I'm "Sewing in the Rain!"

The view as I sat at my sewing table yesterday:

We were lucky - the severe storms went around us so all we had were high winds and heavy rain like this.

After Gus ate the carrot cake she'd baked for Easter, Vanessa learned that Craig really likes carrot cake. She surprised us by baking another, and Curt dropped it off for us just in time for lunch.

No wonder Gus succumbed to the lure of the first one - it was yummy! (Thank you Curt and Vanessa!)

The rain meant we were not able to get outside much, so Tammo had some extra energy to expend. This played out in my sewing room mid afternoon.

He desperately wanted Pepper to play with him and kept an eye on her while she lay on the bed napping. (Tammo's family does not want him on the furniture and we are respecting that.)

Checking on her to see what she is doing. Is she awake now? 

 

Oh, look! She is! Wanna play with me?

She didn't, but Curt took some time while he was here and gave Tammo a really good work out down in the living room. That had to do in place of a walk. 

  I've set the robe a l'Anglaise aside for the time being.

Lisa came by for a fitting and we both were thrilled at how it is coming along.

Artists in the hobby will tell you that there is an ugly stage in creating, and then it all suddenly comes together near the end. The same is true of a sewing project of this magnitude. This was the first glimpse we had of what it was going to look like when it was finished, and we were both so excited!

I just need to set the sleeves into the armscyes, pleat their tops and then stitch the pleats down, add the back facing, and then attach the cuffs. The robe a l'Anglaise will be done.

But, Indiana is at the heart of a total eclipse of the sun and family is coming in to witness it. Frank and his daughter Eva are coming today and will be with us into next week, and Cole and his family are coming up from Nashville, too. 

My sewing time will be come and go, and I need simpler sewing projects that I can set down for a few hours and then come back to and easily pick up where I left off. You cannot do that with a robe a l'Anglaise.

Haversacks, though, are a different story. So, I continued my prep for the Indy Blooms Swap Meet at the end of this month and then Midwest Mini Mayhem in May.

I got 13 Stablemate haversacks cut out, prepped, stitched, turned, and pressed while that rain poured down. I just need to fold, stitch the sides, and do a final ironing.

I offered to make the photo booth drape for Midwest Mini Mayhem. Shannon is my contact person and she asked that I do a blue drape.

I am doing the drape only; I don't have the actual measurements of the stand yet but most photo booth sets are close in size.

 

I pulled out the drape I had made for The FAMulous Collectibility show

and recorded its measurements to use in making the blue drape.

I got a lot of things done yesterday as I sat there, "'sewing' in the rain." And I couldn't help but smile and remember this song.

Today I am driving my friend Kathy and her guide dog Tate to a speaking engagement out of town so I won't get much sewing completed. But I am looking forward to a chance to catch up with a dear friend and former teaching colleague.

More tomorrow along with the announcement of the April give away. Stay 'tooned!

Indiana - a Hotbed of Showing?

Yesterday I was checking out the NAMHSA Region 8 news on Facebook and a new show listing in Indiana caught my eye. Another new show? How wonderful!

Indiana used to have a lot of shows throughout the year. Back in the 1990s there was a very active group of hobbyists around the Indianapolis area who held shows frequently, but as time went by, life situations changed, people moved away, expenses went up, and live show options in Indiana dwindled.

That's understandable. Putting on a live show is a lot of work. I have put on at least ten myself in Indiana and Illinois (FAMulous, Happy Trails, Lincoln Land Live, Central Illinois All Halter Live, and some youth shows), and I still plan to put on a few more. But it is time consuming and risky - sometimes you do not break even and lose money.

Julie Poremba Propes judging Central Illinois All Halter Live in 1993. (Urbana, Illinois)

Karen Beeson also judged there.

Normally by February I have a schedule of shows I plan to attend for the year in my calendar, but not this year. What with James' death and then these pesky health issues, I am only now beginning to look at show lists.

Kathy Bateman, co-hostess of Lincoln Land Live, with the awards for the show. Urbana, Illinois. 1995)

Unfortunately, many of the shows I'd like to attend are already closed for entries, but I can always go to watch and socialize with friends.

Tiffany Purdy found one of those Lincoln Land Live Rosettes last year at a GLC show.

and thoughtfully gave it to me. 

For today's blog post, I thought that I would write a little bit about each of the upcoming shows here in Indiana, but as I started to dig in, I realized that this was not a one-day blog post sort of project. It's going to take some time to research and write.

The header for the first Happy Trails. Originally it was planned to be a one-time pony party to celebrate my retirement from teaching but it has become an annual thing.

Happy Trails IV, loading a class on my kitchen island. From left: Jamie Rott, Allison Pareis, Kelsey Kramer (barn buddy!!), Liz Cory, and Yvonne Rott.

I see two blog series running concurrently, depending on how my research is going - one about the new and not so new shows held here in Indiana, 

Veteran hobbyist Michele Evans at FAMulous - she's from the earliest days of the hobby and one who could always be found at the 1990s Indianapolis shows. 

and the other a historical one about those shows that I have held.

The Lincoln Land Live All Youth Show held in my kitchen in March, 1994. (Urbana, Illinois.) That's me in the red, white, and blue cowgirl shirt and Music City Son Cole (aged six) next to me. Teacher Daughter Lisa took the photo. 

(LOL I just noticed something! Scroll up to the Happy Trails show photo, taken 27 years later and that is the same kitchen table!)

This may take a good portion of February as there are about 15 - 18 shows I'd like to write about. I'm kind of excited!

Stay 'tooned!

50th Anniversary: Moving into the 2010s

Life settled into an "empty nester" routine during the 2010s. We were back home again in Indiana (funny how often you can slip that song title into a sentence!) and I was an experienced teacher and no longer spending countless hours grading and preparing lessons. I finally had time to return to live showing. 

I went to Indycon, Pat Reed's long running show in Indianapolis, a time or two. Pat and Michelle Evans, both long time hobbyists, have been friends since I went to my first Indycon in the early 1990s.

Pat in 2019 at Happy Trails, my in-home live show and pony party.

The factory for Stone Model Horses is just an hour or so north of me, and I went to several of the shows they sponsor up in Shipshewana. Me with Michelle Evans at a Stone Country Fair in Shipshy.

In the early 2010s, Denver Daughter was Corn Fed Daughter (her own self description) and living in Iowa City while her husband was on staff at the University Hospital. 

Laughing Bear Live, a benefit show for Lynn Fraley who had been diagnosed with breast cancer, was held in Cedar Rapids, just a few miles north of where Sarah lived.

I combined a visit to Sarah and her family in Iowa with that show, and invited Horse Buddy Trinity to show with me. Shortly after that, they moved to Aurora, Colorado and now live a mile or so from where The Jennifer Show is held. I hope to combine a visit to Colorado with an entry to that show the next time it is held.

Breakables at BreyerFest was another show I attended.

With my kids all grown and gone, I could afford to go back to BreyerFest and other shows that required that I stay overnight.

Meeting up at BreyerFest with long time friend Cindy Neuhaus and looking at one of her Lakeshore Raku pieces.

BreyerFest 2012, Best of the British hat contest.

Great Lakes Congress, October, 2015.

The NAN cards were accumulating and with some trepidation (could I even compete at such a show?) I decided that I would return to NAN. I hadn't been since 1997! 

Because of some family plans, Craig and I made NAN 2014 a day trip. I took a few chinas and we drove down in the morning, showed all day, then returned home that night. 

I was pleased I'd gone - I won two reserve national championship (NAN cookies) despite bringing such a small show string.

It was great to have time to show again, and I am lucky that Indiana is in the middle of some very active show areas - Chicago, Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky. But as happy as I was attending shows, I still felt like something was missing.

In the next 50th anniversary post, I'll write about what that was and how I found what I was missing.

The winners of the embroidered blankets will be announced in a blog post later this morning!

A 1994 Kids' Live Show

Happy Trails II, my in-home model show/pony party, is less than two weeks away. While working on show prep today, I got to thinking about some other live shows/pony parties that I have held in my home, all of them way back in the 1990s when my own children were young.

I decided to take a moment and pull out an old hobby photo album, grabbing a few photos to share here in the blog.

I'm glad that I labeled each live show (home or otherwise) that I attended with an index card that had the name of the show and its date in those albums. I would never remember otherwise!

A couple of my children were interested in model horses at the time, and holding a live show in our home let them enjoy their models and their friends. In order for the show to happen, I would allow all the entrants to borrow models, tack, and props from my collection to use for their show strings.

 Left to right: Cathryn Springer, my daughter, Lisa, son, Cole, and Stacey Springer.

We'd use the dining room table and sometimes the kitchen table, too, for the show. I'd have a small class list, and prizes would be ribbons that I had won at live shows myself.

 Cathryn did well!

It was always a fun time, and gave me the opportunity to educate the kiddos about the model horse hobby.

 Look at that smile! Winning a ribbon or two was a very big deal to them. 

It was fun to look at these photos this afternoon, but this is not the only in-home show or live show that are in the albums. Look for coming posts about live shows from the past.