the Sunbeam Bakery.

This is the view from inside.  I thought of my international readers and wondered if any of you had ever seen some of these wonderful cars on your local streets?  They were magnificent!

This was one of my favorite "tiny" cars.  Isn't it just so cute?!  It looks like a toy but it wasn't.  It's street legal and still runs.

This one was the tiniest cars in the whole place.  Yes, it ran too.  So cute!

Check out these Fiats!  So stinkin' cute.

This is also a Fiat!  I would totally drive this to work but I'd paint it a different color.  Love the shape of this one.

After we left the car museum we braved the traffic and went to The Hermitage, home of President Andrew Jackson.  This is the grand view of the front of the house.  They gave us little devices where we could listen to sound bites along the walking tour that talked about the grounds, the family and significant happenings.

I just had to take this picture.  There is a story that has gone around for years that President Jackson didn't want to spend the money to make the whole house grand so he just made the front look good for the arriving visitors.  Yep, that would be true!  Here's the proof.  If you look at the above picture and then look at this one, you'd be fooled too arriving in your buggy between those two grand pines.

DH and I have visited Monticello, home of Thomas Jefferson and when you compare the two, this is a really modest home.  Not what you'd expect of a president's home. The tour guides said Jackson preferred to be called General Jackson instead of President Jackson.  I found that interesting too.

After our tour we ended up in the gift shop as one usually does.  I was quite surprised to find there were some cross stitch kits there.  I loved the ornament and the sampler is really sweet.  I most likely won't use the Aida in the kit and will find some linen from my stash.  Both were really pretty in person.


If I had to say which plantation I liked better, I'd have to go with Belle Meade.  It just seemed more interesting.  I think it had a lot to do with how knowledgeable the tour guides were.  The ones at the Hermitage just seemed to take for granted that the visitors already knew the story.  Personally, I really didn't know anything about the president other than his picture is on the $20 bill.  I know, that sounds really lame but sadly it's true.  I'm a history buff but presidential/political history really isn't my thing.

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Since we finished our tour in the early afternoon and we really didn't have anything else we wanted to see, we started the drive back home.  However, DH wasn't exactly ready for the trip to end.  He suggested we stop at the Belterra Casino on the river in southern Indiana and spend the night.  Now mind you, the one and only time I ever set foot in a casino was on our honeymoon.  That's because it was connected to the resort we stayed at and you had to go through there to get to the food venue.  To say we are not gamblers is an understatement.  LOL!

I will say it was an interesting experience but I felt a bit sad in there.  So many people, most of them my grandparents' age, just throwing their money away.  I just didn't get it.  I guess I just have a different respect for money than some.

However, if you are looking for a really nice place to stay for not a lot of money, I would recommend you stay in the hotel part of the casino.  It was probably one of the grandest rooms I've ever stayed in!  You could have parked my car in the bathroom it was so huge.  Seriously!  We even had a river view which was super nice.

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The end of our week off found us at the Classic British Motorcycle Club of Cincinnati's show that was held in northern Kentucky.  DH put our 1967 Honda Dream in the show and won first place in his class!  Yep, I was proud as can be and so happy for him.  It was a nice high point to finish our week together.

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So there you have it, the trip recap.  I hope you enjoyed the adventure as much as I did retelling it here.  Thank you for taking the time to comment and visit.  I appreciate your being here even though I haven't been able to post as much as I'd like.

Until next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

Anniversary Week - day 1 & 2

I've had a couple requests and a gentle nudge to share our anniversary week here on the blog.  I'll preface it by saying there's not much stitch related in this post so if a travelogue isn't your thing I understand.  Here we go!

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Day #1

Up until the Sunday before we left, we had no idea where we were going...we left on Tuesday.  We settled on Nashville, TN.  Mind you, neither one of us is into country music but we found plenty to see and do there and along the way.

On the way down, we decided to go to the National Corvette Museum.  DH wanted to see the cars that fell into the sinkhole.  I've been by this many times on my way to Russellville but had never visited.  Since we weren't on a time schedule this trip, we stopped!

This is one of the most damaged cars they pulled from the hole.  The other two behind it also came out of the hole.  Sadly or maybe not, they've patched the hole.  Now there is an outline on the floor showing where the hole had been.  It's crazy to think the floor could just open up like that!  I bet all the surrounding business are a little edgy now.  I would be if I lived or worked in the area!

Speaking of Russellville, every year I pass by a sign that says "South Union Shaker Village" and have thought of stopping but never have.  I mentioned this to DH and he said let's go check it out.  So off we went.  We didn't actually get out and explore much since it was a self-guided walking tour and it was 93 degrees!  Maybe next time.

I had forgotten how close this was to Russellville so instead of doubling back to the highway we drove on into Russsellville.  I gave DH the grand tour of all the "hot spots" we visit when the peeps and I come down for our annual trip.  One of them joked that the tour probably took all of two minutes.  She's pretty much right on that!  Still, it was fun to share this place with him.

We took a scenic back road and made our way to Nashville where we settled in for the night.  I have to say though, the traffic was intense getting there!  Almost as bad as Atlanta!  If you've ever driven through there, you know what I'm talking about.

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Day #2

This was the first Nashville stop, Stitchin' Post.  The owners were celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary and 40th year in business the same week we were there!  Both are pretty special milestones in this day and age.  I'd visited here before in 2013 on our way to Alabama.  I didn't take any inside pics this time since I've already got them in the previous post if you care to check it out. 

Here's what I couldn't live without!  I always collect the JCS Ornaments issue and had to pick one up when I saw it.  I've heard some folks say they didn't like it this year but I found lots in there I want to stitch.  Granted, I'll most likely change the fabric choices and maybe some of the flosses but I liked several of them.

I also picked up fabric, floss and a chart I saw Stasi had stitched a while back called Tools of the Trade Part 1 by Blackberry Lane Designs.  Being a lover of all things strawberry, I couldn't resist.  I also picked up a beaded strawberry fob!

The book is one I'd had my eye on when I was at the Schwenkfelder in the spring.  I didn't get it then but couldn't pass it up this time.  It was only $3.95!  The shop owner was doing some personal de-stashing and I got lucky.  It's a nice book.

Before I left the shop, I asked for directions to get us downtown that would avoid the traffic on the highway.  The route we were given took us directly to downtown Nashville.  Our fist stop was the Harley store for DH  to get a t-shirt.  We walked the whole street and on our way back up it started to rain on us.  Ironically, right at lunch time and right in front of BB King's place!

Seeking refuge from the rain, we went inside and had lunch.  This is the stage and some of the seating.  They have live music in the evenings!  There were folk art paintings of all the blues legends hanging all over the walls and all the table tops were hand painted too. For lunch, I had a pulled pork sandwich and DH had a catfish po' boy.  By the time we went outside, it has stopped raining.  The picture above was taken when we left.

One of the things we both wanted to do was visit Antique Archaeology the Nashville location of the American Pickers!  It's housed inside the old Marathon Motorworks car factory building which is a stone's throw from downtown Nashville.  There are several boutiques inside the building that are fun to check out while you are there.

This was my favorite thing inside the Pickers' shop!  Now that's a frog!!!  Everything inside was for sale and we even remembered different episodes when they picked some of the items there.  Most of the things were way out of our price range.  I do have to say it wasn't as big inside as I had envisioned but it was still a fun place to look around. 

After we checked out the Pickers' shop, we went inside to nose around.  There was all kinds of memorabilia from the building's days as a car factory hanging on the walls.  I particularly liked this old sign!

I popped into one of the little boutique shops and ran across a display of unique sterling silver earrings.  I asked DH what he thought of them and he picked these out for me as an anniversary gift!  Usually he doesn't have an opinion one these types of things but this time he surprised me and that makes these earrings all the more special to me!

We left downtown and headed out to visit Belle Meade Plantation.  It is located just south and a little west of Nashville.  The family who build the plantation made their money studding racehorses back in the 1800's. 

We went on the house tour.  Our tour guide was a lovely young lady that I suspect might have been a student at Vanderbilt University just up the road.  She really made us feel like we were back in time.  I thoroughly enjoyed her taking us through the house.  Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures inside but I did spy several needle pointed and embroidered pieces on our tour!  There was even an awesome sewing table in the ladies' parlor.  Oh how I'd love to have one of those!

After the house tour, we were led to their winery for samples which was included in the price of admission.  I had to laugh, they said they were on one of the few places around that could sell wine on Sunday in case you were having a "wine emergency" while visiting.  So funny!

We made our way back to the hotel after our visit.  A big thunderstorm was rolling in and we didn't want to get caught out in it.  We decided to take the scenic way back. Wow, did  we find some fancy-schmancy neighborhoods.  I wondered as we drove by if any famous people lived in them.

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Well folks, this has gotten lengthy and I need to stop now.  I'll be back to share more soon.  Thank you to all who stuck with me to the end and I hope you enjoyed this bit of our Nashville visit.  Have a great weekend.


More soon,

The Inspired Stitcher

Pennsylvania Road Trip - part 3

We got into Bedford, PA late afternoon on Saturday.  We checked into the hotel and watched the end of "The Devil Wears Prada."  It was a good movie and I wish we'd seen it from the beginning.  I'll have to do that sometime.  So anyway, we ventured out and found us some dinner at a local steak house.  After dinner we came back and settled in for the night.

Our first stop Sunday morning was Mary Koval's Quilt Shop.  All of the fabrics in the shop are designed by Mary and are antique reproductions.  We also checked out the retreat center she has upstairs.  I can see a girlfriends getaway in the future.  Oh yes I do!

Here's the prefect dot fabric I mentioned the other day!  The red matches the stitching colors and the dots have aqua in the centers!  I couldn't ask for anything better.  Now I really can't wait to finish stitching that Hands on Design!  I got the paisley because I can't resist them and you don't see good paisley that often.

After we left the quilt shop we headed over to our last stop on our grand adventure, The National Museum of the American Coverlet.  It is in Bedford too!  It is housed in an old school building.  What an incredible place. 

This is Laszlo Zongor.  He and his wife, Melinda, run the museum and he was our personal tour guide.  What a fountain of knowledge this man is!  I could have listened to him talk about coverlets all afternoon.  Simply amazing.  Here he is telling us about jacquard looms.

The first room he took us through had examples of the different styles of coverlets.  This one is woven by a French weaver who also happened to be female.  We learned that women were not allowed to own property at that time.  However this lady inherited her equipment from her father.  She is the only documented female coverlet weaver.  Her name was Sarah LaTourette.  She originally migrated from Canada to Indiana.  Oddly enough she ended up in the part of Indiana where I'm from originally.  How fun!

This one was woven by a very famous UK weaver who ended up in New York state.  You may recognize the lions in the corners.  Those are known as Harry Tyler's lions and are a dead giveaway that this is one of his coverlets.  UK weavers favored two colors, blue/white or red/white.  They favored a clean edge finish without fringe.

Next was a coverlet woven by a German coverlet weaver.  The German weavers had a fancy for multiple colors and fringe on all four sides.  This particular coverlet did not have a weaver's attribution.

The fourth one in this room was done by Nathaniel Young who was a Dutch weaver.  His coverlet had fringe on two sides.  We learned that fringe is not a hard and fast clue to origin though.  It was all about what the customer wanted to buy.  We also learned that the reason you see reversible lettering and corner blocks is for the customer's benefit so they could enjoy whichever side of the coverlet they favored since they are reversible!

This was another interesting thing we ran across in the museum, an inventory sampler.  I've never seen one of these in person.  It was super neat to see.  I have an old chart for one somewhere.  Hmm...might have to go stash diving!

Here's a look at the room from the first picture.  These coverlets were so well presented.  I just can't say enough nice things about this place!  If you ever get near Bedford, PA it is definitely worth a stop.  I even think the menfolk would enjoy it too.  The most amazing thing about this museum is that it is run entirely on donations from the public and most of their collection is donated too.  Now this is the type of place I like to support!  They even encourage pictures and selfies.  LOL!

After we left the museum, we stopped for a quick bite at the golden arches supper club aka McD's and got back on the road toward home.  This was a funny sight from the road.  I snapped this picture for all you coffee lovers out there.  How's that for a vat of coffee?!

We had pretty good weather the entire weekend with the exception of the way home.  We ran into some pretty intense storms.  I don't know if you can make it out but we got to see a rainbow!  I just had to stick my head out the window and try to snap a picture.  I just love rainbows!  It seemed fitting to see this one after such a wonderful weekend spent in the company of one of my dearest friends.

Well folks, there you have it.  I hope you enjoyed going to Pennsylvania with me.  We truly had the best time!  We are already planning next year's trip.  Thanks for stopping by today.


Have a great weekend!

The Inspired Stitcher

Pennsylvania Road Trip - part 2

On Saturday we got up extra early so we could check out of the hotel and get to our lecture on time.  The lecture was on "Westtown School Samplers."  I didn't realize that Westtown School is still in operation.  I also didn't realize it was a boarding school.  I did know it was Quaker so there's that.  Needless to say, I learned a lot in the lecture.  Later Linda and I decided we should have tried to find the school since we were in the area.  Next time!

After the lecture we decided to go upstairs again for one last perusal.  This booth took our breath away the first time through and we just had to go see it again.  You could tell that lots of samplers had sold since our first trip through.  The vendor was so sweet to let us take pictures.  I think he got tickled at us drooling over his inventory.

This was one of his that I especially liked.  It talks about the sea shore.  One of my very favorite places to be.  I also liked that the verse wasn't morbid like so many of the sampler verses tend to be.

This was another drool worthy item I found in another vendor's display case.  All worked in queen stitches and so very pretty.  I took this picture for one of our guild members who has a fancy for this type of thing.

After we bid the museum farewell, we hit the turnpike again and made our way down to the second "bucket list" stop for the trip, Strawberry Sampler!  This is someplace Linda has wanted to visit forever.  She's talked about it for years.  I've had the good fortune to visit a couple times already.

If you've never been, you really should go!  The girls that work there make you feel like old friends the minute you walk through the door.  And can I just talk about the models?!  Oh. My. Goodness!!!  I mean, just look at this wall!  Every wall was like this and it made you want to buy everything in sight too.

Here are the things I couldn't live without.  I have no idea what I'll do with the dot fabric but you know me and dots.  The bottom piece of fabric is for a chart that Stasi gifted me not long ago and the beads are for the Nora Corbett piece I mentioned last time.  The three charts are ones I fell in love with when the market stuff came out.

Once again we found ourselves looking for a lunch recommendation.  One of the kind ladies at the shop told us about Wawa.  Chris also mentioned it to us too.  So we got directions to the nearest one and off we went.  I had to try the local chips from the display above.  They were pretty good.

Now let me tell you about this place.  It's unlike any convenience store I've ever experienced!  Pardon the glare on the screen in the picture.  This is the computer you use to place your sandwich order.  Behind the menu sign is the food prep area.  People make your hot sandwich right there!  It's kind of like a cross between Subway, in that you can choose what you want on your sandwich, and Panera, where you can get a hot gourmet sandwich!

We picnicked in the car.  I had the turkey panini with sun dried tomato pesto.  Delish!  We also took Chris' suggestion and got a soft pretzel that was baked onsite and Linda found canoli dip for dessert.  I sure wish we had Wawa around here.  I'm definitely remembering this place next time I go east!

After our lunch we got back on the road to head to the next stop on the road trip, Bedford, PA. Once again this has gotten long so I'll leave you here for now and we'll resume the recap next time.

Still more to come,

The Inspired Stitcher

Pennsylvania Road Trip

I'm back as promised to tell you all about the grand adventure I took last weekend.  First some back story.  My peep, Linda has wanted to visit the Penn Dry Goods Market for several years now and for one reason or another it never panned out.  This year luck would have it that my calendar was clear so we started making plans!

We left out on Thursday with a couple "friends" in tow. Yep, Senior Frog and his new buddy, Penelope "Penny" Skunk came along for the ride.  That frog is one well traveled dude.  We got into the hotel early evening then set out to find some dinner.  After dinner we went to scope out where we were going the next morning for our first lecture on "A Morass of Berlin Wool Work: The Pennsylvania Dutch Enthusiasm for Berlin Wool Embroidery, 1830-1900." 

Friday morning we got there early so we perused the vendors on the first floor and checked out the gift shop.  Here's what I couldn't live without.

I couldn't resist the faux iron fence.  I plan to put it around my feather tree display at Christmas time.  The calendar may be out of date but the pictures in it are fabulous.  All the pieces pictured in it are in the Schwenkfelder's collection. I really liked the card and the book mark too.

Then there was Mad Sampler Books.  Oh. My. Goodness.  Did I lose my mind there!  I ended up making three trips to this booth.  Yep, I sure did!  The first trip yielded the Scottish wool for needlbook pages, the needle minder and the needle keep.

The second trip was for the Quaker Pinballs book after seeing some uber expensive pinballs upstairs in the other vendors section (more on that in a bit).  I decided I could make my own and the vendor who had them was nice enough to tip me off that this book was downstairs so down I went.

I hadn't even left the booth when the third trip happened.  My peep, Linda spied the SAN book and knew the first edition was hard to come by so she bought one.  Paige, the bookseller, said she had a second copy so I scooped it up while I had the chance.  Score!

One of the highlights of the event was running into Chris from Tot Hill Farm Stitches.  I almost literally ran into her too.  LOL!  I had taken the goodies above to the car before the lecture and recognized her outside on the sidewalk.  It was so delightful to run into Chris.  It was as if we've known each other forever.  How completely cool is that?!  We got to experience both days' lectures together too. I hope we have another opportunity to get together sometime.

After our lecture we ventured upstairs to see the other vendors.  We both loved the name of this vendor, Cat Lady Antiques.  Cute!  One of our peeps, Evie is a huge cat lover.  We couldn't resist snapping this picture for her.

Some of you may know that I collect strawberries, particularly strawberry pincushions.  Check out this huge one!  Needless to say I couldn't afford to buy this one but I'm glad I got a picture.  Funny story about a strawberry, I had purchased one in the gift shop earlier only to find later that evening it had never made it into my bag.  When I went back the next day for it the clerks had found it on the floor and sold it.  Thankfully they refunded my money.  It was a little disappointing but at least they made it right.

Here are the antique pinballs I mentioned.  Check out the prices on these, $725, $850, $1,100 and $1,300!  W-O-W!  Now you know why I decided I'd just make my own and now you understand why I was so thankful that vendor gave me the tip about the book downstairs.  They sure were pretty though. The blue one is queen stitches and the two on the right are knitted.

 

We did find a vendor who's things were within our price range.  This is what I picked up.  

I already have a brass bullet etui and fell in love with this silver one.  I actually think it may be aluminum or maybe tin.  It was the tiny petit point that sold me on it.  I have no idea its age.  I suspect it's not that old since the thread is wound on a plastic center.  Isn't it sweet?

After we checked out the three upstairs rooms full of museum quality vendors, we decided to hop on the turnpike and venture down to Bristol, PA to visit Ye Olde Cross Stitchery.  The last time I was in the area I had wanted to stop here but we ran out of time.  We got the impression this shop does more online business than walk-ins.  Still it was nice to visit a shop we hadn't been to before.

Of course I found a few things I couldn't live without too.  The beads and the red sparkle braid are for a Nora Corbett piece I want to start soon.  I rarely see banding locally so I picked up a small piece of that too.  I have no idea what I'll do with it but I'm sure I'll eventually figure something out.  The purple floss is a replacement for one I'm using on "Heaven Above."

Here's a comparison.  The one on the left is the new one and the one on the right is the one I already had.  It's interesting to me that the new one is from the old company and the one on the right is from the new one.  I understand that over-dyes vary from batch to batch too.  Anywho, I feel like the new one is more the same intensity as the rest of my floss and won't feel as heavy as the one I started out using.

Before we left the shop we asked for a recommendation for lunch.  We ended up here at the Golden Eagle Diner.  We don't have diners where we live so this was quite an experience!  Their menu was practically as big as the phone book.  So many choices it was hard to decide what to get!

This was the first thing we saw when we walked inside.  A huge pastry counter!  It was like there was a bakery in there with the restaurant.  Is this a normal thing for a diner?!  Holy smokes!

Even though we were stuffed from our sandwiches, we couldn't resist a the canoli.  We each took one of those with us to go for later consumption in the hotel.  And, yes, they were as good as they looked too.  Yum!

After lunch we made our way back to the hotel.  We decided we still had time to go back to the museum to check out the exhibits.  When we got there we decided to look around the first floor vendors again.  This time I had to pickup this homemade lucet from Liberty Linens.  It's made of the nicest maple and is super smooth.  It feels good in the hand.  It even came with the skein of floss and instructions.  I have a small collection of lucets after taking Sherri Jones' class.  Since it was getting close to closing time, we changed our plans and decided to check out the exhibits the next day.

On our way back to the hotel, we remembered we'd seen this roadside honey vendor.  She was still open so we stopped.  We each tried a couple samples before choosing our jar.  This is the sweetest honey ever.  The kind we got is a bit crystallized so it's spreadable.  Can't wait to try it on some biscuits.

Well folks on that sweet note I'm going to stop here for today.  There's more to come!  Stay tuned!


More next time,

The Inspired Stitcher