If I Had My Own Blue Box:

This Year’s Fair Favorites

This year’s Agricultural Society Fair had several entries that fall into my “Favorites” category.

The tiniest entry was actually smaller than the display tag that went with it. Look at this little doll. She is adorable! I was hoping to meet the person who made this doll, but I missed her. I’m pretty sure she is made entirely leather, with a painted face. I’ve been thinking about making a nice little doll for Mea. This would be perfect.

This is my tasty favorite of the event.

Of course, I always enjoy the hooked rugs. This one is so very pleasing to look at.

This piece of tineware is just nice. I would love to be able to request one for Dan.

I can’t help but wonder what this piece of crewel work is going to be. It is so pretty and well balanced.

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on October 8, 2013 at 4:29 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: GCV

Re-Blogging My Own Blog

I’ve decided to re-blog some of my blog’s resource posts that are buried in the depths of time. After all, the information isn’t helpful if it isn’t seen.

Do you have a favorite blog post you think others should read?

Let me know your what you would like me to bring to the surface.

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I Forgot to Categorize This.

on October 8, 2013 at 1:59 pm Comments (2)

How Lily & I did

I’ll start with how Lily did at the Ag Fair. Because… let’s be honest, this pig is just too cute:

This pig, one of three photographs she entered in the adult categories, won a blue ribbon. She also entered a really nifty fungus photo and a black and white architecture photo. For some reason, I just couldn’t get a clear shot of this photo. My apologies for this shot:

Lily also received a blue ribbon for her candied flowers. I can tell you they were tasty.

On to me. I can say this was my worst Ag Fair. I knew leading up to the fair that I didn’t have the entries I wanted to enter finished. Okay, in some cases even started. I also knew I was going to try some categories I hadn’t entered before. Then, the week before came this stupid cough that turned into a nasty cough accompanied by muscle exhaustion and a fever by the time of the fair. So, here I am at the fair on Sunday as the humidity crept up and the temperature crept up, utterly over heating. This makes for a cranky me.

As far as those new entries go… I tried pickles. They turned out to be strong enough to knock one on their bottom with just one bite. So, these did not get entered. This was much to my husband’s delight, as he started taking them for lunch as soon as I said they weren’t going. (I suppose I could have taken a photo of the half eaten crock.)

I also tried my hand at shrub. To me, a shrub needs to do its job of keeping someone hydrated and have a strong fruit flavor. I don’t like super sweet drinks in the summer heat. The sweetness just turns my off. So, my shrub is a cherry & peach done with red wine vinegar and honey. A tablespoon to a glass of water works nicely for me. It did not win a ribbon though. I was able to taste the blue ribbon shrub. It was light and sweet, almost like candy. I think it would make a nice winter, holiday time drink with more of a 1:1 ratio of syrup to water. She used the recipe on the museum’s blog. (btw – Mom called Sunday night saying I forgot my shrub in her canned goods box and hoped I didn’t mind that they were drinking most of it.)

The other category new to me was one of the non-clothing quilting projects. This piece is part of the memorial & commemorative project I’ll be coordinating over the next year or so. This memorial applique is taken from the center of a memorial quilt. Now that the fair is over, I’ll be adding the initials of family members in the open space. (I hadn’t thought about it until I was there on Sunday; but it is interesting that the first quilt project I enter is a memorial one while Grandma had been a quilter there.)

I entered a drawn bonnet in the “non-corded clothing” category. This is the “Peppermint” bonnet I was working on at the end of the summer. I guess the advantage of it winning a red ribbon instead of a blue is now I won’t feel bad about selling it. (btw – It is available on Etsy right now.)

I entered Dan’s wallet in the sewing “Domestic article” category. You should see the very awesome tiny piece that won in this category. (It will be in my favorites post.)

I wasn’t going to enter a needle-book this year. But, skipping the story, I entered one.

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on October 7, 2013 at 5:00 pm Comments (4)
Tags: GCV

Mom, Swimming in Blue

With being under the weather and the weather being heavy, this was not my favorite Ag Fair. Though, I did realize I entered my first Ag Fair entry 30 years ago.
This year, Mom was swimming in blue. She did really well. I think we counted 7 blue ribbons and 1 white.

Butter was one of the categories new for Mom. She joined a dairy coop this summer, which supplied her with an ample amount of local milk. She separated the cream and fats herself. The quest for a butter churn started in May, if I remember correctly. She found a nice reproduction piece. Then she found an original bottom in nearly the identical shape. They look nice sitting next to each other in the living room. I’m not sure when or where she found her butter press. It sure is pretty. (So is the pineapple) She was worried the butter would get stuck. But, out it came.

I won’t even try to get the names of the preserves right. I really should have written them down. I know there is a pickle, corn relish and a jam that won.

Here is her pumpkin pie. She also did an English gingerbread which is very heavily molasses. I happen to love molasses. So, I enjoyed the uber-darkness of the bread.

Mom decided to enter two plants this year. The first is a scented geranium. It smells wonderful. The other is a rosemary.

I missed a photo somewhere of her 4th blue. I have no idea what that was.

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Working on - Events/Activities

on October 6, 2013 at 3:39 pm Comments (5)
Tags: GCV

Peppermint – Full Size, Mini Size

I have waited so patiently to share the photos of this project. Now that the Agricultural Society Fair at the Genesee Country Village is underway and judging has taken place, I can share. Yeah!

This bonnet is called “Peppermint”. The striped pale red and creamy white just begged to be made into a bonnet. (This is one of the silks that was swapped in the FanU Silk Swap). The bonnet is drawn on canes over a buckram base. The flowers are paper in blues and rosey reds.

This is the bonnet that made me a little ribbon nutty for a few days. I just could not decide which ribbon to go with. There were several ribbon colors that would contrast so nicely with the stripes, a royal blue, a blue-lilac, even a warm brown. But, the more I looked at original drawn bonnet, I saw most of them went with a matching or nearly matching ribbon. With this in mind, I opted for a four inch wide ivory satin from The Ribbon Store, which is much more ivory than the cream of the photo.

I did say “full size, mini size”. So, here is the mini-size:

A bonnet Mea and Jo to share.

In this miniature version, made from the left-overs from the full-size version, the silk is drawn on wire over a small buckram frame. The lining and frill are of the same materials. The flowers are tiny blue paper from the larger roses in the full size bonnet. The ribbon ties are the same as the narrower ties above.

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on October 5, 2013 at 11:00 am Comments (1)
Tags: Anna's Millinery

A Must Dress

You know those moments when you see a dress you absolutely must make?

This is one of those moments. This is the dress, the must dress….

I just love how this simple plaid fabric has so many special details.

Look at that neckline. At first, I thought it had two wide ruches applied on the bodice. But, looking closer, that neckline is made from strips of gathered and flat fabric. I think the bodice would have a flat lining with the fashion fabric layered over it. At least, that is how I would do it. The very center of the bodice appears to be pieced together along the plaid. Then there is that cord. I have to ponder that cord.

Moving down to the skirt…. Oh, my! that hem!! (The zoom feature is a must here.) Those corded tucks, for a lack of a better word, in two different sizes are stitched to make the horizontal plaid lines disappear. Amazing! I can see how the stripes may have been hidden as the fabric wraps around the smaller cords. I would just stitch right on the stripe. But, those larger ones? Were the threads pulled out? Or was this section of the fabric different? There are white sections side-by-side. Is there piecing hidden in those tucks? I would be very tempted to do sets of corded tucks emphasizing the white in a couple bands and sets of corded tucks emphasizing the color in other bands.

Looking at the sleeves, the upper sleeve looks like an easy assembly with a larger cord and an inch to inch and a half tuck or fold inserted. The cuffs mimic the neckline with the alternating gathered and flat bands along with the thick cord.

This is a dress that will take a good bit of hand sewing, tiny hand sewing in some cases.

Now, I just have to find the right fabric at the right price at a time I have the cash.

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Working on - Projects

on October 4, 2013 at 1:10 pm Comments (1)

FanU Crazy Swap – Sign-up Day

Today is the day to sign-up for the FanU Crazy Swap!

To Sign-up, simply comment below with your email and mailing address. (I’ll erase those before approving your comment, so the whole world doesn’t have that info.) You can also email me or send me a message on Facebook.

What is a Swap?

This is a chance for to exchange fabric with a small group of people. Each group will have 8 people exchanging pieces of fabric. All you need is a half yard of fabric and envelops along with your copy of Fanciful Utility.

To Participate:

1: Sign Up Day! On sign-up day, groups will be assigned on a first-in basis; the first eight will be the first swap group, second eight in the second group, etc.

Crazy Sign-Up Day: September 30

2: Mail-Out Day: Place a 9×9″ piece of fabric suited to the mid-19th century in envelopes for each of the 7 other people in your swap group, stamp them (be sure to double check at the post office, but the small 9×9″ pieces should mail in a regular envelope with a normal stamp), and send them off no later than the Mail-Out Day. Crazy Mail-Out Day: October 8th.

3: Get Fanciful! Use your Fanciful Utility templates and techniques to make a project from the book, or copy your own from 19th century sources. We’ll all look forward to seeing your projects! You don’t have to sew right away, but don’t keep us waiting forever to see all the fun things!

(If you need a copy of Fanciful Utility, you can purchase them from the publisher at www.thesewingacademy.com

Fabric Guidelines:

For the cotton and silk categories, your fabric should be mid-nineteenth century appropriate. (If there is a want for an earlier or later group, we can do that.) Prints and motifs should reflect those available in the 1840s, 50s and 60s. Cotton should be 100% cotton. Silk should be 100% silk.
To keep the swap and sewing possibilities interesting, please avoid solids as best we can.
Fabrics that do not work well for sewing cases should not be swapped. These include sheers, gauzes, heavy, thick, easy-to-fray, slippery and stretch fabrics.
For the “crazy swap” category, think crazy quilt in a sewing case. This could include satins, velvets, textured fabrics. Quality synthetic fabrics are invited.

Q&A

Yes, you can participate in 1, 2 or 3 of the swaps.

Yes, if we end up with multiple groups, you can participate in more than one group to swap more fabric. If you participate in 2 groups, you should swap 2 fabrics.

Yes, you can swap large and small scale prints.

Yes, you can swap now and sew later.

Yes, we would love to see what you’ve made with the swapped fabric.

Yes, you can use your own fabric in your swapped project.

Published in:

Favorite Topics - Sewing Cases

on September 30, 2013 at 6:00 am Comments (11)

Photo Chat

I stumbled across a file of CDVs and other photos I forgot about. (I’ve been so focused on my Shawls CDVs for the upcoming book.) Some of these photos need to be shared and chatted about. I’ll start of with this one of a who we assume would be mom and two sons:

Published in:

Resources - Originals

on September 27, 2013 at 5:06 pm Comments (1)

Colors Dancing in My Head

I’m trying really hard not to show this project. But, I just can not seem to make up my mind.
I have no idea how these tiny cropped photos will show…

The top is a lilac silk I have on hand. The second is a blue I will need to order. I will need to order a small piece to work with the purple. I have the small piece to work with the blue.
Alas…. colors dancing in my head.

Published in:

I Forgot to Categorize This.

on September 24, 2013 at 9:32 pm Comments (1)

Doll Millinery

For quite some time now, I have wanted to do a line of millinery for dolls. I finally have a set of patterns for hoods and bonnets drafted for a couple different size dolls including collectable china dolls, like my Mae, fashion dolls and 18″ character dolls.
As the weather has already turned cool (or cold) here, I started with some snuggly warm quilted hoods. Both of these are black silk entirely sewn and quilted by hand.

This is Jo in her 1850-1865 silk hood. (She needs clothes made for her and a chair to sit In.) Her hood ties below her chin with a black silk ribbon. The inside is silk with the edges whipped for finish.

Here is Jo with the same style hood done in a dark blueish grey silk quilted in black.

Here is the larger hood in the same style that will nicely fit a doll with a 9″ circ head as most 18″ character dolls have. This hood is also black silk with a period cotton lining. The interior seam are turned under for durability. The future wearer, or her dresser, will need to pick the perfect ribbon and best placement.