Kalamazoo Saturday: Swamped

First Post of the Day

Saturday I woke up calm and feeling ready for the day. I had no idea just how busy that day would be. 

I was delighted that the trick of sewing my Caraco jacket closed was working and I snapped a quick selfie to send to Craig 

and then headed down to the lobby to meet Gretchen.

The Hampton Inn in Portage is the host hotel for event staff  so lots of friends were there, grabbing breakfast and then heading to their cars.

Becky Waterman has a tremendous sense of humor and would later play a joke on me. (Stay' tooned. LOL)

Before the doors opened to the public, I was able to snap a few pictures with friends.

Jessie, Brandon, and Pat of Eagle Talon Traders are long time friends. Pat is wearing the bedgown I made her a few weeks ago. 

And so was DC!  Maybe for the Feast I will wear mine and we can be triplets together.

Just before the show opened, Leslie ran down to the place selling the commemorative mugs and got me a red one. I was so excited!

After that, there was no time to chat, sit down, or even run to the bathroom. I didn't leave my booth until the event closed for the day at 5:00.

Clothing sales were not as brisk as they usually are on the first day of the show. The fabric remnants, beeswax ornaments, and maple cakes were the big sellers instead. 

Still, I did sell some clothing like this bedgown

and the Francis rump.

This woman is the one who bought it and is wearing it as she walks past my booth again. 

Carol (in her persona of Maggie, an indentured servant), me, and a woman at her first event, Donna. Becky brought her to my booth so she could get some ideas for clothing to wear to events.

I sold things all day long. I'd bought 5 boxes of maple cakes for the weekend (for a total of 420) and was down to just these by the end of the day.

Luckily, the business who makes them was there and had two more boxes available, so I bought those and hoped it would be enough.

Exhausted, Gretchen and I picked up sandwiches and went to our rooms to crash.

I have had busy days at Kalamazoo, but none like that before! I needed to get off my feet and recuperate.

Stay 'tooned!

Feast Sunday - Things Don't Quit

First Post of the Day

Things are generally a little quieter on the second day of any living history event - fewer people are in attendance, the sales frenzy has settled down, and there is more time to chat with friends or even go do your own shopping. The vendors' rule of thumb is that, if you make half as much money as you did the previous day, you have done well.

Not this Feast! This one kept barreling forward, and it was go, go, go all day!

I had friends who helped me open my tent, then I restocked the maple cakes, straightened up the sleeve buttons and blackened beeswax ornaments, and settled in  for what I thought would be a quieter day.

I had a few moments to watch two of the Newfoundlands go by - they were used as working dogs during the 18th century in this area.

I got to see the lady with the ponies go by in her cart, too.  And, the Beignet Gals were already at it and bringing me beignets. Best breakfast ever!

Opening ceremonies were held and then the crowds absolutely descended.

Lisa usually helps me at events, but she is having some health challenges and was feeling too ill to come this weekend. Having said that, learning that I was low on quarters (maple cakes are $1.75 each), she ran two rolls of quarters out to me despite feeling so poorly. (Thanks, Lis!)

Vanessa, Curt, and the kids came by. I did the Grammy thing and gave Ian, Mila, and Lukie some spending money. Lukie bought the coolest pocket watch but sadly I didn't get a picture of it. They also ate at least two maple cakes apiece, and I think that someone ate three! LOL

Curt has been coming to the Feast since he was six or so. 

Curt, Cole, Jessica, and Kyle at The Feast of the Hunters' Moon in 1993.

And he never, ever complains when I ask him to set up or take down my tent. It's a heavy job and he does it with a smile. (Thanks, Curt!)

My friend April is working to create 18th century activities for kids, and devised and printed a musket and some targets.

Mila got to be the first to give it a try. It worked!

18th century hats looked good on Ian and Curt.

Not only family came by, but good friends, too.

Brandon of Eagle Talon Traders has been a friend since the 1980s. I buy much of my wool from him.

Lucia and Tim are from the Louisville area. They are horse people with two Mustangs and a Friesian cross. This month Tim is riding their Friesian cross around the Louisville Zoo and portraying the Headless Horseman.

This gal is a returning customer whose name escapes me.

She tried on two trade shirts, bought one, and then brought her friend over who bought the other one!

I found this photo on social media that someone had taken. That's me in the white cap with customers and friends in the tent.

Belle and her family came, popping in and out of the tent to check on me and then going back out to see things. They even helped pack up the tent along with Curt and Craig. (Thanks, all!)

I had record sales both days, and by the end of the weekend I'd sold half of my blackened beeswax ornaments, 400 maple cakes (one woman bought 30, the most I've ever sold to one person) and almost all of my clothing. (Haven't inventoried the sleeve buttons, but those were selling well, too.)

It was an exhausting day and an exhausting weekend, but one filled with friends, family, food, and fun immersing myself into the 18th century.

I'll have one more Feast post and that should wrap it up for this year. And a second post, a horsey one, is coming later today.

Stay 'tooned!

Curt's 40th Birthday Party

Curt's birthday this year was one of those biggies, and Vanessa surprised him with a very special party.  She contacted his closest friends from high school and invited them to a surprise party for him.  

I love how caught off guard he is when he realizes his brother has come up from Tennessee, too! (And that he apologizes to the other diners. LOL)

Michael (Murph) and his wife, Melissa, Eric (cousin), Nick, Adam, Curt, Vanessa, Cole, Jalen (former college roommate) and his wife, Jennifer.

I have known these four men since they were little. The stories I could tell! Good ones and funny ones, not naughty ones. These are really nice guys.

And they were all very happy to be together again.

As for stories, once while driving Curt and Adam to a soccer match, I heard Adam advise Curt on laundry. "You don't need to wash your clothes. Just Febreze them and they are good to go," was his sage advice. I nearly choked with surprise and laughter in the front seat, but I didn't contradict him. At least not then!

Nick lived around the corner from us, and he and Curt have been friends since kindergarten. Cowpoke Ian's middle name is Nicholas - he was named after Nick.

When Curt served as a missionary in Brasil for two years, Murph took it upon himself to check on Craig and me occasionally, just to make sure that we were okay and didn't need anything. I will never forget those two years of kindness he gave us.

A couple of friends were unable to be there.

Bridgette, who was also a neighbor and a lovely person inside and out. 

Ella, Curt's long time soccer buddy from middle school and beyond.

Others whose photos I could not find. (Dan, Nick H., Ashley B, Ashley L, and more.) But there is one more very special friend who was not there. 

I'll share about him later.

Stay 'tooned!

Indy Blooms - Friends & Family

As I worked on today's post, I realized that there were simply too many photos for one reasonable length blog post. So, I've split it into two, one for today, the other for tomorrow. And, to make it even more easier to read, I divvied the photos up into categories. 

The Show Hall

Indy Blooms is held by Robin Mangus and Chelsea from Chelsea's Model Horses at the Boone County Fairgrounds in Lebanon, Indiana.

Set up near the entrance to the show hall was the table of awards - aren't those spring colors lovely?

Robin's boyfriend had made the medallions for the show, the smaller for the sectional champions, and then two biggies for the Overall Grand and Reserve Champions of the show.

The show hall is spacious and Robin maps out the placement of the show tables

and seating for the entrants. Judges are seated close to the tables for the division they are judging, 

and requests to sit by friends are honored as much as is possible.

I was seated with my Great Lakes Congress friends, Liz Cory, Jamie Rott, and Marilou Mol as well as two long time hobby friends, Pat Reed and Michelle Evans.

Robin took the time to make a photo booth for entrants, but sadly I never made it down there.

Friends & Family

Socializing and connecting with hobby friends is one of the absolute best things about model horse showing. While I enjoy winning a ribbon or two, that's more the cherry on top to being with friends.

And family! Leslie came down for part of the day to help me set up, put horses on the show table, and more. This was the second live show she's been to with me, and she's learning the ropes. We had fun together and as she said later in the day, "Wow. Breyer has really stepped it up. These model horses are gorgeous." And she's right. 

I was delighted that Liz and my tables adjoined each other and we could chat all day. Kelsey Kramer, a Lafayette townie, was across the room, most likely because she was showing resins and was placed near those show tables. Still, she came over and ate lunch with us and we got to see quite a bit of her.

Kelsie, Jamie, Marilou, and me. 

My friendship with Michelle Evans goes way back to live showing in the 1980s.  

She and Leslie hit it off, too.

Pat Reed's show, Indycon, was one of the very first live shows I ever attended, if not the first, also back in the 1980s.

Kammie Fenwick and I met about five years ago at a show and have been friends ever since. 

Jan Jordan is a friend from Ohio and is wearing a show apron that I made. (I love the pins she added to the top of it.)

Another dear friend also wearing a show apron that I made. She works in a profession where secrecy is a must and when she gave permission for me to use her photo in the blog, she asked that I not show her face or name. 

Tomorrow I'll show photos of my models and how they did. Not only did I have a good day with friends, 

I had a good day in the show ring, too.

Stay 'tooned!

Kalamazoo 2025: A Very Busy Saturday

Saturday was BUSY. Attendance at the show was high and boy howdy, the aisles were crowded with people who'd come to time travel with us. Luckily I had had so much help and was prepared to go when the doors opened at 9:00.

Ready to Go!

The sign I had made last summer worked fine at an indoor show, too.

Remnants from the things I have sewn always sell first - there are sewists who make it a point to shop my booth first so they can get them because I sell out quickly. The first lady to get to me took over half of them leaving only a small group for the next person.

Toques! Made by my friend, Frannie (I taught both of her kids when we lived in Illinois), she has a new job and won't be able to make any more for me, at least not for the foreseeable future. That's too bad - her toques are really high quality both in the wool she uses and in her knitting. I get compliments all the time on them.

18th century working class ladies almost always had a needle and thread on their person. Pin pillows hung on a ribbon from their apron strings ensured that those were always available.

The blackened beeswax ornaments. There is always someone, both adult and child, who thinks they are cookies to eat!

The sleeve buttons proved very popular. It was a last minute decision to make and bring them, and I am pleased with how well they were received. Even now at home I've already gotten a request for a pair that I will pack up and send tomorrow.

The biggest seller of all - maple cakes! And they sold out before noon on Sunday. I did get two for me - one I'd accidentally touched as I was serving someone, so I set it aside, and the other I dropped and it bounced across the table. Otherwise, I would not have had a single maple cake.

The People

Leslie and me just before the show opened on Saturday.

My friend Marge came over to bring me a donut and stopped and laughed when she saw me.

We'd inadvertently twinned! Of course we had to take a photo of that. 

Jamie Oxendine of the Lumbee Nation in North Carolina. Isn't he impressive? That's hand beading and stitching all over his clothing and he is wearing wampum garters (also handmade.)

Next up is my long-time friend, Brandon.

He started his own 18th century trading company, Eagle Talon Traders, when he was only 18 and it is still in business and highly successful and respected thirty years later! If I need wool, Brandon is who I call. 

This lady got a lot of attention as she walked around. She wasn't a participant, but there are lots of people who are just there to see the show who come dressed in period clothing. (Which is awesome and very welcomed by the show.) 

She was actually there on behalf of the Howell Opera House, a historic building in Howell, Michigan and was using her clothing to generate interest in preserving it. 

Her headdress represents the chandeliers, the petticoat the grand curtains, etc. What a clever idea! And while not exactly the purpose of the event, in a way, it was - she was trying to preserve a part of our past just as everyone else was! Pretty cool in my book!

(There are always a few unusual outfits at living history events. I liked hers MUCH better than the two teenage boys who were walking around in outfits that were smeared with fake blood. Who knows what they were representing.)

This lady loved Frannie's toques and this choice fit her very well.

Leslie doing an interview with the local news.

Once again, since Gretchen was on staff, we had to stay after the 5:00 closing. Everyone, vendors included, had to leave the building, and then the place needed to be walked to ensure no stragglers were left. Security then came in to take over and we could leave. 

Gretchen and I stopped at Wendy's and grabbed dinner, then went back to our rooms in the hotel.

I called and talked to Craig and then had crashed into bed by 8:00. Sunday's wake up call was better than Saturday's but Gretchen and I needed to be back at the Expo Center by 7:15 AM. Plus, we had to pack up and check out of our rooms the next morning. Having said that, Sunday is never as busy as Saturday, and I knew it would not be as hectic as this day had been.

Exhausted, yes,  but grateful for a good day!