The August Give Away & More from the Sewing Room

It's August, and The Feast is very much on my mind. Seems only right that this month's give away is associated with it.

Vintage beadwork done by my sister, Leslie.

She beaded these in the late 1980s/early 1990s.

Model to show scale and not part of the give away.

I know very little about beadwork but I believe the patterns on these two sets are from western tribes. The back is the same as the front so you can flip them and use either side as you wish. 

There will be two winners. The first winner gets their choice of the sets, and the second winner will get the other one. I do have more beaded pieces so if you don't win this month, there will be at least one more opportunity coming up.

Rules to enter: Comment on any blog post beginning with this one and ending Tuesday, August 20 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time. So, if I post 5 blog entries during that time, you could comment once on every single one of them. Winners will be drawn Wednesday or Thursday. Good luck!

Speaking of the Feast, things continue to be happening in the sewing room. 

I ran up to Leslie's farm this past week and went through her fabric inventory to choose new block prints. I badly needed to do that - I've sewn so much for Feast, I only had one block print left.

Look at the elephants marching on this piece! Can you see the indicators of hand blocking? (Check the middle elephant.) Elephants and camels were common motifs during the 18th century which makes sense since the cotton fabric and hand blocked printing came almost exclusively from India during that time period.

I think I gasped out loud when I saw this green fabric. Block prints come in two sizes and this one only comes in the smaller size. I already have a piece of the green, but here is not enough fabric to make a shirt or a bed gown from it.

I have used my green piece as advertising, but I've been wanting to make myself a bedgown from the green for years.  Now that I have a second piece of the fabric, I can! 

Another men's shirt that I completed this week. This one has bone buttons rather than ones made from horn. You can see it on the sleeve on the right.

Don't forget - if you'd like a chance to win one of the beaded sets, make a comment below. 

Things for Model Horses

Yesterday I shared some beautiful beadwork that my sister had made and then given me, hoping that some of it might be useful to tack makers in the model horse hobby. Unfortunately the scale is too big - it was made for humans. (And dogs. One of those pieces was actually a dog collar.)

I inadvertently left these pieces out, all too big again, although that top piece might work. I'd have to hold it against a model to be sure. I'd love to keep those flowers on the bottom right.

These four pieces are a different story when it comes to scale, though.

They might actually be able to be used by someone working on native tack.

The scale looks right and I'd have to do some research as to the patterns used by different indigenous groups, but I will leave that to whomever gets these pieces.

My favorite piece, and one I may keep for myself just because it is so pretty.

Not only am I preparing for Feast, I also have two model horse shows coming up - Marilou Mol's show in August and Great Lakes Congress in October. (Also, Cowpoke JC's wedding next month, but I bought myself a dress for the wedding rather than making one.) It's time to make some more haversacks to sell.

And, although it may be July, now is the time to start sewing Halloween haversacks. I found some fabrics that I love and (bonus!) were on sale!

This playful skeletal horses fabric is my favorite. I don't like the macabre side of Halloween, but these ponies seem cheeky and like they are having fun. 

More skeletal animals in black and white with a nice pop of orange. 

Any unicorn with a candy corn horn is a friend of mine! And it reminds me of Abby who loved candy corn. (My most favorite blog post that I ever wrote was about her trying candy corn for the first time.)

Reading classic literature was a hallmark of my classroom, and while we focused on children's classics, I did pull Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow into our studies.

I found this fabric in an orange and black print,

and a smaller scale print of it in green and black.

If you have not read the book as authored by Washington Irving, put it on your to-do list. You will not regret it. (I mean the unabridged, real book authored by him.) Here is a link to it on Amazon paired with his other book, Rip van Winkle for only $4 and prime shipping!

(If you want a haversack from any of these fabrics, email me at horsiemama8@gmail.com. The first fabric is getting close to being sold out so if you want that one, you might want to contact me ASAP.)

Busy day (when isn't it? LOL) and so gotta scoot. Local Son Curt has pneumonia and Vanessa and Pony Pal Mila are also very sick (although not diagnosed with pneumonia, thankfully.) Teacher Daughter Lisa, Craig, and I are making them dinner and delivering that later today.

Unfortunately I can't go into their home and help because I am immunocompromised and can't risk getting pneumonia. (I have had my pneumonia shot but I will stay away as a precaution.) That's frustrating as a mom and Grammy, but it can't be helped. Especially with JC's wedding fast approaching.

Off to walk Pepper and then head to the kitchen.

Have a good Saturday!