Bed and Breakfast ~ Zoar, Ohio

~WELCOME FRIENDS ~

{{If you are not an antique lover or enjoy viewing lots of photos, just skip this post.}}

Today I'd like to share with you the most wonderful bed and breakfast located in Zoar, Ohio, called the Cobbler Shop Bed and Breakfast. If you enjoy early antiques, you would LOVE this place. This is my second time staying there and I highly recommend it. Breakfast is wonderful too ~ no need for lunch after that feast.

This is building #22 in Zoar, Ohio. It is an early 19th century dwelling that was originally the village cobbler shop. It made all the shoes and boots for the community and could house as many as three families. It is listed on the National Registry as part of the historic district of Zoar Village. That's my friend Wink on the left, and Sandy, the owner, on the right.
Part of the garden looking from our bedroom window.
Garden statuary
Sandy has the most marvelous collection of wall boxes!




German kugels hanging in the dining room windows

Looking in to the kitchen ~ the cupboard at the far end is a Soap Hollow piece.
I love the way she has displayed the cookie cutters on an antique peel.
Take a gander at these dough bowls in original paint!
Stone fruit. It was because of Sandy I learned of stone fruit.
Staffordshire dogs. WOWZA!
Rockingham pottery on an early whale tail shelf (with many whale tails!).
Isn't this hooked angel sweet? It is hanging high over a doorway.
Early chalkware animals
Close ups

Stencilled stair risers

I hope you have enjoyed my tour of the Cobbler Shop B & B. Sandy also an antique shop adjacent to the B & B. If you're in the neighborhood, stop by and tell her Lauren said hi!

Pug hugs :)

Lauren

Wink and a Trip to Zoar ~ ~ ~

Oh, I am so lucky!  My friend Wink (aka Mary) and I go way back!  We met in 1972 in Madrid, Spain.  She was a graduate student, I was an undergrad.  We spent the summer studying and at the end of the quarter, we travelled through Spain and into France.  We visited the Eiffel Tower, but being poor college students, we could not afford the cost of going to the top.  Back in '72, "Europe on $5.00 a Day" was a very popular book.  We actually did it for much less, subsisting on tuna fish and bread.  To this day, I still don't like tuna fish from a can...lol! 

This little design (slightly modified) was a freebie from Blackbird Designs.  The ironic part is that Wink has redone a spare room and designated it the "Paris room".  I had no recollection of that, but the floss in this little cross stitch piece is the color of her bedspreads.  Kind of scary, no?  This was a fun little design to stitch.  I had forgotten how much I enjoyed counted cross stitch.  I simply turned back the raw edges and blind-stitched it.  It measures approximately 5 1/4" x 8" on 26 count linen, two over two.

About 25 years ago as a joke, I started her a salt and pepper collection.  Each time I see her and for her birthday and Christmas, she gets a new pair.  The criteria is that they be cheap and tacky.  These were cheap, but not as tacky as some that I have gotten her.  Generally the limit is $2 to $3, but one time I paid $6 or $7 for a pair of S & P's that were boobs.  She has gotten pairs of feet, outhouses, animals and many, many more.

As a special gift, she treated me to a night in Zoar, Ohio, at the most wonderful bed and breakfast, which I will share with you in my next post.

Zoar, Ohio, was founded by German religious dissenters in 1817.  The Separatists, or Zoarites, emigrated from Germany due to religious oppression from the Luthern Church.  They did not practice baptism or confirmation and did not celebrate religious holidays except the Sabbath.  It was a communal society.  It is now part of the Zoar Village State Memorial.

Most of the buildings in Zoar were not yet open for the season.  It was a dreary rainy day, but I managed to take a few pictures.

This is the Zoar Hotel.  I believe it is not currently being used.

This is the Number One House, built in 1835.

There are several log cabin dwellings in the historic area.  I believe this is the chandlery.

One of the many bed and breakfasts.

If you are ever in north eastern Ohio, a stop in Zoar is a must.  There are several antique shops in town, and in August, there is a very high end antique show.  The Zoar Store will open April 1 and will be selling quality made in America items.  It is very near Ohio's Amish country where many more antique shops, malls, and stores carrying Amish goods can be found.

Wink also gave me this wonderful With thy Needle and Thread punch needle pattern. 

I am so lucky and truly blessed to have had such a wonderful friendship for so many decades!

My next post will highlight the Cobbler Shop Bed and Breakfast.

OH!  I sold my Rigby wool cutter so I am hoping to buy the dry sink.  The antique shop won't be open until Thursday so I will call them then.  I hope it's still there ;-)

Thank you for stopping by.

Pug hugs :)

Lauren

Rigby Model "D" Wool Cutter *** SOLD ***

~ ~ ~ WELCOME FRIENDS ~ ~ ~

Yesterday I found a great deal on an antique dry sink {{ I don't have one of those :-( }}. I really can't justify the expense.....unless I sell my wool cutter that I no longer need. Last year I bought a Townsend and I have no need for two cutters. Anyone want to help me buy an antique? I really, really want it ;-)

The year after I started hooking (after purchasing thousands of poor quality and poorly cut wool) on eBay, I purchased a used Rigby model "D" wool cutter. The nice thing about the model D is that it holds two cutter heads and you can easily adjust which head you want to cut with. (Please note that you can only use one cutter head at a time, not both.) Also by adjusting that long red bar (for lack of a better description), you can slightly vary the size of the cut for a more primitive look. I had a stand made for the cutter but made the stand too narrow so it is not stable. It needs to be clamped to a table (clamp not included but easily found at Lowe's or Home Depot).

Here's the original instructions.

Okay. Now I'm losing my mind. I have searched high and low for the plastic storage box for two of the cutter heads. I've torn the wool room apart twice and searched the spare bedroom and several cupboards. I just cannot figure out where I've put them.

I've never tried cutterheads #4 (1/8") or #6 (3/16") so I have no idea how they cut. The #8 (1/4")...

...the 5/16" and 3/8" I purchased new. They are very slightly used.

I am asking $215.00 for the cutter, stand and all the heads. Shipping and insurance (US only) are included in the price. If you have any questions, you can email me at lauren@centurytel.net (Please put Rigby in the subject line. Some very normal emails end up in my spam or junk folders.) or call me at 440-864-0902. I will accept a check or money order only.
Thanks for stopping by and please come back and tour Zoar and the bed and breakfast with me.

Pug hugs :)
Lauren

Long Lost Cross Stitch ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ WELCOME FRIENDS ~ ~ ~

It's amazing what a person can find when they decide to clean out cupboards ;-)

I have this wonderful built-in cupboard in my upstairs landing. It was so full of "stuff" that I couldn't get anything else in and couldn't find anything! I vaguely remember bringing some cross stitch down from the attic a few years and putting it there. I'm not sure why I did and there it sat until last week. I had forgotten how many unframed cross stitch pieces I had.
I pretty much stopped cross stitching in the early 90's for a number of reasons. I was partly burned out after doing it for so many years and I just couldn't see as well as I used to. Linen is my backing of choice and the dark linen was especially hard to work on.
This patriotic piece stitched on what we then called "dirty linen" was completed in 1989.

1990

Generally I stitched 2 over 2, but this one, completed in 1991 was done with one thread of DMC over 2 threads of linen.

1991

This was stitched on 26 count linen and was the only sampler I worked 1 over 1. It measures approximately 2 3/8 x 4 1/2 and was completed in 1992.

I'm not sure of the year on Nellie Irene, but I know it was late 80's or the early 90's.

I've also got a couple of samplers that have not been finished. I'll have to head to the attic and try to find the charts.

I really do love this sampler because of the song verse.

None of the above cross stitch has yet been distressed. Sometimes, after cross stitching, I would coffee stain them and even cut little holes in the linen before framing them. (Not as distressed as stitchers do today, but remember I was doing this 20+ years ago.)

I probably should jot down the measurements of the completed samplers so when I am out and about perhaps I can find some old frames that will work. It is just too darned expensive to have them custom framed.

Tomorrow I am off to Zoar, Ohio, to spend the night at the most wonderful antique-filled bed and breakfast with my dear friend Wink. I hope I will have lots of pictures to share with you.

Thank you so much for stopping by and I do hope you will come again soon.

Pug hugs :)
Lauren

Rugs and Flowers ~ ~ ~

Welcome, dear friends. Thank you for stopping by!

Today was hooking day with the Metro Park hookers. It was a rather small group ~ probably because today has been one of our first truly spring-like days. The sun was shining and the birds were singing. I LOVE it!

Also, as usual, a few people departed before I remembered to bring out the camera, but I do have a few rugs to share.

This is Karin's sheep and beeskep rug. She hooked most of this today ~ amazing!

Here is a rug Carol recently finished. If you enlarge the picture, you can see that she "fringed" the two shorter sides. I'm sorry I didn't pick a better background, but you can see the detail in the next photo. It really added age to the rug ~ along with her phenomenal color choices (which I did not capture very well).

The two long sides of the rug she just turned back and stitched down ~ here's a close-up of the fringe. Oh, I've got to try this one of these days!
This is the rug Carol is currently working on. It's another adaptation of an antique rug.

Donna was putting the finishing touches on these two darling mats. I think this is an Edyth O'Neill design.

Both mats were just too sweet.

Ah, springtime on Ohio's north coast. With today's temperatures in the mid 50's, the snow is quickly melting and plant life is popping out of the nearly frozen soil. My winter aconite is so cheery.

Clumps of snowdrops are blooming.

I've even got some buds on my daffodils. I can now only hope that we don't get any more hard freezes. The daffodils are pretty hardy, but cannot take a hard freeze. It is heartbreaking when that happens!

I would like to thank everyone who left me such wonderful comments on my last blog post. Some of the comments made me laugh out loud and the others just made me feel good. Thank you!!!

I also learned a new definition for a mammogram ~ turning cups into saucers. Thanks, Linda!

Pug hugs :)
Lauren

Negative is GOOD ~ ~ ~

Welcome friends. Thank you for stopping by.

{{Men, if any of you are reading this, you might want to skip this post...lol!}}

Any guesses what this is? I'm sure some of you ladies out there will recognize it! It is a mammotome table. Let me explain. On Monday I had a breast biopsy. You lay on this table, face down, with your boob hanging in the hole. There is a vise (I don't think that is the technical term!) underneath that they tighten. Sound pleasant? Not really. They tell you once "in position" you are not allowed to move. So what do I do? Get a charlie horse in my foot. I'm flexing my foot trying to get rid of it. Oh, no. That is not allowed! You can only wiggle your finger tips.Okay. I am in this vise, not allowed to move. The doctor tells me I will feel a pinch. Do you have any idea how much it hurts having a needle stuck in your boob? Did I mention you can't even flinch? Now I must tell you that the mammography tech Kathy was wonderful. She had explained everything beforehand (the Thursday before the procedure I had to go for a "test run" and have pictures taken and the exact spots marked with Xes where the tissue samples would be taken) and was there to reassure me every step of the way. The procedure took about 35 minutes ~ oh how wonderful to get out of that vise. The incision was only about 1/4 of an inch and no stitches were needed. A miniscule titanium clip was inserted into the breast so in the future they can pinpoint where they did the biopsy. (I now have two of these in the left breast. I also had this done eight years ago.) After the dressing was applied, I can now get dressed and go home. It's over, right? Not quite. Kathy gets this enormous, fist sized hunk of gauze, puts it in my bra and tells me it must stay there for the next two days. So here I am with one 36D and one almost 36B. I thought I was back in junior high stuffing my bra ;-) Today I am still a bit sore, my boob is the most lovely shades of purple and yellow, but I got a call from the doctor's office letting me know the results were NEGATIVE! I feel truly blessed and know I am one of the lucky ones.

The reason for this post is to remind my dear blog friends that if you are due for a mammogram, do not delay. Please get on the phone and schedule your appointment today.

Pug hugs :)
Lauren

W ~ I ~ P

~ ~ ~ WELCOME FRIENDS ~ ~ ~

I can't believe it is March already, and here on Ohio's north coast it came in like a lamb. I hope that is not a bad sign. Yesterday was pleasant with the sun shining most of the day. What a difference a little sunshine can make.

I was not quite feeling up to snuff today, so I did not go to the library to hook :-( I was hoping to have lots of wonderful rugs to share with you. Since I don't, I'll share with you what I've been up to.

For many, many years I did counted cross stitch, but in the last twenty years, I could probably count on one hand the number of pieces I've done. I've seen so many wonderful stitcheries (Is that a word? Spellcheck doesn't like it!) on blogs, I got the itch to stitch. I figured I'd better do something small to see if my eyes could take it. This little sampler by Blackbird Designs was aptly named "petites lettres rouges". The chart called for three shades of red but I am only using one. I found a piece of 26 count linen in the attic and coffee stained it. I forgot to rinse it after dying it and every time I start to stitch I can smell the coffee and I'm not a fan of coffee. Now if it smelled of diet Coke..... I am using two strands of floss over two threads. So far, so good.

I'm also working on a couple of punch needle bunnies since Easter is drawing near. I made a few of these in 2007 and they came out pretty good. I like punch needle because it is so mindless and finishes rather quickly.

Ignore the markings on this one. They will be punched over.

Finally, here is the little hooked mat I am working on. It is a design by Lori Brechlin and is about 11 x 12.

When I first started hooking with the ladies at the library, I was working on a Barbara Carroll design that was about 13 x 25. I thought it was HUGE. A comment was made that they thought it easier to hook something large rather than small. I just could not understand that, but now that I've hooked a few bigger things and am using a wider cut, I now understand what they mean. I'm anxious to get started on something bigger and hopefully will ~ soon!

Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you will come again soon.

Pug hugs :)
Lauren