Stan Hywet Ohio Mart 2013

If you've been following my blog for awhile, you might remember in the past I've talked about the Stitchery Showcase at Stan Hywet.  It's an annual event I've been attending with my mom for the past 25 years.  Last year I got together a group of ladies I've met through various in-person & Facebook stitching groups and we all went together.  

This past weekend was time for the Ohio Mart once again that the Stitchery Showcase is normally part of.  I'm very sad to say, this year they did not hold the Showcase portion.  It's the first time since I've been in high school that I didn't attend.  However, I still had a stitchy friend come stay with me for the weekend and we attended the Ohio Mart and had a fantastic time!

We started the day off with a trip to the Stitchers Fair Tent.  It's basically like a yard sale of nothing but needlework & quilting items.  I picked up some great bargains on fabric for my personal stash and had a nice look through a ton of patterns.  As I limit my stash to a specific amount/area, I didn't see any of those that were just screaming at me to buy.

When we left the SFT, we decided to take a walk through the rose garden before the rain set in.  They still have a bunch of roses in bloom, and they all smelled wonderful!

They have 100+ artisans booths to look through.  I found tons of places I picked up business cards for some possible future online shopping (gotta watch that budget).  The only items I purchased were this gorgeous Italian wine bottle cheese platter and a couple of small xmas gifts.  (Remember...support handmade & local!)

 After a bit of shopping it was definitely lunch time.  The Ohio Mart not only features your normal "fair food" like Italian sausage sandwiches & pizza, but they have several other local caterers, etc. that are there.  We decided to get lunch from Totally Cooked Catering.  They happen to be within walking distance of my house, which smells wonderful when I drive by on my way home from work at night, but also have fantastic food.  We both decided to skip the normal fair food and buy a lunch at their tent that consisted of an Ale Braised Beef sandwich on a pretzel roll (it included some sort of awesome horseradish sauce) and Smashed Potato Salad.  Definitely worth the $7.00!

Lunch was followed by more browsing through artisan booths, plenty of rain, and some time in the conservatory.  Unfortunately it was too late in the season for the butterflies to still be on exhibit, but there was still plenty of beautiful plants to look at.  We found all these little mini landscape scenes mixed in also.  They're unbelievably cute with the tiny benches, lamps, gazing balls, etc.

And of course, if you know anything about me, what is my favorite thing to do on a Saturday in the Fall?  Yep...stitching & football.  Good thing my stitchy friend is as much a football fanatic as I am!

It was a great weekend and I'm looking forward to it again next year.  Hopefully the Stitchery Showcase will be back in place as I'm already accumulating a stash of items I want to enter.  :)

Stitchery Showcase 2012

Yesterday marked the 25th year that my mom and I have been going to the Stitchery Showcase at Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens.  For those of you that aren't familiar with it, Stan Hywet is the estate of F.A. Seiberling that founded The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company in Akron, OH.  It is an absolutely beautiful Tudor estate full of wonderful gardens, a butterfly conservatory, Japanese Teahouse and so much more that there's never a dull moment wandering around.

Back in 1974 the Stan Hywet Needlework Guild held it's first Stitchery Showcase.  It's an event that hundreds of pieces are entered into each year.  You see cross stitch, needlepoint, surface embroidery, stumpwork, blackwork, handmade quilts, etc.  The main requirement is that none of the stitching is done by machine.

It's such a wonderful way to get inspired if you're in a stitching slump.  It usually takes me about 1 hour to go through the display in the Manor House Auditorium as I like to get as close to some of the pieces that I can, look at the stitching techniques, etc.

Several years ago the Stitchery Showcase was moved to a stand alone Spring event to be held in the Fall with the Ohio Mart.  I think this makes it so much more fun.  After we're done looking at all the  beautiful stitched works we can then go outside to walk through tents throughout the grounds that have booths of more than 100 artisans and look at (and sometime purchase) the wonderful items they make.

Normally my mom and I go alone as this is something "we" do.  This year I got together a group of stitchers from around Ohio.  One of them I knew from a monthly stitching group we used to have at a now closed local needlework shop.  The others I have met through various Facebook stitching groups.  It was a new experience for all the ladies and I think (and hope) they all had a blast.  Here's a pic of all of us except my mom, who was playing photographer, while we took a lunch break in between all the fun.  I'm the one in the center, back row.  :)

Hopefully this is something we can do again in the future.  I was sad to hear yesterday that the Stitchery Showcase will no longer be held every year and the next one won't be until 2014.  I guess the good news in that is it gives me 2 years to stitch something to enter (that doesn't get sold in my shop or a gallery) as it's been quite a few years since I've entered anything.

Take a moment and search around the area you live in.  There may be events like this that you can attend that you've never known about.  

Happy Stitching!  :)