Thanks so much to Grandma Jones for the Lovely Easter outfits this year. All three kids kept their hats on the entire three hours. No melt downs! Thomas gave a talk in Primary and did so good. His reading is getting better and better. It was completely out of his comfort zone to get up in front of his peers. No one fell on the pavement waking to and from church in their white clothes which is a first. It was a good day!
I finally finished it. I made a "pinafore" to go over Lydia's dress. It's like a child apron that goes over the dress. A little girl never went outside without a pinafore to protect her dress. Although I love the pinafore more than I do the dress, so I am hoping she doesn't soil it while playing at the reenactment.
Since last October I have started collecting things for Civil War Reenacting. Most of them are random things. Some I have found at antique stores, some my Dad has graciously given to me, and others I have bought on line. Here are a few of my favorites...
Tiny Victorian salt and pepper shakers. I can put them in my picnic basket. I love my salt!
Handkerchiefs
Real animal fur for winter collars or hand muffs
Fan, gloves, and bracelets. They always wore matching bracelets. One on each wrist.
Writing box (closed)
Writing box (open). As you can see there are pencils, a pen, bottle of ink. (This treasure came from my Dad and I love it!)
Serving tray
Real antique eating utensils. My Dad found these at an antique store. Fiddle back spoons and the three pronged fork with a smooth knife.
Picnic basket for me and my kids while reenacting. A good place to secretly stash my diet Pepsi, cell phone, and Cadbury chocolate!
I have to do some more "de-modernizing" to it (take away velcro straps), but I am excited to use it,
Victorian china Tea set. The utensils are not quite period correct, but they will have to do so for now. The tea set is a replica of a Ladies tea set from the mid 1800's.
I had to take this picture to show how tiny the cups are. It looks like a children tea set, but they really did use these tiny things. I love them!
Yea for future tea parties. Although I don't drink tea, we will have to make herbal tea or lemonade. This too is a replica of a Victorian Tea set.
Yummy soaps from France!
I am a sucker for lanterns. The one in the middle my Dad gave me and the two on each side I found at an antique store. They are mirror reflecting lanterns. They give off more of a direct light. I thought this would be handy for when I play my dulcimer at night.
More lanterns...
Period Correct earrings. During the Civil War woman wore small dangle earrings. I made the top left ones, Jenny brought the amber stone ones back from France, and the pair on the bottom right my Dad got for me at an antique store. They are very small and dainty Cameo's. I have worn them a few times, but very cautious about them when I do. I keep checking to see if they are still there. I don't want to loose them.
Here are just a few of my broaches. I have about 12, but these are my favorites. I love the Cameo's. The one with the three ladies are "Rachel, Jenny, and I". The one with the "HMS Warrior Ship" my Dad bought for my Mom while we were living in England. The HMS Warrior Ship was a navy battle ship completed in 1861. It was by far the largest, fastest, most heavily-armed and most heavily-armoured warship the world had ever seen. It still stands at port today in Portsmouth England. I've been on it! The one on the far bottom right (with dried flowers in it) my Dad gave to my Mom during Dental school in Louisville Kentucky. Mom gave her permission to let me have them and I will treasure them forever. They have such meaning to me. Thanks to my Dad for adding to my Broach/cameo collection. He gave or found all of these except the the snow flake. Between lanterns and broaches, I have a slight addiction or should I say, starting of a new collection.
I won this on E-bay for $17.00. (In a kind and gentle voice) Miss Lydia WILL WEAR IT!
I found this Victorian child's bonnet for Lydia at a local Midway antique store. I have to replace the ribbons. but other than that it is in good condition. It slips back off her head so I will have to sew in a hair clip to keep the bonnet on top of her head.
You only get a fist view of her dainty gloves. She wasn't quite sure about the flowers on the side. I turned around and she had the gloves between her teeth pulling them off. I practically leaped on her and took them off gently.Just yesterday afternoon as it warmed up to 49 here in Heber Utah, I felt spring coming on, just for a moment. There was a smell in the air like winter is almost over. As soon as I get that spring fever I get excited for Fly Fishing! Ever since I took it up a few years back, it has become one of my most favorite hobbies...past time. Mark doesn't fish, so it's just me and the river. Fortunately, we live 3 minutes from one of the top ten trout fly fishing rivers in the USA.
I was going through my gear, organizing my vest, checking out my new flies. My kids always get excited and intrigued with my fly fishing stuff, Thomas especially. He is going to be my partner in coming years. He has the "bug" for it. They all took turns wearing my heavy loaded vest yesterday playing "fishing man". This morning Lydia wanted me to go through all my flies again in my fly box. So I explained them all as she gently held them and petted them. I then left her at the table with my fly box and did the dishes. Ten minutes later she stands up and says, "You're a cool Mom, Mom". My heart melted. I turned off the water and gave her the biggest hug, It's sad, but somehow a compliment coming from your three years old almost means more to me than any other. Maybe it's because kids are bluntly honest. She has no idea how she made my morning that much brighter. Maybe Lydia will take to fly fishing too someday and come with me when she is older. I sure hope so.
Like I have always said, there is something about being out on a river, hearing the water rush by you as you stand firm in the middle waste high, no modern convinces to distract you, no conversation needed. Just you and the rocky mountain river. So peaceful.
It doesn't matter whether I hook anything or not that day, for me its about escaping from the world for a small period of time.I actually had good luck tonight, believe it or not! I feel in love with this Antique Victorian Child's Bonnet when I saw it on EBay a few days ago. I went to Bunko knowing that I would have to leave in the middle of the game and come back home to bid for this item. It was worth it. I WON! I ended up paying $17.00. I came out of no where in the last few seconds left in the bidding. SURPRISE, it's Amanda! Now, lets pray that Lydia will wear it for me... 
These are part of her "Underpinnings" that I made this afternoon. The top is like a slip, but longer with sleeves. It is to be a wide scooped neck (almost off the shoulders) and the length is right around her knees. Her petticoat that I made the day before will go over this. They usually fastened the petticoat to a soft corset that the little girls wore over the chemise (in training for a animal boned corset when they are of age), but we are skipping that part for now because I will be lucky enough to tie her down before a Civil War Reenactment and get a dress on , let alone all the "period correct" layers.
Doing a little dance of some sort
After 5 minutes of wearing her new underpinnings, SHE'S DONE!
Poor Mark has been put on the back burner for months now. This is a blanket that his Mom made him before his Mission has (over the past year) started coming un raveled on every side. As soon as he realized this past fall that I was sewing now (Civil War clothing) he has begged me to fix his "Special Blanket" (as he calls it). So one morning William and Lydia helped me fix Daddy's "Special Blanket". It took three hours of pinning and three broken needles. Funny thing is, Mark called that afternoon and asked what I had been doing that day so far. I told him"Sewing". He said, "You didn't by any chance fix my special blanket? And I said, "Yup". You could have heard a pin drop followed by, "Are you serious?" He rewarded me by going to the grocery store for me. It was all worth it.
Lydia was such a sweet heart to stay by me the entire time. I would randomly find needles in the blanket as I was sewing. Hope they made it all out.
