A Drive By Post - Literally

Not much stitching has been going on around here lately.  I'm within a hair's breath of being finished with Elizabeth Clayton - but not quite there!  Dance rehearsals, recitals and just the normal things that usually go on around here have really cut into my stitching and blogging time.  It doesn't help that our wireless modem is on its last legs and every time I try to get into blogs it shuts me out.  So far it hasn't kicked me out here, so I'll try to post this and see what happens.  But if you haven't seen me comment, blame it on the modem.  I'm going to try to get out today and get a new one.

Anyway, because it's been so busy, I decided to get out of Dodge last Saturday, go for a drive and take in some of the local culture.  Rochester Hills has some wonderful historic places to visit.  I've lived here for almost six years and have been to the school house (it's a right of passage for the school children to spend a couple days there in prairie dress with hornbooks and being put into the corner with a dunce cap on your head when bad).  But they also have a lot of exhibits.  So I finally went to one -  a rug exhibit at the Van Hoosen Farm.

I just fell in love with this Alice in Wonderland rug.  To see it in person was breathtaking.  It was done with a 3 cut for those who are in the know about rug hooking.  And a couple more:

The lighting wasn't the best, but you get the idea.  The rug exhibit was held at the Van Hoosen Farm in the reconstructed cattle barn.  If you want to read a little bit about the history of the Van Hoosen farm you can click on the link: www.thebarnjournal/org/stories/story014/index.html (well, the link is not clickable no matter what I do, but if you are interested you can do a copy and paste to read a little history of the farm).


The original barn burned down in 1968 when two boys were playing with matches.  A new barn was reconstructed and in one of the pictures below, is a picture of what is left of the original barn and the cattle area.  Sarah Van Hoosen Jones took over the farm from her grandfather and enlarged the home and barn.  She had built a new dairy unit and bred her own stock of cattle.  She graduated with a doctorate degree in genetics from the University of Wisconsin and her aunt, Dr. Bertha Van Hoosen, did important research in cattle diseases.

The Village encompasses a small community - schoolhouse, cemetery, and various buildings.  I didn't get a picture of the school house or the cemetery - I'll do those on another trip, but here are a few others:

I don't know if you can read the sign, but the name of the building is The Sign of the Black and White Cow.  This used to be the Dairy Store for the Van Hoosen Dairy Farm.  It's now a private residence, but the owners have to keep it up to City requirements.

1850's Red House:

The Farmhouse:

The reconstructed barn and museum:

What is left of the original barn:

One of my favorite houses which sits across the road (heavily traveled) is this one and I can't get the best picture of it because of the traffic.  All homes in this area are kept to strict standards as to how they are maintained.

From there I went to a quilt show held in Romeo, Michigan.  Romeo is probably best known for peaches.  Here are a couple quilts:

I'm usually into the more primitive style of quilting, but I thought that these two were pretty:

Romeo is also known for antiques.  And what would be a good days drive, if I didn't stop into the antique store???  You know how my car just can't pass up one of those places.  Romeo tends to be a bit pricey, but I lucked out and walked away with a new addition to the sewing room:

It needs a bit of cleaning, but I loved the graphics on it.

Well, that's about it for me.  Sorry there are no stitchy pictures, but there will be soon.  Thanks for stopping by and even though there are no pictures of cross stitch, I hope you liked seeing a little part of my world.