Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Once Upon a Time....

Once upon a time about 1900( give or take a few years) a teenage boy from Cincinnati was put on a train by his parents to go to a Methodist emcampment in the northerpart of Michigan's Lower Peninsula, because his parents had heard the air there would help his severe summer allergies. That teenage boy fell in love with the area and spent many summers there.


About 1910, he married a young Irish Catholic girl who didn't feel to welcome at the Methodist encampment. So they and some Cincinnati friends bought some property a little farther north on a small inland lake where they built a log communal dining cabin and slept in tents for three summers until they were able to build small cabins. Once they got an automobile they made the three day drive to Michigan each summer with their shovel in the back seat to dig their way out when they got stuck on the sandy roads.


In 1925, this young man and lady with their young son bought a larger lot on the lake. The young man was a builder in his father's construction business here in Cincinnati so he sent his buiding crew north on the train to build a summer house. These were my grandparents, and my brother and I own that summer house still . This is what it looks like today.


When I saw the BBD Petite Lettres Rouges and the wonderful way other stitchers were deicating it to parents and grandparents, I decided to stitch it in memory of my grandmother who taught me to sew on her treadle machine and to crochet ragrugs. Now the problem I ran into was that my grandmother was a perfectionist and would not have had any errors in her stiching so even though this is a reproduction sampler, I decided to correct the errors. I put the year they built the house and the location as well as her name. Besides my family wouldn't "get it", that I would intentionally stitch something with mistakes. So don't tell the BBD ladies what I did to their chart.



Thanks for the wonderful comments and happy stitching!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great looking cabin, Kath! Wow! I think we should have a retreat there! And you already know, I love your sampler dedicated to your Grandma!

Robin

Siobhán said...

Kathy, I love it!! That is so neat. You'll have to send a pic to Alma, she will love it and the reason why you corrected the mistake. I enjoyed getting to see a pic of the cabin and read the story behind it, too. So neat!! Thanks for sharing. Beautiful stitching, as always!

Deb said...

What a wonderful story! And what a beautiful house! I'm so jealous as upper Michigan is my most favorite place (you'd think somewhere else would take top honors because I live in Michigan - but up north here is beautiful). What city is the house in? And love Petite Lettres Rouge and how you stitched it dedicating it to your grandmother!

Stephanie said...

What a great piece for your summer cottage! It's a beautiful tribute to your grandmother. I also enjoyed the story about the cottage and finally getting to see a picture of your summer hideaway!

Dawn said...

Beautiful cabin. You're lucky to have it & enjoy your time there. The sampler is beautiful. ~ Dawn ~

Mary's Stitchin Time said...

Oh, I loved the story, Kathy! And what a wonderful remembrance for your grandmother!

Bonnie said...

Kathy - this is a wonderful thing you have done for your grandparents. I love the cottage also.

Stacy said...

What a lovely story and a really cute summer house! Kudos to you and your brother for keeping it up and running. Such nice memories you must have! Lovely stitched piece for your Grandma!

Stacy

Jan said...

What a wonderful story, now I know why the cabin means so much to you! Love the tribute you gave your grandmother, even righting the mistakes, cuz she would have wanted it that way. I can almost see her smiling down on you!

(((hugs)))

Brigitte said...

I love the story that is behind your summer house. This house looks so lovely and I can imagine that it's very destressing to spend some time there.
Your little finish is a beautiful tribute to your grandmother.

Kathy said...

Lovely home. Is it still a vacation/summer home or do you live there year round?
I love what you did with the BBD sampler. Your grandmother would be so proud of you for correcting the errors. :)