Our flight out was a little bumpy at times, which made my embroidery on my sampler a bit rough, but we got to Providence safe and sound. The Enterprise pick up went smoothly until the desk clerk mentioned that they didn't have anything of my reserved size in stock, and would I mind a free upgrade. I mentioned that I normally drive an Explorer, so I can handle bigger, if that's all they got. As I went to the ladies room, I thought of mentioning, "so long as it's not a minivan", but thought, nah. Low and behold, the shuttle pulls up and they put us in, you guessed it, a minivan. sigh. At least it was a Ford with familiar controls. There was some drama with the cleanliness (or lack thereof) with the van, and poor Laura getting gum on her skirt, but the van ran fine, was a smooth ride, and they did compensate us well for the problems upon return without too much arguing.

Wednesday night, Thursday morning, Thursday night and Friday morning were wonderful chats and catching up with our wonderful host, my mother-in-law. It was lovely to get to see her again, and to see her new place. I am not in fact allergic to the new place, which was very comfortable. I think I've also done a fair amount of nagging of Alan to visit his mother to suit my promise to her. 


(Click on any of the pictures for much larger versions) 
Thursday morning, we showed up on time and joined the crew. It was astonishing to get to see the progress done by the ladies so far. I think there were approximately 10 ladies there to work on stuff and help with details. It was a truly impressive embroidery bee. Everyone was so nice, they made us feel welcome, and many had examples of their works on display on one of the lunch tables for us to oh and ah over. There were also some old samplers framed and on display for us to look over; from Tricia's 17th century one, to many from the 18th and 19th centuries. Laura pulled out her jacket, coif and nightcap to show off, at the ladies' request, and then put on her outfit for everyone.  I think it was great to not only see a jacket, but one in context; how it was worn, what was the overall 360 look, and how pieces went together. I think it helped bring to life for these talented embroiderers the scope and historical context of the project. They then convinced Laura to sit in costume and do some stitches on the back panel for a photo-op, which was way too fun.

I pretty much sat back and observed all morning and worked on my sampler pieces quietly, while the meeting and greeting and geeking and filming was going on. As Laura said, Tricia is a total rock star and managed to get all her filmed bits in one take, not once having to stop to to reset or over-film a flub. She is not only insanely talented with a needle, she's completely knowledgeable on her subject matter, and it showed. Anyone else would have been full of "um"s and "er"s, but not her. Tricia was also nice enough to not only show me refined techniques on my sampler, but to complement me on my detached buttonhole stitch (first try).


After a yummy lunch (one of the many fine meals prepared by one of their foodways people, Marcia) they reset for more embroidery. We also enjoyed a Foodways presentation on the evolution of Thanksgiving, from the food progression over the centuries to the politics of making it an official holiday, by Kathleen Curtin. Bought the book, it's fascinating. When one lady had to leave early, they told me to take her space and go to work on a bit of embroidery. After checking to make sure that they were sure, Tricia set me up, and I got to embroider a calyx on one of the cornflowers on the forehead cloth. I was really nervous, but figured the worst that could happen is that they have to pick out my stitches. I took it slow and steady and completed it in about an hour, which was pretty much my limit. I'm still rather proud of the way it turned out for my first real piece of embroidery for only having the one sample attempt at that stitch. Then Laura and I took a turn about the Craft Center so she could see it, and also take a poke around the gift shop, which was fruitful.


Over the really yummy dinner, Tricia asked me if I embroidered all my clothes like Laura, and I hesitated and admitted that I didn't and that the piece they let me do was the first real bit I've done. The, um, gasps around the table were kinda funny. I did admit to hand sewing a fair bit, and doing some couching, but yeah, they had a new convert in their midst.

After dinner and socializing, we headed back out to the Craft Center to meet Peter Follansbee for a discussion on the panel carving and the woodworking he does. He was excellent, and tried to link various things back to the embroiderers, such as pattern transfer and design motifs, etc, but I think he eventually realized that some craft geeks are universal and everyone was interested in his work, regardless of how it related to needlework. That was an excellent way to end the action filled day, and we were plum exhausted from being overstimulated all day. 


Friday morning, we returned to Plimoth, and got to poke around the wardrobe facilities, which was fabulous. The bookshelf of shoes alone was worth the price of admission. Rolls of linen, a wall of patterns, lots of space, which was summarily taken up by the embroidery stations. As all the frames were in use, Laura and I took a turn about the gallery and other gift shop, and then spent a good chunk of time down in the 1627 village. It's always such a great thing to see, from the clay ovens to the livestock, to the wonderful living history displays in each house. There is always something new to see, something new to discover, and something new to talk about with the costumed interpreters there. It was a must for Laura, and I'm glad she enjoyed it. 


We returned to the costume shop to meet up with the others and got to meet Joanna, a textile conservator, who brought a 17th century stumpwork panel for us to inspect. It was awesome, by every stretch of the word, and amazing to behold. Eventually we left for a tour of the originals in the Plimoth collection, specifically two embroidered samplers, a strip of a Flemish tapestry and some textile related finds, with Karin the curator. After viewing the samplers and textiles, she took one group into a smaller room to look at the textile tools, and Laura and I poked around the rest of the collection. There was a cool section of glass with nifty contrast colored prunts on the stems. There was lots of fabulous pottery, including a lovely shallow large green cooking pot, some beautiful delftware tiles, painted decorated plates, lots of great mugs, including two puzzle mugs. Laura found a neat hourglass, and also a cool small wooden jack, built like a mini-barrel with metal strapping. There was so much more, but to account for it all would take a photographic memory and a book. Sadly no cameras were allowed, so I don't have any pictures to share. We finally got in to see the textile tools; a turned bone needlecase missing its cap, a part of a bone comb, a brass bodkin as well as an aiglet, some scissors, and some buttons. The silver cast pair of buttons with a tudor rose on the rounded face was so beautiful some ladies wanted them made into earrings, while I'd love reproductions. There was also a pair of cool brass buttons with ridges like those found imitating thread wrapped buttons of the 16th century. It was great to get to chat with Karin about material culture, and she seemed glad to have someone generally interested in stuff to geek with.


After such an invigorating discussion, we had to let Karin go, and return to the costume shop for lunch and more embroidery. Laura got to work on leaves on the gussets, and I did a bit of hand sewing and fingerloop braiding ties for my forehead cloth. Eventually, another lady had to leave early, so I got to embroider another calyx, this time on the right upper sleeve. I also did the detached buttonhole fill on a half a leaf that another lady had to leave undone on the collar piece. Yup, that's right, I got to embroider on THE JACKET that will be on display in the (hopefully) July 2008 exhibit on personal adornment. 


Then, some more chatting and discussions later with Jill Hall and Tricia Wilson-Nguyen, Laura and I got on the road to the airport, through some big thunderboomers, and made it to the airport eventually in time to grab a bite to eat, board the plane, and fly home. Laura and I got to inspect the gifts they sent us home with, including a copy of the latest Plimoth Life magazine with an article on the jacket, a beautiful rose decorated mug, as well as a Tudor goldwork kit from Tricia, from her company Thistle Threads. I practically squealed when I unwrapped the cute new mug. Then we paused to observe the breathtaking sunset up in the clouds, and we got home before too late, so that I could yammer on to those at the house like the overstimulated 10 year old on sugar.