So... Who Won?

First Post of the Day

Wondering who won the May Give Away?

Everyone!

If you commented, you won one.

Such a jaw dropping surprise. Haha!

I've made a list of all who entered and have put it with my beeswax ornaments supplies. 

When I begin pouring this summer, I'll let ya'll know. 

Congratulations to all the winners!

Stay 'tooned for another post today.

 

Creating for the Feast

This year I'm paring down the variety of things that I take to sell at the Feast. I've realized that there are four things I really love to bring: 18th century clothing, sleeve buttons, blackened beeswax ornaments, and maple cakes. 

In the past I've also carried Williamsburg pottery, toques, fans, body powder, pin pillows, dish towels, hussiefs (housewives), hats, fabric, scarves, shawls, and more.

This is my fifth year in business; it's time to focus on making and doing what I like most. And while I have some inventory of just about everything on that discontinued list, I won't be replacing anything. When it's gone, it's gone.

There is just one month left to prepare and I am in pretty good shape. 

I just finished this bed gown and I am hoping I can get more of that gorgeous fabric.

This chemise is for Leslie. I am sworn to secrecy, but now that she's no longer the director of the Feast she can go hang out and have fun at the event. That, of course, calls for new clothes and I am making her entire outfit. Stay 'tooned on that - I think she and I are going to have fun with this.

The sleeves on her new chemise are pleated

and she has a new pair of sleeve buttons

to wear in her sleeves. (She chose my favorite pair.)

That's two of the three things I need to make her that are finished. She's bringing the petticoat fabric to me later today.

Yesterday I spent four hours making blackened beeswax ornaments.

I had two "volunteers" who wanted to help or at least just hang out with me while I worked.

Molly could not have been in a more inconvenient place for me. But I didn't mind working around her - carefully. LOL

I'd made 60 ornaments by the time I was finished.

Normally I make around 40 per session but this time I was using some of my smaller molds.

I hope to make one more batch before the Feast, but if I don't get to it, I'm in good shape and should have enough for selling.

Leslie has been stitching up items for her business, Chien Noir. For years her business has been importing and selling hand block printed fabrics, but now that she is no longer in charge of the Feast, she can spend more time in her booth as well as at home sewing things from the fabric she has imported!

She just sent me pics of fourteen petticoats that she has completed; here are a few of my favorites.

The bands at the bottom are all different - that's very unusual.

Look familiar? This is the same fabric that I used for the bed gown. The colors are so vibrant.

A more subtle pattern, but I love that pop of turquoise at the hem. (Can you guess Leslie's favorite color?) 

This picture is because - Eddie! 

Leslie and I are heading to Kokomo together later this morning. I'm going to pick up my embroidery machine that I'd had serviced, and I think she is going to drop off her sewing machine as she's having trouble with the buttonholer. (Hers is a Pfaff but the store tech will work on other machines besides Janome.)

I'm also going to take another look at that professional grade Janome while I am there. 

Stay 'tooned!

"Making Christmas" (of a Sort)

All of our kids and their families are coming for Christmas this year, and so despite the fact that Christmas is seven weeks away, I started preparing yesterday.

Staying organized is crucial for large family gatherings and I have a notebook that I use to help me with that.

Actually, it's a series of notebooks - when I fill one up, I order another.

The annual Christmas sections tend to be lengthy. (Not really a surprise given the size of our family.)

Each family gets their own page and that's where I record what we are giving them, track spending (I try to spend about the same amount on each person), and include their pets so that I remember to give them a treat or something. (One year I made catnip mice for all the families' cats - they were a big hit! Er, at least they were with the cats.)

My Christmas preparations also include a family tradition that actually happens at Thanksgiving - I give each family member a Christmas ornament so it can be hung on their Christmas tree that year. And with Thanksgiving just a little more than three weeks away, I need to get busy.

Yesterday I started making a list of who would get what ornament this year. 

I start with the grands (adding in Jayci since she and JC got married this year) and then have a list for my kids and their spouses, and then a third for my siblings and their spouses and kids. (Actually, there is a fourth for close friends, too.)

Last year I embroidered gingerbread ornaments for everyone.

I love these so much - they really do look like gingerbread cookies!

This year everyone is getting a blackened beeswax ornament. I need 48 ornaments so the pouring I'd planned to do later this week is going to be a bigger project than I'd anticipated. I had to order another 5 pound bag of triple cleaned beeswax pellets as I only have a pound on hand and that won't be enough.

Later this morning I am going to begin sorting the beeswax ornaments I have on hand so I can make a list of what I actually still need to make. That will lessen the number a bit but not by much. Between the Feast and then blog readers who bought ornaments, I don't have a lot left and so I've got some work to do.

But that's okay - I enjoy "Making Christmas." That song ran repeatedly through my mind while I was putting together this year's Christmas section in my notebook. Enjoy Pentatonix's version!

50 days until Christmas! (And 23 until Thanksgiving - yikes!!)

Talk About a Mish Mosh!

 Second Post of the Day

Heads up! This may be the mishiest moshiest post I've ever written. Hang onto your hats, folks!

I'm thrilled that so many of you have wanted blackened beeswax ornaments! I am going to need to pour some more to meet the demand (and have been in contact with those who've already ordered from me to let them know.) I only want to do one pouring for these, so I'm going to end the ordering time on Sunday night, November 3, at 11:59 PM Eastern.

That means that if you want an ornament and haven't let me know yet, you need to do so by then. After that, I won't be pouring ornaments again until I'm prepping for the Kalamazoo show later this winter.

What's available (or will be poured again) can be found here. Email me at horsiemama8@gmail.com to place an order. 

The BreyerFest 2025 Celebration Horse was announced yesterday.

Will Coleman and Phish? Yes, please!! 

But on the Cigar mold?? I was so disappointed. And so were a lot of hobbyists. 

I really thought that, considering this is the 75th anniversary celebration BreyerFest, Breyer would make this piece one that had deep roots in the company - maybe one that had been sculpted by one of their more prolific sculptors (Moody, Hess), possibly was a vintage mold that still appeared occasionally in the regular or special run line ups, etc.

The Cigar mold has its fans, but like Rugged Lark, Khemosabi, and others, it is not one of Breyer's popular molds. One source reported that Will Coleman chose the mold for Phish but that doesn't change my disappointment. I don't like the mold, never have and never will.

I do collect Breyer's blankets and so I look forward to getting the one Phish is wearing. But my Phish most likely will end up in the hands of a Pony Pal.

Finally, a few Fall photos as we end October and celebrate Halloween.

Tuesday evening I heard a leaf blower going and looked out the window to discover it was operating in my yard. A man was blowing all our leaves to the curb where the city will come around and collect them.

I don't have a clue who he was but he did say he lived on the next street over. He blew all the leaves for three homes on our street - ours, our next door neighbors', and a home across the street and down a way. Interestingly, enough, I think he targeted homes where he knew there was some sort of issue - I'm often in our yard or the park on my walker; perhaps he'd seen that and thought he'd help us out? He never said why.

Bob, our next door neighbor, sadly is in the end stages of cancer and in palliative care so no doubt he really needed and appreciated that help. And the home across the street that Mr. Leaf Blower did? The husband suddenly died of a heart attack. He was only in his forties, and he left behind a wife and several kids. 

Whatever his reasons were for including us in his act of service, we join the other two families in being grateful for his kindness. (And if I can find out where he lives, I'm going to bake him some bread and take it to him.)

It's Halloween - how about a Halloweenishy picture?

Doesn't this look like some sort of monster or alien that is oozing its innards?

It's huge, too. It may look familiar as I posted a photo of it earlier this fall. (When it was in better shape.)

It's a giant puffball alongside the lane to Leslie's farm. They're edible, but I think that that one is well past its prime!

Speaking of Halloween... My sister Leslie and I enjoy re-enacting 18th century living history. Our sister, Jenny? Well, she's a witch.

She even came with me to BreyerFest in 2017 and found new pieces for her witches outfit while walking the halls of the Clarion!

She lives in Indianapolis, and her village of Irvington has a huge, week long Halloween Festival that draws people from all over to attend. (This was their 78th year!) A group of local women began a tongue-in-cheek witches' group that doubles as a service organization and they have become a much anticipated crowd favorite of the Irvington Halloween Festival. 

Jenny and the rest of the witches performing in the Halloween parade. There are a few warlocks who have joined them, too. 

They have become so well known that they have even been asked to march in the Indy 500 and the Indianapolis St. Patricks's Day parades!

Busy day ahead and lots of trick or treaters expected tonight. Hope those 16 bags of candy are enough.

Tammo can't wait for all the kids to come by!

Happy Halloween!

Beowulf & Beeswax

First Post of the Day

The Semi Rearing Mustang is my absolute favorite mold of all those that Breyer has ever produced. One of my very first Breyers was the SRM in glossy charcoal, and that piece (earned with my hard earned babysitting money - those McGlone boys made me earn every cent!) is the most cherished in my collection.

So, is it any wonder that I got Beowulf? Normally I am not much of a fan of the Halloween horses, but there are a few exceptions and Beowulf is one of them.

I ordered mine last January when Beowulf was first announced to ensure that I got one. Surprisingly he is still in stock on Breyer's web site. Honestly, I thought that Beowulf would sell out fast. 

The color is a metallic reddish purple similar to the 2023 BreyerFest model, Speos.

Beowulf is on the shelf right now with my other Semi-Rearing Mustangs (he is # 35 in the conga), but I will bring him out in October as part of my Halloween decor.

Don't forget the September Give Away is going on now. Comment on any blog entry posted Thursday, September 12 through Sunday, September 15 to win a blackened beeswax ornament made by me. Entries close at 11:59 PM Eastern Sunday evening.

Another blog post is coming later today. Stay 'tooned!

Things Begin to Ratchet Up

Today is August 1st and when that date rolls around, my mind ratchets up a gear or two. Sometimes it even jumps all the way into high gear.

The Feast of the Hunters' Moon now is only two months away! Am I going to be ready?

I'm actually in pretty good shape sewing-wise this year. The items my repeat customers come to me for are ready and any sewing besides that will be mostly just bonus items. I do still have several men's shirts I'd like to sew along with some aprons, but I am not too concerned about getting those done. 

The bread and butter of my 18th century sewing business is men's shirts, women's chemises and aprons, bedgowns, and cloaks.

An 18th century bedgown (and one I still wish I'd kept for myself!)

Check those off the to-do list - I'm really not stressed about finishing those.

The maple cakes are boxed and ready to go, plus I've ordered the bags to put them in when they sell. Another thing to check off.

Where I really need to get busy is in making the beeswax ornaments. I have a few done, but those sell really well plus I have a couple of new molds I'd like to try. 

The cardinal mold is one of my best sellers.

Cooling ornaments that have been cinnamoned and now need a couple of days to cure.

I also want to make some using my horsey molds to take to Marilou Mol's August show and the Great Lakes Congress show in October.

A horsehead ornament.

An unfinished Pegasus - I still have some loose cinnamon on his wings, mane, and tail to remove.

Funny how just the change to a new month can make you feel pressured and even panicky. I am reminding myself today that two months is a lot of time for preparation, especially when I've worked ahead and much of my work is already completed. I know I will be okay, and if I run out of maple cakes again this year, I run out of maple cakes. It's all good! (Um, no pun was intended when I wrote that. LOL)

Just for fun, here is a video taken at last year's of  The Feast of the Hunters' Moon. It has a lot of music, food, and shopping. At only a little more than 8 minutes, it is a quick and fun watch.

I'm not in it - it was filmed in a different part of the grounds than where my tent is (I am close to the Wabash) so it actually gave me a view into what I'd missed because I was in my own tent helping customers.

I'm starting to get really excited and am looking forward to immersing myself into the 18th century for a few days.

Lots of Projects

My haversack inventory is woefully low and now is not the time to replenish it. Why? The Feast of the Hunters' Moon is fast approaching and I am busy stitching up 18th century clothing to sell there.

An 18th century men's Voyageur shirt with horn buttons and made out of hand block-printed cotton fabric.

Having said that, I have gotten some haversacks made. Take a look.

I was delighted to find this unusual fabric printed with tickets to various horse races!

Like all of the haversacks I've made recently, it is Hamilton-sized. (I get a lot of requests for that size.)

Carousel horses prance on this bright blue haversack.

It's amazing how much personality these cartoon horses have despite being simple line drawings.

Bay horses touching noses with Salukis.

I found this fabric depicting horses in a meadow in blue

light orange, and mint green. Of course, I bought all three.

The Feast is the first weekend in October, and then I have two weeks to prepare for the next Great Lakes Congress show. I've signed up to be a vendor and already I am worried that I will not have enough to sell. (I like to have a lot of choices for my customers.)

I also need to make more men's shirts and blackened beeswax ornaments. So, my plan in the lead up to the Feast is this: spending two days a week on 18th century shirts, one day for haversacks, and then one day for blackened beeswax ornaments. That gives me two days open to work on whatever, and Sunday off.

Pony Pals Addie and Cory blackening beeswax ornaments that they made to give as gifts when they were here earlier in August.

Oh, and I need to make a bedgown and petticoat for Mountain Mama Jessica who is flying out to attend the Feast.

No stress here! Haha!