Attic - Day 2

Saturday, Day 2!  We enjoyed a delicious breakfast at the Hyatt Place in Mesa.  All of our classes/lectures were held at this hotel - what a great place.  The staff was very friendly, rooms spacious and clean, and they served one of the best hotel breakfasts I have ever had!

Today was lecture day.  I realize not everyone would want to sit and listen to a lecture at a needlework retreat, but I enjoy learning about history and especially when it is needlework history!  Our day started with Lorraine Mootz.  Lorraine is a docent at the German Sampler Museum in Celle, Germany (sadly, this museum is closing soon.)

Lorraine is quite the character and I mean that in a good way!  She shared her knowledge of needlework with us, telling about the little accordion pleated pattern books (like the one we made Friday night) and then talked about marking samplers.  The pictures and the discussion were both interesting.

Vickie Jennett has a bonnet in her collection that has initials stitched in it.

From Lorraine we learned that those initials were stitched so that the owner would know the bonnet was theirs!  At this time period, the laundry was only done once or twice a year and consequently there would be a lot of laundry to do.  To ensure that each person in the family got their items of clothing back, they had to initial (and sometime number) them.

Lorraine also brought a couple of marking samplers with her from her collection.  We received the pattern for Marguerite Dumas as a gift for attending the weekend event.

Lorraine has published a book, Samplers and Designs:  Three Centuries of European Samplers, if you are interested in learning more.

Later Saturday afternoon, Lorraine also talked about decorative towels (also known as show towels or parade towels).  Vickie Jennett had brought one from her collection - I thought I had taken more pictures of it, but it looks like I only took one of the top of the towel.

These towels often hung on the walls or on a door and were rarely used to wipe one's hands; they were for "show".

We also heard from one other guest speaker, Joanne Martin Lukacher, the author of the new book, Imitation and Improvement:  The Norfolk Sampler Tradition.  If you like English samplers, you will enjoy this book.

Joanne talked about the samplers that she researched while writing this book.  All beautiful samplers!

After absorbing all this new information about historical needlework, we ended our day with an open house at the Attic; more shopping and a light supper.  Another perfect day has come to an end.