2018 04 16 - 04 21 Shawnee State Park - National Museum of the American Coverlet

Shawnee State Park, Schellsburg Pennsylvania - 16 April 2018

Part of our Welcoming Committee.

The three in the foreground are males but only that one fluffed himself.
The fourth one in the back is one of the two hens we saw. 

Bob played a turkey call through the outside speakers and 3 of them came over behind our RV. At one point they were very close and all were gobbling at the same time answering.

Walking to the Beach - 20 April 2018

We are hoping this bluebird is a true harbinger of spring though we have seen them in several of our prior locations only to be disappointed.

We found the "beach" which is large grain sand dumped at the edge of a lake. Tori immediately waded in while Dakota (who has no experience swimming) stayed just barely getting her toes wet. This flock of about 20 Canada geese swam over looking for handouts and got her attention. One must have done the wing flap thing because she suddenly bolted out into the lake off the concrete ramp and just as suddenly stopped when she discovered she was not standing on solid ground. She wasn't very far out but the water is still only in the mid-40s. She was quite surprised.

Several connected lakes and it is plenty breezy walking over the bridges. Hold onto your hats!

The National Museum of the American Coverlet - 21 April 2018

Downtown Bedford for a tour of the Coverlet museum. And what is a coverlet, you may ask? A coverlet is a woven, single layer bed cover or rug worked on a loom with the pattern woven in as part of the process. In comparison to quilts, which are bed covers made from various pieces of existing material sewn together with batting and backing. The coverlet is made from scratch generally from threads of cotton or wool. 

Coverlets are made from patterns which dictate how the loom will be set up for a particular design. Many of the older home looms were not large enough to create a piece which covers the bed so they are made of two woven panels joined in the center seam. Women mostly made coverlets for their families use. Men were also weavers but usually for clients. 

This is a larger loom with several pedals to raise and lower the heddles which move the warp threads. Julie, we have a new found admiration for your talents as a weaver. You go, girl.

Our guide explains the smaller spinning wheel is for flax linen while the larger one is for cotton thread.

The oldest piece (under glass so no photo) was estimated to have been created in 1771. Older pieces tended to be blue and white or blue and cream.

Most of the coverlets in the museum were from the early to mid 1800's.

This addition to the loom used a series of punch cards similar to punch cards for early computers (on the right).

The six steps in the flax processing.

Coverlets are mostly double sided. Right and left examples show one side has a light background with red design while the opposite side has a red background with white design.

While trees, flowers and birds are very typical, this example has many different buildings including churches and pagodas. 

This was a really interesting piece and has no middle seam, meaning it was woven as a single coverlet.

This design was unique with the multi-point stars that reminded me of snowflakes. 

One of the books of coverlet designs - Lions and Tigers - No Bears - Oh My! Clearly there are many more options, including bears. 

The Golden Eagle Inn Pub was our destination for a late lunch. That would be the door to the right of the sign. The fancy dining room is upstairs for the hotel patrons. 

The horse head post has a flower pot holder over its head. All along the street are old buildings on the National Registry and Historical Markers.  

Had to stop in the local Candy Shop, establish 1929, for some hand-dipped treats. Most of the store is packaged jelly beans and popcorn but we made our way towards the back where they keep the good stuff. I was disappointed the dipping equipment is kept behind a closed door but we managed to find several selections that tempted us. 

Not the fanciest horse head but we enjoyed seeing them randomly distributed around town. Alas, no hanging metal rings for reins. These guys are purely decorative, not functional.