Into the Sewing Room

Second Post of the day

When the girls arrived at our home last week, Kate gave me a big hug in greeting and then asked, "Can you help me fix Mercy?"

Mercy is a life sized rabbit puppet that we gave Kate when she was small and who became a beloved part of her childhood. Through years of love, hugs, and play, her stuffing had become flattened and compressed. But Kate was prepared - she had a bag of polyfill and Mercy with her in her suitcase.

Saturday morning we sat down at the sewing table and I took a look at Mercy. Kate was right; she was quite flat. The seams (where normally I would open the piece for repair) were worn and weak. Restuffing her was going to mean making a cut in her body.

After a pin prick of "anesthesia" administered by Kate, I cut a hole in Mercy's side that avoided the puppetry parts and that still had fur that would hide the stitches from the repair.

We added a lot of polyfill and then Kate herself stitched shut the cut in Mercy's side. Another pin prick by Kate to wake the bunny up,

and Mercy was back to herself again. (Kate's smile says it all, doesn't it?)

Meanwhile Susie had been patiently waiting for our next project - making a pillow together for Elsie Mae with the leftover fabric from her quiet book cover. 

I make a quiet book pillow for every grand but had not had time to finish Elsie Mae's before she went home. 

To my delight, Susie pulled out her own quiet book pillow - she likes hers so much that she sleeps on it at night and had brought it with her to Indiana!

Ever-present Pepper got a chance to try it out.

Mine!!

Susie made sure that Tammo got a chance to try the quiet book pillow out, too.

And then we got to work.

Cutting the fabric. 

After practicing on scraps, each girl got to use my machine and stitch the seams around the pillow.

Using leftover polyfill from Mercy's "surgery," we filled the pillow until it was nice and plump.

Kate hand stitched the opening closed,

and Elsie Mae's quiet book pillow was finished! (No pin pricks of anesthesia needed.)

I thought we had finished all our sewing projects, but then Susie piped up. "Can we make accessories for our horses, Grammy?"

Of course, my answer was "YES!"

Stay 'tooned!

Harry is Home!

I have a really nice Monrovia Hagen Renaker Harry.

A gift from my friend, Cristine Holt, 

he does well in halter and collectibility classes.

Really well.

So when this happened several years ago,

I was not happy. It was my fault; I brushed against him as he stood on my desk and over he went.

His mama, Adelaide, also toppled over but luckily only her hat broke.

Sadly I picked up the pieces of Harry and the hat and put them on a shelf in my closet. I meant to send them out for repair, but the pandemic hit and they sat on that shelf for three years.

This summer I decided the time had come to get them both fixed. I researched repair artists and decided I wanted to use Sue Kern to fix them. She was booked pretty far out, and my reserved time slot was November 1, but I'd already waited a long time so I was not concerned about waiting a little more. 

Yesterday my repaired Harry and the hat arrived home again. I was in Indianapolis and did not get home until late, so I have yet to open the box. That's today's project, and I am looking forward to seeing how they look.

Stay 'tooned!

Off for Repairs

 It has only taken two plus years, but I am finally sending my Hagen Renaker Harry out for repair.

He's got a nice clean break on his off hind leg.

And I am the one who broke him - just a bump and off the table he went.

Fortunately it was a carpeted floor - otherwise I think there would have been more breaks than just a leg.

I knocked off Adelaide's hat in the same accident and it, too, is going off for repair.

I packed everything up at the end of August but since I wanted to double box for safety, I have been waiting to find the right boxes.

That's done and off they go later this week. I'll be glad to have a professional restore them so that both pieces look as good as new.

Although I have to admit, there is a certain charm to some of my old, self-repaired chinas! 

(Brownie, my very first model, lovingly repaired by my father a zillion times.)

New Hardware

After my tumble a week or so ago, Tim has replaced the hardware at most of the gates.

This is the gate that popped open when I leaned on it. This hook was used elsewhere but it is more substantial than what was there previously.

Shiny new hardware on the gate that we have to pass through to get to the north pastures and the paddock behind the new barn.

Same gate, but not new - the wheel he put at the base of the gate a few months ago. I smiled when I saw it, but honestly, it makes it so much easier to open and shut this gate. Even when it is muddy!

New hardware on the gate into the southwest pasture, too. 

I don't plan to be leaning on any gates again in the future, but if I do, they're ready for me. More importantly, they're ready for a few leaning horses, too.

NaMoPaiMo - Fixing the Line

That line on the barrel of my NaMoPaiMo model, Sultanna, was bothering me. I am determined to do the best possible job I can on my first attempt at painting a model, and after doing some research, decided it would be best to fix it now rather than finish the model and think I could disguise the line with paint.

So, I got out my finest grit sandpaper and gently sanded that spot down. I had no idea just how tough it would be to repair that spot. 

 A friend who restores models once told me that she stipples the paint, layer after layer, in the rubs she repairs on Breyers. I decided that I would not water down my paint but use it directly from the bottle. And then I began stippling.

Even using the thinker paint, it took layer after layer to repair the light sanding I had done.

After I thought I had finished and had taken this picture of the finished repair, I realized that there is still an area that needs a little more work.

I have started to understand why experienced model horse artists say to start early during NaMoPaiMo month - I am already behind and the month is a fourth over!

Back to stippling.

Josef Original Foal - Repaired

I found this sweet little Josef Original Lying Foal in an antique shop for fifty cents.

 There was no way I was leaving him behind - those eyes just begged me to take him home

 despite the two poorly repaired leg breaks.

Look closely and you can even see that there is a chunk missing where it was reglued by its former owner.

So, after thinking it over, I sent him out for repairs to Jennifer Danza. He came back recently, all fixed and looking so much better.

 He is fast becoming a favorite in my collection. I am so glad I had him repaired.

Glad I Didn't Trash Him!

Many years ago, I bought United Design's Classic Critters Friesian in Harness, a piece that is larger than their others and was pretty costly (at least, when it comes to my budget.)

It is such a pretty piece! And very, very heavy.

The logo/documentation on the box.

I had him out on display until we moved back to Indiana in 2006.  I packed him up in his original box and stored him in my hobby closet.

Three years ago I was going through the boxes that I had stored, and pulled him out to check on him. To my dismay, he was badly damaged.

I could not believe that that had happened - what a bizarre and unusual way for a piece to break! It looked as though something had been set on him or put pressure on that spot over time. Except that... nothing had. He was in his box with nothing pressing on his back.

I nearly tossed him out then and there, but then decided to wait and see if he could be fixed.

Enter my friend Kay Schlumpf. She was having several of her models repaired by DeeAnn Kjelshus and recommended that I let DeeAnn take a look at it and see if a repair might be possible.

We met up at a Great Lakes Congress show, and I had her take a look. DeeAnn said that this kind of fracture sometimes happens if a pocket of resin remains soft while the rest of the resin hardens. She said that she would have to drill out the damaged area and refill it, then paint it, but that it could be repaired. I sent the piece home with her and crossed my fingers.

DeeAnn sent me pictures of the finished repair work this morning.

 It looks terrific!

 I am so glad that I did not chuck this piece into the garbage but gave it a second chance instead. (In fact, that is now its name - Second Chance.)

Thanks, DeeAnn, and to Kay for the recommendation as well!

Model Repair x Four

It is good to know your limitations. I have learned through experience that I am not a model tack maker, painter, remaker, or restorer. So, when I have a broken piece in my collection, I send them out for repair. That can be dicey - I've also learned to make sure I send them to someone reliable who will do the work in a reasonable amount of time as well as do a great job on the repairs themselves.

Sheryl Leisure is one who has done some work for me, and I have been very happy with her. So, I have just sent four Hagen Renakers to her fix. Some have been languishing for years (one, decades)!

 My DW Head Down Pony has a leg break - it was there when I bought it from Cindy Neuhaus years ago. (Actually, this one has been broken for at least a decade, too!)

The DW Lippizaner that I bought from Joanie Berkowitz earlier this year had a broken leg when she listed it for sale. I don't know how long it has been that way.

The original, early Performing Misty came with its led glued to the stool, and sadly it was discovered that that caused a lot of breakage. Mine is one of those early pieces that bears witness to the stress gluing the leg to the stool put on the piece.

And finally, there's my poor DW Adelaide!

I bought her mint in the mid 1970s and broke her shortly after purchasing her. She's been languishing for decades!

 She has three broken legs - left front...

 ... right hind (her original stickers are on her belly as you can see)...

 ... and left hind.

 Her ears are a mess and a piece is missing out of one.

A better shot of her stickers - I removed them from her belly and am storing them in a safe place until her restoration is done.

Even her hat has a couple of chips and needs work!

Sheryl has a form to fill out for each piece you send her - poor Adelaide's had a lot checked off!

I nearly chucked her all those years ago when I broke her since she was such a mess, but I hung onto her, just in case I found someone who could restore her and I could afford that restoration. It's been a long wait, but her time is now.

I can't wait to see how she looks when her restoration is done.