Fun Froggy Fair

If I must say.....I am a pretty good shot.....I can remember in the seventh grade taking a hunter safety course and firing a .22. I did better than most the boys in the class! And I still have the target!


Hubby may protest about my ability but.....three of these macho men in my back yard couldn't do what a I did on the first try. Shoot a spam can off a log about 20 feet away! Ha! And I have witnesses!


Someone has the gene! Seems upon returning home from his date to the local fair, my son was able to shoot a bull eyes with the bow and arrow game. I'm pretty sure I can't do that, we are convinced the games are rigged. I say the arrow has a slight curve unknown to the naked eye, Jack of all trades believes the feathers on the end of the arrows are slanting backwards (pointing towards the sharp edge). Either way, my son was able to do it and was extremely proud of himself.





Too funny he didn't give the frog to his date. C & G Design.

E I Horseman Composition Doll

EIH CO. INC stands for Edward ImesonHorseman, a wonderful doll manufacturer. He is my favorite doll maker. In the duration of his company, Horseman made only about 300+ characters, one includes Mary Poppins, another is the Campbell Soup doll. In 1909 Horseman developed a new non-breaking formula and released "Billiken" of Williken, and Nodd.

I recently purchased this little guy off EBay, I was originally bidding on a non-talking Buffy. Remember Buffy? Jodie? and Mr Frenchie? Well, my Buffy is missing a arm but talks as clear as if she were standing right in front of you. Most found today do not speak. I had her arm but in the transition of moving, it was pitched. The bidding lot had a non-talking Buffy, Harley bear, old stuffed dog and a new Mickey. I felt certain I'd get it.





My Horseman doll auction ended one hour before the Buffy bidding stopped. Just for Ha, Ha,! I put a price in....never dreaming I'd win, I diiiiidd! 18.95 total cost, a almost unheard cost for Horseman. See his sleep eyes? Kinda creepy from this angle.
He came with all his parts, and even the arm disc with the attaching wire. when this disc is placed against another disc (just inside the cloth body at the socket), and the arm wire ran through the second disc, the arm itself with lift and lower with ease, it'll rotate even! My little guy has been restored with airbrushing, imagine my delight!
Horseman dolls are still on the market, the current company mark is Horseman Ltd and the dolls are made in Hong Kong.
I lost Buffy at the last 3 seconds, drat! For the quicker computers. Oh well, I'm still looking. EIH arriving made it better. C & G Design

Scare Scene

I'm in a mad hustle to get things done this season, (who isn't?)and I need to get something on Esty because my shop has been moved to page ......37 out of, say.....257 pages. What a nice time to make a halloween scene.


Boy! I had a hard time thinking up a scary cat! I thought I'd lost my touch! But it worked it's way out and once it did, time slipped while I was having fun finishing these.
The scene is 15'' by 15'' and mostly made of felt, I've made 3 of them, I want to have some in stock. I must say....it's been awhile since I used a glue gun. Babe came from football and said he could smell the "hotness" of the glue gun. I told him that was my flesh he smelt! Note to self.....get a good trigger glue gun!



This moves my shop into current dates! I'm excited! C&G Design.

BULLETIN-BULLETIN-BULLETIN!!
I wrote this post on Thursday......as of Saturday, all three of the scare scenes have been sold. They went to a nice mother who is my first buyer....she asked me to wrap them with gift wrap and make festive for whatever fee I want to charge. How lucky am I?

Pink Cake

I Have to show Madam's birthday cake, it almost is a Easter dessert, but cute and be fitting.





Madam is happy she hit double digits this year....she waited patiently for a sleepover and it paid off.
Yeah! A big bike, pretty in pink and blue.
A shooting star,
for a sincere glamor girl......
What'll be next.....join Beverly at How Sweet the Sound for more Pink. C & G Design.

Old Fashioned Free Pattern

This is a old pattern that dates back a few ages. I thought it would be nice to pass along my ideas and thoughts on "Wheat"





I made a sampler for a friend of mine, she wanted a poem inscribed in thread. This was to be gift given at her sister in laws wedding. My first and only thought was wheat. Wheat symbolizes prosperity. My friend was tickled to see these circled wheat in all four corners of the sampler. I bordered the piece with a rose colored flowered pattern and then a rose color, all with cotton fabric.
At the time....this pillow was the source of my inspiration, I purchased it in a box lot at a antique auction. I had needed to restitch it on another piece of muslin, time had deteriorated it. It came out nice and is one of my favorites.
It also was a quick needlepoint. C & G Design.

Yet Another Quilt

Poor Jack of all Trades, he has endured my sewing projects for awhile now, he is very good about it and not really saying much. Good thing on these quilts because I have several undone.
This one stumped me on what color the backing needs to be, tell me what you think.
If you look close you'll see it is machine quilted in a step pattern down along the pink color.

This is classic strip quilting, similar to Madame's leopard quilt only this one has the consistent pattern. Four colors sewed in rows, then cut to length, each square stepped over one than stitched together in rows. It's twin sized and very pretty.
My plan....is to make a ten inch ruffle and a pillow slip. Lo and behold! I have the leftover fabric, washed and ready to be worked!
My quilt is Waverly fabric for the print and cotton for the complimentary colors.
This is destine for Esty.

Ummm, Jack of all Trades, might of mentioned a small change at home when I'm obsessed with a certain doll pattern....."What's the body parts all over the place".

C & G Design.

Morning Greetings

Have another candy, dandy, happy day!

Are You Ready For Some Football!

We've had only 3 games.....by the fourth, babe is out with a concussion.



Well, he plays hard, I'm glad he plays that way, the penance for it is....injury, temporary as it may be.

He is a much needed center, missing 4 snaps in 40 offensive plays....it's eluded to starting center on the varsity next year, he's second string for now.
Little sister, Madame has always been dragged along since she has been in existence, I snapped a smile this day despite the fact no playground was around on this away game.
Topping 6 feet tall and able to take everyone down in practise, 'cept the senior center, who is the captain of the varsity. My 15 year old son could not wait to hit someone, practise 2x's a day and on Saturday, one looks forward to creaming the other team.
We finally scored the day Ike moved thru, 12 to 13 at the half time in a Junior varsity game. Being a young team and not quite angled for outside plays, we lost.....30 something to 12. Hey, first time scoring for both varsity and JV.
But....water boy for now, I'm sure he will be missed. C & G Design.

Littlest Angel

Another one of my favorite doll companies is VOGUE. They are the producers of "Ginny", one of the top sellers of her time.
These are candids of "Littlest Angel", an unknown, sweet faced doll. Redesigned in the seventies, she has been with us since the forties and fifties as a composition doll by the R&B Company.
R&B was sold to VOGUE in the late fifties and littlest angel continued to be marked R&B until sometime in the sixties. She seems to be a off shoot of "LIL IMP" which had candy red hair. Littlest Angel was designed to have childlike, impish , cheeky, young girl appearance that appealed to many buyers of the seventies.
I must say, if it weren't for knowing the doll manufacturer, I might have overlooked my doll. She is dressed in a tartan-like outfit, marked Vogue, and is missing her shoes. She sure does have a elfish, impish, cutesy air about her.
My doll isn't played with. She has very silky hair and perfect clothing, no scuffs and/or marks. C & G Design.

Pretty Petite Privy

Not much I can say about this doll house fixture........
'cept, got to love a leather toilet seat cover. C & G Design

So Long Summer......

Monday is the last day of summer, the North has been feeling the chill since Thursday.



Fall arrives at 11:44am and soon our foliage will rapidly change.



I've decided to post the last few flowers that have bloomed in my yard over the last weeks, mostly pink. I want to share the yellow rose first as it flowered on Tuesday, it seems to be welcoming Fall and photographed really well......

Hop on over to How Sweet the Sound and view more Pink Saturday. Thank you, to our host Beverly.

So long summer.....C & G Design.

Bellpulls

Gee, I kinda thought I had ALL the information about crafts and sewing but I found something totally new to me. The first pattern is called Fleur De Lys and it's quite popular.

I did some checking on the Internet about bell pulls. Since I wasn't having a great time finishing the one I'm working on.....I figured I'd do some research before giving up on it, interesting history. Starting in the Victorian Era, the wealthy used bell pulls to call from their living quarters to their servants, soon the Master would be sipping tea.
The first bell pulls were constructed as a tapestry, woven, and had many different designs from many different cultures, mine has a Celtic-like pattern.

Early 1900 linen became scarce and a search for a alternative material produced Cotton Sultan, also known a Hardanger Canvas. Hardanger is a technique whereas the weft(across) threads are pulled out and the warp(up and down) threads are hand tied in repeating designs leaving open squares at the ends of a tablecloth, runner or bread covers. Hardanger is usually white on white, pillow cases, spreads and wedding gowns.

Whhelllll, I knew what Hardanger is but I didn't know my bell pull was Hardanger Canvas!

Immigrants from Norwegian developed use of many other fabric and materials, the bell pull expanded into a greater creativity. Many Norwegian pulls don the walls of great museums.

In later times, we could find brass knobs wired through our neighbors door, it would lead to a bell pull and ultimately to a chime.

Most bell pulls are made with brass hangers and a tassel.

It is ideal to decorate a slim space in the home, next to door, window or on a pillar.

I suspect I may have to make a bell pull and forget about including it in my cloths capes, just cause....

it's not the same fabric that is. C&G Design

Painted Pansies

I thought I'd try these guys with the paints I have......


My favorite is the red/white pairs.......

Jack of all Trades and myself decided we needed 6 different colors to make a 6 square by 10 square wall hanging, that way the pattern will repeat on the diagonal.

He has to involve himself in some way! Always! C & G Design

Friendly Faries

I'm thinking this post doesn't have alot to do with Raggedy Ann, but it does. Johnny Gruelle is best known for Ann but he also did other work......here is another book, along with afew pictures.



It's Friendly Faeries, I tried for Grimm's fairy tales but only found sketches. This illustration is just inside the book cover.....
I'm guessing Sleepy, Happy and Doc....
This one demonstrates "How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie pop?"

The world will never know.
But a small celebration.......

And a peaceful place.....
Back of the cover......flight of fantasy.

Drawn in 1919, the book ends with this illustration.

I think no matter what Johnny Gruelle drew, it was always fantastic. C & G Design.