Plain and Practical

Here's Mah Ugly Feet, Workin' Hard!

  Here's the little tool for broom-making, 14th century style.  I found the picture in a wood cut and then Paul out in Dexter cut the circle for me, and I got it together with some leather (hmm, catchy tune?) and this is how I apply tension to the tying cord as I am making the brooms.  Right foot rolls the circle and applies the brakes when needed, left foot holds the other end so it doesn't fly across the room.  Feet do their thing, hands do theirs, mouth holds the sewing needle--which is five inches long and triangular, a decent piece of steel indeed!

So there's brooms up on the Etsy site as of today, very simple but the price is right.

One of my jobs tomorrow is to get all the sewing machines from Max's into one spot and try them all out and see which ones work.  There's now seven sewing machines in this home.  Need to make decisions on which to fix, which are parts, and which to keep.

The viewing and funeral was a wonderful opportunity to hear all the stories from folks, all the little acts of kindness my grandfather had committed over the decades, as a teacher, scout leader, active community participant, member of his church, as a neighbor.  May I come even close to half his good deeds, I'll be assured of many friends who love me.

good night, Peace,

Valerie Hibbard

The Newspaper Comes To Be!

  Here's the Plain and Practical, or as we call it around here and on the computer hard drive, the PNP.  October, 2008 issue is done, printed, available on Etsy 3/$2.50, or you can go online after October 1st and read it to your heart's content for free, at our web site, plainandpractical.com.  It's a Christian publication with a nice farm story, resources for Plain and rural folks, quotes to make you think, recipes, and advertisements for sensible handmade items or supplies.

Eventually this will be a two-page project (4 pages) and we'll put our dry goods store offerings on it, once the brick and mortar is realized, with a little map, local events for combined trips, and much more.  The November issue will actually be the whole four pages next month, I am collecting a lot of information on crafters and artists who make things at home and would be happy to use your dollars to pay their bills.  There's a special feeling when you buy a rug, garment, or gift, when you know the person who created it.  No plastic crap from the mall is going to be as nice as a bar of homemade soap, box of herbs gathered and dried up north, warm handspun hat, or any of a hundred different things you'll see in the November PNP.  Make this the year you buy handmade!

Funeral Dress

 

My Grandfather Max passed away yesterday evening.  We knew this was coming, he'd been in hospice care at home and was progressively getting worse.  So this morning I got up at 4:30 and laid out this nice heavy burgundy linen, and cut and pinned a new Plain dress, and also a heavy piece of black poly blend for an apron to go over it.  As soon as husband leaves for work, will sew the first (machine) seams and pack it all in a basket to go with me.  The truck needs a repair before a long trip so will sit there and do my work while the muffler place does their work and it will all get done today.

We need the truck for the trip, Grandpa Max had set a goal of making 1000 quilts for sick babies, and he only had 64 more to go when he passed.  The boxes and batting are waiting upstairs for me to pick up at his house, boxes of fabric and floss to make the remaining tied quilts.  He just didn't feel well enough to tie them, I even sent quilt tops ready to tie, but I reassured him many times that whatever was left to do, I would finish them for him.  Surely someone at his church will know where he was taking them all, maybe they will do the delivery for me if I mail them there.

For those of you emailing me back and forth or ordering from the Etsy sites, I'll have a laptop with me while out of state, but getting online may be sketchy for a couple of days, so please be patient with me, and I'll post when I get home.

Country Smells In the High-Rise Apartment

  Here's the home baked loaf of bread, it's whole wheat and I call it Cheater Bread.  Note I wrote, "home baked?"  Because it's not home made, it comes from the grocery store in a frozen oval brick and you chuck it into the greased pan, wait until it's about doubled in size, throw it in the oven, and gosh, it's not very different from my own.  No flour on my apron or floor, no giant bowl to work around in the tiny kitchen all morning, hmm, $1 a loaf makes it less than half the cost of a bakery loaf . . . not bad.

And at the Mexicantown market, the Honeybee, they had lucious, fresh bunches of basil, crispy fresh and smelling oh-so-wonderful.  Washed and hung it yesterday, it's on its way to looking like fat green hanging bats (especially when I turned the lights off for the night) but it will dry soon.  Bet the people who installed these cupboards on the 19th floor of this downtown Detroit apartment never thought a tree limb from Ohio would be laid upon them for an herb-drying rack!  Make-do technology.

Today is sew-handtowels day.  I got enthusiastic and cleaned my studio and discovered a completely full laundry basket with rolled-up hand towels to sew, with their thread and rick rack inside, ready to Become Done.  And of course lots of spinning for the show, we leave on Friday.  That's also our third anniversary celebration (Sept. 10, but we postponed the "honeymoon weekend") so soon I'll be in middle-ages garb, looking very different from my usual plain self!

For Women Only! Starting Bodices!

  Here's the front, and

  here's the back.  I was blessed with the loan of a display mannekin for the long three-day weekend, and today's the day.  I'm used to flat sewing all my life--even when I made clothes, I made a front and sewed it to a back--or made wrap-around tie skirts, or gathered skirts--all very forgiving kinds of patterns.  This attempt to make a close-fitting, custom-to-fit-myself garment, and of course the curviest part of my anatomy, is a mental challenge of the first caliber.  But here's the first forty-five minutes, and the paper pattern is in place, so now will rest and then tackle the next details--the homemade "busk," which is the solid part in the front that is reinforced to not wad up or crumple when the drawstring ties (shoelaces) are pulled together to firmly squish the boobies (sorry, such language!) and earn the title "stays," which is what your great-grandmother and mine would have called such a garment.  For those of you who keep up with the blog, I am going to toss my bras soon, disgusted with their cost, how they are sweatshop-made, and their lack of quality OR comfort.

My hope is to create a garment that someone could make from scraps, with shoelace lacings, no metal, no plastic, no elastic, no rubber, no buttons, etc.  Home.  Made.  By yourself. To fit YOU.

Will keep you posted.  Should have them done by tomorrow morning, will also eventually have all the pattern drawn and written out for you to study here on the blog, so you can make your own! Free!

My Cup Runneth Over with Thrifty Finds!

  Here's my little yellow wagon, with the sheets, tablecloths, fabrics, dresses and shirts to cut up, and two actual loads of our own laundry to do today.  I met my new friend Michelle at her home and we embarked on a fun day (nothing like a bud to go 'sailing with, is there?) and we found four church rummage sales, three garage sales, two Value Worlds, a Salvation Army, and I think maybe somewhere else but it all became kind of a blur when my 2:00 "need caffiene" time kicked in.  We ended with a nice picnic snack from a health food store in Ypsilanti, Michigan.  I found lots of linens to recycle, sheets for more rugs, and best of all, two completely full shopping carts of basket splint and reed for about $1 a package, the $40 worth filled the back of my pickup truck.  I will have many pleasant afternoons and evenings this winter carefully applying my stewardship to these supplies, to bring in a little "egg money" for our household with the Etsy site opportunities!

I also got a stuffed box of rug yarn, which I took pictures of and will be listing on my Etsy supplies site, I don't use it, but it is hard to find and someone out there needs me to help them finish their rug, right?  Just like all the folks who collect rick rack and sell it to me, can't get enough.

The rummaging season pretty much ends with the Dexer Methodist Church bag sale coming up the 25?? of this month, in Dexter, Michigan, I'll have breakfast with a friend and then load up with wool skirts and men's shirts and a few sheets, my usual catches there.

Have been looking at potential real estate possibilities for when it's time to open the physical store, and I like the old time small-town brick buildings that have the storefront below and the apartment above, loft living--in a small town!  And commuting would be going down the stairs, putting my last night's trash in the dumpster out back on the way into work 15 feet away, hahaha.  And living above the shop would mean being able to watch it carefully, listen for trouble, keep it safe.  Just my little dream that keeps me going!

Have a peaceful First Day,

Valerie Hibbard

Hee, Shiny

  Today's post brought the last ingredient needed for me to make another batch of art-o-mat projects I call Beaded Copper Webs.  I got the copper wire, and found my box of found wire, and here are the beads, from Sunyno, on Etsy, all the way from the Netherlands! I made the labels, and the boxes came from Carol, so next week is art-o-mat makin' time.  I think maybe I'll work on them down by the waterfront on a sunny day so I can fill the beads with light before they go to new owners.

Also, borrowed a "bust" display model from a friend with a store, and can make those corset/bodice things on Sunday and Monday before I return the loan on Tuesday.  And guess what!  all she would trade for was some more of my homemade soup.  Isn't this a nice time of year to make veggie soup?  Everything so fresh.

I have a friend out in Dexter who is recovering from a leg problem and he's all stuck in the house and everything.  He and I are making ourselves a schedule so we fit in the things we always say we want in our lives but don't actually make time to get done.  I need to do more bible and religious reading, and set aside 15 minutes a day for prayer for the concerns of the world around me, but my day gets busy and it doesn't get done.  Will let you see it when I get it finished.  His has time scheduled for writing and art-making, but I get those done without scheduling them, so won't include that!

Tomorrow meeting a new friend for the first time and hitting as many of these five church rummage sales as we can stand/make it to in time.  I am driving a pickup truck and bringing trash bags and my "spider stretchy net" to cover them in the back.  Need more wool blankets, of course!  And Good husband has put in his request for size 3X shirts with long sleeves.  If they don't fit then I get to chop them up for quilting fabric, so it's a win-win all the way around!

Sauder Village was ABSOLUTELY PERFECT

Those of you who keep up with this site have seen my nasty little rant about Greenfield Village, and suggested that I try Sauder Village, only 2-3 hours away in Ohio.  Well, you were absolutely so very very right, thank you.  I think next time I'll just bring my favorite blankie and teddy and just move right into the attic of one of the wonderful cabins or houses there.  Good grief, even the train depot was appealing, yep, sure, I could live in there!

Delightful little side yards of geese.  Beautiful exploding peach trees dripping with fruit ready to be picked.  Everywhere a place to sit, your pick of stonehenge-style block with the hand hewn marks still visible, or sturdy wood benches, or fancy curved iron.  Tucked away under willows by the pond, on big shady porches, around the circular park.  Eat a snack.  Breathe the good clean country air.

Not a single gum wrapper or even a gum wad stuck to the sidewalk, everything neat but not manicured.  And here's the real shocker:

EVERY BUILDING HAD A LIVING HISTORY ATTENDANT INSIDE TO TALK WITH YOU.  They were demonstrating--actively making things, not just shuffling materials.  I've made and sold my handspun yarns, brooms, woven rugs, quilts, etc., since childhood and these people really understood their materials, the history of the structure, and could also expouse well on any other structure!  No wrong directions! 

I strongly, strongly recommend Sauder village to anyone who likes log cabins, old time general stores, quilting, the history of farm implements, or rural life in general.  They also have a touch of Mennonite history and also reading materials available, for those interested in those folks. 

Just to show you the heights of my standards:

I wandered around the back of the structures, no wasps nests in the crevices of the rooflines.  And not an iota of trash in the creek way way in the back.  The animals didn't have a feather out of place, the horse's hooves were clean, the pig had a shiny snout and a curious nature.  The geese were loud and animated (exactly as they should be).  And way out of the way, a brown speckled critter (Duck?  Chicken?) was sitting on a nest of eggs.  I didn't get close enough to disturb her.  But doesn't that say just so very much about the beautiful, special quality of this place?  I plan to become their supporter in whatever way we can negotiate.  What they have going there is unique and important to our history, and I want to make sure it's there not only for myself to enjoy, but for others as well.

You can call them at 1-800-590-9755 for dates they are open, special events like the upcoming apple butter festival, and even reservations--they have a hotel and a large restaurant just across the parking lot!  I'm asking for an overnight visit in May for my birthday gift, when they open in the Spring!  www.saudervillage.org

Access to My Writings

Looky, a post with no photo!  That's just odd.  Anyway, it's 5:30 in the morning and I'm packing to head to Sauder Village for the day, dropping off an order from Etsy on the way out of town.  The two stories mentioned in the previous post are going to be attached to our web page, and husband will then make a link from here so you can just "touch and go" to get to them.  I also have some published and unpublished poetry and stort stories (fiction) to add later, so if you like something different to read (no hollywood scandals or politics) there will be an ample supply.

There are two manuscripts in progress right now receiving daily attention--one is combining biblical quotes with simple things you can make at home, and the other is temporarily titled "Fifty Thrifty Things to Make With Old Clothes."  Both have dozens and dozens of hand drawn illustrations to be fitted into their text, and then I will copyright, print, and bind them, and offer them for sale on Etsy.

Being Plain Quaker

Well, I had a couple of suggestions from readers, that I should tell people who read the blog how I got to be Plain, and then a couple more suggestions that I should include information on how I became a Quaker.  Luckily, I started working on a manuscript a year ago that included both of those subjects, so I just took an hour and condensed down "Becoming A Quaker" and "How I Became Plain."  Now if I can just figure out how to attach them somehow--both are several pages.  You are welcome to print it and read it and share it and enjoy them completely.  If you don't see it in the next hour or so, just wait until evening, and good husband (the IT professional) will bail me out and make them available.

Tomorrow I am headed to Sauder Village, in Ohio, about 2.5 hours from Detroit.  I am hoping maybe to see some other plain women there!  It's not just the way we dress--we dress this way because Plain people have a particular way of viewing the world, and when we see each other, we know we share a great deal more than just sensible shoes and modest clothing!