The Mystery Basket

First Post of the Day

At the end of August, Lisa and I did some antiquing together. While I found a lot of HSOs, I didn't come home with any of them. But, I did come home with this:

Lisa and I both headed straight to it when we spied it - it sure looked like the hand woven baskets we see at 18th century events.

"Are you going to get it?" she asked me.

"Let me think about how much I am willing to pay for it first," I replied. I always do that when I see something that tempts me. Since I had never seen that style/shape of basket, I wasn't positive that it would be historically accurate. But, it clearly was handmade, and the squares were a familiar pattern from other 18th century baskets that I have. 

So, I fixed a price in my mind that would be my limit and flipped the price tag over. 

$20? Oh yeah. Mine!

It needed a lot of cleaning. The inside was full of dust bunnies that were embedded within the slats.

It took several cleaning sessions out in the garage

and two cans of compressed air before it was clean.

The pattern and shape is quite intricate and unusual - I have never seen this kind of basket before. What was it used for? 

Using a photo of it, I did a Google photo search - it's a buttock gathering basket. Yep, BUTTOCK. Because, well, LOOK at it! They were fairly common and used for gathering - eggs, produce, berries, and more.

(I looked again at my own baskets and several of them are also buttock baskets. Not sure I am glad I know that now - I'll never not see the cheeks when I look at them! LOL)

There is some writing inside the bottom of the basket but I'm still trying to decipher that. And I checked with a friend who makes baskets and she did not make this one.

It's not as well made as the baskets I already have in my collection, but then, those are all gifts from my mother who bought them from the top basket makers in the living history world, so comparing this basket to those really is not fair. Still, I like it and am glad that I found it.

Leslie has put out inquiries to her living history friends, so I am hopeful that I will get some answers as to who made it.

Stay 'tooned!

The September Give Away is underway! Tucked inside the book was a bookmark that really wasn't a bookmark.

A young girl's swim team results card from about 1980!

You never know what you will find when you open a vintage book.

Comment to win through Tuesday, September 15, 11:59 PM ET!

Done & Moving On

 Second Post of the Day

The trade shirt marathon is finished!

Eighteen shirts, all new and all ready to be sold. 

The remnants from each shirt have all been measured, folded,

and tied into bundles. There is a lot of usable fabric for smaller projects in them and they tend to sell out quickly at the Feast and Kalamazoo.

The last two shirts that I made were from the same block print but in different colors. Both are size 3X.

The green shirt on my dressmaker's mannequin. The shoulders on the shirt are wider than the mannequin's shoulders, so the arms hang down and look much longer than they really are.

Rather than sleeve buttons, I did a single button/buttonhole on the cuffs. The green shirt has flat brass buttons.

The other shirt is in red. (This pattern also comes in blue - it's on my order list for next time.)

It has a horn button/buttonhole combination.

Now I am moving on to bed gowns. I have 4 in stock and while ideally I'd love to have as many bed gowns to sell as I do trade shirts, that's not going to happen before the Feast and maybe not even before Kalamazoo next March.

I've prewashed one of my favorite bed gown fabrics and have laid it out over the dining room game pattern-cutting table to keep it from getting wrinkled.

I made myself a bed gown from this fabric a few years ago. This version here is the block print with more teal than maroon. (That is also the version I am getting ready to cut out.)

And here is another bed gown I made where the maroon takes precedent over the teal. I like both fabrics.

It's a challenging fabric to use for a bed gown due to the block print pattern. If the two floral medallions don't match up in the center, it looks odd. But in the end, it's worth the extra effort.

I really need to make a few cloaks, too. And a couple more pockets. Two or three more petticoats...

Tick! Tick! Tick! Tick!

Don't forget the September Give Away! Comment on any blog post starting today (September 13) through Tuesday, September 15, 11:59 PM ET.

A vintage The Black Stallion book is the prize!

Stay 'tooned!

The September Give Away

First Post of the Day

It's time for the September Give Away! And this month it's a book that is familiar to most of us.

a 1968 edition of The Black Stallion by Walter Farley. 

That makes this book 58 years old so it's vintage. And it is in excellent condition.

There was a quirky surprise in it that I found when I got the book. I'll share that tomorrow and it will be included with the book when I send it to the winner.

As usual, comment to enter on this post and any other that is posted through Tuesday, September 15, 11:59 PM ET. I'll spin to win Wednesday or Thursday and post the winner then.

Good luck and stay 'tooned!

Just Playing with Numbers - Again

Yesterday I came across the following blog entry from my teaching years. At the time, I was teaching the gifted class of 4th and 5th graders. 

The experience I'd shared back then was not atypical for the kids in my classrooms. They were amazing thinkers, year after year.

Read it, think about it, try it, and then be amazed (like me) that a 5th grader figured it out while "just playing with numbers."

-----

WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2010

"I was Just Playing with Numbers..."

... began a 5th grade girl this morning as she stood to tell her classmates something during class meeting. (I have learned that when a student wants to say something about playing with numbers or words or science or whatever, that that means something pretty amazing is coming.)

"I was looking for patterns and discovered this. Someone give me a number between 1 and 99 that isn't divisible by 11."

"26!" called out a child.

Teja continued, "I noticed that, if you write the number 26, then reverse the digits and add them" (and she wrote 26 + 62 on the board) "then the sum which is 88 is divisible by 11. And when you subtract them" (now she wrote 62 - 26 beside the first problem) "you get a difference of 36 which is divisible by 9."

We took a moment to absorb that information. 

"I discovered that that always happens. The sum is divisible by 11 and the difference is divisible by 9. But it only works with numbers under 100 which are not divisible by 11."

She took a few more suggestions of numbers, and she was right - they all held true to the pattern she had discovered. Even a single digit number like 5 worked:

5 + 50 = 55 (divisible by 11)

50 - 5 = 45 (divisible by 9)

(Teja explained that there is a zero in the tens place when you write the number 5, so therefore reversing the digits gives you 50.)

I am always looking for interesting Math things to do, especially at the end of the school year when it is too late to start a new unit yet the kiddos still need something valuable to do with their time. I think we will choose number pairs next week and work our way through 1-99 and see if the pattern holds true throughout.

And, I want to find out WHY it works, too. (I did.)

What an interesting puzzle! And even more interesting is that she discovered it while playing with numbers.

---

Teja was in my class for 2nd, 4th, and 5th grades and has stayed in touch. Currently she has finished studying medicine at John Hopkins University and is a... neurosurgeon, I think.

Teja and me in 2018. She had heard I was retiring and stopped by my class to thank me for being her teacher and to wish me well in retirement.

Anyone want to make and play with a mobius strip? Or learn how to cut a hole in a post-it big enough to step your entire body through?

Sigh. Sometimes I really miss teaching.

Stay 'tooned.

Dogs of Our Lives: The Dining Room Dilemma

Second Post of the Day

Oh, sweetie. I love you so much and I appreciate that you stick close by and watch over me in case I need something.

I understand that your guide dog training says that you should go under the table that I am sitting at. Really, I do. And theoretically, that that gets you out of the way but lets you still be close. 

But it's just not working.

You see, this isn't UNDER the table; you're sticking out and I can't get up without doing some gymnastics.

And I have to get up and down - I am placing pattern pieces and cutting them out so I need to walk around the table. 

You have a solution? Why, yes, I'll listen - tell me!

Um... sorry. There is no room in the dining room for a bed. 

I know, I know. The bed in the sewing room keeps you out from under the sewing table and allows you to be close and keep an eye on me, but a bed in the dining room simply isn't doable.

I'll keep thinking and in the meantime, continue to step over you as needed, okay? But maybe you could try to squeeze under a little more, too, so there is more room for my feet.

Thanks. I love you, too, Pep.

Looking for the Good

First Post of the Day

Today is the 25th anniversary of the worst day in my life. I doubt I am alone in saying that. Some years I mention it here on my blog, other years I just can't. I simply cannot write about that horror.

There was a child born on that terrible day, one who came into my life and was my student for 4th and 5th grade. His name is Albert, and he was an insightful and contemplative child.

Albert as the Archbishop of Canterbury with Ebenezer Scrooge (Kyle) and Governess Isenbarger (me) at our celebration party after reading A Christmas Carol together in class.

It was during a parent/teacher conference when his mother shared that he'd been born as that terrible day had played out. I could not imagine how that felt - giving birth to a child while knowing what was happening to our country.

She also told me that her son was "deeply spiritual" and I could see that trait in him. It was quiet, but there. Albert was simply a good human being.

Ever since his mother told me that Albert was born during the 9/11 attacks, I can't help but think of him on this day. He's a reminder that, even on that darkest of days when so much hate, pain, and horror were happening, something good came into our world.

And so today I am going to work to focus on the good in our world. I'll still remember what happened, I'll still grieve and maybe even cry, but there are good things to look for, too.

Stay 'tooned. 

Montana Mama Sarah Visits!

Sarah has meetings in Des Moines all this week, so she flew in early and spent Labor Day weekend with us!

There's nothing like having a family gathering with all the local family.

And the dogs. All five are present in that picture. Can you find them all?

We went out for lunch together.

And of course we played many games at the dining room pattern cutting game table.

We did some growth measuring

and shared strategies for winning.

For fun, Vanessa made a family video of us running a backwards race.

I think Curt was the clear winner. We also celebrated his birthday together.

Aunt Leslie, Uncle Rick,

Aunt Jenny,

and Aunt Cindie and Uncle Steve came over for a family dinner and to catch up with Sarah.

Then, one evening Craig and I were asked to "not listen" while Curt, Sarah, and Lisa met online with their other siblings. (Although they did ask me to come in and take a photo of them all together.)

Our 50th wedding anniversary is this November and the kids are planning an open house for us over the holidays.  We know some of the details but apparently others are going to be a surprise.

Sarah was with us Friday through Monday, and it was lovely to be together. Our kids all have very busy lives and I am grateful for any time they can give us.

She flew to Des Moines Monday evening. She is the director for states' expansion for Healthy Birth Day, a stillbirth prevention organization. She has 48 states on board and the final two are in progress. As such she supports the state partners and helps them integrate Count the Kicks, a program that's been shown to help prevent stillbirth. 

Needless to say, I am very proud of the work she is doing.

Craig and I have settled back into our quiet lives again, but it was breath of fresh air having her come. I love you, Sarah. Thank you for the gift of time you gave us. We treasure those moments with you. xo