An Unexpectedly Snowy Day

The Conner Longrifle Show is this weekend down in Noblesville. It's only an hour away and Craig and I had planned to go, but then this happened yesterday.

We were expecting only an inch or so of snow, 

but the storm shifted and we got 5 plus inches.

The initial layer melted and then froze, so there is ice under that snow and on the roads. As you might imagine, both Craig and I are very leery about ice right now.

Since I was not setting Jolis Chevaux up as a vendor, Leslie had asked if she could take some of my block print clothing with her and sell it at her booth.

She sells block print fabrics and having my clothing there to show people 

what can be done with block prints helps advertise and sell her fabrics. 

In the past, my shirts have sold well, so it helps me out, too. Win-win for both of us.

While it snowed yesterday, I spent my time sewing. I finished this hooded wool cloak and am so happy with how it turned out! I have green, navy, black, and dark cranberry wool in my fabric stash and plan to make at least one more cloak to take to Kalamazoo next month. 

With a remnant of the cloak wool, I made an 18th century pocket. 

And with the leftover hood lining fabric, I made two bum rolls. (I am going to alter the pattern; I think the bum rolls need to be a bit larger than this.)

The bum rolls are stuffed with wool roving and they take more than you might think - that wool roving compresses and it took about a yard of roving for each bum roll.

Finally, just for fun, take a look at what played out in our living room during the snowstorm.

I noticed that Nashie was lying very closely to Pepper with his head by hers. 

A bazillion toys were scattered over the living room floor, but he wanted the one she had. And he was willing to wait for it.

You can tell from his eyes that the wait has seemed like forever!

Poor Nash! He never fails to make us laugh. Such a good boy, but such a goofball, too.

Wish me luck - I think we are going to brave the snow and ice and head down to Noblesville.

If we do go, I'll share some pictures tomorrow. Stay 'tooned!

NaMoPaiMo & Back to the Sewing Room!

It's February 1, and most hobbyists know what that means - NaMoPaiMo begins today!

I seriously considered entering NaMoPaiMo this year, especially when I unboxed my paints and brushes when I cleaned out the closet. 

I have several blank models and all the tools that I would need, but I was too busy with cleaning and sorting my collection and the horse closet to prep anything. Maybe next year. 

In the meantime, best wishes to all who will begin painting their models today! Have fun and enjoy the process. To echo my former student Can Do Gracie, you can do this!

While I may not be participating in NaMoPaiMo, I have plenty to do here at home.

My sales models have been packed away for the March Great Lakes Congress show - finally. That clears some space in the horse room, space that is rapidly beginning to fill with things for my other hobby, living history.

Kalamazoo isn't until mid March, but the Conner Longrifles is in two and a half weeks.

I'd forgotten about it - I'm not going, even though it is less than an hour's drive from my home. But Leslie and Rick are. They are setting up their 18th century business, Chien Noir, and Leslie called and asked if I'd like to send some things down to sell with them.

A quick check of my records show that my men's shirts sold very well last year. That's good. But the downside is that sales like that would take a big bite out of what I've already made for Kalamazoo, which is just a month later. It would be a challenge to sew enough shirts to restock for that.

So... I'm heading back into the sewing room this morning. I've got a really neat elephant block print fabric that I've been saving. (Elephants are period correct for the 18th century and are a very popular motif among living history folks.) I'm going to try to get a couple more shirts done, either for Conner Longrifles or for Kalamazoo. 

After those are done, hopefully I can cut some haversacks out of the new fabrics that I just got and stitch them up!

Finally, thanks for all the well wishes that so many of you sent after I wrote about my fall. Compared to Craig's, my fall was very minor. He was badly injured and is still healing several weeks later. (A big lump over one eye and a tender knot on the bridge of his nose remain.) 

I'm bruised and scraped, with my own big, tender knot on my shin, but it wasn't a serious and concerning injury like his. (No head injury protocol for me!)

An announcement is coming tomorrow! I think you will be happy with it.