VC Thunderbird & a Smile

Thunderbird arrived yesterday! 

He is the fourth Vintage Club release for 2023 and was a Gambler's Choice.

Thunderbird is done on the popular Silver mold and came in four vintage colors: glossy Appaloosa, glossy palomino, glossy bay, and pinto. (I wonder why the pinto was not glossed?)

I wanted the Appaloosa most of all with the pinto second. However, lately I've received a lot of palominos when there's been a Gambler's Choice, so I thought my luck might continue that way.

This gold sticker spoke otherwise.

and I got the color I wanted most!

As I took pictures, I realized that there was something odd about him.

The Appaloosa is a pearly!

That was unexpected and a very nice surprise.

And a Smile.

After presenting to the students at Lisa's school, I ran over to the museum at the site of The Battle of Tippecanoe.

Because my sister Leslie is retiring after this year's Feast, there are several ways she is being honored. One is that her silhouette is on this year's commemorative mug.

These are made by a local potter who lives in Battle Ground near the site of the battle.

They are hand thrown and each varies just a bit as a result. 

Several family members have asked me to get them one, and knowing (by sad experience) that the Feast mug will sell out quickly, I bought mine earlier rather than waiting like I did last year. I am really happy that I was able to get a few.

(The Feast is one week from today. Blog posts may become sporadic starting Wednesday as I will begin the process of setting up my tent that day.)

 

 

A Morning in the 18th Century

My feet hurt. I'm tired and I could use a nap. But that morning with 130+ 4th graders was worth it. Lisa and I had a great time sharing what we knew.

But often the teachers learn, too. When I was talking about hat pins and how they held your hat in place, a Muslim girl wearing a hijab raised her hand and showed us all the "hat pins" she had holding her scarf in place on her head! It was a great connection showing how something from one century can connect to another!

I brought clothing as well as artifacts for the kids to look at and even try.

This young voyageur-to-be swam in his shirt and toque, but give him a few years and he will be paddling down the Wabash with the rest of them.

Even the teachers were willing to try on the clothing.

 

Meanwhile Lisa was teaching in her own classroom with a different set of artifacts to present. Mine were European, but hers were mostly from the Indigenous peoples that lived in this area. (Shawnee, Potowatami, Wea, Miami, and several more.)

Aren't these round balls interesting? How did they get them to be so round?

Yesterday I mentioned King's rope. This is a sample of it from one of the rope makers out at The Feast. See that red thread running through it?

That was woven in to prevent theft - only the King had red threads in his rope. So, if you were caught with rope like that, it was assumed you had stolen it from him and you were in serious trouble.

The morning flew by but my morning wasn't quite done - next, I had to run out to the Battle of Tippecanoe Museum and pick up some very special Feast mugs.

Stay 'tooned!

Off to School!

I'm going to school this morning - Lisa's school to be specific. I'm not going as a substitute teacher or a volunteer, I'm going as a guest speaker. I bet you can guess what I will be speaking about - the rich history that happened right here in Tippecanoe County on the Wabash River!

I'll be going in period clothing so yesterday I dug out my 18th century riding habit and tried it on to check fit. (I've been maintaining a nearly 100 pound weight loss for four years, but I always worry that clothes might not fit.)

I also tried on my caraco jacket to be sure it, too, was good to go. Since I found a small area needing repair in the riding habit's jacket, I will be wearing the caraco this morning.

I'll be teaching two sessions of 4th graders, each with about 65 kids. I taught 4th grade for years so I'm comfortable with that grade level, and the subject matter is familiar (18th century clothing, traditions and social mores, fan language, and so on) so I'm not nervous.

Lisa is also teaching a seminar simultaneously with me - she's presenting artifacts that were used by the Miami, Wea, and other Indigenous peoples that lived here in Indiana along with the French and English. (King's rope, round stone balls for games, arrowheads, fifes, and so on.) We will teach 45 minutes and then switch groups of kids and teach those students for 45 minutes.

Not only is this preparation for a field trip to The Feast next week, but it's also a broader part of the curriculum for 4th grade Social Studies in Indiana. (In most states, 4th grade is the year state history is taught.) 

Should be a fun morning!

Moving on to horsey things, Breyer continues to churn out the news. BreyerWest 2024 was announced this week and will be held March 15-17 at the Rocky Mountain Horse Expo in Denver, Colorado.

Registration will open in mid November and updates will be posted on the BreyerWest Blog. (If Sarah still lived in Denver, I might go out for this event.)

And a Smile...

This is the topic of an upcoming blog post. Can you guess what I am going to do with it?

Stay 'tooned!

 

Tuesday's Doin's & A Smile

 Yesterday saw yet another trip up to my sister's farm in Brookston. And while I did pick up some more block print fabrics, I also picked up this:

Tim's new saddle!

Tim bought Leslie's antique high back western saddle, and since I was headed up to her farm, I told him I'd pick it up for him.

Only I had no idea how heavy it was. I think it is the heaviest saddle I've ever carried. Just getting it from my car to the tack room was more than I could do - I barely got it onto the back of one of the chairs in the lounge as it was.

He is really excited about it and I can see why. There is a real sense of history about that saddle; you can't help but wonder where it has been and who has ridden in it. If only it could talk!

The Flint corn I'd hung on my front door is now in another spot. It would not stay - I could not get the twine wrapped around the shocks tight enough and the ears would slide through and fall.

Plus I have a really nice horsey autumn "wreath" that I wanted to hang. This will stay up until the day after Thanksgiving when I trade it out for my Christmas wreath.

In the meantime, the Flint corn is propped up next to the Sleepy Hollow pillow, and I kind of like it there!

Of course, I also spent time at the sewing machine yesterday and finished another garment for The Feast.

This is a women's bedgown with inverted side pleats

and a much smaller inverted pleat in the back. Made from a block print in India, I like this one so much that I may keep it for myself.

And a Smile:

Block printing fabrics is tricky as well as an old practice that is hundreds of years old. It is common to see places where the person doing the printing misplaced the block as they were adding a color. For an example of that, look at this elephant on a piece of fabric currently in my stash:

The red covers all the unbleached muslin on the left. But when the red block was placed again, the person printing shifted just a bit to the right leaving uncolored spaces where red was intended and overlapping red into the colors next to those spaces.

A lot of folks, including me, enjoy those little errors as they personalize the fabric and are evidence that this is not a mass produced fabric.

Pretty Color Variations

 I group my models by molds and then within their molds, by color. Sometimes that results in a "paint chip" effect like you can see in this picture.

Liz knew I was looking for a black eyed alabaster 5 Gaiter, so when she spied one for sale in Simone's collection at BreyerFest this summer, she snagged it for me. I love the effect on my shelf as the color transitions from a bright white alabaster to a creamier color, and then carmel palomino.(That palomino has been in the collection since it was released. No orange color ever. Always this lovely shade of carmel.)

By the same token, neither of my alabaster Semi Rearing Stallions has yellowed like Simone's 5 Gaiter has. (Red eyed on left, black eyed in right.) I was not the original owner of either of them, so I am unable to trace their history before they came into my collection.

While I think the creamy color is pretty, I would like to whiten this piece up. Our windows are the kind that block the rays of the sun, so I would have to take the Five Gaiter outside and put it in the direct sunlight. I always hesitate about that. What if the model bloats? What if all that gorgeous pinking fades because I did not protect it well enough? Or the wind blows it over and it gets scuffed?

I rarely whiten a model because of those concerns, and so this boy keeps sitting on my shelf in paint chip position. (Hmmm, Paint Chip would be a good name for him...)

And now a smile!

It's always fun coming across a photo where the people are wearing clothing that you made!

I made Jean's shortgown (left) and Whitney's bedgown (right.) They are Feast volunteers at one of the food booths. (Picture used with permission.)

Halloween Decor - It Begins

 A few weeks ago, Jessica sent me some links to horsey Halloween decor that she thought I would like. She was right - I did.

Two big boxes soon arrived and have been sitting with my unopened Breyer boxes. This weekend I took a break from sewing and opened them.

I love Classic literature and used Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow in my classroom. This pillow had gone right into my online shopping cart.

Never read the book? The original, unabridged version, and not a "retold by" version? You really should - it's short and there is a spooky flavor you get with the original version that you don't find in later versions. (Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow are real towns in New York, and Washington Irving is buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.)

Here is a link to an inexpensive unabridged version on Amazon. It also includes Washington Irving's other famous book, Rip Van Winkle. 

Want more Sleepy Hollow? The animated Disney version, with Bing Crosby as narrator, is also a good one to watch. 

We have it on every Halloween night as we hand out candy to trick or treaters. Here is a link to the Disney version on YouTube.

Of course, when you are shopping online, sometimes you get to following links and end up purchasing items you hadn't intended to. I could not resist these garden stakes.

A witch riding a broomstick,

a jack-o-lantern (who looks like he's snagged her hat),

 and a hissing black cat.

We sit out on our back porch a lot, eating meals, reading, or letting Pepper out to play and enjoy the sunshine, so decorating the back of the house lets us enjoy that decor at the same time.

Although we do put a few things out front for the neighbors. This is Flint corn from Leslie's garden hanging on my horse wreath hanger.

It's early for Halloween decorating, and I have nothing inside my home yet, but that will happen in a week or two. Fall is my favorite season and I am ready to celebrate it!

A Foray into The Feast & a Smile

Have you been wondering what The Feast of the Hunters' Moon looks like in person? This video does a good job of sharing the scope and breadth of the event. 

I suggest you start at 3:25 (at the end of a voyageur canoe race on the Wabash) as that is where the focus begins on the actual activities and foods there. (The first three minutes are mostly some history about Fort Ouiatenon and the canoe race.)

Event progress! Marking flags are out as are the paint lines that delineate each sutler's space. The time is getting close!

And now something to make you smile.

A Halloween haversack featuring unicorns with candy corn horns!

It's a Hamilton sized Traditional and sold right away.

It's also the only Halloween haversack for this year - I thought I had some spooky fabric put away, but I was wrong.

 

The Collectors Club Appreciation Sale & a Smile

The Collectors Club Appreciation Sale was way back in June, and here it is, late September, and the models I ordered still sit unopened in my office. 

I really was hoping for a glossy Dundee or Morganquest Native Son and had a 50/50 chance at receiving one. 

I also had a 50/50 chance of not receiving one.

Barn Buddy Kelsey wanted Sjoerd and so I put him in the "trading post" (i.e. her saddle rack) in the new barn.

Anyone interested in this pair for cost ($54.99) and shipping? Nistar Blazing Kansas LOL & GTF Blazing Ethel are in my favorite horse color and I like both molds, but I'm looking at shelf space and have had second thoughts about them. Contact me at horsiemama8@gmail.com. I'll throw in a haversack as a bonus. 

I do like the Ideal Series and Appaloosas are my favorite breed, so the Ideal Series Appaloosa is staying with me.

As is Morganquest Native Son. He's a shelf eater, but he's so nice he is worth sacrificing a little extra shelf space.

As soon as The Feast and the GLC show are over, I plan to do a major collection purge and shelf rearranging. As I look at these models, they really make me look forward to that. It's been a while since I just took the time to enjoy my collection  by puttering with the ponies.

And now for that smile...

Leslie and her husband Rick are major gardeners who prefer to grow vintage varieties. (Not a surprise, given their love of living history, right?)

This year they grew Flint corn (also known as Indian corn) to shell, grind, and bake with. Isn't it beautiful?

And that corn grows REALLY high!