Catching up with a busy Fredericksburg summer

Our little town, population under 11,000  loves parties and celebrations and parades. Once a year a large number of people form a line around the center block which is our Markplatz park and try to make a block long rendition of the chicken dance.  Countless fund raising concerts and fish frys and barbeques and parties like Octoberfest and Night in old Fredericksburg keep the town lively all year.  This  is our county fair weekend.  Much going on all weekend and then a free country music concert in the park to which several of us plan to take our lawn chairs and enjoy.  Many hundreds of people will go. 
   The fair parade is our largest for the year and 12 of our family and friends sat together.  I took 54 pictures and am showing a sample here.

Great granddaughter Bailey with her friend Camille.

Umbrellas help a lot!

Here comes our high school band. It is big!

 

 

The parade took more than an hour to pass. There were bands and boom boxes and plenty of music.  We had great places to sit, Gary and Beth took two cars and parked them on Main Street yesterday mid morning to secure our space.

 

As blogged before, I went to San Antonio last month to the United Federation of Doll Clubs big convention. Last week I went back to San Antonio with my son in law Gary to qualify for my concealed handgun license. No one can say my interests are not varied!   Today Cheryl brought me a nice 5 string banjo from an estate sale in Kerrville. She was going anyway and we could see it on the web.  I barely play one, mostly old time hymns, but I love them and had not had one for several years.   This is a lovely summer where I am!  I am thankful for it and at the same time wish people everywhere could have what we have here.  e

Indigo magic

Finding old cotton fabric to make doll dresses is not easy.  Some years ago at a small antique show I purchased a textile piece which may have been intended for use as as a small crib quilt backing. It was about that size and was pieced in bars of three early fabrics but did not show to have ever been quilted.  The stiches holding the bars/strips together were of old brown thread which I think may have been home spun. I have only seen this coarse brown thread used on very early textiles.  When I tried separating the fabrics, the thread was rotten and broke up. The price seemed dear when I bought it, but it came to seem priceless to me as I held those indigo pieces in my hands.
 Pictured are two of these fabrics in strips, a green and the indigo. There was also an early red print.   The first of this blue was used in a precious doll quilt that my friend Johnetta B. made for my dolls. This was pictured on the back cover of my book Pockets and Roll Ups.  Unfortunately the tiny gem was lost in our house fire.



I have dressed two early wooden dolls in this indigo fabric in the past. Now I have another doll that is worthy of wearing most of the rest, this lovely Kloster Veilsdorf  china doll head, the so called Greiner China because of the similarity of hairstyles with American Greiner dolls. I will still have a small amount of the beautiful blue left, I hope to replicate the long lost doll quilt, though I could never rival Johnetta's wonderful stitches.

 I have had another china doll by this maker:  She has joined a friend's collection now.

These dolls are made of beautiful quality porcelain.  The doll I am dressing has two pieces of early hand stitched undies to wash and keep and a petticoat that is a make do and will be discarded.  Her dress is beyond my skill to mend so she will have a fresh one of this indigo print.   

 

An early little apron adds a good touch, and I will search my boxes of old doll undies for a suitable petticoat.  The doll's arms and hands, which I believe are original, will not survive much more putting on and off of her clothing. I hope she will stand as she is for years ahead.  e