Spring is here. The temperature is 71 degrees today. It is wonderful to go outside without a coat. Windows are open, letting a breeze into the house. The crocus have bloomed.

Every year I say that I am going to add more bulbs, but then I forget when fall arrives.

The center of the Basket Quilt is finished.

As I thought, this week’s instructions are for the appliqued border. It will take more than a week to finish this assignment. I intend to needle turn the pieces. It will be finished when it is finished.

One of my daughters and I went to the Woodman Museum in Dover, N. H. My great grandfather was the first curator. My grandmother also was a curator. They lived on site, and I spent a lot of my childhood there along with my cousins. It was a trip to the past.

The whole house has been turned into exhibition rooms. I was able to remember the rooms as they were back in my childhood. The museum consists of four units. The museum, the garrison, the John P. Hale house and another house on Summer Street. We visited all of the property.

In the museum there are so many different exhibits. Birds, butterflies, insects, animals including a gigantic polar bear and a bison, rocks, Indian artifacts, dolls, N. H. and Dover history. military paraphernalia, and so much more. It is worth it to just go to see this building, but there is much more.

The garrison is from the 1600’s. It is fascinating to see the objects that they used in their daily life in that time period. Women’s work was much harder then than today,

The John P. Hale house has objects from another time period. The furniture is beautiful. There is so much to see in this building. We kept saying “Look at this.” One of the displays that was interesting is a woman’s dress. It had a lot of yardage. The dress was in two pieces. The skirt was held together with hooks and eyes. They were hidden under a fold in the cloth. Hand embroidery embellished the dress. We imagined washing and ironing this dress.

A piece of fabric that was woven at the Cocheco Mills. I would like to have this fabric for a quilt. Lots of fussy cutting. Maybe, I can just use the colors.

This would make a beautiful quilt.

There were a few quilts. Most of the patterns are still used today.

I want to go back. I’m sure I missed seeing things. The house on Summer Street has special exhibits. My great grandmother, Mary Ann Lombard Smith, was an artist. Our reason for going to the museum was to take some of her paintings there for this exhibit. When the exhibit opens, I intend to attend, and I will plan on time to look around again.

In the meantime, I will keep working on the quilts that I cut out, the community quilts, and a few more things that I plan to learn.

Have a great day and happy quilting.