October | 2015 | If I Had My Own Blue Box:

For Your Reading Pleasure – The Homefront Herald

From the hands of Mandy Kallal and Marie Waters Hoobery, a new civilian reenacting publication will soon be available.

The Homefront Herald. A magazine by civilian reenactors for civilian reenactors.

A new publication designed with the needs of the modern reenactor, and the desire to honor the past through living history at its very core. We intend to encourage integrity in reenacting and offer a forum for those with expertise and research to share with others in the hobby, thereby improving all.

Take a moment to visit their Website: http://www.homefrontherald.com/

Their Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/HomefrontHerald

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on October 5, 2015 at 8:06 pm Leave a Comment

Agricultural Society Fair – Part 4 – Favorites

My favorites from this year’s Ag. Fair…. Let me first say I was both pleased and saddened by this year’s entries. There was some absolutely amazing work, I mean AMAZING. But, at the same time, there were far, far fewer entries. I remember when I was little that the meeting center and tents were filled, really filled. Then I remember when it was the whole meeting center, all three rooms. This year, barely two rooms were filled. This made me so sad.

Cheese has always been one of my favorite entries to see. I think it comes down to the cheese Grandma used to bring home at the end of the season. My favorite was the less than authentic peppercorn filled cheese. To this day, one of my comfort foods is simply pasta with a good hard cheese grated on.

This is one of the children’s entries. I thought this young person’s work really was nice. It happens to remind me of my Grandma Worden, who used to do this kind of needlework.

Each of the hooked rugs entered this year were beautifully done. There was just something about this one though. I think Grandma would have loved it. It is playful, pleasing and just the right balance of colors. Love it.

There were a pair of pockets that made me really glad I did not enter a pocket this year. (I had been thinking about doing a doll’s pocket.) One was a lovely patchwork. The other a stunning embroidery. Both in beautiful shades of blue that I am rather partial to.

All of the needlework embroidery entries were amazing, stunning and so very well done. I have long thought this section needs to be reworked to reflect the needlework styles of the nineteenth century. This set of entries exemplifies why. Each one is an excellent example of a different type of needlework. Anneliese made the beautiful flame stitch pincushion, Allison worked the white work handkerchief and the punch work is by Judy (who I think I remember.) At least two other entries in other categories could easily also be considered for their needlework, the pocket above and the cap below.

This cap, wow. I don’t know what to say beside ‘wow’. This is also made by Anneliese. I hope you can see all the detail including those worked dots. (I’m sure they have a name. Fingers cross she’ll comment below about them.)

This best example of wooden ware made me “oooo” so loud I had a response back from the other room. I can not imagine the amount of carving that went into these. I’m hoping we will get to see what they produce in the future.

This quilt was quite pleasing. The colors work so well together. I have this style applique on my ‘wish to do sometime’ list. I hope I can pull one off this nice.

Lastly, we have my mobile favorite. I got myself some goat lovin’. This goat was such a sweetie. While I was petting this one, a smaller one was nibbling on my wool coat and dress just below. No marks, best I can tell. Eventually, one of the bigger goats started knocking the one I was petting out of the way. When it got aggressive, It was time to go. The little one bleated away at me through the gate while the one I was petting just starred. 😦

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on October 3, 2015 at 5:34 pm Comments (1)

Agricultural Society Fair – Part 3 – Mom’s Entries

Make sure you see the Ag Fair part 2 post for mom’s other entries.

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on October 3, 2015 at 5:04 pm Leave a Comment

Agricultural Society Fair – Part 2 – Mom in the Horticulture Tent

I knew mom was planning to bring a few things to the fair for the horticulture tent. I had no idea….

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on October 3, 2015 at 5:02 pm Leave a Comment

Agricultural Society Fair – Part 1 – Entries

This year, I decided to give myself an extra little challenge – Make my entries in doll scale. I set this goal for myself at the beginning of the year. While I didn’t manage to find the time to make as many pieces as I wanted, I was able to make few. There are also a couple human size pieces as well.

Since I spent so much time this summer making straw hats and bonnets, of course, I needed to make a pair of straw hats, one doll scale and one human scale. The full size straw hat was a favorite of this summer with its bias plaid silk lining and calla lilies. The doll hat is in the same style, simply trimmed with ribbon. If I ever find lilies small enough, I will be happy.

It was fun scaling down the winter bonnet patterns to doll size. I did one in a quilted style using a double twist pattern and one in the corded and wadded style that I find to be nicely warm. These are for dolls with 9.5″ to 10″ heads.

I had lots of fun with this little doll quilt. Triangular piecing was both easy and relaxing. But, as I was almost finished, I realized I needed to bind that curved edge I created. Thankfully, it was a lot easier than I thought. I am tempted to do a full size one in this design. Sometime.

When Mandy found these steel rings, I knew I wanted to do an embroidered pin ball. I did a trial run with simple embroidery on wool. Then jumped into the needlework for this one. Needlework like this is not something I have done much if any of. Some parts were enjoyable. Other parts, well, they made me think “aren’t I done yet?” After finishing the full size one, I wanted to see if I could do the doll size one. One challenge was deciding on what to use for the ring. I pondered an actual ring, but didn’t find one in the right size as I was working. The next challenge was turning the embroidered linen right side out at that small of a scale. I think it came out pretty cute.

I had every intention of doing my household quilted item in both doll and human scale. Then, as I made the full size one, I decided this was the one and only I was making… ever. This quilted tool case was inspired by an 1872 illustration in Peterson’s Magazine. It could hold sewing tools or toilet tools nicely.

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on October 3, 2015 at 4:50 pm Comments (2)

Workshop – Pocket of Pockets

I am very excited that I will be facilitating two Fanciful Utility workshops at the upcoming Domestic Skill Workshop hosted by the Genesee Country Village and Museum during the first weekend of November.

The Sunday afternoon workshop will be a “Pocket of Pocket” Work pocket. Attendees will make one of the most versatile and useful work pockets. Each can choose among a wide assortment of period cotton prints to make their rolled pocket. The workshop directions will be easy to follow for beginner sewers and open enough for those who are more experienced.

Original work pockets, made of a row of pockets which roll up, can be found spanning from the 18th century through the 19th century. Their pockets held numerous sewing needs, nicely organized. Some pockets were made with various prints of a single color or shade such as this Turkey red example or this blue example. Other pockets used an assortment of prints, stripes and plaids. This example used a plaid, print and check for the pockets. The size of the pockets varied through time as well. On the left hand side of this photo, you can see many different sizes.

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on October 2, 2015 at 6:01 am Leave a Comment
Tags: Workshops/Conferences/Symposiums

Workshop: Pin Cushion Sampler

The morning workshop will be A Pin Cushion Sampler. Attendees will be able to make two or three pincushions of their choice during the workshop. Don’t worry, all attendees will take home the directions for each of the cushions. I have put together an assortment of pin cushions that will meet a range of sewing abilities, beginner to experienced alike, as well as meet a variety of sewing case needs.

The easiest pin cushion is the heart shaped cushion from Eliza Leslie’s American Girl’s Book. This simple, silk cushion is both easy to make and quite pretty. It can be made small (as our cushion will be) or rather large to suit the needs of the sewing box.

The most challenging cushion is this multi-media ring pin cushion, made with a silver tone ring and silk. In making this cushion, you will practice covering pasteboard, manipulate the batting and finish it off with a pretty silk. Multi-media pin cushions such as this one were popular throughout the century.

For those looking for a small, whimsical pin cushion, this pyramid cushion will suit. This cushion will be worked in firmer fabrics, including wools and velvets. This cushion is inspired by this adorable original. (I’ll have some pretty ribbons you can add as well.)

If you love ribbon, this ribbon pin cushion may be the one for you. This cushion uses Fanciful Utility techniques in a unique way to create this pretty cushion. It is inspired by originals such as this one.

For those with a playful eye, this ball pin cushion is a fun choice. We will be making ours with silk pieces. Originals can be found in an assortment of materials.

Variations of a gored pin cushion are found in both published books and originals. This cushion is easy to make, while being very versatile. As these are similar to the ‘tomato’ pin cushions, I am going to bring along some simple circles too in case those are the preference.

Oh, I almost forgot…. Here are some of the fabrics we will get to play with….

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on October 2, 2015 at 6:00 am Leave a Comment
Tags: Workshops/Conferences/Symposiums

Fair on the Brain

This is the time of year that I have Ag. Fair on the brain. The Genesee Country Village & Museum’s Agricultural Society Fair is coming up in a few days.

I find the premium lists and premium books to be quite fun to look at. These lists of entry catagories tell us the type of things people grew in an area and what they made on the domestic and manufacturing levels. They give us an idea of what they prized. Some even tell us what they collected.

One of the most interesting entry categories I’ve seen comes from the 1873, Deseret Agricultural & Manufacturing Society Premium book for Salt Lake City. This List of Premiums includes: “Best collection of gold fish, in an aquarium”, Okay, the entire section on paints and oils from that premium book, I find interesting. Btw, in 1839, a set of artificial teeth were entered in the Second Annual Fair of the Ohio Mechanics’ Institute.