Chapel Cemetery Coventry

Ferns & trees grow around the old gravestones in the Chapel Cemetery.

 

Ever since I was young, I've loved cemeteries. When I was a teenager, my best friend and I would dress up and take black & white photos in old cemeteries. 

A picture of me (aged 15!) posing by an old gravestone.

While I no longer drape myself over old graves wearing long dresses, I still love to visit them. Cemeteries feel really peaceful to me, I don't think of them as spooky. 

Right opposite the driveway to the house where we're staying is Cueball Road (I'd love to know how it got it's name!). On a recent drive down this road, Nick and I discovered a really lovely cemetery. While it isn't totally neglected, a lot of the stones seem to be lost in the woods in this lovely, quiet spot. We've visited twice and I wanted to share some photos. I haven't been able to find much information on the cemetery, or if there was a chapel next to it (there isn't one now). A list of internments is online, and the oldest grave dates from 1814! 

This grave of Ebenezer Everts dates from 1832

This beautiful grave dates from 1844. There is a flag on his grave and he was a captain. I wonder what war he fought in? He would have been born in 1788.

This one is a little hard to read, but it shows an angel and says "Our Little Hattie."

This picture (and the ones that follow) are from our second visit (we first went two weeks ago) the ferns are a lot taller!

This is the oldest grave we found, dating from 1824. The one from 1814 may be illegible. 

This one really intrigues me. Was Apollos buried here and they just forgot to carve his death year, or was he buried elsewhere? I looked him up on FamilySearch and he was still alive in 1925. It's very mysterious. 

Family Buttons

 Earlier this year, my husband Nick's grandmother died. She was nearly 100 years old. I didn't have the chance to meet her, but a few weeks ago we went to her house in Poughkeepsie. I was given a large collection of family clothing, buttons, sewing notions, etc. dating from the late 1800s up to about the 1940s. I will eventually share photos of the clothing, but wanted to start out with some wonderful button pictures. 

Beautiful antique buttons with metal cutout design, on the original card.

Among these was a box full of shell buttons, which became very popular in the 1800s, and continued into the 20th century. It's interesting, because there are a lot of shell buttons in this collection, and some plastic made to look like shell buttons, which date from post 1930s. My friend Gina has a YouTube channel of her online museum that talks all about these buttons and how they were made. She has a delightful video about them - please take a look!

A selection of 19th century buttons: pressed glass, perfume and others. Perfume buttons were metal with a bit of fabric beneath, and women would put perfume on these buttons.  

Look at these beautiful buttons.

The top half of this photo shows the shell buttons. A lot of them are plain, but there are a few that are decorated. So lovely!

White carved shell buttons. 

I'm impressed (and excited) by how old a lot of these buttons are. There are also several 20th century buttons, a lot of them on cards (maybe I'll do a follow-up post about those). There are also belt buckles with a deco look, probably dating from the 1930s and 1940s. The others  

Look at these wonderful belt buckles!

Binghamton NY and the Roberson Museum

 Twelve years ago, before leaving to study at the University of Glasgow, I lived in New York State with my sister Heather and her family. Earlier this month, my husband Nick and I drove across country to come back to New York - to see friends and family and explore the area a little again. 

Downtown Binghamton

Boscov's - an old department store still running in Binghamton.

When I lived here before, we often went to Binghamton, but surprisingly, never to the Roberson, which is a beautiful mansion from the early 1900s, and an attached museum. We went through the museum first (which had a really fun exhibit about cats) and then went through the house (I didn't get a photo of the outside). 

Vintage Halloween cats. I have a couple noisemakers similar to that one in the middle. 

This was a wacky display of a 1950s city couple with their wild cats. I love it!

There was also an exhibit on quilts, clothing and other things. I really liked how they were able to recreate little rooms and display items and clothing:

A dressing gown with antique furniture and quilt as well. 

The sleeve of a 1910s dress. Stunning!

I loved this display with the 1850s/ 60s woman and child's dress, the coverlet curtains and old sampler. 

A quilted pocket. A quilted pocket has been on my to-sew list for years. 

Then we wandered around the mansion. It was a self-guided tour, and we had the whole house to ourselves!

Nick got some photos of me on the grand staircase. 

Look at the stained glass window at the top of those stairs!

I really enjoyed this museum, and the house. They also had a model village with trains of Binghamton, Endicott and nearby places that was really delightful. 

1923 Dress, The Winslow Boy & Enchanted April

For years my mother and I have loved the film "The Winslow Boy"(the 1999 version). The film is set around 1913, if I remember correctly. The character played by Rebecca Pidgeon wears these delicious drop-waist dresses that weren't very common in the 1910s. There were little pockets of fashion where these sneaked out, and I've tried to hunt them down. Whether or not her clothing is historically accurate, I love it and have wanted to recreate some of it for a long time. 

One of the beautiful drop-waist dresses in the film. 

The sailor middy blouse - a pattern from the 1910s. 

The dress in the upper righthand corner has a loose, drop-waist silhouette. This is from 1916,
NY Public Library. 

There is also a clothing pattern available from Wearing History of a woman's coat from 1913 that has a drop-waist. It looks a lot like the tweed jacket Lady Mary wears at the end of Season 2 in Downton Abbey: 

Lady Mary's shooting jacket. Very similar to the dress pattern above (please follow the link). The episode takes place at the end of WWI, but perhaps it could be an earlier coat of Lady Mary's? 

Several years ago I found some fabric online that reminded me of one of the dresses in "The Winslow Boy". I started it probably two years ago, and only just finished it. 

The inspiration dress from The Winslow Boy

The dress pattern I used was from Past Patterns for an evening dress, circa 1923. As with other dresses I've made from movies that inspire me, mine is not an exact copy, nor did I completely follow the look of dresses from 1923 (I made my hem a lot shorter). But I wanted a dress that nodded to the one in the film. For years I've also wanted a dress from the era of Enchanted April, a book which was published in 1922. There was a film adaptation (also made in the 1990s) that I've also loved for many years. So now I feel like I've killed two birds with one stone with this dress. 

From Enchanted April (1991). Polly Walker as Lady Caroline Dester

Dresses from 1922, which have a much longer hem than my dress. 

Here are some photos of my dress that I finished and wore for the first time on Easter Sunday: 

The silhouette does fit the early 1920s better than the 1910s. I'm happy with how it turned out. 

I wore it with my American Duchess London Oxford shoes. 

April Catch-up

It's been a little busy the past few weeks. There was a personal event that took place down in Utah, and a lot of Nick's family was able to come out for it (perhaps I'll post about that later). Other things that have been happening: I had a poetry meeting at my house, which was wonderful, I also participated in a monthly art stroll at the beautiful Romance Theater, where I was able to sell a few poetry books, talk about book arts & help people make pamphlets. 

I don't have a picture of the outside of the Romance, but here's the theater part, which has been excellently restored!

In the foyer of the Romance, with my collection of hand-made books, supplies for making pamphlets, and two of my poetry books for sale. 

Another big thing that's happened since my last blog post is the decision my husband & I made to move back east and try to find a spot that suits us best. We'll be looking in upstate NY, but will be looking in the east coast and maybe the south as well. For several reasons, we feel like it's time to move on. 

The weather has finally started to be warm and pleasant. Last week we went for a walk near the Snake River. We found an old farm with lots of abandoned buildings, but weren't able to take a close look, as it was on private property. When I was in Scotland, I learned about the right-of-way there: that if you're on foot and not trying to change or destroy anything, you are able to walk wherever you like, whether it's private property or not. So whenever I see a "No Trespassing" sign, I get pretty frustrated. I'd love to just be able to walk through those gates and look around. Oh, well. I got a picture of one of the buildings from a safe distance. 

A little cactus grove

I love finding bones out in the desert.

One of the derelict buildings.

Lots of pretty river stones all along our walk.

Also, I wanted to remind everyone about my new Newsletter site (It's kind of like a blog too, and I've been going crazy with it lately creating a virtual Book Club). But if anyone visiting this blog would consider becoming a paid subscriber, that would be helpful and supportive and so nice of you! It's also called Magpie Tidings.

Quilt Show at the Museum

We draped the modern quilts over the benches in the Tabernacle

Last weekend, we hosted a quilt show in the Tabernacle (the building where the museum is located). We displayed several antique quilts from the museum collection, and local women kindly loaned us their quilts to show. We also had a blanket drive for the Family Crisis Center. 

It was impressive to see all the hard work these women put into their beautiful quilts, and how creative they are. 

A lot of people came to see the quilts, it was a busy weekend.

I was also able to put up a display about sewing and quilts. I really enjoyed being able to do that. 

The display we set up with the quilts from the museum collection.

A closeup of the display table.

Another view of the table for the museum display at the quilt show.