Quilts and Animals

Hello everyone.  We are still enjoying Nauvoo, learning so much, and meeting so many wonderful people.  We are thankful for the opportunity to be here where so many good people lived and so many good people are living now.

We are seeing lots of animals that we don't see at home.  We see beautiful blue jays, cardinals, squirrels, and bald eagles.  We have had a lot of Canadian geese in our yard lately.  Turtles hang out on the logs in the river.

Turtles

A bald eagle

A cardinal





Sometimes animals enter where they should not be.  A few weeks ago, Sister Call and I were working in the John Taylor home.  It is a lovely old home that has been restored.  John Taylor was the third president of the church.  When I say we were working there, I mean we conduct tours through the home or building.  And we tell the story of the people who lived there.  Some of the artifacts inside this home really belonged to the Taylor family.  My favorite is the rocking horse.

 

This is the children's bedroom in the home.  Besides the horse, notice the doll and tea set and the chamber pot under the bed.

 When the saints left Nauvoo, the Taylors didn't think they had room to take this horse.  The little boy was so upset that after they were a few days out, John Taylor rode back to Nauvoo to get the horse for his little boy.  It was dangerous for him to come back, but he did.  The horse went to Salt Lake and was later given to the church by the Taylor family.  The mane and tail are real horse hair. 

Sister Call and I had opened the front door as it was a little warm.  All of a sudden, a robin flew in the house.  There are two rooms upstairs and two rooms downstairs and a hall and stairway in the middle.  We hurried and closed the doors to the rooms where the robin wasn't.  It was in the children's bedroom.  We were so afraid it would damage some of the artifacts that even we are not supposed to touch.  Sister Call phoned the visitors' center.  They didn't have much to suggest.  I took a broom and went after the bird.  I tried to coax it out of the bedroom.

The fireplace in the children's bedroom.

 
The bird was on this mantel--at one point right in there with the figurines.  Luckily, after a few minutes, it flew out of the bedroom.  We hurried and shut that door.  Then we had the bird in the stairway.

One of the chandeliers in the stairway.

 

It flew from the chandelier at the top of the stairs to the middle one (pictured above) to the chandelier at the bottom of the stairs.  We opened wide both front doors and I was there with the broom but it wasn't working.  I said, "I'm going to call my husband."  Mark came right over and within a minute he had the bird in hand and was on his way out the door.  He was our hero.  We were so thankful for him--just like so many other times in my life.  The bird was ok and flew off.  The visitors' center sent someone to help with the problem, but Mark had already solved it.

I have to put on a few photos of quilts.  I worked in the cultural hall two days this week.



The Cultural Hall.  Mark wouldn't take the photo unless I stood in front.

 This building was begun in 1842 and finished in 1844.  Many events happened here.  Plays, dances, meetings, and etc.  The third floor was a Masonic Hall.  The last winter the saints were in Nauvoo, the benches were removed and the building was used for building wagons.  When the church purchased it to restore it, the third story had been removed due to deterioration.  They took the roof off to rebuild the third story and the original floor was there under the roof.  So the third story has the original floor.  Dances were held on that floor and they restored the balcony where the Nauvoo Brass Band played.

The second floor has a display of old quilts and a few other artifacts.  I will show you just a few.

Light & Shadow  1835-1840  (log cabin)



Diamond Weave.  Late 1800's



"Flower Garden"  This quilt top was made by Bridget Lyles who came from Bradford England in 1864.  She and her daughter, Ann, carried it across the plains in their handcart.  Ann's granddaughter donated it to Nauvoo Restoration.  The quilt hanging behind is a sampler quilt from 1850.

There are more quilts but I will save them for another time.

We are happy, keeping busy, and enjoying our time here.  Today was our preparation day and we went to the Amish community of Cantril, Iowa with our friends, the Calls.  We went to a huge store called The Dutchman's.



It had everything from fabric to expensive clocks to groceries.

 That updates you on our comings and goings.  We hope all of you are doing well.