A Really Cool Raffle Donation

Second Post of the Day

Amid all the planning for The Feast of the Hunters' Moon, I am also preparing for Happy Trails V - The Dan Patch Show. (Note to self: holding a live show a few weeks after the Feast is not the best idea!)

Donations have been arriving, including this one from Marilou Mol. She saw it at BreyerFest and thought it would be perfect for the show. (She was right.)

Cheryl Erickson's new book about the Standardbred, Greyhound.

To commemorate the 100th running of the Hambletonian, there were 100 special slipcases made for the book.

and Marilou's book has one of the slipcases!

The back of the slipcase.

The book itself.

The book is signed by the author, includes a bookmark,

and has tote bag to keep everything in!

What a generous donation! Thank you, Marilou! Whoever wins this in the raffle will be a really lucky person!

You could win this Cute Highland Cow keychain!

Comment to enter the September Give Away!

A Meaningful Service Recognized

Recently, I have been feeling as though I am working again instead of being retired. I am so busy, I feel like I am charging from one thing to another and still my wheels are spinning!

Part of it is because The Feast of the Hunters' Moon is approaching, but that isn't the only project that is keeping me hopping. I'm in physical therapy a couple of times a week, seeing several other doctors, (and the dentist this morning), I've been in charge of the barn, and I've been helping a woman buy her first horse. (More on that another time.)

The Mish Mosh folder of topics continues to grow, but so does the folder of longer happenings to write about. Yesterday I fully intended to write a second post, but I was so busy, I never got back to my computer to do it.

Having said all that in a tongue-in-cheek complaint, I am glad to have things to do. They give my life meaning, especially when I am helping someone. (Even more when that help is horse related! LOL) 

Craig, too, likes to do meaningful things. One of his causes is blood donation. Not only is there a big need overall for blood, but his blood has a very rare something or other in it and is difficult to find. He donates regularly and just hit the EIGHT GALLONS DONATED mark! Talk about being committed!

To thank him for his service, the blood bank surprised him with two tickets to an Indiana Fever game that included complimentary food, tees, and other things.

Traveling to Indy, wandering around the fieldhouse concourse, hiking up stairs to seats... more than I could do, so he took Curt with him instead of me. (How ironic - I just noticed that Craig's shirt is red!)

I watched the game at home, although I am not the fan that Craig and Curt are. Craig has been a Caitlin Clark fan since she was playing college ball at Iowa and Sarah and Trinity were crowing about her talents and attending her games. (Unfortunately, she was injured and didn't play that evening.)

They had a terrific time together and were thrilled that the free tees were Caitlin Clark ones!

Like I said, the tickets were an unexpected surprise for him. He donates because he cares and while he knew he was about to hit the eight gallon mark, he had no idea the blood bank would recognize or thank him that way. 

It was a nice gesture made even better by the fact that Craig is a true fan of the Indiana Fever. 

Spring Sewing & the April Give Away

I have a large block of time between KZoo in March and the Feast in October. It's a good time to plan out what I need to make for the upcoming Feast as well as to restock my selection of haversacks. Because there is plenty of time between the events, I feel more relaxed as I sew. I also have time to upgrade my own sewing skills.

The Feast Sewing Circle is one of the places I go to tweak my own knowledge. My friend Brooke teaches it, and she knows what she is doing. There is always something for everyone, from beginners to advanced sewists.

The spring session of the Feast Sewing Circle began this past week, and I could hardly wait to go. It did not disappoint.

Me on the bottom left with some of the other sewists examining a sample of block print fabric. We are looking for evidence that it was hand block printed. (It was.)

Not only is Spring a good time to restock my sales haversacks, it's also a time to stitch up live show donations. I can't make something for every single live show, but I do try to support those that I can.

This pile of Stablemate pouches is a donation to a live show.

I was asked to make haversacks for the division champ and reserve winners.

I used one of my all-time favorite horsey fabrics and I think they turned out nicely.

Having said that, there were 32 to make - 16 champs

and sixteen reserves. Stablemate pouches are harder to turn right side out before the final pressing - they are small enough that there isn't a lot of room for the turning. It puts a lot of stress on my hands.

My hands hurt for several days after I'd finished all 32 of them (plus two extras, just in case.) I have some arthritis in them, but it rarely bothers me. That big of a project, though, proved to be enough to trigger that arthritis pain. I may need to make them in smaller batches stretched out over a longer time period if I get asked to make so many Stablemate pouches again.

Not only did I get a lumberjack sized spool of twill tape from Brandon, I also ordered some linen fabric.

This piece with tiny pink embroidered flowers was a must have.

I've been wanting to make myself an apron to wear over my new petticoat. (I'm checking width and color of twill for the drawstring here in this photo. I went with the white.)

I like how it turned out 

but I think I need a lighter weight of linen.

I'm not sure I can find it, but I will ask Brandon and see if he has a lightweight version of this particular linen. If not, it's certainly still wearable.

I also needed to document the embroidered linen fabric to the 18th century. (Brandon's fabrics cover several time periods.) Linen, absolutely correct. But I needed to find proof that small embroidered flowers were added to women's garments.

After some searching, I found this photo of a similar print juxtaposed against a period correct door. It was a start but not yet proof that the fabric I was using was accurate.

Another photo of a similar fabric. I was getting closer but nothing indicates the time period in this photo. 

Finally! A close up of a painting (right) that documents the fabric (left.) I am now good to go.

The April Give Away ends today at 11:59 PM EDT. Guess how many yards of twill tape are on my behemoth spool!

Comment on any blog entry posted Friday, Saturday, or today. If no one guesses correctly, then I will spin to win on Monday or Tuesday. 

Good luck!

An Unusual Show Donation

Danielle Feldman is hosting a chicken themed photo show this coming spring called "Why the Chicken Crossed the Road." It promises to be a super fun show, and Danielle is making a lot of the prizes herself. (She is an outstanding artist.)

We've been friends for years so I wanted to send her some donations for prizes. But Danielle already makes haversacks, so I decided to come up with something different for her show.

Boy howdy, did I hit the JACKPOT when I found this embroidery pattern. Wouldn't this look great on kitchen towels?

Since I only began embroidering last September, I didn't want to get in over my head. I checked the color sequence chart

and the stitch map before starting. While it would not be an easy stitch out, I felt I could handle it.

I am so happy with how the towels turned out. The one on the left is the first one I made and follows the color chart sequence, but I played with the colors on the other two.

It's an unusual show prize, that's for sure, but when I sent Danielle the photos to make sure she was okay with my donation, she was excited about them.

I am, too, and now I want to make more towels for donations as well as sell them on the HorsieMama Mercantile. I bought some other embroidery patterns with horses on them and am experimenting today.

Stay 'tooned!

Scale

Scale is important, whether you are working on tack for a 1:9 doll, setting up a scene, or buying props. It is also important when you are sewing.

I am working on a haversack donation for an upcoming photo show. I spoke to the show holder and asked for suggestions as to her preferences for color and any motifs that she'd like me to use. She sent me some links to fabrics that she liked, I ordered one of them, and took it from there.

Big oops! when that fabric arrived, though. I hadn't checked the scale of the fabric before purchasing it.

The scale of the printed unicorns are just too big for a haversack. While I might be able to juggle where I cut so that most of one unicorn is centered on the back, doing that would create a lot of wasted fabric, something I am not sure I really want to do.

Online fabric sellers almost always have a yardstick or ruler to give you an idea of the scale. It's my goof -  I totally forgot to check that.

Had I been shopping in person, I would have known immediately that the scale was too big, but due to this pandemic, all my fabrics have been bought from online sources for the past six months. (The other thing I check is whether or not the fabric has a one way pattern, like this one, or not. That makes a difference in how many haversacks you can cut from a yard of fabric. )

Since it's a good quality fabric, I am wondering if I might be able to make something else from it as a donation. It's pretty, too (if you like unicorns...) And, if I have any remnants left, Pony Pal Mila just might get a pillow.

Lesson learned: never forget to check the scale of the pattern on the fabric.

A FAMulous Donation Indeed!

Jennifer Buxton is currently very busy preparing for her show, The Jennifer Show, that is being held on the same day as The FAMulous Collectibility Show. Yet despite that, she still found time to make and send a donation for us.

 A 1:9 scale bag with our show logo on it!

Actually, she made three bags, but sent a note that said that one was for me, one was for Allison, and the third was her donation to the show. Allison and I were surprised to receive one to keep and very, very grateful for Jennifer's generosity.

Thank you, Jennifer! I love my bag and have it in the china cabinet where I can see it. And I am sure that the one for the show will be a very hot raffle item.

This was truly a FAMulous donation!