A Pony Pal's Quiet Book - Sneak Peek

Our community has been sheltering in place for three weeks now due to COVID-19, the coronavirus. It's been a good time to get some work done on our youngest granddaughter's quiet book. I make one for every grandchild's first birthday and Melissa will turn one on June 19. (I made them for my kids' first birthdays, too; this is my twenty-first book.)

My horse room doubles as my sewing room, and I need a lot of working space for a quiet book. I spread out on my craft table and onto my desk.

Those white storage chests under my desk hold more sewing supplies. Thread and bobbins are on the desk so I can find them easily - each page necessitates multiple changes of thread. (That is Pepper sprawled and sound asleep in her dog bed.)

Kyle, Ashley, and their family live in Florida, and when I asked them what they wanted to see in Melissa's book, he suggested that I make it "sunny themed." Braden, Addie, Corinne, and Whitney went one better. They laid their quiet books out in front of Melissa so that she could choose her own pages!

And Corinne likes her own book so much that she asked me to make hers again for Melissa. 

Taking their ideas into account, I began flipping through my pattern books and planning the pages. I try to have little tweaks and nods to family members in a quiet book, and this page is a pretty big nod to me. 

 The ears and forelock are not stitched down and very tactile. 

And, you can feed the horse carrots! In another nod to a family member, Melissa's Aunt Jessica, a dental hygienist, is sending me a baby toothbrush so that you can brush the horse's teeth, too! I drew this pattern so it is uniquely Melissa's.(I got the idea from an opened mouth giraffe photo I saw online.)

 I made this vibrantly colored fish using color changing sequin fabric. I could play with it all day.

This is another pattern that I designed and drew up myself. (I am still picking up sequins from the carpet after cutting the fish out!)

 This is a swimsuit cover-up that can be buttoned and unbuttoned. 

The yellow apples are a tweak to my parents' apple orchard. When they were young, Kyle and our kids loved visiting the orchard. My dad would hitch up a wagon to the tractor and give them rides up and down the rows of trees. And since my favorite apple is the Yellow Delicious, the fabric also a little bit of a reference to me, too.

 An old favorite is also being included at the family's request - the dress up page. The doll isn't done, but her dresses are. The horseshoes will make them think of me, and Kyle will smile at the orange dress - he's a big fan of the University of Illinois (where he grew up) and its colors are orange and blue.

Four pages are done and ready to stitch into the quiet book's pages, and the other eight are in various stages of completion. My goal is to finish the quiet book by the end of this month.

We were going to head down to Florida the first week in May, but those plans have been nixed due to COVID-19. I don't know when I will give it to Melissa now; I may even have to mail it instead of getting to see her open it in person. 

Dad's Slides: The Wabash River - Horse Heaven

I grew up living on the Wabash River. We had nine acres of riverfront and woods.

Our home was up on the moraine (which is why we never worried about flood damage to our home) with the front pasture below it. That pasture would flood when the river rose, but we had a paddock and two other pastures where we could put the horses when the river was running high.

This picture was taken from the hill above the bluff. You can see some more of the front pasture, the highway that cut through our property, and the river pasture along with the Wabash River behind it. A third pasture and our paddock and barn is behind the pines on the left.

Having the river to ride around and explore was just the best, and Leslie and I spent a lot of time with our horses on its banks.

 This was back in the days when I could hop up bareback and ride with just a halter and lead rope!

Our herd loved that river grass. We had to be careful the first few weeks of spring when we opened the river pasture up for grazing as we didn't want them to colic or founder.

 Amy was so beautiful. Like Abby, she had a lot of sass and personality, but she was gentle and willing, too.

Since the river's channel was on the far side from us, the shallows were along our pasture. Leslie and I loved to ride in the shallows. The horses would paw and drink, and once, on a very hot day, Cee laid down with me for a roll! (Luckily I was riding bareback and just stepped off him when he went down.)

I love that river and have ever since I was a little girl. It is a symbol of Indiana and has inspired authors and poets. Johnny Cash wrote If it wasn't for the Wabash River  and also sang Wabash Cannonball. There's  Back Home Again in Indiana with its signature line "When I dream about the moonlight on the Wabash," and the Indiana state song, On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away  

I know what that river looks like in the moonlight. With horses drinking from it, or two girls cantering along its banks. The Wabash was a little slice of heaven to me then as a young girl, and it remains near and dear to my heart today.

Dad's Slides: The Farm Set and Apache Joe

Santa has been very good me over the years, especially when it comes to model horses.

This farm set is still one of my favorite Christmas gifts that I have ever received.  I was five and I played with it for hours and hours, day after day. You can see the grey horse in the last paddock, but there are also cows, hogs, sheep, chickens, and ducks. 

Santa was even known to put horses "in" our stockings! 

Apache Joe, the buckskin plastic horse by my stocking, arrived in 1965. Leslie and Jenny got horses, too, and Jenny also got a large rocking horse.

Apache Joe was a barrel racer and used to compete at Madison Square Gardens, racing around Dixie cup barrels and winning many races. He even won a show cooler for his efforts!

I still have that show cooler and the one I made for Sham, my carpet herd Five Gaiter.

Sadly, I have nothing left from the farm set anymore, but Apache Joe is still with me. After all, he was my first successful show horse. Even better, he is a part of my childhood.

Another Big Anniversary - Hagen Renaker!

Breyer's 70th anniversary this year is well known among hobbyists and is being celebrated in various ways. But, there is another model horse anniversary that is not quite as well known, but every bit as significant.

Hagen Renaker is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year.

Windsong Amir, my very first Hagen Renaker.

Any day you get a package from Nancy Falzone, it's a good day. And today was a very good day!

 Inside was a tee shirt that she designed and Dani Youdris screened. 

With help from Yvonne Rott, Nancy went around the show hall at the February Great Lakes Congress show and talked to entrants  to see if there was any interest in having a tee shirt made to celebrate Hagen Renaker's anniversary. As you might imagine, there was a lot.

Mine is super comfortable and made from a lightweight cotton that will be cool during the heat of the summer. I'd hoped to wear it to some spring shows and to BreyerFest, but that is looking less and less likely. Still, I am happy to have it and can always wear it around my home and to the barn.

Happy 75th Anniversary, Hagen Renaker!

Horsey Jewelry

I decided that I would gather my horsey jewelry and see what might look nice in the bridle rosettes case. What I put in there needed to be things that had sentimental value and were not really used or worn anymore.

First up was my spirit animal necklace.

A gift from my mother way back in the 1990s, it was made especially for me by a Native American friend of hers.

 It's made from deer hide and is very soft. Plus, Mom asked them to put Appaloosa spots on it for me!

 I discovered that I still had the card that was tucked in the box when she gave it to me.

 It explains the parts of the necklace and who made it.

My students loved to look at it and would ask questions about the accoutrements that hung from the thimble.

 My favorite trade bead is the watermelon bead. You can barely see the red on the end.

 The cone of horsehair is a treasure, too.

 My Hartland Collector's Club pin is going into the bridle rosettes display case.

I started this charm bracelet when I was fourteen. You can see a horse, a horseshoe that represents my 4-H Horse and Pony Club, and another horseshoe for when my horse, Nick, got his first pair of shoes.

 See the mailbox and the typewriter? (The typewriter is upside down and to the right of the thin chain.) Those represent the model horse hobby. Back in the 1970s everything was done via snail mail, and so I used to get a ton of mail. From 1972-1975 I ran The All Breeds Model Horse Showers Association, a club for photo showing. I used to grind out the monthly newsletter using carbon paper on a typewriter that my parents gave me specifically for my model horse activities.

The top pair of earrings were favorites and I wore them all the time. I got them at an early BreyerFest from a seller on the concourse. 

These earrings are super special to me and can make me tear up. When my very first horse, Amy, died in 1991, a friend made me these earrings using hair from her tail.

A pin my mom gave me in the 1980s. There are a lot of sentimental feelings attached to it. It looks pretty gaudy by today's standards!

 A stretchy bracelet that was a gift from a former student. (I think.)

 These horses slide back and forth along the bracelet. I wore it a lot in the late 1990s/early 2000s.

Currently I wear all of these, so they will remain out of the display case. The rock pendant was hand carved for me by a former student of my friend, Kathy. Because she is blind, she loves tactile things, and her gifts often reflect that. It is definitely a unique piece of jewelry.

These are also staying out of the display case because I wear them all. Horse Buddy Trinity gave me the hoop earrings last Christmas. The sterling silver barrette is from my pen pal, Sue Seese. In 1975 I flew out to visit her in California and we went to a silversmith to get some silver for her bridle. The silversmith gifted me with that barrette and I have treasured it ever since.

I found the circus pony pin in an antique shop in Gilman, Illinois in the 1990s for $3. The Arabian horse head was bought at a live show and is initialed "JDH/94." I don't remember who that is. The spotted mule pin was sculpted by Kristina Lucas Francis and produced by Pour Horse Pottery in 1999. Only fifty-three of the spotty mules were made.

I'm not yet done experimenting with various layouts of rosettes and jewelry in the display case, but I am pleased with how it is starting to look.

Feeding Time/Crazy Time

There was a big hay shortage in Indiana last fall and horse owners everywhere were scrambling to find enough to fill their barns as winter approached. With four round bales left and more stored in the hay mow of the old barn, we are in good shape, but we are still being careful as spring unfolds and the pastures begin to green up.

Tim says we will be okay until the pastures can support the horses again, but since Sultanna is also in foal, Tim has begun giving a small amount of grain to the horses. A week ago or so, he told me that I could go ahead and put some out for them when I was out, too.

It's a mix of oats and pellets, and Tim told me to just spread a few handfuls for each horse on the ground along the lane to the water trough where it is dry and grassy.

Clearly, the horses like getting grain - they were in the far corner of the northwest pasture when we rolled in by the new barn, but the entire herd thundered up when they saw our car. (Lisa and her dogs, Millie and Molly, came with me.)

Trouble, Diablo, Abby, Sultanna, and Hokey lined up and ready to eat. Millie on the left, Lisa, and Molly.

 Hokey eyes the feed pan of grain I have carried out.

Chow time!

With spring finally here, the grass is greening up but there have been heavy rains and so the lane is a muddy mess. I am a little surprised that Abby is not muddier than she is - she loves rolling.

 Millie has been out to the barn many times, so we took her leash off and let her explore. 

 Awww! Just like her mama! Lisa is my horsey child. 

She's got that "I am in my happy place" smile that all horse lovers get when we are around horses. And we need our happy places right now.

What with the risk of getting COVID-19, I have been staying at home for over two weeks now - I'm not even going to the grocery!  The barn is a different story. Tim is the only other person out there and since we go out at different times, our paths rarely cross and there is little to no risk of exposure. 

You can bet that I am grateful for this bit of normalcy during a very crazy (and scary)  time.