More Show Prep

Like me, my co-host for The FAMulous Collectibility Show is using the cold winter days of January to work on show prep for 2020. She spent part of her weekend uploading photos from our show to the gallery section of our web site. (You can take a look at them here. )

Me, our show announcer Stan Sollars (aka Action Stan and Allison's husband), and Allison Pareis.

 Liz Cory judging the Breyer Critters and Things division.

 Tonya Clapp, judge of the Just About the Horses division.

 Steff Bodamer takes a look at the decorator class.

 Cristine Holt flew in from Mapleton, Utah to judge Customs Collectibility.

Tara Oliver, Cris's daughter, flew in from Utah, too, to help judge Customs Collectibility. (Tara is with Melissa Hart.)

 Nancy Kelly, our china judge, Stan, and me.

Allison expressed my own feelings when she messaged me and said, "Man, I am still so happily STUNNED at what models showed up last year!!" 

So am I. And I cannot wait to see what is entered this coming year!

Planning

Like most hobbyists, I try to get my model horse activities on the calendar at the beginning of the year. While that doesn't mean the list won't change, it does give me a framework to plan other activities around. Already I have twelve hobby events listed that I'd like to attend, and trips to Colorado, Utah, Tennessee, and Florida to visit our kids and grands. 2020 is going to be busy!

I also like to do some early work on any live shows that I might be holding. For 2020, that will be Happy Trails III on June 6 and The FAMulous Collectibility Show August 8.

This weekend I updated the Happy Trails Facebook page and was pleased to see that people were already excited about coming.

I worked on the entry packet and the class list and included an explanation as to why this year is a special year for me.

Then, I pulled out the tubs that held my show supplies and checked my stock of flats and rosettes. (Happy Trails uses recycled ribbons.)

 Pepper helped me by inspecting the rosettes.

 I sorted all the loose flats into places and then assembled ribbon packets for the classes. 

I was pleased to see that I had enough ribbons to cover the Happy Trails class list and that I would not have to buy more in order to hold the show.

I have enough rosettes to cover the champions and reserves, too. (I will iron the streamers the day before the show.)

I have plenty of items for the gift bags and prizes, so Happy Trails is in good shape and won't require too much work as the show approaches.

As for FAMulous, I need to talk to my co-host, Allison, and figure out what our classes will be. (We already have judges.) She is in the process of updating our web site and posting photos from last year's show.  Allison is also hosting a NaMoPaiMo painting party on February 15 and I am thinking of going to that. (I may do NaMoPaiMo this year and have ordered a couple of Stablemates and paint, just in case.)

My fingers are crossed that 2020 is as good of a year as it looks like on paper.

Pryor Mountain Mustangs - Hanging the Photos

Denver Daughter's hobby is wildlife photography. Last summer when her kids were all at camp and her husband out of town on business, she drove up to Yellowstone and spent a week camping and photographing the wildlife. (Was her mama worried when she learned that her daughter was camping alone in Yellowstone for a week? You bet she was!)

On the way, Sarah detoured to Lovell, Wyoming and spent eight hours working on my Christmas gift - a set of photos of some of the Pryor Mountain Mustangs.

What a thrill for me - I have never seen a horse in the wild before. (Loose horses running wild do not count, haha!)

 Someday I hope to see the Pryor Mountain Mustangs or another wild herd myself.

But in the meantime, I have these beautiful photos from Sarah.

 I like them so much that they supplanted my signed Sam Savitt original - it hung where they are now.

That's the primo spot for me to see them when I look up from my computer or when I am sewing. I do love my Sam Savitt, but I treasure these photos on so many levels. (The Savitt picture is now hanging over my ribbon rack. Not as easily seen, but still very present in the horse room.)

Thanks, Denver Daughter. 

Quilting a Horse

I love to sew. I find it relaxing and I enjoy seeing the finished product, whether it is a quiet book, an outfit, or something else.

 A blessing gown that I made for Cowpoke Susie.

You might think that since I like to sew, I would enjoy quilting, but I don't. I do not have the patience to cut and piece all those bits of fabrics, or the talent to put colors together that work. Nor do I want to hand quilt the pieced top to its batting and then bind it.

My best friend from high school, Shelly, is another story.

One of Shelly's quilts, all hand stitched.

 She actually made a career out of teaching clothing construction to high school students. And when I began sewing in high school, she was a resource to me. We both did 4-H, she in Clothing Design and Construction while I was in Horse and Pony. (Shelly got to dress elegantly and model her creations onstage in the large pavilion at the fairgrounds while I was wearing dusty jeans and boots and shoveling manure!)

Shelly (on the right) and me in 1974 at The Brown County Covered Bridge Festival. We both had the same last name (Martin) although we were not related, and people often thought we were twins. So, we used to dress alike for fun!

 A few of Shelly's recent quilt blocks ready to be assembled into a quilt.

Like me, Shelly has retired from teaching. She now spends her time making beautiful quilts. Yesterday she posted a photo of a new quilt block she was working on - George Washington astride his horse. 

She began by selecting fabrics that would bring the horse alive. (Notice how she tucked the tail behind the horse's hock to give it an even more realistic appearance.)

 Then she began assembling George Washington.

Almost done. Shelly told me that she had no pattern for this block and that she was just making it up as she went along. 

I had to comment on her lovely work when she posted photos on Instagram.

I was excited to read that she was making another horse and rider! (Which makes me wonder what the theme of this quilt is - presidents? Early American historical figures?)

I see a lot of parallels to the model horse hobby. I am a good solid sewist, but I am not an artistic sewist. Shelly most definitely is. But, we both find joy in our respective niches. 

In the model horse hobby, we have a similar thing - those who paint horses and are good solid painters, and then those artists whose work takes our breath away. (Kylee Parks comes to mind.) 

The most important thing, whatever our hobby or passion, is to find the joy in what we are doing.

Merja Voutilainen - My Horsey Finnish Friend

Craig was a campus minister at The University of Illinois for twenty-seven years, and as you might imagine, we met a lot of wonderful people who were studying there, making lifelong friends with many.

One of them was my dear friend, Merja Voutilainen, from Espoo, Finland. Her husband, Jake, was a musician and had come to the USA to study music and receive his DMA (Doctor of Musical Arts.) We met at church and both Merja and I were delighted to discover that we were both horse crazy!

 A recent photo of Merja in Finland.

Merja and I used to go out and work Indy, the half Arab I owned during our Illinois years. She had brought her riding clothes to the US and was very good in the saddle. She'd also earned her silver medal from Finland. If I remember right, there were three levels of horsemanship that you could earn, bronze, silver, and gold. I will never forget that beautiful medal that she kept pinned to the lapel of her riding jacket.

My horse Indy with (from left), my daughter Mountain Mama Jessica, Denver Daughter Sarah, and Maria, Merja and Jake's oldest daughter. Taken about 1986.

After completing his studies, Jake and Merja moved their family back to Finland. Thanks to Facebook, Merja and I have been able to stay in touch.

Jake and Merja at home in Finland - notice her tee shirt!

Merja and her daughter, Bella, still ride together, although they have to work around Finland's brutal winters. This photo was their last ride before the horses were moved south to a warmer barn for the coldest months of the year.

A recent birthday cake that Merja received. We horsewomen just never outgrow it, do we?

Somewhere I have photos of Merja and me at the barn. I'm going to dig those out and will scan and post them when I find them. 

Merja and I have not seen each other in person since she moved back to Finland, but those horsey bonds go deep and are still there. I am so glad to still be in touch with her.

Pepper - in China!

Pepper has really settled into our home since her retirement from Seeing Eye Guide Dog service. 

Pepper on the "princess and the pea" bed - her bed stacked atop Millie's and Molly's beds, and her favorite place to sleep.

 Pepper's usual sleeping position is flat on her back.

 I've never known a dog who liked to sleep on their back like Miss Pepper does!

She also likes to hop up in bed and cuddle a bit at night. (Black dogs are tough to photograph - my cheek is on the top of her head and she's tucked up against my shoulder. You can see her closed eye right next to the comforter and her red and green Christmas collar on her neck. )

Made in Japan black Labs are also hard to photograph.

My sister, Leslie, used to be a model horse collector. She gave me her collection years ago, but she kept some of the china dogs that she had also collected.

This old Lefton has been in her collection since she was in elementary school in the 1960s.

Leslie has housed it in a china cabinet for most of the time and on bookshelves at others. The piece shows some wear, but then, it is at least fifty years old. (I'm showing some wear, too, haha!)

When we were chosen as Pepper's retirement home, Leslie decided to gift me with her old boy since he was a black Lab, too. I was touched - I know how attached you can be to pieces from your collection, and when they are from your earliest days, it can be tough to say goodbye.

The Lefton black Lab is now with a few of my other dogs in my library and is a wonderful connection not only to Pepper but to my very generous sister as well.

Pony Pal Mila's Unicorn/Birthday/Tea Party

Pony Pal Mila celebrated her fourth birthday with a tea party that morphed into a unicorn bash. She was all dressed up in a beautiful navy dress, pearls, and had had her hair put up. (That bright pink hand is from an art project earlier in the day.)

She and her mama have near-daily tea parties (although they drink hot chocolate - my kind of drink!) and they use teacups and teapots that I gave them that belonged to my mother and Grandmother Honeywell. (I come from a long line of collectors; on the female end, it was teacups and teapots. I have boxes and boxes of them that I inherited.) 

 I'd found this Happy Birthday teacup while out antiquing and Pony Pal Mila was thrilled to use it.

 One of my mother's cups with apple blossoms on it. This is Mila's favorite teacup.

 One of Mila's Great Great Grandma's teapots, and probably my favorite of them all.

It was during the gift opening that the party switched into a unicorn bash. It wasn't on purpose; it was just that we all knew that Mila wanted unicorns for her birthday! (Last year it was My Little Ponies. She is definitely a horsey girl.)

 The first gift opened was a large stuffed pink unicorn that could be ridden by hopping. 

Pearls, fancy dress, and hair notwithstanding, Pony Pal Mila was off! (Sorry for the poor quality picture. I used it because I love the joy on Mila's face.)

 A Breyer Jasmine plushie from us along with a unicorn nightlight!

It didn't take long before the unicorns were starting to stack up - Mila has two sets of grandparents and five aunts and uncles in town.

 Soon some Disney princess dolls soon were roped into becoming unicorn riders.

A pile of unicorns waiting to go into the Barbie house - their new home. (I wonder how Barbie feels about that?)

These two were a bit too big to be stabled with the other new unicorns.

My Little Ponies were Mila's wish last year, and unicorns were it for this year. Dare I hope that for her fifth birthday she chooses horses?