Pockets & Pin Pillows

Second Post of the Day

Remember those bundles of fabric remnants that I was measuring and preparing for sale?

I kept some of the remnants to use for pockets.

There were leftover pieces of the camel/elephant block print that were big enough that I was able to get a pocket out of them. (And still have enough for a remnant bundle to sell.)

Having leftover fabric isn't a problem, it's having enough so that you can center a pattern strategically. In this case, I wanted the white camel stripe to be in the center where I would also put the slit so a hand could get access to the pocket's contents.

The same with the brown/red/blue block print - I wanted the slit down the oval prints and sandwiched between the narrow navy and brown borders.

That also took some finagling but at last I got it figured out successfully.

I'm pleased with how they turned out, but as I looked at the camel/elephant print, I realized that I was missing an opportunity to make something else with it.

Pin pillows.

Can't you just imagine a pin pillow or two with a camel or elephant centered on it?

I'm going to grab that remnant bundle and see if I can't do that later today. I think that would look really cool and sell well, too.

Stay 'tooned!

 

Susie was Here

First Post of the Day

Yesterday while working on some 18th century pockets, I needed twill tape to complete them. I walked over to the dresser where I keep it, and as I opened the drawer, something on top of the dresser caught my eye.

A tagged Stablemate?

Only very rarely do I tag a Stablemate.

I picked it up for a closer look. The tag was not secured around a leg or tail but simply draped over the model's neck. I had to dust off my teaching chops to read what was written on it.

"Susie. 3. Fav. Small."

Hmmm. Susie had tagged this model for some reason. 

Not only that, but I found a stick on top of some sewing supplies. That's Susie for sure - she is ways collecting things that interest her. (It's actually a long dried stem from my old fashioned day lilies.)

And, there were two origami stars. I keep origami paper and several books on folding various things on hand for the grands. More things that pointed to Susie's presence.

Susie and her family had stayed with us for a week in July while she and her sisters had gone to Camp Tecumseh. The sewing room had been used as a guest bedroom during that time and the origami supplies had been out on the upstairs overlook for the kids to use.

Kate and Susie had spent a lot of time with me and going through my collection, looking at pieces, labeling a few that they'd like to have some day, and even taking home Zulu (Kate) and the buckskin lying foal (Susie.)

Susie must've spied the mini Alborozo unicorn and decided it was one she'd also like to have. She knew where I kept the tags, filled one out, and put it on the model. Easy peasy, lemon squeezie, and Susie had let me know that she'd like to have that piece!

Sweet girl, I am happy that you want it and I will make sure that that happens when the time comes. And finding your tag, stick, and origami made me think of you and smile.

Stay 'tooned!

The Teacher Got a D

Second Post of the Day

Last week our family did our Fantasy Football League draft.

My team's name is always the Powder Puffs. (A term that harks back to girls' football in the 1970s although Powder Puff football is still played.) 

Because several family members had other commitments when the draft was scheduled, they were on auto-pick. And that meant that, when it was their turn to choose a player, the computer added a name immediately, and it was the next family member's turn to pick.

That made the draft go really, really fast, dizzyingly so, and I had difficulty keeping up with who was available for my team. It was not one of my best years for choosing a team as a result.

ESPN didn't make me feel any better when it sent me this notice when our family draft was over:

 

Since when did they send out grades for our drafting? And I got a D? Seriously??

The other family members in our league were sympathetic, but not one of them had received any kind of grade, nor had anyone gotten a grade in past draws.

"Yikes!" I thought. "I must have a really, really bad team this year." And I began resigning myself to a losing season and telling myself that next year would be better.

Lisa soon was texting me about my "grade."

"Don't worry about it, Mom! I was ranked really low last year and ended up winning!"

"Thanks, Lis. I don't have your knowledge about the game so I'm not hopeful, but I will still have fun trying."

The games began this past weekend. I was playing my sister, Jenny, who also knows a lot about football. Not expecting much, I didn't check my stats until Sunday afternoon. Wait, What?? I was pleasantly surprised.

I was ahead by 17 points! And I had two more players yet to play and Jenny only had one! Maybe I would win my first game of the season!

Another check early Monday morning continued the good news.

I was ahead by a comfortable margin of 29 points with one player yet to play. Jenny also had a player that would be playing Monday night, but ESPN was only giving her a 1% chance of winning our matchup while giving me a 99% chance that I would be the winner.

Ya wanna rethink that D you gave me, ESPN?? Go, Powder Puffs!

Stay 'tooned!

The Mystery Basket

First Post of the Day

At the end of August, Lisa and I did some antiquing together. While I found a lot of HSOs, I didn't come home with any of them. But, I did come home with this:

Lisa and I both headed straight to it when we spied it - it sure looked like the hand woven baskets we see at 18th century events.

"Are you going to get it?" she asked me.

"Let me think about how much I am willing to pay for it first," I replied. I always do that when I see something that tempts me. Since I had never seen that style/shape of basket, I wasn't positive that it would be historically accurate. But, it clearly was handmade, and the squares were a familiar pattern from other 18th century baskets that I have. 

So, I fixed a price in my mind that would be my limit and flipped the price tag over. 

$20? Oh yeah. Mine!

It needed a lot of cleaning. The inside was full of dust bunnies that were embedded within the slats.

It took several cleaning sessions out in the garage

and two cans of compressed air before it was clean.

The pattern and shape is quite intricate and unusual - I have never seen this kind of basket before. What was it used for? 

Using a photo of it, I did a Google photo search - it's a buttock gathering basket. Yep, BUTTOCK. Because, well, LOOK at it! They were fairly common and used for gathering - eggs, produce, berries, and more.

(I looked again at my own baskets and several of them are also buttock baskets. Not sure I am glad I know that now - I'll never not see the cheeks when I look at them! LOL)

There is some writing inside the bottom of the basket but I'm still trying to decipher that. And I checked with a friend who makes baskets and she did not make this one.

It's not as well made as the baskets I already have in my collection, but then, those are all gifts from my mother who bought them from the top basket makers in the living history world, so comparing this basket to those really is not fair. Still, I like it and am glad that I found it.

Leslie has put out inquiries to her living history friends, so I am hopeful that I will get some answers as to who made it.

Stay 'tooned!

Done & Moving On

The trade shirt marathon is finished!

Eighteen shirts, all new and all ready to be sold. 

The remnants from each shirt have all been measured, folded,

and tied into bundles. There is a lot of usable fabric for smaller projects in them and they tend to sell out quickly at the Feast and Kalamazoo.

The last two shirts that I made were from the same block print but in different colors. Both are size 3X.

The green shirt on my dressmaker's mannequin. The shoulders on the shirt are wider than the mannequin's shoulders, so the arms hang down and look much longer than they really are.

Rather than sleeve buttons, I did a single button/buttonhole on the cuffs. The green shirt has flat brass buttons.

The other shirt is in red. (This pattern also comes in blue - it's on my order list for next time.)

It has a horn button/buttonhole combination.

Now I am moving on to bed gowns. I have 4 in stock and while ideally I'd love to have as many bed gowns to sell as I do trade shirts, that's not going to happen before the Feast and maybe not even before Kalamazoo next March.

I've prewashed one of my favorite bed gown fabrics and have laid it out over the dining room game pattern-cutting table to keep it from getting wrinkled.

I made myself a bed gown from this fabric a few years ago. This version here is the block print with more teal than maroon. (That is also the version I am getting ready to cut out.)

And here is another bed gown I made where the maroon takes precedent over the teal. I like both fabrics.

It's a challenging fabric to use for a bed gown due to the block print pattern. If the two floral medallions don't match up in the center, it looks odd. But in the end, it's worth the extra effort.

I really need to make a few cloaks, too. And a couple more pockets. Two or three more petticoats...

Tick! Tick! Tick! Tick!

Stay 'tooned!

Just Playing with Numbers - Again

Yesterday I came across the following blog entry from my teaching years. At the time, I was teaching the gifted class of 4th and 5th graders. 

The experience I'd shared back then was not atypical for the kids in my classrooms. They were amazing thinkers, year after year.

Read it, think about it, try it, and then be amazed (like me) that a 5th grader figured it out while "just playing with numbers."

-----

WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2010

"I was Just Playing with Numbers..."

... began a 5th grade girl this morning as she stood to tell her classmates something during class meeting. (I have learned that when a student wants to say something about playing with numbers or words or science or whatever, that that means something pretty amazing is coming.)

"I was looking for patterns and discovered this. Someone give me a number between 1 and 99 that isn't divisible by 11."

"26!" called out a child.

Teja continued, "I noticed that, if you write the number 26, then reverse the digits and add them" (and she wrote 26 + 62 on the board) "then the sum which is 88 is divisible by 11. And when you subtract them" (now she wrote 62 - 26 beside the first problem) "you get a difference of 36 which is divisible by 9."

We took a moment to absorb that information. 

"I discovered that that always happens. The sum is divisible by 11 and the difference is divisible by 9. But it only works with numbers under 100 which are not divisible by 11."

She took a few more suggestions of numbers, and she was right - they all held true to the pattern she had discovered. Even a single digit number like 5 worked:

5 + 50 = 55 (divisible by 11)

50 - 5 = 45 (divisible by 9)

(Teja explained that there is a zero in the tens place when you write the number 5, so therefore reversing the digits gives you 50.)

I am always looking for interesting Math things to do, especially at the end of the school year when it is too late to start a new unit yet the kiddos still need something valuable to do with their time. I think we will choose number pairs next week and work our way through 1-99 and see if the pattern holds true throughout.

And, I want to find out WHY it works, too. (I did.)

What an interesting puzzle! And even more interesting is that she discovered it while playing with numbers.

---

Teja was in my class for 2nd, 4th, and 5th grades and has stayed in touch. Currently she has finished studying medicine at John Hopkins University and is a... neurosurgeon, I think.

Teja and me in 2018. She had heard I was retiring and stopped by my class to thank me for being her teacher and to wish me well in retirement.

Anyone want to make and play with a mobius strip? Or learn how to cut a hole in a post-it big enough to step your entire body through?

Sigh. Sometimes I really miss teaching.

Stay 'tooned.

 

Dogs of Our Lives: The Dining Room Dilemma

Second Post of the Day

Oh, sweetie. I love you so much and I appreciate that you stick close by and watch over me in case I need something.

I understand that your guide dog training says that you should go under the table that I am sitting at. Really, I do. And theoretically, that that gets you out of the way but lets you still be close. 

But it's just not working.

You see, this isn't UNDER the table; you're sticking out and I can't get up without doing some gymnastics.

And I have to get up and down - I am placing pattern pieces and cutting them out so I need to walk around the table. 

You have a solution? Why, yes, I'll listen - tell me!

Um... sorry. There is no room in the dining room for a bed. 

I know, I know. The bed in the sewing room keeps you out from under the sewing table and allows you to be close and keep an eye on me, but a bed in the dining room simply isn't doable.

I'll keep thinking and in the meantime, continue to step over you as needed, okay? But maybe you could try to squeeze under a little more, too, so there is more room for my feet.

Thanks. I love you, too, Pep.

 

Looking for the Good

First Post of the Day

Today is the 25th anniversary of the worst day in my life. I doubt I am alone in saying that. Some years I mention it here on my blog, other years I just can't. I simply cannot write about that horror.

There was a child born on that terrible day, one who came into my life and was my student for 4th and 5th grade. His name is Albert, and he was an insightful and contemplative child.

Albert as the Archbishop of Canterbury with Ebenezer Scrooge (Kyle) and Governess Isenbarger (me) at our celebration party after reading A Christmas Carol together in class.

It was during a parent/teacher conference when his mother shared that he'd been born as that terrible day had played out. I could not imagine how that felt - giving birth to a child while knowing what was happening to our country.

She also told me that her son was "deeply spiritual" and I could see that trait in him. It was quiet, but there. Albert was simply a good human being.

Ever since his mother told me that Albert was born during the 9/11 attacks, I can't help but think of him on this day. He's a reminder that, even on that darkest of days when so much hate, pain, and horror were happening, something good came into our world.

And so today I am going to work to focus on the good in our world. I'll still remember what happened, I'll still grieve and maybe even cry, but there are good things to look for, too.

Stay 'tooned. 

Montana Mama Sarah Visits!

Sarah has meetings in Des Moines all this week, so she flew in early and spent Labor Day weekend with us!

There's nothing like having a family gathering with all the local family.

And the dogs. All five are present in that picture. Can you find them all?

We went out for lunch together.

And of course we played many games at the dining room pattern cutting game table.

We did some growth measuring

and shared strategies for winning.

For fun, Vanessa made a family video of us running a backwards race.

I think Curt was the clear winner. We also celebrated his birthday together.

Aunt Leslie, Uncle Rick,

Aunt Jenny,

and Aunt Cindie and Uncle Steve came over for a family dinner and to catch up with Sarah.

Then, one evening Craig and I were asked to "not listen" while Curt, Sarah, and Lisa met online with their other siblings. (Although they did ask me to come in and take a photo of them all together.)

Our 50th wedding anniversary is this November and the kids are planning an open house for us over the holidays.  We know some of the details but apparently others are going to be a surprise.

Sarah was with us Friday through Monday, and it was lovely to be together. Our kids all have very busy lives and I am grateful for any time they can give us.

She flew to Des Moines Monday evening. She is the director for states' expansion for Healthy Birth Day, a stillbirth prevention organization. She has 48 states on board and the final two are in progress. As such she supports the state partners and helps them integrate Count the Kicks, a program that's been shown to help prevent stillbirth. 

Needless to say, I am very proud of the work she is doing.

Craig and I have settled back into our quiet lives again, but it was breath of fresh air having her come. I love you, Sarah. Thank you for the gift of time you gave us. We treasure those moments with you. xo