A Bit of This and a Bit of That

Things have been hopping around here. Here are some bits and pieces to catch up.

Horsiemama's Haversacks & Mercantile is doing well and I am on my third round of ordering new fabric, getting it cut out, and stitching it into haversacks. I will restock in a week or two.

Horse Buddy Trinity flew out for a visit and stayed with us for five days - always a treat! She's getting glammed up for her senior pictures here - Aunt Vanessa is a photographer and offered to do them while Trinity was visiting.

When Trinity was little we started a tradition of making stepping stones to commemorate getting together. She was happy to do that again and helped her cousins, Pony Pal Mila and Cowpokes Ian and Lukie with theirs.

She also helped me make stepping stones with Pepper and Millie's paw prints.

Lukie insisted on adding an orange waterballoon to his stone. All righty then!

Trinity went riding during her visit. Her social media name, Horseyreader, reflects her two favorite things. This girl also has a small collection of model horses and has gone to live shows with me.

Anne Field is working on my circus doll ballerina and sent me in-progress photos. I was so happy with what she was doing that I cried. The doll is lovely! (Anne, you're making my dream come to life!) 

Ian, Mila, and Lukie have been over several times the past week. Lukie always wants to see my Autism horse,

Illumination,

and Carnivale. (He loves the unusual colors.)

I'm really excited to have been asked to join two other bloggers in a special project. I can't say much more, but I will as soon as I can.

Speaking of blogs, I forgot to mention in yesterday's post that Daphne Headley has a blog, too. It's called Mini Hoofbeats Studio. Check it out!

I continue to work on research for the Mares' Tales project and have spent some time interviewing Canadian hobbyist Beth Peart. (Was that ever fun! Neat lady!) She's put me in touch with other Canadian hobbyists so I can get more information about the hobby's inception and growth in Canada. (Photo sleeves given to me by Nancy Kelly.)

Despite the pandemic, life is full, and life is good. I am certainly blessed.

Big Plans

I have big plans for my new RubberNedz Andalusian Circus Horse.

First, I am trying to find a stand for him. I like this round acrylic jewelry display stand.

 And I like this rectangular acrylic jewelry stand, too.

 The original stand is sculpted to look like a tree branch

and has a notch in it where his hoof rests. It's made of a harder plastic and doesn't bend or give under the weight of the horse. Still, I have a hard time not holding my breath when I use it, and Donna did tell me that most people find something else to keep this piece upright.

But there is something else I am working on, and that is the replication in miniature of a childhood dream. My sister and I used to pretend that we were performers in a circus (bareback riders). We would spend time "performing" in the back yard, riding the circus train (i.e. the couch) to the circus's next destination, and we even had little cardboard suitcases (I think borrowed from our Barbies) that we would pack and take with us as the circus traveled. 

We also took ballet lessons - everyone KNOWS that circus riders are really ballerinas, right? At least that's what we thought. (Google Images of Wesley Dennis illustration; all other circus and pattern photos from Google Images.)

With those memories in mind, I decided to explore making a vintage circus scene from the late 1950s/early 1960s. I had the horse, but I needed either a bareback rider

 or a ringmaster (since my RubberNedz is rearing.) And I wanted it to be female

because the doll would represent me. Who better to talk to about my ideas than Anne Field of Field of Dolls Studio?

I researched a lot of old circus photos trying to find a costume that was not the glitzy and glittery Las Vegas style. 

Then I came across this photo from a vintage pattern book. That ballerina dress was just what I was looking for. It's elegant and pretty, definitely circus worthy, but not so over the top that it detracts from the real beauty in the ring - the horse.

Anne helped me decide on fabric and had some ideas for accents to the dress, and then agreed to create the doll for me. 

This is new territory for me but I am super excited.