2022 in Review: October - December

Fall is my favorite season, and Fall 2022 was fast paced - it seemed there was always something to look forward to that was fun but that also kept me busy as I prepared for it.

The Feast of the Hunters' Moon was exhausting but worth all the time and effort I'd put into it. Not only did it connect me to genuine 18th century history that had unfolded right here on the Wabash River, it also connected me to family - my mother was one of the founders of the Feast and my sister has been the director for the past 17 years.

Four generations of our family have participated in it, and three of them were there that weekend.

I barely had time to recover from that than I was headed to the October GLC show.

Liz invited me to stay with her and we have a wonderful time catching up.

Horse Buddy Trinity came out during her fall break at the University of Iowa and met Two Socks.

And my siblings and I were guests at The Farm at Prophetstown at Prophetstown State Park

when they dedicated their new heirloom apple orchard in memory of our family's orchard.

All of us taking a break from working in our orchard back in the 1960s.

In December I learned that when you don't want to see a unicorn, you do, and when you are trying to find one, you can't.

I spent time in the hospital with stroke like symptoms that (luckily) turned out to be complex migraine symptoms. I still have them, but I've learned how to cope with them. (The worst is when my speech is affected and I garble words and am hard to understand; the second worst is when my hand and arm go numb and I can't hold things, write, type, and essentially only have one hand for a while.)

Thanksgiving rolled around and we had a smaller group with us than usual.

Little did we know that it would be our last holiday with James.

In December, Teacher Daughter Lisa invited her students and their families to come out to the barn on a Saturday and she taught them about animal adaptations with help from Tim and his granddaughter.

James was in and out of the hospital in December (he had a rare genetic liver issue) and had a heart attack just before Christmas and died December 22, devastating us all.

I was so grateful that our family was together and there with Lisa as she coped with his loss. While we mourned, we had our moments of fun and laughter, too.

I'm ready to move on to 2023 and am hoping we will continue to heal from James' loss.

Happy New Year to you all!

2022 in Review: July - September

July is the busiest month in the model horse world as it brings us BreyerFest. Whether you are attending in-person or virtually, it is a heady, exciting time. 

Breyer had asked me to teach an in-person seminar on making pony pads, but that just was not possible - I would need a sewing machine for every person in attendance, plus five or six irons and ironing boards to share. So I suggested that I teach virtual seminar.

It was thrilling to be a seminar teacher and to see my seminar on the BreyerFest web site.

Liz Cory was kind enough to stop by and pick up my tickets since I had decided to stay home and attend virtually myself. She brought my models home to me - what a friend!

August brought The FAMulous Collectibility Show, held in Muncie, Indiana with my dear friend Allison Pareis.

I'd made a show backdrop with fabric that had our logo on it along with haversacks for all the judges.

Horsiemama's Haversacks & Mercantile has been around long enough that I usually see things I've made at shows. That always makes me smile.

I made that tablecloth and all six of those pony pads!

When FAMulous was over, I barely had time to catch my breath - I had to switch sewing gears as The Feast of the Hunters' Moon was fast approaching.

I wanted at least one size of everything (S, M, L, XL, XXL) so my goal was to make five short gowns, five bedgowns, five chemises, and five men's shirts. In addition I made three boys' shirts, a girls' dress, two petticoats, four bum rolls, five aprons, two caps, eight pin pillows, and five housewives (sewing packets). I also made 75 beeswax ornaments and 40 beeswax needle cakes. 

In September and in preparation for taking her students on a field trip to the Feast, Teacher Daughter Lisa invited me into her classroom to teach about clothing from the 18th century time period. I am wearing a caraco jacket over a blue petticoat with pocket hoops underneath and a fichu tucked in around my neck. The girl is demonstrating a second set of pocket hoops. 

Here she is trying on the bedgown so the kids can see how the pocket hoops work to make her bedgown stand away from her hips.

September brought a big surprise and change at the barn - Tim sold the rental home and blue barn, and purchased the old barn and farmhouse.

Tomorrow we will look at October through December. Stay 'tooned!

2022 in Review: April - June

We had a lovely spring and many good things happened as it unfolded. One of the best things happened early Easter morning. Easter is a celebration of rebirth, so the birth of Two Socks Easter morning was a great way to begin the day. (Although I was incredibly distracted in Church later that morning!)

Bold and sassy from the beginning, I still held my breath the first couple of days whenever I went out to check her. 

But unlike her sweet brother Little Feller, she made it through the earliest days of her life and has continued to thrive.

In April I attended the Great Lakes Congress show in Huntley, Illinois and had an extended chat with dear friend and Hagen Renaker expert, Nancy Falzone.

 It's always a good day when you get to spend time with Nancy!

At the end of May, the Indy Blooms show was held an hour south of me in Lebanon, Indiana. I invited several of my hobby friends to stay with me and we made a pony party out of it. Naturally we went to the barn to see the horses and meet Two Socks.

Shannon Call, Barn Buddy Kelsey Kramer (Shannon stayed with Kelsey), Jamie Rott, Liz Cory, and Steff Bodamer.

Afterward we went to dinner together and to my surprise, one of our servers was a former student of mine who is now doing graduate work here at Purdue.

Indy Blooms was fun and I met a lot of long time hobby friends, including Michelle Evans. She lives in Indianapolis and has been in the hobby since the 1970s.

Before heading back to Lafayette after the show, we stopped at a Mexican restaurant for dinner together.

In June, preparations for The FAMulous Collectibility Show were well underway. The Mares in Black interviewed Allison and me and while I have known Jackie Rossi, one of the hosts, for thirty years or so, I was still a little nervous. But it went well and ended up being a lot of fun.

June also brought a family reunion in Iowa City, Iowa and Nauvoo, Illinois to celebrate our 45th wedding anniversary. Everyone made it except our Florida family who'd been exposed to COVID.

Cutting our anniversary cake together in Sarah's kitchen.

Family dinner at the Iowa River Power Restaurant.

Look for the July through September review tomorrow! Stay 'tooned!

2022 in Review: January - March

I don't think I have ever sewn as much in my life as I did in 2022. And I say that as a mom who made her own maternity clothes and other clothing, sewed her kids' clothes, prom dresses, bridesmaid dresses, doll clothes and more. I've always sewn a lot, but this year I REALLY sewed.

I did not plan to start not one but two sewing businesses in retirement, both very disparate and both that kept me hopping.

I enjoy making haversacks and pony pads as well as 18th century clothing and when I got tired of one, I switched gears and sewed the other.

In January I found what was labeled as an Augarten piece in an antique shop. It wasn't, but I am still happy to have it in my collection. (Lippizaners are one of my favorite breeds.)

In February we got buried by a tremendous snowstorm 

that was as beautiful as it was dangerous.

 

And we made it down to Nashville, Tennessee for Pony Pal Julie's baptism.

It was good to be with our family that weekend.

March brought the Kalamazoo Living History Show that I attended with Teacher Daughter Lisa

and my sister, Leslie. 

In March, Breyer announced its workshops for BreyerFest 2022 and I was thrilled that I could finally share that I had been asked to teach a virtual workshop on how to make pony pads. (It's really hard to not spill the beans when Breyer has asked you to do something!)

Tomorrow we will take a look back at April, May, and June, 2022. 

Stay 'tooned!