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In one of the areas of the museum still to be developed is stored part of an auditorium's canvas stage cloth or a theatrical backdrop of painted cloth (pictured above) --- with many of the local hand-painted advertising signs on the canvas still as bright and as colorful as ever. I was charmed by the painted ads --- and hope that the museum will determine a way to display this large
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No museum with a collection of artifacts from early rural America would be complete without a spinning wheel. The Bonds House Museum has a spinning wheel upon which no doubt countless hours of spinning produced countless miles of yard. These devices so necessary to households just a few generations ago have always fascinated me.
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The artistry in this quilt is both pleasing to the eye and inspiring. That so many small pieces of fabric could be cut and assembled by hand-piecing into all these various elements and then combined into a quilt top was a labor of love for someone years ago. Then the quilter(s) took over and fashioned a quilt from that top using thousands of small quilting stitches to join the top, the batting, and the lining together --- and those lines of stitches added even more to the overall pattern and geometry of the work. This quilt is charming.
At the Museum are displayed a variety of tools and metal artifacts --- from broad axes to horseshoes to a set of scales and the peas used to measure weights as well as dozens of other items. The object at the top right of this pictures is commonly called a set of "cotton scales" and was used to weight cotton as it was picked and collected for ginning. The scale had two surfaces upon which to measure weights --- one side of the scale required a small "pea" (shown hanging from the scale) to determine fairly light objects. The opposite side of the scale required a larger "pea" (shown just below the scale) to measure heavier loads. The scale had a top hook which could be attached to a secure limb or timber and the object to be weighed could be attached to the scale's bottom hook. Both are visible in this picture.
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1 comment:
I am old enough to remember the ladies born in the 1870's/1880's who had much experience at quilting, if only I could remember the name of the lady who set the standard (in my opinion as I remember this discussion)of a "good quilter". She said she didn't want anyone quilting on a quilt of hers that couldn't put at least 12 stitches onto the needle before pulling the threaded needle through the quilt backing, batting and the quilt top - people!, that is some tiny stitches! and I assure you that we will not find such finely quilted beauties today.bettye
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