I apologize for the lack of videos lately. I have been so tired and distracted by the time I get home from work, I have nothing left for a good video. I also haven’t felt like I have much to say. I will get my act together an do better. I want to do some small crafts for the holiday season. Maybe some 19th century things. Maybe some ornaments. I am not sure.
In the meantime, I have changed the settings on some favorite videos from unlisted to public. I also updated titles and descriptions. This will make them easier to watch on YouTube. The unlisted videos I linked though the blogs are only visible on the blogs or link. So, you can still search and find them here.
I added a new playlist for the hand sewing videos. After the last couple, I received comments about how calming they are and how people like listening to my voice. I hadn’t thought of this before. So, I am going to try to record more with this calming idea in mind. They may have some women’s employment history. They may have stories. I’m not sure.
For years now, I’ve wanted to have my silhouette cut by Lauren Muney of Silhouettes by Hand. When I heard Lauren would be attending the Genesee Country Village’s Fall Festival and Agricultural Society Fair, I knew this would be my chance. I was so excited. I set the money aside for weeks so I wouldn’t touch it.
On Saturday, Lauren cut my first silhouette. I followed her direction via FB to simply wear a messy bun. Glad I did. I love how this turned out. She captured the fun detail of my hair. I absolutely love my nose, which I’ve long wondered about since my nose apparently was a discussion point among hospital nurses as a baby.
This silhouette was backed with a natural white background and a scenic background. The latter is now set in a period reflective oval frame with a golden rim. This has joined my growing portrait wall. (Below)
Sunday, which was quite the rainy day much more reflective of the common weather for this weekend. I returned to the village with one of my bonnets (in a band box in a plastic bag in a canvas bag,) my soft crown straw with hand worked brim points. I would like to say I picked this particular bonnet, but reality is it was the one I could reach first on the great tower of band boxes. There are so many details in this silhouette.
This is the extent of my millinery work this evening. I need to flip the projects in the work room, meaning transition the materials set up from Whimsy Witch Hats to winter
A year ago, I thought I would have a lot of entries for the 2021 fair because we missed 2020 and I had the whole of the year to sew. Nope. It seems, despite the incredible amount of sewing I did this past year, I sewed very little that was enterable and I also managed to forget much of what I made. Go figure.
On the up side, each piece I entered this year had a story…..
Chocolate Pocket – In early July, the village held their annual Chocolate Weekend. My challenge for the weekend was to come up with something Chocolatey to share. I selected chocolate color fabric to make into a pocket. This gave me the opportunity to talk about pockets with visitors. This was a big success as we had many great conversations. The pocket itself was pieced together freehand as young visitors helped select the order and positioning.
Straw Cone Hat – I was able to talk about women earning money through sewing straw for two events this year: the Civil War Era and Novel Weekends. This often thriving cottage industry gave women the opportunity to support themselves and even their families for much of the nineteenth century. While neither era I demonstrated would have made a conical hat we now attribute to being a witch hat, the skills are much the same. About a year ago, I started wondering if I could pull off making a good cone hat or witch hat. The shape itself wasn’t the challenge, it was the size and the consistency. This summer, I jumped in and gave it a try. I am quite pleased with the cone shape. It is consistent, the hardest challenge, and has a little attitude with its curve. The brim is a little narrow as I ran out of straw. Go figure. I may give it a little decorative edge in the future. The inside is lined with green silk and a little cotton batting, hand quilted of course.
Corded Sunbonnet – I suspect by now many of my friends knows I carry extra sunbonnets for particular events. If you’ve walked into the millinery shop during CW weekend, there is a row of pegs with sunbonnets hanging next to the door. If there aren’t, that means they are all in borrowed use. I love seeing those pegs go from full to empty. This particular white sheer sunbonnet replaces one my little sister borrowed nearly a decade ago. That bonnet was one made from a leno weave white sheer. We aren’t quite sure what happened, but that bonnet went from white to polychrome. (I wish it had been kept so we could dye it.) For years, many years, I had replacing that bonnet on my list. This past year finally allowed for the time to do that. Actually, it took my a year and a half to cord this. I know, kinda silly. I can sew straw endlessly for hours for days. Plain sewing… on fabric…. um…..
The next few entries are Pandemic stress projects. I found small projects requiring short amounts of attention and nearly instant satisfaction were what I needed during 2020 and 2021.
A Bowl of Balls. – Yup. This bowl is truly filled with stress reducing balls. Each one of these are pin balls from the nineteenth century. Each one can be made in a day or in several days if sewing for a short time each evening. The corded ball, (center and 3pm) is they first project I introduced during my lockdown YouTube show. This became such a favorite with people, I offered it as a kit in 2021. These two are made with silk threads left over. The ball at the top is one of my pillow pin balls, the project that became my “recover project” after surgery a few years ago. This project has small amounts of sewing that is gentle on hands that have been injured or are otherwise weak. One pillow at a time keeps you from doing too much. As it turns out, one pillow is all the energy I had most days after school in September. My goal had been to make two or three for the bowl. The last three are my newest pin ball made from paper pieced triangles. This one gives me 5th grade flashbacks.
Elephant Pen-Wiper – I have developed a fascination with pen-wipers. I love how a utilitarian item can become such a playful item. When I saw the pattern for this elephant come up in my feed, I didn’t care that I had no idea what it said, I had to make it. After completing this elephant, which I think is way too adorable, I learned this is the design that started what became the Steif line of animals. Love that.
“Duffle” Style Travel Bag. – One July morning, I made a bag in a day. A conversation with a friend reminded me I had the materials of one of the duffle style bags. When I woke up in the morning, I decided to make a bag. This one is made from memory, having made one years ago with the Shooting Star directions, using a circle and a straight edge. I didn’t bother measuring a thing. It is entirely handsewn, first basted together, then back stitched. It is about 150% the size of my previous bag, which is closer to the “Plaid shawl cover” size from Godey’s 1871.
This week, several people mentioned “time for self care” to me as I was physically & emotionally dragging, and everything was getting to me. Each time I heard it, I thought “I don’t know how.” What I did know is I was on my way to an epic physical crash. I think that was Thursday and Friday. Friday, when I got home I did crash. I on and off slept on the couch, crawled to bed where I slept some more. In the morning Clara woke me up for breakfast. After I fed her, I slept again. Yup.
I did finally get up and get myself together to go to my favorite day of the year: Ag Fair!
This is my attempt at self care.
The weather is beautiful. Absolutely not the norm for Ag Fair that often is accompanied by a dip in temperature and wet. Not this year. It is sunny. 70s or so.
As I drove into Mumford and approached the light to turn left, I saw a row of cars approaching from the north-ish. Each one turned on its signal to turn. Oh, this was nice to see. They might be going to the museum. Indeed they were. Each car turned into the parking lot and slowed. Wow. The parking lot was packed. It was somewhere around 10:40 and the parking was filled to the road. We were being directed to the back of the front lot. I can’t recall the last time I parked this far out. It put a huge smile on my face. (By the time I left mid-day, the parking lot was completely filled and the CEO was at the front gate directing traffic to the south lot. It was great to see. )
I was completely unaware of the amount of wool lint on my black shirt. I had been pulling hats out of the millinery room. Opps. I headed for Thompson Tavern. More on that story in a future post.
I spent the rest of the morning wandering here and there aimlessly. Aimlessly was nice. So nice. I watched a little of the herding demo. I watched a little of the circus demo. I browsed the tent of vendors.
Then I headed to the carriage barn for the “Blue Ribbon Competition.” I had a little surprise for a friend there. It is all about the smiles.
(Sadly many of my photos came out too blurry to share. The light is too low and I get a little too excited to stay still.)
This year’s contest definitely goes to the non-textile arts in my opinion. There were some wonderful entries:
These two cat pieces particularly caught my heart. The hooked rug is just so alive and playful. The child’s painting has an expression that tugs at heart strings.
I will be sharing new Whimsy Witch Hats over on my Don’t Paint the Cat blog. Be sure to follow there for the latest pieces and new additions to the line.
August has felt like an odd month. I had bursts of creativity and productivity buncing with boughts of burnout.
The highlight of the month was my little sister visiting. I simply don’t see my siblings enough. We failed to get photos of us.
Time travel was supposed to fill the rest of the month, but life got in the way. I did get to do a Regency millinery demo for the Emma portion of Novel Weekend.
I released two mini publications this month: my first modern pattern and a fun In Detail. There will be an announcement following one of these soon!
If I Had My Own Blue Box: 