I arrived in Appleton a little after lunch and did not have anything on my schedule until the following day. My guild contact, Pat, took advantage of this time and showed me some of her surrounding area. Our first stop was the Bergstrom-Mahler Museum in Neenah, WI.
Pat told me they had a collection of paperweights. I had no idea what to expect. Well, let me tell you, there were a lot of very interesting paperweights. The museum boasts the largest collection of paperweights in the world! And they might just be right.
As the story goes Mrs. Evangeline Bergstrom bequeathed 632 pieces in 1958 and the collection has grown to over 2,300. And Mrs. Berstrom did not start her collection until she was 65 years of age so just think if I started collecting now I could maybe exceed her collection!
And then a short distance from the museum we saw this lighthouse.
As we continued our journey we ended up checking out some of the local quilt shops. In my haste to get into the first shop and…well, to shop, I forgot to take a photo of the shop. The name of the shop was “Primitive Gatherings”. I met the owner of the shop, Lisa Bongean, the week before at the conference in Alabama. Lisa has a charming shop and the interior fit the name perfectly, primitive designs. It has a very relaxed atmosphere. To find out more about Lisa and her shop go to www.PrimitiveGatherings.us/shop
The next shop was called the “Quilt Shop”. The interior of this shop was so very bright and cheery. The shop had a fantastic selection of batik fabrics. Even though I am in the process of getting ready to move my studio, which means moving a lot of fabric, I still purchased a little more fabric while at the “Quilt Shop”. The selection was so good I could not stop myself!
And then the last shop Pat took me to was the shop where the first two days of classes were to be held. The name of the shop is “Piece By Piece”. You can find out more about the shop by going to http://www.piecebypiecellc.com. Below are some photos from inside the shop. What a great shop with a lot of character.
I loved the displays and the high ceilings.
The shop also has a large classroom. It was very well laid out so there were plenty of outlets and the students had lots of room to work. Thanks so much to the shop owners who allowed the guild to hold the classes in a great location.
The first two evenings after class, Barb, another guild member took me around to show me a bit of the area and out to eat. Here are some of the things we viewed. The Fox River runs through the area and there are lots of great views.
There were many white pelicans in the river, close to the dam. I had never before seen this kind of pelican. They sure were catching their share of the fish which means the fishing in the Fox River must be good.
And look at this little guy. He posed for his photo.
Both Pat and Barb really made my trip to Appleton a very memorable one. I will remember Appleton fondly because of their generosity. Pat truly went above and beyond her duties as the program chair and I really appreciate all she did to make my stay comfortable. We had diner with several of Pat and Barb’s friends on Friday evening and they all made me feel like part of the group. They’ve been getting together on Fridays to sew for many, many years. But, I was made to feel like I had been in the group for a long time too. When you have quilting in common it allows for lots of great conversations.
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Studio Update.
When I returned home on Tuesday from Appleton the carpet was in my sewing studio. Beams’ carpet in Carlisle did a great job installing it for me. Because we have had Beam’s install carpet in most of our house with great results I knew they would do a good job for me in the new sewing area.
I started putting fabric on the shelves on Wednesday. This is going to be awesome for fabric storage. The opposite side of the fabric shelves is going to be my design wall. I hope to have that in progress tomorrow or Friday. It won’t take much to get that made and up.
I purchased pre-made cabinets and while I was gone Lewie installed them. Lewie is redoing the doors for the two center cabinets on the top. I really wanted them with glass so I could display some things on the shelves. And I’m waiting for the desk top to be completed.
My ironing station is in the room but not quite finished. I had this same station in my old room but in the center I just had a piece of fabric on a metal rod so I could hide junk under the ironing area. Lewie built me a much better base than the one I had in the old room. The top is a hollow door that had been left in our basement and I put it to good use. It is covered with an old wool blanket and then wrapped with fabric called drill. I found that drill wore much better than muslin. Years longer actually. The side that you cannot see has enclosed shelves. It makes a fantastic ironing area.
And the drawers are just about finished too.
I am going to have so much storage I won’t know how to act!
I should have lots more to show of the studio space in the next blog. We’re moving furniture in, which includes the sewing machine cabinets, later this week. And Joe’s buddies will hopefully show up to help with some heavy furniture pieces. Nothing like moving down three floors and then up one!
I’m off to Dover, DE to teach early next week. I’ll talk to you soon.