March Madness

So sorry to be so slow on my posting and I have so much to share......

On Friday, March 11th, several Guild members were lucky enough to go on a field trip.   About 20 of us met at the Westtown School in West Chester PA for a private tour.   Our host, Mary,  gave us the history of the school followed by questions and answers.  We were then treated to a trip to the archive room to see many of the original Westtown School girl's work.   Westtown was the sister school to Ackworth School in England.

The East Room, we were met for our tour and sampler visit.

 Campus of the boarding school with an enrollment of 700 which includes international students.

The photos are from the Westtown Website.  For more info please visit their site.

 

Westtown was established in 1799 after the Revolutionary War as a way to get young Quaker students away from the harshness of the City of Philadelphia.    What a lovely series of buildings and such a pretty setting.   (sorry - I wasn't sure I would be allowed to take photographs so I left my camera home....what a bonehead!)    Please visit their website at www.westtown.edu.

In the dining hall at Westtown hangs Andrew Wyett's "The Giant".   It was exquisite to be so close to this work of art.    Following Engle's death from Tuberulocus in 1913, Wyett was commissioned around 1920 by his classmates to paint this in honor of Engle.   "Wyeth’s The Giant—painted at Beach Haven, Engle’s old haunt—shows six children gazing up at a club-toting giant that no adult could likely see. Five are Wyeth’s own, including blond Andrew standing nearest the sea. The boy in the white hat  is presumed to be  William Clothier Engle 
(West town, Class of 1910) a friend of Andrew Wyett's.……Headmaster James Walker and his wife picked up the painting at Wyeth’s studio and carried it back to the school in an orchard truck.” (Taken from Main Line Today for more information visit MLT)

What a lovely treat...off to the Lincoln Tea Room for lunch.

What a pleasant way to dine and be fussed over.    Our meal was delicious and the proprietor was very accommodating to those with special diets or allergies.

After lunch, we walked a few short blocks the Chester County Historical Society for another private tour.   Still without my camera but I had the brilliant idea to use my phone.












These are called Hollie Point.   It is ever so delicate.

Pictures don't do this work justice

Look at my hand to see how small this work really is! How this young ladies could even see to do this fine work is beyond me.

Since I tarried in posting, I don't have all the names of the items.

We were shown terrestrial and celestial orbs.

This piece is absolutely awesome.   This was stitched by Ann Marsh, circa 1800.   She was a woman of means and property which was not heard of in those times.   Anything of value (money, property, etc.) was in the husband's or father's name and not a woman's name.

See how spoiled we were?   Our guild used white gloves to turn and move the piece so we all could get the best view.

There is a reproduction of this piece that is equally as stunning.   The kit is slightly larger in dimensions than the original and is available from  Traditional Stitches.

In the back room with just oodles and oodles of goodies to look at.

And do you recognize anyone special?   That's Betsy Morgan alright.   

Back upstairs.....check our the sampler cabinets and the drawers where the samplers are on display.   There are two sampler cabinets.  Each bought with donations from various friends of samplers and guilds.  

What awesome display cabinets.   DVHSG donated money towards the purchase of one of this cabinets.

This sampler is special to me because it is actually one of my WIP's.   So very cool to see the original.

Trays of pin balls were brought out for us to look at.   We were even allowed to put on white gloves and turn them over.

Wowza!  All blackwork.   This piece was another awesome work of stitching.

More of Ann Marsh's work

And that's just Friday!   Be on the lookout for what we did on Saturday!