If I Had My Own Blue Box:

Some how it is October. This past week the weather shifted. i found myself cold and in want of sweaters. The sweaters are still packed away, by the way. Yesterday morning, the sky turned read and breaking light was tinted an eerrie pink.

This weekend is the Agricultural Society Fair at the museum. You know this is one of my favorite events. This year, I have been looking forward to it even more than usual because it had been marking a sort of end post for this moving mess. Well, with the more recent developments, that I have decided Not to talk about yet, that end post is going to be rest somewhere in the future. I only have two entries this year. I don’t think Mom is entering. Oh, and to add to my “but, but, but fair” whine…. I caught school germs. Come on. What do you think is going to happen when you cram All the people with All their germs into a smelly gym for an hour to scream and cheer, just 4 weeks into the germ exchange season school year?

But, on to what you want to hear about… … sewing

I finally started sewing this week.

MILLINERY

I am starting out with general sewing because I don’t have all my materials or millinery blocks out yet. I also haven’t figured out where I am going to dry pieces as I still have to buy a washer and dryer. My hope is to have two or three hats sewn and headed to my shop this weekend, then start working on my waiting list. I plan to sew straw straight through the winter rather than switch to working on winter millinery for the season.

I do have an important request – The photos I took in July at the museum (Mumford) disappeared out of my phone during the last update. These included the photos of people wearing the types of hats and bonnets they want. I am a Very visual person. If you have photos of you or your friend who wanted a particular piece, please let me know.

HOLIDAY SHOP

I have several great ideas for the coming Holiday Shop. This year I will be offering a special Christmas Ornament! I am working on these now. I know several of you have been waiting for something like this for a few years. I hope you love them.

I am also making an assortment of these pretty little pockets. I will be filling them with goodies – either sewing notions or hair necessities. Some will be available for you to fill as you like. They are just the right size for a gift card, a piece of jewelry, or other small token.

I will be offering an assorment of sewing accessories. There is a great scissors case I have drafted. I need to get out my tote of velvets to work those. I know you will love these. Of course there will be a few fun pin cushions.

I have this wacky idea that I want to use the pinking machines for a Christmas ornament. There will be a few of those whimsical pretties.

Which brings me to….

Pinking Party

I ahve decided to have a Pinking Party. The date isnyet to be determined. I am going to try to have it at home if I can figure out the parking. Lots of tables with lots of pinking machines. This will be a local thing for local friends. If it goes well, maybe I will do another elsewhere.

Are you registered for my Band of Millinette workshop at the Genesee Country Village & Museum’s Domestic Skills Symposium?

Join me Sunday, November 3rd for a day exploring the headdresses worn in the nineteenth century and learning how to make the foundations for them. We will make two or three bases and make one fun headdress.

I have a special stock of ribbon set aside for this workshop.

I invite you to take a moment to guide me in my holiday shop planning. Please share your thoughts in this survey.

SURVEY HERE

Thank you very much,

Anna

I have been struggling with what to write and when to write ever since my “New Plan” post at the beginning of August. Let’s be real, that post wasn’t so much about “new plans” as it was about the decimation of plans. I decided to put the information on moving into the September Updates post so there would be some resemblance of normalcy, even if it is just for me.

Our new place is just 8 or so miles from our previous, in the town I went to school in. The place is the antithesis of what the old place originally was: modern, complex, neighbors, blacktop verses hardwood, private, treed, animals, shade, quiet. There are several advantages to the new place:

• There are closets and storage. A pantry, a linen closet, bedroom closets, coat closet, utility closet….
• There are electric outlets, more than just 2 per room.
• There are screens on the windows.
• Best we can tell, the lights should not flicker and the circuit breaker won’t blow when we run the microwave.
• I am hoping I will no longer burn my hands when I wash dishes. (Hot hot and cold being the only options)
• The tub and shower, yup we have both, ought to be constructed right and actually drain.
• Oh, and we have a new fangled thing called a dishwasher.

There are many things I will miss abput the old place. But, the reality is most of these things have been wittled away already.

• Quiet privacy
• Shade from beautiful old trees
• Cats to say hello each day
• Ghosts, both human and feline
• Squirrels all named George, deer herd and fawn twins, groundhog family
• Being able to walk to the fabric shop

Moving forward….

I am still trying to sort things out both physically and mentally. I would really like to dive back into all the projects. But, I think I need to focus on what is coming up and choose a mental health project of some sort.

The Agricultural Society Fair is coming up October 6th and 7th. I have two lonely pieces to enter this year. I am hoping to still do a demonstration of new domestic inventions/tools, including the punking machines.

Following, the weekend of November 3rd, is the Domestic Skills Symposium when I will be doing my Band of Millinette workshop that I am excited about. This program needs a lovely PowerPoint and some handouts to go with their supply kits.

What the mental health project will be, I am not sure. I need something that will slow me down and help me center while bringing back some joy. I want to feel how I did in July.

Eventually….

Eventually, I will get back to the projects the got dropped two months ago. There will be a winter hood book. There will be a Godey’s Dolls book. There will be straw millinery. There may be winter millinery. There will be more videos. There will be new FanU projects.

Thank you all for your patience, both in waiting for items and for listening to me whine and vent.

I just stumbled across a Facebook post with images that looked coincidentally familiar. Upon reading the comments from two respected friends, I discovered I attached the wrong date to a publication I transcribed from in 2012.

Those already looking ahead to making Christmas ornaments, please note I incorrectly dated Cassell’s Household Guide, Volume 3 as 1869, when it was in fact 1881.

I want to be certain that the correct date is known, not only for my blog followers, but also because the same transcribed passage appeared in the November, 2017 edition of a certain magazine with the same title and incorrect date.

I have corrected the date and updated the link in the original post.

August is the month that gets cheated. It gets advertises as a bright, sunny, 31 day month of summer. The reality is it gets cut short. Its last week belongs to September’s back to school. Days here and there mid-month are stolen by school work needs. Though we have summery places we want to go and sun time desires, fall demands attention, louder and louder, while we cry “where did July go?”. We long for a longer July, the month of peace and relaxation.

I don’t have any big events in August’s schedule. I will be popping over to a small, local, parkep event this weekend to do a sit ‘n sew with a friend. I would like to visit at least one more historic or cultural site this month. Or, maybe a spur of the moment event visit. Recommendations?

I have a big projects list:

• I’d like to do a dozen millinery pieces this month, or 8 with some decorated.
• DomSkills work shop design
• Dolls of Godeys book

I also have random projects list:

• Finish red stripe dress (there is actual progress, see below)
• Make a jewelry box
• Make a samples box
• New FanU holiday project

Events ahead:

• The Agricultural Society Fair (October)
• Preparing for the Holidays (November)
• The Domestic Skills Symposium (November)

The event two weekends ago reminded me how much I have wanted a footstool for sewing. Many paintings show women with their feet up on a foot stool while sewing. Some are petite. Some are large. Some are plain wood. Some are painted. Some are embroidered. You get the idea…. There is a lot of variety.

Here is my developing pin board of paintings with stools.

I was indecisive on what kind of stool I wanted. Painted wood would got with my chairs. A simple woven one would be easy to make and be versitile for multiple interpretations. One with a needlework top would be so much fun to make.

Each of these involved making…. Be it painting, weaving, or embroidery and assembly.

So, when I stopped at an antique shop on the way home from Saturday’s event and saw two potential stools for less than it would cost to make either, logic said choose one. One was a simple, small woven top one much like the kind available in kits from $19.95 – $29.95. While I still think these would be a great project to do with some of the kids, I opted for the other stool.

Needlework top that lools a lot like Berlin Work to me. Familiar legs. Screws on the underside that look right. I suspect it is early 20th century. The lines are right though.

It stands 7″ on the sides. So, maybe 8″ in the center. It is pretty firm, not squishy. It may get a little pillow on top to add softness and protect the needlework. It is 14.5″ by 12.5″

By the way, this is Clara approved.

This afternoon, I found myself sitting in the shade of a lovely cluster of trees, enjoying a nice breeze, part of a circle of friends….. and I was utterly content. For the second Saturday in a row, I was in my happy place.

Even my eyes were greener.

Today, I joined my friends of the 140th NYVI at the West Sparta Old Fashioned Day. This is a sweet event out in the country, further down the Genesee Valley. It is the epitome of a nice, small town event with pony rides, local artists and mechants, beautiful music, and games. We even got serenaded by the Warsaw Barbershoppers.

For the past many years, the 140th has set up a demonstration area for event goers to stop and chat at. This is the tyoe of event where just about everybody that comes by truly stops and chats. Devon put on a nice interactive display of period entertainments and games. A circle of us sewed, knitted, and were ready to darn socks if the need arose. I did straw of course. The military did a camp life display and an engineers tools display.

I am not sure how to organize the photos other than to say we had a wonderful time.

Dear Readers, I need your feedback. Do you like the videos I’ve been posting? Should I do more?

The stats are telling me people aren’t viewing them as much.

Thank you in advance.

EDIT: A few have mentioned videos being hard or not wanting to do them anymore. So you know, I don’t find them hard, especially these quick takes without editing. I spend days and day on the videos at work that are far more complex even for student work.

A closer look at the Millinery Shop.

Mr. Stowe, a wise business man, was determined to move his insurance business to the rear of his building on Maple Street, and rent the front of a building to another business. When I heard of his intentions, I knew this was the perfect opportunity for my millinery business. I promptly conveyed my interest in the space and have been quite pleased with the arrangement.

I must say though, despite his plan, Mr. Stowe was quite beside himself as the the war raged closer and closer. I don’t think I have ever heafd him so quiet. He is usually such a talkative, if occasionally shy, man. He was so worried about the damages resulting of the approaching fighting.

But, I digress.

You are intersted in the shop itself. As you can see, the front of the Insurance Office is a nice, space. It is positioned on a busy street in the village. The front room has two windows that provide nice light for the whole duration of the day, az long as the sun it out. It also has trees for shade. The porch is welcoming outside, while the beautiful mantle inside is both functional and esthetic.

The space transformed quite well for my Millinery Shop.

There is just the right amount of space for organized work and consultations for customers. We have found it is quite comfortable for several women to hide upon the floor when it is not safe to go outside.

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The center of the room was our work space. This is the oval table that belongs in this space. It is a good size, being not too big nor too small. We generally work from the runner back. From the runner forward is meant to be interactive pieces. I did a sample book of fashion illustrations this year. In previous years, I set out straw samples. The book did not get as much attention as I anticipated. I think cards may get more attention, paired with straw and ribbon samples. As you can see, I also put the food on the table. If it isn’t right there, I will completely forget to eat until it is too late.

A good many of the museum visitors for this event are families with children. It is important to me to have items at their level that they can touch. The layout of the room makes two good spots for this: the front of the table we are working from and the table directly in from the door. This table was arranged with small, child size straw hats and bonnets, as well as sunbonnets and a winter bonnet. The little boxes on the shelf were last minute thought. But, I want to play with tnat in the future because those boxes caught a couple kids’ attention. Next year, I want to print fashion prints of children for this area. I do want to say the kids that came on Sunday were excellent, with some very good questions.

This year, I tried something different: a mourning section. This idea was based on the number of questions on mourning in previous years. There were fewer this year. Go figure.

As far as the display goes, I am iffy about it. Part of that is because I did not get the example pieces I wanted to made. That was going to be a natural straw fully trimmed, and a black plait straw. I also had a bit of ribbon drama. Some came shinier than I thought. Some came destined for the trash due to mildew between the ribbon and paper. Another part was the space. This was a difficult one to work with, with this intention.

Okay, so, self critical honesty moment. I have mixed thoughts on the bigger display corner. This, to me, is supposed to be the “talk about examples”. Meaning when visitors come in, I want to be able to say “here is an example of such and such” or “see how this is different from this?” or “here, let’s take a closer look at this.” it didnt2 meet those neexs for me this year like it has in previous years. (recall I sold most of my demo pieces during the Clara emergency.)

I love the pink and blue stands. I want more pink. I kinda want some mint green like the outside of the building too. I also like the fashion plates hanging. I do not like the assortment of pieces I brought because they do not represent some of the things I like to talk about most. This is missing a coarse bonnet, a cottage bonnet, a wide brim hat, a bonnet with a veil, and a hat with a veil. Unfinished soft crowns confuse people. I need fo make a cap style hat to be in the perminant display because people can connect with that. I do like bringing the additional table. It does need tlc.

I am very pleased with the mantle display. It is a pretty, but also an informational pretty. I really like the labels. Vocabulary. I also like not opening all of them. They are all full. All but a couple are what they say. This means I am prepared for hair net, belt, and other emergencies, as well as closer looks. We didn’t get as many conversations that involved closer looks this year.

I hope you enjoyed my walk through my millinery and thought process. I may add a few more thoughts below. My apologies for typos. I am not used to this new tablet keyboard. My thumbs are too short.