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.

Rajah's Ride, Country Sampler and the Weather in Nod

...in no particular order....

But, let's start with Rajah's ride anyway.

In my last post I mentioned that there were a great many things going on in the background of my world that I doubted you would care to read about.

Your comments and responses were so very heart warming.

Many of the things are trivial...many are unpleasant...and most I feel would likely be "TMI."  But several of you asked specifically about Rajah's dryer ride.

Well, here goes.

Rajah has always had an affinity for hanging out in the dryer.

I have been warned (repeatedly) by well-meaning, animal-loving, friends how dangerous this can be.

I know.

After a life full of animals and pets, many years of schooling (including at the school of common sense), and too many years of experience, trust me, I KNOW.

But I NEVER leave clothes in the dryer once the cycle has ended. (On the rare occasion I have forgotten and have, I rewash the clothes and start over due to wrinkling, etc. so it's a torture I'd prefer to avoid.)

And, besides, I'd obviously notice a 20+# cat in there when I put the wet clothes in.

Except I didn't.

 

I had stripped the guest bed and dried things on the line, but one blanket I do in the dryer.

After several loads of washing sheets, pillowcases and protectors, mattress pads, etc., the final load was the blanket.

I tossed in the dryer, turned it on and walked away.

And heard, THUUMP......TTHHUMMP.....THHHHUUUMMP.

Thinking there was something wrong with the dryer, I walked back to the laundry room and shut down the dryer....

THUUUUMMMMPPPPPPP.

...opened the door...

thuuump...umpp....

And out from the wet folds of the blanket - a bit disoriented and even a more bit put out - crawled Rajah.

In my defense, he had not been caught napping in the dryer in a long, long, time but how I did not notice him in there I do not know.

In any event, he does not seem any worse for the wear...and he's forgiven me.

I think.

In other news, I made my (second) annual trip to Country Sampler in Spring Green. (For those unfamiliar with Country Sampler, it has no connection with the magazine publication.  It started as a quilt store and then morphed into a quilting/cross stitch store and has become a destination mecca for many stitchers worldwide.)

I wish I could say the trip was uneventful, but things in my life never quite seem to be "uneventful."  I drive an older vehicle (2016) and the gps in it has never been updated.  (It is a foreign model, and the nearest service dealer is 2-1/2 hrs away.)  What should have been a 3-hr trip ended up taking 4 hrs due to a bridge that was out.

The detour wound me through roads with hairpin turns, sharp drop-offs and absolutely no shoulders to pull over on nor any towns or civilization to speak of, with my gps constantly trying to redirect me back to the way I originally intended on taking because it wasn't picking up the detour.

Gah!

After about 40 minutes, I finally came to a widening in the road with a bar and 3 houses and pulled over hoping to get some reassurance I was heading the right way.

Upon closer inspection, however, the bar had both a "for sale" and a "closed" sign.

And let's just say the houses were a bit too sketchy for even the likes of me to approach even if any of them had looked inhabited...which they didn't.

Worst of all, my phone had absolutely no network down there, so no outgoing calls or internet (including gps via phone) other than 911.

I still had a little over a quarter of a tank of gas and kept going and finally did get there. But seriously???

The time there was thoroughly enjoyable.  We stitched, we shopped, we were serenaded by a very gifted musician playing in the little park area outside the open windows of our rooms above the shop, ate homemade ice cream, and shopped and stitched some more.

The shop, of course, was full to overflowing with temptations and deliciousness -all decked out with a patriotic, summer vibe.

{Yes, I have a twin to this sweet angel girl....}

I did not purchase much...just a few pieces of linen, and some fabric - and a pattern I've wanted for some time.

And a whale...yes, I purchased a whale.

His name is Humphrey, and he will go to live at the lake...eventually.

The trip home was (blessedly) less eventful having received help researching an alternative route.

It wasn't quite as scenic as my original route or the detour but beautiful, nonetheless.  At least there were shoulders to the roads in some places.

So I am home now, playing catch up with all the background noise.

The trip inspired me to drag a few (very few) pieces of my summer/patriotic decor up from the lower level on my bi-daily trips down there to empty the dehumidifier.

{Vintage cross stitch flag}

I have heard in the news and read in posts and comments the severe heat waves many of you are enduring and lack of rain.

I truly wish I could share some of Nod with you.

I am currently wearing two sweatshirts and waiting for the next wave of storms to roll through.

We are in a flood watch right now...some areas due to get up to 4" of rain in 24 hrs. I have had to hook the hose contraption up to my sump pump pipes again - something I typically never have to do once the spring thaw is done.

Plants are drenched and drowning, but I took this photo of my roses-and-wisteria-gone-rogue before the skies opened up.

Wishing relief to those whose who need it.

133 E. Jefferson Street

There was a time when I traveled.

I once traveled across Europe for a year with the clothes on my back and an external frame expedition backpack.

I usually didn't know where I would be staying - or if I would be staying - from night to night.  Many nights were spent sleeping on the train to save hostel costs.

(My neck and back are now paying a price for that backpack and those trains.)

I would love to travel again, but circumstances are not permitting.

Becoming a hermit being just one of those circumstances.

Last week, however, I escaped my hermitage for a brief few days and drove to a little village town in the southwest of Wisconsin called Spring Green.

It is most well-known for Frank Lloyd-Wright's "House on the Rock," but I did not go there.

My destination was 133 E. Jefferson Street - the home of Country Sampler.

For those of you non-stitchers/quilters, it is a name that means nothing (and this post will be of absolutely no interest - my apologies), but for some of us, it is a destination unto itself.

I met up with my sister-in-law and 2 of her friends.  

We stayed in the rooms above the shop.  (See the windows in the upper story above the storefront in the photo above? Those are the windows to the main room and sitting area.)

{My bed}

{Window in my room}

{Deck off the back of our rooms}

Having a beautiful shop overflowing with quilt fabrics, linens, floss, patterns, and other beautiful decor items directly below your sleeping quarters for 3 days is a dangerous thing...not to mention financially reckless.

I thought I had taken more photos but, apparently, I was distracted every time I stepped inside.

{Pssst...see my angel?? I have had mine for years and was tickled to see her twin so beautifully displayed.}

It was, however, inspiring to see the models for some amazing designs perfectly finished/framed.  These are just a few:

{This almost came home with me...then I had a reality check regarding all the 1x1.}

{This - and some linen and floss for it -did come home with me...hoping for a post-Spooking-Season start.}

These (and a few other) things followed me home:

One night that we were there, two of the "keepers of the shop" who create much of the magic downstairs joined us for a night of stitching. It was so good to finally put faces to names.

....and while I was gone, Sister Moon shyly blossomed.

Oh...and did I stitch? Ummm, well, yeah? A little??