I've written about my overall impressions of the items sent to the Woodlawn Plantation exhibit already. Now let's talk about what I saw there. I'll post links when there is supplemental material you should see.
The photo above is Carol's stumpwork design which won a blue ribbon. She kindly gave me an old photo to share with you. I hope you can see the delicate dragonfly and the lovely flower petals (and the charming caterpillar). Woodlawn doesn't hand out real blue ribbons any more. I'm glad about that because often the ribbons would hang over the piece and hide the best parts, but it makes it harder to find the winners. Blue stickers on the name tags are hard to spot in Woodlawn's less than ideal display conditions.
The first thing I noticed when I arrived at Woodlawn were the very cute little linen pillows that had short sayings like "Eat locally" or "Keep our air clean" or "Be Kind to Animals" on them. They were the essence of the modern sampler and all stitched by Juniors, perhaps in a class? These little stuffed pillows are symbolic of the interesting ways the cross stitch and sampler stitchers are pursuing their art. I saw two spectacular caskets, which are chest-like boxes stitced with typical sampler motifs. Usually there are stitched accessories called Smalls inside as part of the set. One casket had its fob, needlecase, scissors sheath, etc. on display next to it. There was also an upright jewelry chest type piece covered in floral motifs. These are works of art. I didn't find a photo of any of the ones I saw online but Betsy Morgan's photo of her latest casket will show you the general style of these amazing pieces.
http://willinghandsstitching.blogspot.com/2011/03/its-finally-finished.html
These weren't the only unusual counted thread pieces, either. Melita mentioned Constance Tobias' stitched book in her Woodlawn report. It looked to be stitched on linen, then bound together into a 6-8 page book with what appeared to be 17th Century style Biblical motifs. The same glass case held other fascinating pieces, including two of Catherine Jordan's river boxes. You can see those on Catherine's website (the first two items). These are astounding in person.
http://catherinesdesigns.tumblr.com/
There were also beaded cuff bracelets and Susan's 5x5 embellished beaded stumpwork pieces. You can see some of Susan's squares shown in the link below in her lacing tutorial. Besides the stumpwork girl in a teacup, there was a pastel blue and silver star wand piece, a square featuring a set of painter's easels with their individual drawings, and my favorite--beaded birds among pink and blue flowers.
http://plays-with-needles.blogspot.com/2011/02/lacing.html
I found another embellished box in the first parlor. This one was mermaid-themed with beads and stumpwork. The smalls belonging to this mermaid casket were decorated with mermaid and shell motifs. The same room had Susan's Your Majesty piece on display. You can see her and read about her here.
http://plays-with-needles.blogspot.com/2011/02/becoming-queen-part-ii.html
The last piece I want to mention today, still in the small first parlor, was a version of Michele Robert's stumpwork tulip, done in mauve-pink. It was lovely!
Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
5 comments:
Hi Jane--As usual, excellent write-ups! For those of us that can't go, it's a great way to experience the show. Thanks for all your work.
About your comment about the handing out of ribbons--Woodlawn does still give out the actual ribbons. When I've received my pieces back in the mail, the ribbons have always been included in the box. I presume that people who pick their pieces up in person get them at that time. So unless the policy has changed this year, actual ribbons are still awarded. I agree with you about the stickers. Hard to find sometimes (I've been to other shows that do this), but often makes it easier to see the pieces.
Carol S.
This is one of the things I miss most about not visiting Washington DC. A trip to Woodlawn, I am so jealous of you. I wish you could post pictures, but I hang on every word and visit all the referrals just to get the feeling of being there. Thank you for taking the time to share Woodlawn with us.
Just to clarify a point. Woodlawn does hand out actual, real blue ribbons, etc. They are not attached to the piece while hanging at the show. You get them when you get your piece back and ribbon is still in plastic.
Connie Tobias had 3 entries that were done in "book" form. Two were Carriage House samplers that she turned into books. The third was from the Mary Beale collection called the Days of Advent Sampler (only available on line). Julie Burrow had entered this same piece a few years ago done as a framed sampler stitched over one thread on 40 count linen.
Thanks for the further information on Connie Tobias' stitching, Ellen. These little background tidbits are priceless!
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