Thanksgiving Sale until Monday Night

Just to let everyone know that the sale on the items for Thanksgiving is going on until Monday night (commonly called Cyber Monday).  You just need to put BlackFriday2016 into the discount box when ordering from the Thanksgiving Collection on the site.

To give you a preview of what is on sale:

Black Friday Sale

I have almost finished the uploads of all the rest of the items I have found in the grand clean out of my teaching bins.  If you thought there was great stuff before - just wait!

On Friday morning (called Black Friday here in the USA), I will be opening up the items I have been putting up in the Special Deals section AND I will be opening up the Black Friday Sale that will go from the 25th to the 28th.

To get in on the 20% off items in the Thanksgiving Sale Collection - you need to use the code:  BlackFriday2016 in the discount box on the checkout.

Don't forget to check in and see what is on sale!

Tricia

A New Casket to View

There was an auction while I was at Winterthur recently which featured two pieces of stumpwork, one was a casket with an interesting set of women inside garlands on the doors.  Often these are seen in the corners of a large rectangle mirror.

Below are the pictures of it on all sides.  Note the last one - do you see the little boy in the fruit tree?  I thought that was just precious.

Tricia

Cowan's Auctions Lot 324

Girlhood Embroidery by Betty Ring

This is the 'bible' of embroidery books about American samplers.  A two volume set, it was the culmination of the life's work by Betty Ring.  She was able to identify that these girlhood embroideries were done in schools and use genealogy and advertisements to identify the groups of samplers from different regions around the USA.

A group of speakers at the recent Winterthur Symposium were talking at a lovely dinner hosted by some eminent collectors, when the host asked several of us (Amelia Peck at the MET, Amy Finkel, and myself) if Betty's work still held up to the scrutiny of time.  We all enthusiastically said YES!  Many of us had worked on projects to delve into individual regions she covered and knew of many others who had done the same.  None of us knew a case where an extreme focus on a region had uncovered contradictory information, although many of us had found more supporting samplers and information to further validate her initial conclusions.  That is pretty incredible.

A set of her books is being sold on auction tomorrow on live auctioneers and the bidding is low at the moment.  Perhaps one of the readers would like to add it to their library and here is a chance.

Tricia

It Has Been Busy Around Here!

Thank you to everyone who has been enjoying the deals of the threads, ribbons and the like.  It is really helping my workroom and storage to become more manageable.  There will be one more massive batch for Thanksgiving Black Friday (I think) as I have been dragging out the last of the bins and taking pictures, getting ready to load it all up.

I also have a great set of Christmas giveaways to put up as well!  So keep checking into the blog in December.

I am looking forward to Christmas at the moment (except that I haven't even thought of gifts) as it should be a short break from robots and competitions and other things that keep me from my regular business.  In the last two weeks:

- I have given two talks of my own at STEM education conferences inspiring girls
- Taken the teams to Boston to work with our 'sister' team we got started
- had the kids here three days during the week because they had days off
- taken them to the airport to give their research presentation to Massport (more on that after the season!)
- driven my kid to colleges to tour/talk to profs
- had them there from Friday at 3pm to Saturday at 9pm nonstop...

And I have packed up almost all the deals as well as packed the Stumpwork kit.  Pretty crazy.  So when the Boston Globe reporter that did the recent article asked to come see the caskets today - it was like "why not, it can't be crazier..."

It is competition season and so the kids (who just left tonight) will be here all weekend and we have a scrimmage on Sunday.  It will be a few more days until I can even think about a turkey.

Oh, and did I say that my house is under renovation again?  The entire outside is under construction to be ready for painting in April (I had paint custom mixed - color #4611 - you should have seen the paint guy's face when I said that was what I wanted to paint my house and plopped a tube of silk on the counter).  Not a small project.  The house needs new shingles, new outside stairs (rot), new deck (rot), trim and just yesterday I learned part of the slate roof is rotten under it on one face.  Kinda explains why my workroom leaked two weeks ago (again more reasons I am moving stuff out - I need to make things more safe) even after all the repairs from the massive ice damns a year ago.  So a new roof is starting next week.  So if you think about that - all day long the house is being banged and nailed and it is generally so loud you can't think.  The guys have been working outside my 3rd floor workroom window all week.  Love them (This Old House guys) but boy I could do with a bit of quiet time soon.

So if I don't get your box off super fast or respond to an email quickly...I am working on it and apologize!

And now I am off to soak in a quiet bath.  :-)

Tricia

More Special Deals

It doesn't seem to end!  Every time I start to clear out a section of storage and bags of parts from past projects I unearth more!  No wonder I was getting to feel out of control in my space - there is just too much stuff.

So I spent a good deal of time over the weekend (When not roboting and packing the stumpwork kit) pulling out drawers to see what was hidden in them.  I found a lot.  So there is plenty new stuff posted and I know there will be more - as I haven't even started in on the silk fabrics and the linens!

This is all an attempt to free up space for what I know is coming... lots of caskets.  I would like to store as many of the short casket as I can for the period of time after Richard stops making them so I
can continue to teach for a bit longer.  So I need the room!

So check out what went up over the weekend in my Special Deals section

Tricia

Some Escapism for Your Weekend

Jacquard Velvet Production at Luigi Bevilacqua

Based on the orders this week - many are looking for some escapism at the moment - so I will share something really wonderful today.

I enjoy the video series "The Great Big Story" and today there was a great one - the last traditional velvet weaver in Italy.  In fact, in Venice and going back into the 1400's.  WOW.  So watch the video for some peace of mind and a smile.

Then when you are visually happy again - take a look at their luscious website and DROOL over the velvets.  And then even more happy day... they have a blog - in ENGLISH.  It goes into all kinds of amazing reproduction projects they have done, history of velvet, Venice, weaving, and it goes on and on with eye candy.  These are the people who made those amazing velvets that were in all those 17th century portraits.

So if you need to loose yourself for a few minutes from the world - enjoy where this transports you for a bit.  Ok - I am literally wanting to hop on a plane and tour this place sooooo bad now.

(And if you need a bit of stress shopping - I am cleaning out the bins of left over threads, fabrics, linens, gold threads, buttons, ribbons, floss, etc. from teaching over the years to make room for the cashe of caskets I need to start storing - new things being put up constantly).

Tricia

Special Deals on Site

I am working to clear up excess inventory, especially from courses that won't be run again.  Teachers often have excess spools of threads that we end up with to make sure that there aren't packing mistakes when we get to class.  So I am offering up these extras at 50% off - I need to start to plan for more space for all the short flat caskets I would like to hold on to after Richard stops making boxes!  So check out what is on the site!  There is more to be added, but this is a great start.

Tricia

Classes Up

All the class materials are up today already --- but I am making extra long emails this morning to the Cabinet of Curiosities Courses about some exciting new things -- so those emails won't come out until this afternoon.

English Medieval Embroidery Unpicked

In almost two weeks there is a symposium about the V&A exhibit:

English Medieval Embroidery Unpicked

What : Conferences & Symposia

When : Saturday 12 November 2016

Where :  The Lydia & Manfred Gorvy Lecture Theatre

STUDY DAY: This study day explores the world of England's Medieval luxury embroideries, known as Opus Anglicanum. We will examine their materials, techniques and design; the patrons and artists involved; and the extraordinary images depicted on them.

During the later Middle Ages, England enjoyed an international reputation for its luxury embroideries, produced for Europe's greatest patrons including kings, queens, cardinals and popes. This study day will put embroideries in the exhibition Opus Anglicanum: Masters of Medieval Embroidery under the microscope, examining their materials, techniques and design; the patrons and artists involved; and exploring the extraordinary images depicted on them. Leading experts in the field will discuss these questions in what promises to be a fascinating afternoon.

With exhibition curator Glyn Davies, V&A course director Sally Dormer, and Jennifer Wearden.

14.00 - 16.30, Saturday 12 November 2016

£35 full, £30 concessions, £15 students

Booking is here