Susie was Here

First Post of the Day

Yesterday while working on some 18th century pockets, I needed twill tape to complete them. I walked over to the dresser where I keep it, and as I opened the drawer, something on top of the dresser caught my eye.

A tagged Stablemate?

Only very rarely do I tag a Stablemate.

I picked it up for a closer look. The tag was not secured around a leg or tail but simply draped over the model's neck. I had to dust off my teaching chops to read what was written on it.

"Susie. 3. Fav. Small."

Hmmm. Susie had tagged this model for some reason. 

Not only that, but I found a stick on top of some sewing supplies. That's Susie for sure - she is ways collecting things that interest her. (It's actually a long dried stem from my old fashioned day lilies.)

And, there were two origami stars. I keep origami paper and several books on folding various things on hand for the grands. More things that pointed to Susie's presence.

Susie and her family had stayed with us for a week in July while she and her sisters had gone to Camp Tecumseh. The sewing room had been used as a guest bedroom during that time and the origami supplies had been out on the upstairs overlook for the kids to use.

Kate and Susie had spent a lot of time with me and going through my collection, looking at pieces, labeling a few that they'd like to have some day, and even taking home Zulu (Kate) and the buckskin lying foal (Susie.)

Susie must've spied the mini Alborozo unicorn and decided it was one she'd also like to have. She knew where I kept the tags, filled one out, and put it on the model. Easy peasy, lemon squeezie, and Susie had let me know that she'd like to have that piece!

Sweet girl, I am happy that you want it and I will make sure that that happens when the time comes. And finding your tag, stick, and origami made me think of you and smile.

It's the last day to comment and enter the September Give Away!

Commenting ends tonight at 11:59 PM ET and I will spin to win Wednesday or Thursday.

Stay 'tooned!

Susie's Baptism

First Post of the Day

Two weeks ago, Susie chose to be baptized. In our church, babies are given a blessing shortly after birth and then are invited to be baptized when they turn age 8.

I made Susie's baby blessing dress and Emily has laid it out on the table in the photo.

Getting the lace overlay JUST right on the hem and sleeves was a bit challenging, but I was pleased with how it turned out and happy that Emily was sharing it at Susie's baptism.

Susie's baptismal dress was lovely and you can tell from these pictures that she felt pretty in it.

She especially liked the pleated skirt and how it swirled when she twirled!

In just about every picture taken of her, she is holding that pleated skirt out.

See what I mean? Sweet girl.

Lisa was able to attend the baptism and took all these photos but sadly, Craig and I were not.

I haven't said too much here, but there have been some new significant health challenges for both Craig and me and neither of us felt up to the drive down to Nashville. We were sad not to go, but Cole and his family were aware of the challenges and understood.

Thankfully, Lisa kept us supplied with pictures and we FaceTimed Susie later that day and had a lovely chat with her.

I'll share one of the recent health challenges that so recently popped up in the next post.

Stay 'tooned.

Into the Sewing Room, Part 2

Mercy was repaired and Elsie Mae's quiet book pillow was done, but neither Kate nor Susie were finished sewing. Susie asked, "Can we make accessories for our horses, Grammy?"

I had no idea what she meant by "accessories," but both girls had ideas so with my help they selected some different fabrics, grabbed the scissors, and got started.

Susie first made a blanket for Poppy, but a different kind of blanket than I thought she intended.

Wearing the blue ribbon from my props stash, this foal with the "comforting gaze" whose color is "very vibrant" now has its own blanket to rest upon.

Kate knew what she wanted to make, too, and it was evident that she had been watching when I measured and drew cutting lines for the quiet book pillow. She pulled out my quilter's ruler and, like a pro, drew her own pattern and cutting lines on her fabric.

She wanted to make a bandana for Zulu to wear, but she ran into a problem with his flying mane.

Her solution? She added a velcro girth and some of Mercy's leftover stuffing, and made a bareback pad.

She machine stitched it, too, with no help from me. I think I may have a future sewist here.

Susie next made a horn protector for her unicorn, one that protected the horn from breaking as well as keeping people from getting poked.

Her final project was to make a blanket with a velcro closure but it didn't fit Poppy. So we tried it on several other models and now my vintage bay Grazing Foal is much warmer.

Kate's last project was a gift for me. Knowing how much I like El Dorado,

she made him a bandana to wear. I was so touched and I have no plans to take it off him! 

After spending the entire morning in the sewing room, I called a halt for lunch. Although the girls wanted to sew some more afterward and I was willing, we all went over to Curt and Vanessa's home

 

and played games, watched the England/France World Cup match, and hung out the rest of the day. (Uno is not one of my favorite games, but give me the giant card version of the game and I am all in!)

It was our last full day together; Camp Tecumseh was over and our Tennessee family would be leaving after church the next morning.

Stay 'tooned!

Camp Tecumseh Week: Playing with Ponies

My horse room is currently a mess with models off the shelves and out on tables.

 And I don't mind a bit. I am having just as much fun as Kate and Susie are. 

I've shown them how to carefully remove a model from a shelf and then put it back.

And then we set down the ones they want to look at and add names to the models' labels if the girls want to have it "some day." (Much better than Mila's "When you are dead, Grammy," right?)

They are older now but still feel the pull toward unicorns and Pegasi.

They really enjoyed learning about glowies and how some are intentional (Ichabod) and others are an accident. (Stella.)

Going home with them are two Toys R Us unicorn foals and the 1993 stallion from the Drinkers of the Wind set, another Toys R Us piece.

That piece still has its tag on it from when their dad showed it. 

He was five or six.

Kate fell in love with my Zulu, too.

Initially I told her that I wasn't ready to part with him yet, so she put her name on a tag for "some day."

And then I changed my mind - why hang onto him when she clearly was in love with the piece? Why not let her have him now so she could make memories with him and as a reminder of the summers she visited me and spent time in the horse room browsing through my collection?

My second Flinka arrived and they enjoyed looking at her, too.

After they headed off for their day at camp, I discovered that Flinka was looking festive thanks to a set of sleigh bells that Jennifer Buxton gifted me with a few years ago. I had the set hanging on the shelf where I can see and enjoy them; the girls lifted them off their hook and slipped them on over her neck. I think she looks great in sleigh bells! 

By no means in this post finished, but the girls are in here with me now and I got out my live show accessories for scene building for them. There are squeals of excitement and lots of questions and things like, "Look at this! It's so cute!"

I simply cannot get any writing done right now; besides, I wanna play with those things, too! 

More coming in tomorrow's blog post for sure! LOL

Stay 'tooned!

Junior Ranger Banners for Some Outdoorsy Girls

Cole and Emily really value nature and being outdoors. As such, they visit a lot of state and national parks with their girls.

They travel all over the country and do a lot of camping and hiking together.

The National Park Service offers a Junior Ranger program that the kids always participate in. It's an educational program about each specific park and offers activities that help kids (and their parents) learn about the park they are visiting.

At the end, the kids are sworn in as Junior Rangers for that park and they are given  badges specific to that park. 

As many parks as they go to, their collection of badges are growing. 

So, when Cole saw my collection of Feast buttons last summer, he asked me if I could make the girls something for their badges as a Christmas gift.

Me? Take on a new sewing project? For my grands?? One that meant pulling out my embroidery machine? Oh, I was all over that! 

I found some really nice Junior Ranger patches on Etsy to add to the banners that I found online. I may switch my Feast buttons to banners like these. I really like this look far better than the traditional way Feasters have of hanging them on strips of wool.

And then I began playing experimenting with thread colors and fonts.

I have learned to always, always, ALWAYS experiment, practice, and then test embroidery designs. (Some sewing ones as well.)

And then when I am happy with the colors I've chosen, the font, and how everything is stitching out, 

I cut  and lay things out to be sure they look as planned. The stitching in embroidery work is so tight and close, it is very, very difficult to clip it out and remove it if you don't like it. (Ask me how I know that.)

I embroidered all their names and then appliquéd the patches at the bottom.

I sent photos of the Junior Ranger banners to Cole and Emily last night.

They were really happy with how they'd turned out. So am I, and I can't wait to give them to the girls at Thanksgiving.

I am going to ask them to send me photos after they get all their badges onto the banners. That way, if it looks like they are full or close to it, I can make them second banners. 

By the way, see Susie's hands in the picture above? She is probably the boldest of the family when it comes to the great outdoors and isn't afraid to touch or hold things, living or not. 

While they all love critters (to the point of building an annual "bug house" out on my patio table every winter to shelter the bugs during the harsh weather),

Susie takes the "critter cake" when it comes to looking for (and finding) interesting flora and fauna. In this photo, these were "interesting things" that she'd found that she wanted to study. (And keep. And take home from Iowa City to Nashville, Tennessee.) Aunt Sarah did give her a cookie tray to put her interesting things on, but they did not go home to Tennessee.

Emily just sent the family this video from last summer of Susie having a cicada experience. She is totally unafraid and enjoying the insects. Watch it if you wish but be aware that it's a buggy video.

See what I mean? Totally unafraid!

I showed the video to Tim who is an entomologist and he declared Susie destined for greatness and told me to be proud! Maybe I will be after my heart stops beating so fast. Yeesh!!

Don't forget the Give Away! It ends tomorrow (Monday) at 11:59 PM Eastern. The prize this time is a set of Dan Patch mementos straight from Oxford, Indiana!

I'll try to do a second post today if I can; stay 'tooned!