Another Whirlwind Saturday

I am a part time volunteer at the Carrol County Farm Museum as a spinster and weaver and really enjoy the Historian and Education Director there, Pat. She is a master gardner and told me about a plant and herb market going on yesterday and today up in Lancaster, PA. Mark was out of town yesterday, so I waited for him to come home for a road trip today. Lancaster is only about an hour and a half which is really not bad at all, besides, it is a beautiful drive through mostly rural farmland. We got up early and hit the road heading North.
The plant faire was held at the Landis Valley Museum which is a wonderful Living history farm complete with animals and buildings, artisans, and an extensive garden collection. Every year they have this herb and flower show with all kinds of vendors and it was very well attended, that's for sure. There was a small admission fee, but we more than saved enough on the plants we bought to pay for admission!

We spent several hours at the market looking through the various plants that we were considering for our gardens at home. I got quite a few varieties of plants for the front yard gardens as well as 8 German Bearded Iris plants of very unusual color and types for a new garden area that I'm planning just for them off to the side of one of the existing garden. These and the Siberian Iris are my absolutely favorite flowers and I've had Bearded Iris' as long as I've owned any land to put them in but hadn't had any since moving into this house so it was time! We also got some herbs to go in the deck planters for cooking and drying. The selection was incredible and the prices fantastic.
We also walked around and looked at the animals, the buildings, and of course, you know I had to take a picture of the sheep. There were all kinds of babies and I think some of them were Tunis sheep, they came over to the fence and got their ears and faces scratched. Tunis are very friendly with red faces and just slightly oatmeal tinged white colored wool.
Then we went to the PA Fabric outlet and believe it or not, all I bought, even with a 50% off coupon was a roll of hem tape for my period dresses for 99 cents! Mark took a shortcut and we happened upon a junk shop that we stopped at that was across from this field, one of many being plowed today with horses by Amish and Mennonite farmers. We ended up, quite accidentally, in Intercourse.
Now, anyone that knows anything about quilts and fabric and Pennsylvania knows that Intercourse is a very dangerous place for a person as addicted to fabric as I am. We stopped and looked around and found some beautiful reproduction Civil War fabrics at The Old Country Store Right on Main street, and after noticing the good prices compared to my usual Gettysburg shop, I got a bit. We saw these kids in the back of an Amish buggy right outside the fabric shop in the middle of town. We just happened upon and had supper at a family style place called Stoltzfus Family Farm which is not too far outside Lancaster near Bird In Hand. It was great! Then it was off to home to plant as many of our new plants as we could before the storm that was brewing came to our neighborhood.

Garden Progress

The garden in the front of our house has been a major project this spring since the excavation last fall of the water pipes that ran under the entire front yard and even our walk and steps. Everything but a few hardy plants was disrupted or lost so we've been working hard to put it all in order, only beteter. This part of the garden is where our pet Gator lurks, and I've done my best to fill his area with low to the ground plants that will spread during the growing season to hide him a little bit more effectively.
After we left the Landis Valley Plant Faire, we had a bunch of new inhabitants for our garden which is a problem place because it gets very hot for a few hours during the afternoon in the summer, but mostly is part to total shade. This area is on the side of the same tree as the Gator Garden but gets even less sun so the plants I chose for that area are mostly hostas and ginger and full shade plants.
This area had some hardy Black Eyed Susans and a few Echinacea or cone flowers but the grass that they put back into this area is overrunning them. I planted some new plants today and it'll get mulched tomorrow. This area gets very sunny and hot for part of the day, hopefully the Dianthus plants I bought will do well here.
This little plant is in a very special place. This is a millstone that came from Mark's grandfather's farm in Rock Island. It is probably 3 or 4 generations old, and when Grandpa passed away in his 90's he had it as an ornament in the front of his house. We asked if we could have it for our garden and Mark's mom generously agreed. So we're using it as a planter in the corner of the garden. I think this might be one of my favorite spots of all. :)

I finally finished this one

You would have thought I was never going to finish this dress, in fact, I have finished 3 others since I started making this one. For some reason, it just never thrilled me once I got it put together so it's been slung over the door to my sewing room for all this time awaiting buttonholes and buttons. I'd started a couple of "mud dresses" of cheap fabric to wear to totally outdoor events when it rains and the weather is horrible and this is one of them.
I added a collar and it'll have a broach when I wear it for dressier wear, and with a ribbon belt, it seemed to "clean up" all right but it's still too light colored and white for my liking. It was also my first experiment with adding sleeve jockeys.

It's the people that still make it fun

This picture was taken last week somewhere between Baltimore and Los Angeles. Despite the huge pay cuts, the long hours, the dirty working conditions, the societial issues with the folks we run into, I still love my job. It's the people that I work with that make it all worthwhile. These are Pam and Joseph with me, and between us we have about 70 or so years of experience. I enjoy a great many of the passengers too but the crews are what make the trips really fun. We had a Las Vegas layover and though I couldn't join Pam and Joe for dinner as my allergies were really acting up and I went to bed, there will be another time that we'll enjoy each other's company. Thanks you two!

MSWF: Sunday Edition

I had no intention of going back to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival this morning, but as we were going to bed last night, Mark mentioned that I probably should take the fleeces that were still in my basement from long ago to the Woolen Mill at the festival (they send a trailer to bring back wool to be processed at their mill in Michigan so it saves me a bunch on shipping). So the fact that I went back is totally Mark's fault. We did get the Ronmey fleeces to the processor, we had about 25 pounds which will be made into batting for quilts and comforters as well as roving to spin. I have one queen size quilt started that will receive one of the woolen batts as it's stuffing. I also had a couple of crib quilt batts made and another one for our bed...you never know when you're going to need a new quilt for someone, you know. Good thing Jenn and Michael are moving to Hawaii and they don't need a quilt with a woolen batt for a long time!

These corriedales are some of the sheep that we saw in the barns as we were walking around. We ate the wonderful festival food that we look forward to every year, lamb sandwiches, lamb burgers, sheep pitas, funnel cakes, fresh lemon and limeade.yummy!
While we were eating, we just happened to run into Liz and Vee, much to my absolute delight! I didn't expect to see her at all, much less Vee but I got to see them both! And then even better, we all went over and got to see Myrtle Dow of Black Pines sheep and her babies in the barn. Vee and I each bought a CVM fleece (I sent mine to be processed, it's variegated white, grey and white, 5.25 pounds....I'm thinking aran sweater). Myrtle raises Wenslydales, Teeswaters, Karakuls, and California Variegated Mutants and honestly she has the absolutely most beautiful, cleanest fleeces I've ever seen. I have one of her grey CVM's and a chocolate in my basement made up into roving and waiting to spin. I just need more time! Liz got to spend time with Risa who I looked for until we left but didn't run into. It's so nice to have spent time with my fiber friends and sheepies too. And please don't make me confess to the 2 new spindles that I'll be adding to my collection. :)

Gardening project...well, that's the plan

Last fall our front yard had to be completely torn apart to follow the pipes for water that come from the street to our house. The plumber had an excavator machine tear out all of our gardens so we've had to wait until things began to bloom in order to see what ended up coming back or not. These azaleas did come back, though one plant for the side of these didn't. These plants will have to be moved back or more plants added in back of them as they were replaced about 2-3 feet forward of where they used to be.
This plant was not within the perimeter of the damage so it's doing well. Today our agenda included a visit to Home Depot to buy a new lawnmower and some tools and seed, mulch, fertilizer, and miracid...we did manage to get what we need but the energy ran out so we'll be working on it later this week. We got a bit sidetracked going back to the Festival this morning.

The Annual Fiber Gluttony Fest: Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival

Saturday Report: Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival...We arrived in a long line of cars at about 8:30 in the morning and the tee-shirt and festival items line was already over 100 people long! Mark and I took turns standing in the line as I had orders for a couple of dear friends until the vending area opened at 9 and we were able to go in. I got the shirts that I wanted as well as some adorable baby items for the grandbaby to be as well.
Before too long, Loraine called me to find out where I was, she and her delightful husband Ron and their boys had come to the fair. Simon, shown here with his very special fleece, is quite an accomplished fiber guy, he is a handspindler and makes wonderful yarn! He picked out this beautiful chocolate brown fleece that Mom allowed him to get at the fleece sale.
He is Simon again waiting with Mom to pay for his fleece. (And yes, if you must know, despite swearing that I wouldn't buy another raw fleece, I purchased a small Tunis fleece, a Grey Naturally colored Finn, and a Beautiful Cormo Cross that was nearly chocolate brown.) They are some beautiful fleeces that I hadn't seen before so I couldn't resist. We walked the fleeces out to McClellan's Frankenmuth Woolen Mills for them to wash and card the fleeces into roving. I've used this Mill before and I highly recommend their work. Simon's fleece will be sent back labeled appropritately and made into his favorite thin pencil-like roving.
We enjoyed the time with the boys, with our friends, and with the sheep but we left fairly early to go to Gettysburg. We got sidetracked in Emmitsburg where we visited a huge antique mall and found some great books about my dad's unit in WWII as well as a scallop punch for leather that looks like a miniature of the fabric scallop cutter that was used in Civil War clothing. I'm still looking for the scallop maker for fabric.

Jacksons Mill, newest dress, and playing catch up

I've been a definite hermit lately and haven't been blogging. I sincerely apologise to all my blog friends and family. I've been flying a full schedule lately and working hard on the business but I'll try to catch up. I stayed at home the weekend of Artillery School 2 weeks ago and did a bunch of sewing, more later on that.
2 weeks ago Mark and the guys and girls in our Reenactment unit that fire the Cannons went to a beautiful place to get more training and be certified in Civil War Era Artillery. The place that you see in these beautiful photographs that Mark took is called Jackson's Mill, West Virginia, and it is Thomas Jefferson (Stonewall) Jackson's boyhood home. It's an annual event for the unit's gunners and they really enjoy it.
The cabin is on the edge of a beautiful pond, Jackson's relatives owned the mill and this original cabin that sit on the property which is now on the campus of the 4-H center for the West Virginia University. It is also a living history center and has displays inside the buildings about flax to linen production as well as a great wheel and flax spinning wheel.
Our Unit, which is the 1st Maryland Cavalry renewed it's friendship with the 1st Maryland Infantry which hails from Connecticut. I had the pleasure of meeting these Gentlemen at Cedar Creek in Virginia last October on the battlefield after the battle on Saturday.
This dress was finished while Mark was away, it's got pink flowers and a pink trellis that is accentuated by the pink ribbon on the bodice and sleeves. I now have a few more cut out as well as some maternity cothing for Jennifer, but because I've been flying haven't been able to get much done in the sewing room.

Woohoo, more projects!

Well now that I have a grand baby on the way, it's time to think about starting new knitting projects. I found this adorable sweater on Knitty, called Baby Norgi. I have cast on and done a couple of rows on size 0 needles (call them toothpicks!) and I'm doing it with the background in cloud grey out of Louet Fingering Superwash Merino Yarn. The pattern will be in Teal and Aqua. I can't believe how small this is! It'll be a good take along project for the airplane.
And no kid should be without a Viking Chicken hat! I got some cotton yarn the other night to start this one on, though I'm going to have to check gauge carefully as I couldn't find the yarn that was supposed to be used in the pattern. Isn't this cute? I had long wanted to make it but the pattern was only in size 6 months. Now I have someone to make it for! :)

The tiniest member of the family

These are actual pictures of the newest, tiniest member of the family, sent to me by daughter Jennifer. Jenn broke the exciting news that she and husband Michael are expecting to meet this little one in Mid-November. Of course, it's more exciting for me than Jenn because I don't have to be nauseous! I'm caught between feeling like I'm too young to be a grandmother (I always tell the kids I'm 29) and feeling unabashed excitement! I'm already planning all kinds of knit and sewn things the first Grandbaby for Mark and me.
This newest family member will also be the very first Great Grandbaby for Nanny and Poppa, Mark's mom and dad. Of course, not that I need an excuse to visit, but since Jenn and Michael will be in Hawaii after June, even more incentive to come visit! Congratulations, Jennifer and Michael!!!

Wings, Beer, Flames, and frowns

We went out in the torrential rain to the only Buffalo Wild Wings within an hour of us (one of only 2 in the state) to watch the NHL playoff game between the Detriot Red Wings and the Calgary Flames. For those of you not lucky enough to have one close by they are a huge sportsbar that serves all kinds of pub food, burgers, buffalo wings with about 20 sauces, salads, sandwiches, lots of beers on tap, you name it. They also have somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 TV's and big screens to watch sports on, and there's always something to watch! Needless to say, I was rooting for the Flames who didn't do much in this game. Of course, Mark was his Redwing Self...rubbing it in. Still we had fun and my belly is full of beer and food, and the Flames will Kick Detroit's butts when they play in the Saddledome this week.

Today's Tickle

I was so tickled by these hooks that I bought quite a few the first time I saw them. I gave some to my friend Lorraine for her boys, and some to daughter Jennifer, and ended up only having one left! This is what we call the "Dog Butt hook" hanging in the bathroom.
Yesterday we had a fun day of retail therapy as I bought two very cute pair of wedge sandals for the hopefully upcoming spring and summer and some socks, and we managed to get back to Ikea so I could buy some more hooks. I nearly fell over when they rang up as "Hook, Dog Ass" which the clerk said was supposed to be "Assorted" but got cut off. I bought a bunch to hang my Civil War hats on in my sewing room wall.
Speaking of sewing, I finished this dress in the past week. It has gathered panels in the sleeves, and I've been calling it my "dogwood" dress, though the blossoms are likely some other plant. I really loved the contrast between the teal blue and the red flowers and mauve blossoms, but it didn't photograph well. Today I'll put on my corset and all the other things so I can try it on and do the last minute adjustments.

Jamestown Glass House

After leaving the Maritime Museum on Saturday, we made a quick trip to Yorktown. We'd been there before, and we were mainly stoping to get Jon a "Explorer Edition National Parks Passport" like the big ones that Mark and I have. Since Yorktown was out of them, we went on down to Jamestown which is a beautiful drive along the tidal lands. The first picture here is the Jamestown Glasshouse which is a reproduction of the original one that sat nearby on the park. The Jamestown center didn't have Jon's passport but the Glasshouse did, so that's the first stamp that he has for his new passport...though he still has the old small one.
We spent some time watching the glass blowers work on beautiful fluted small pitchers, a two person job! I really enjoy watching them, and I usually end up buying an example of whatever the artists were making on that day. Saturday was no exception, though I also did purchase a large glass that I thought was especially beautiful. It has rings of decorative glass added to the bottom, and the base is quite a few pieces all melted together. I really appreciate the artistry that these people put into their work, they are following examples of pieces of this era that are documented which makes it all that much better!
These are the two pieces that I purchased on Saturday. Notice that they are green, which is the natural color of glass, in order to make it clear or any other color, other substances must be added. After the glasshouse closed, we made our way back to Ft. Eustis and dropped Jon off. We'd gotten a closeby hotel.
We started Sunday morning with a drive to the Richmond Battlefield National Park which consists of many sites. The closest sites to where Jon is stationed are the Gaines Mill Battle site, and the Cold Harbor site which also has a visitor's center. Jon and I got a couple of books there (Jon got a book about the life of a Confederate Artillerist) and had an enjoyable time talking to the ranger. We then went exploring the battlefield which was part of the 7 days war in 1862, as well as was a pivitol site in 1864 when Grant's and Lee's troops dug in for battles there. This site is only about 9 miles from the Capitol in Richmond. The trenches are very apparent on both Union and Confederate lines. We also drove the path of some of the other battles, I had gotten a book on Virginia battles which had a lot of insight into the participants as well as the strategies, and we talked about it all while we were touring.
We then got some Korean and Japaneese food for lunch and dropped Jon off so we could begin the long ride home. I'm so glad we got to go, I've been missing Jon a lot, and there's always the added bonus to have a kid that is as interested in history as I am.

Surprise weekend visit!

It was a cold and snowy winter morning this past Saturday when we decided to get up early and pay a surprise spur of the moment visit to Jonathan down in Virginia. He'd had two procedures on the same day on Tuesday and I knew he was feeling horrible and hadn't been to training school for a few days.
Besides, I was having "mom" withdrawals after not getting to see him in a couple of months. I was pleased to have spent time with Jennifer a couple of weeks before, but I wanted to see my boy and see how he was holding up. We called him from the car on our way down to Ft. Eustis to see what he was going to be doing, and were glad that he had no plans. When we got there and picked him up at the PX, we left the day's activities up to him, and he wanted to Revisit the Maritime Museum where the USS Monitor and CSS Merrimack (renamed CSS Virginia) artifacts are housed.
Jon had been there with a buddy from his unit on the opening day of the Monitor exhibit but didn't have much time to spend looking over everything. We spent many hours in the museum learning about the first ironclad ships and the conservation efforts for the turret and other items that NOAA had been able to retreive from the North Carolin Coast where the Monitor sunk in 1862.
There were many other exhibits at the museum, including the pirate exhibit where Jon mugged for Mom's camera. We really had a lot of fun and spent a lot of time in the museum.
Here's a quick picture of Mark on the deck of the full scale reproduction of the Monitor that was on the grounds right next to the museum. As the artifacts are conserved and able to be displayed, they are mounted in the corresponding point to the replica ship in the museum. The propeller is already preserved, and it's on a mount in the museum across from the replica one outside on the scale model.
Here's one of the two Cannons that were in the turret of the Monitor. All the Monitor items must spend quite a bit of time in a bath of ionic solution with electrical charges running through it in order to leach out the harmful decaying ions. You can clearly visualize the cannon in the bath even though we had to take the picture through the window of the enclosure.
This one is a bit more difficult to see, but this is the actual turret in which the cannons, the mechanisms, and the remains of 2 sailors were preserved for all these years. The turret ended up being upside down under the ship and the coal from the coal bunker poured into the turret, ending up preserving everything inside. The turret turned and was the first of it's kind.
This is me, you can see how crummy the weather was, it went from snow and wet and windy to sun for a few minutes and then right back to overcast and snow again. That's our visit to the Maritime museum, more about our day and weekend in another post.

For Chuckie

My dear old friend Chuck called me today to see if I was ok. He knew how strange it was for me not to have called him to gloat about the 2 National Championships, especially as he want to Florida State, Florida's rival school. So here it is...gloating....It's great to be a Florida Gator! Love ya, Chuckles...

A task completed.

I finished the dress this morning after lots of work on the skirt. I will admit that I like the bodice more with the skirt attached. I think the skirt might also be a little bit too long but I'll deal with that some other time. I'm happy to have this one finished, I have a "mud dress" started that I'm going to finish, then work on another period correct one with a different bodice construction. I can't wait to wear this one!

Making Progress

I've also been spending time working on this bodice. (The skirt is about half pleated at the moment). I have the sleeves finished now, I used grosgrain ribbon on these Pagota sleeves as well as the sleeve jockeys or caps. I took them to work to do the handwork and got them finished up and into the bodice this morning. Hopefully I'll get the skirt done sometime next week.

Manassas etc.

Jenn was here in Maryland visiting for a few days after taking care of some business left over from her time in Virginia. Hubby and I took her to her flight at Dulles and then hit the road to go explore a bit.
We went to Fairfax and saw the old courthouse and ate lunch there. They're doing tremendous work to the courthouse complex there and everything was pretty much fenced in . Then we hit the road again to go to Manassas. We got our stamps at the National Park Visitor Center like the "Parkies" we are, and got outside on the beautiful day to walk and explore the battlefield. These are some pictures from the battlefield.
The stone house is very famous from the 2nd battle of Manassas, and sits on a very busy intersection now. I had to crop out all the traffic going by on the roads. It's still a beautiful house.
This is the famous statue of Stonewall Jackson with the artillery line behind the monument. We viewed the electric map inside the visitor's center which outlined the 1st Manassas/Bull Run battle and the Union and Confederate lines during the battle.
After leaving Manassas, we drove the "back way" home through Leesburg and stopped at a wonderful quilting store in Frederick that has lots of Civil War era patterns and fabrics...I got a couple of dress sized pieces of period correct cotton. Then off we went to Gettysburg for dinner at Appalacian Brewing Company. We wandered the battlefield there after dinner and I really thought this Pensylvanian monument was beautiful. It's all done in Marble and bronze. Everytime we go there, I think I see a monument I didn't really notice before.