Back in the Land of Nod

{The sweetest little collage picture was a perfect gift from Lauren (Rugs and Pugs)}

It's the 20th of July and I feel as though I've been gone - or preparing to be gone or unpacking from being gone - for most of those 20 days.

I spent some time at the lake over the 4th of July holiday.

The days were mostly temperate, but the lake was unsettled and moody.

A few days later, I left for my (now annual?) trip to Country Sampler in Spring Green. 

The skies were hazy from the Canadian wildfires but the rich colors of the fields and 

hills were vibrant and entrancing all the same.

For those of you for whom the names are unfamiliar, Country Sampler is a destination quilting/stitching shop in Spring Green - a village in southwestern Wisconsin. Although small (1,500-people small),

Spring Green may be recognizable to some as the home of the estate and 800-acre sanctuary of Frank Lloyd Wright, Taliesin.

And Taliesin has a famous (and infamous) history all its own.

While "reincarnated" several times, and steeped in history of many sorts, Taliesin's most unfortunate claim to fame is being the site of the tragic murder of 7 people, including Wright's then-partner, Mamah Borthwick Cheney, and her 2 children in 1914.

A disgruntled servant, Julian Carlton, set fire to the living quarters while Wright was away on business and bludgeoned those who attempted to flee with an axe.

While there has been speculation about the reasons for the attack, no motive has been definitively established.

So much unrest in such peaceful surroundings.

But, as usual, I digress.

The purpose of the trip was stitching...and shopping.

I spent a few days with my sister-in-law and her friends, staying in the rooms above Country Sampler.

For my stitchy pals, here are a few snaps of some of the design models that caught my eye:

{Love the Fraktur folksiness of this one! It is "Fraktur Friends" by Shakespeare's Peddler}

{Another Shakespeare's Peddler design: "Mary Bate 1796." This was just beautiful, and I loved the verse. Hopefully you can enlarge to read it?}
 

{"Christmas in July" by Plum Street Samplers - top half of pattern only.}

{"Sesquicentennial Alphabet in Blue - 1874" by Thread Milk Design. This pattern may have come home with me. 😉}

Personally, I, of course, got little accomplished stitch-wise. Nothing to really show there. But I did finish the stitching on this before leaving:

"My Country" by La-D-Da.

I'm working on one more small patriotic piece while I mull over finishing options for both, then I think it will be time to move on to a different topic for a while.

All in all, I've decided I'm much better at shopping than stitching.

I hope all has been well in your corners of the world.