You Will Be Found

I just realized I never posted an update about my mission to find where my great grandma’s mom was buried.

I was able to get ahold of the woman in charge of the township cemetery where the newspaper article said she had been buried. They unfortunately lost all records prior to 1925 in a flood or fire (the woman could not recall which), so we could not confirm where my great great grandma Lillie was buried, but the woman had a book put together by the DAR (Daughter’s of the American Revolution) that listed every stone in the cemetery.

As I expected, there is no stone for Grandma Lillie, but her mother has a stone in that same cemetery. The woman was able to give me a plot number and a map. Grandma Lillie passed away in 1911, and her mother Nancy passed away in 1922. Nancy and George had made sure that Lillie was not left at the state hospital where her husband ‘stuck her.’ They made sure she was buried at home, near them, instead of half a state away. We hoped that meant Nancy made sure she was buried with her daughter.

Nancy’s name was the only one in the DAR book. George passed away in 1934 at the home of his daughter Mae. She had always been sickly herself, and never married, but she as fondly remembered by my great grandma. She was the one who was the best to her and actually wanted to raiser her when Lillie died. Aunt Mae, as my great grandma called her, passed away in 1936.

We were able to find obituaries for both George and Mae, but neither listed a location of burial. I primarily use Find A Grave to locate stones for family members, and this was luckily also where I was able to locate the obituaries before finding them in archives. Both George and Mae are listed as being buried in the same cemetery as Lillie and Nancy.

A few weeks ago, after learning that Grandma Lillie does not have a stone but her mother does, I ordered a small garden stone to place by her mother’s grave. My parents and I planned a trip down there to place the stone and see Nancy’s grave. The map we got was perfect. It took us right to where Nancy was buried. The plot Nancy’s stone is on, located in the middle of the space, is much too large for just one person. The family next to her has six stones, so we assume (and hope, and pray) that the amount of space means Lillie, George, and Mae are with Nancy.

I haven’t had a chance to call back to that woman in charge of the township cemetery and thank her for the map. I also need to ask her if there is a way to go back through the cemetery records that do exist to hopefully get confirmation that George and Mae are in the same plot with Nancy. If they are, we feel is it very reasonable that Lillie is there, too.

If they are there, and likely even if we can’t prove it, my parents and I plan to get a larger stone for that plot to list all four of our ‘lost’ family members.

After 110 years, I believe I found my Grandma Lillie. I know my great grandma would have been so happy to know where her mother was buried, and that she was not left behind.

Oh Boy

Mid last week, we had a tornado warning, so we spent some time in the basement with our dogs. The storm was several miles from us, so we fortunately only had a lot of leaves and some smaller branches come down.

Probably unrelated, but the foot pedal on my sewing machine decided that next morning that it was no longer going function as it had for fifteen years, and it adopted a singular speed: Oh Boy.

It rattled the whole table and went very fast. I mean, when I’m in the zone, I can sew pretty quickly, but this was 0-80 in a nano second, which is too fast.

I was able to keep working on a couple of projects I have going because the stitching I was doing is interior and will not been seen when the garment is finished. But, it did make it so I couldn’t work on a couple of the more delicate projects I have going for a few days.

I hit the internet to see if I could fix the foot pedal power problem myself, and it looked easy enough, but I couldn’t get the pedal open. So, I spent two days trying to find a replacement, and despite the machine still being sold, you can’t actually buy a new foot pedal for it. Luckily, there were a couple people on eBay selling nice used ones. I found one that was an exact match to the one I have, and ordered it. It took a couple days to get here, but it did afford me some time to get back to blinging ties.

For those of you reading this that are less familiar with the world of horse show clothing, riders in most of the English saddleseat classes wear standard men’s neckties with their outfits, and they also generally sparkle. A lot.

I have quite a collection of ties–any menswear store would be jealous–but, I haven’t really added any rhinestones to any of them. In fact, I had only blinged two ties as of last week. That number grew to six pretty fast, and I also quickly realized the 250 mixed color rhinestone pack I had bought a few years ago was not going to cut it.

I hit eBay to buy some more, but the seller I had purchased them from no longer existed. I found someone else with them, and they were a good, cheap price. They arrived, and I quickly realized two things:
1. I suck at measuring in millimeters by sight
2. Cheap is not always good.

They were too small, and the quality was actually pretty poor. I can’t return them, but I will find another use for them in the future. 🙂

I did some looking, found the actual size I needed, and that seller was out of the mixed sets. So, in the interest of getting them in time to actually use them for the projects they are for, I decided to just buy single packs of most of the colors. Which is how you end up with just under 26,000 rhinestones.

They arrived three days earlier than stated, and they are PERFECT. Beautiful quality, and the exact same as the ones I had purchased a few years ago. I had to buy a few more bead boxes to organize them, but it gives me room to buy a few other colors the seller has that I didn’t buy in round one.

The Greatest Show on Earth

I have always loved the circus. The flashy costumes, the music, the grace and bravery. Living in Wisconsin, I have been to Circus World Museum several times in my life, and I have seen the Shriner Circus a few times. When The Greatest Showman came out a couple years ago, I heard the music first on Pandora on my Broadway station. I took my husband to go see it, and I was blown away. I can’t count the number of times I’ve watched it.

I was fortunate enough to see the Great Circus Parade one of the last years it was done. It was first time I was able to see the train cars in action. The first time I was able to see the cars being unloaded on-site. It was a new circus experience for me.

One thing with the circus I have never seen, though, is the behind the scenes of the tent. How do you pack a big top? How do put up those gigantic poles? I know Circus World used to put up a big top before COVID, but I never got a chance to see it go up. I’ve seen some pictures. I’ve seen some video clips. But, to see them putting it up in person would be amazing.

I watch Prime Video a lot. Mostly disaster movies or slasher flicks. Some I’ve seen so many times, I could repeat the words. They make amazing background noise because I don’t have to give them my complete attention to know what’s going on. I watch Disney movies and musicals a lot, too.

I recently found an older circus film on Prime Video called The Greatest Show on Earth. I’m actually watching it as I type this. What sparked me to write a post about the circus was when they showed the big top going up. The tons of canvas wrapped up being rolled off the train cars. The army of men untying those ropes and laying the canvas out to check for tears. Another army of men hammering in the stakes. Laying out the poles. Elephants dragging them into place. The ropes going up the rigging.

It was amazing to see. Even if just in a film. A little taste of what it may have been like before cranes started doing the work. The glory days of the circus.

When things settle down again, I hope to get back there to Circus World. I hope to see a show again. To hear the music. To be dazzled by the costumes.

There is just nothing like seeing it in person.

New Site, (Slightly) New Direction

I recently switched from original web host after five years. It was terrifying, it cost a bit, but it was absolutely necessary.

My old site was fine, but it was very labor-intensive, and thus, I didn’t give it much love. I never did figure out how to get the shopping cart to work, and I had to do all my own html learning and coding.

It was just too much to manage for one person who also works full-time.

With that said, the new site is up, products are on it, and it’s functional! It was really easy, too. I put it together in about 10 hours spread over a few days.

So far, the only inventory listed is jewelry, but I am working on posting inventory for English and Western horse show clothing as well as some boutique-style fashion tops and dresses.

The boutique style clothing is the new addition to my pattern catalog. I have always wanted to sew clothing and own my own boutique, and I’m not getting any younger. So, I have beefed up my pattern catalog, decided to sew several garments for myself to figure out the patterns, and then I will be able to post photos for made-to-order listings as well as have some new things to wear for work.

Stay tuned!

God Bless the Internet

I know, I know, that’s quite a title. Let me explain:

I am a genealogy enthusiast. My time I can devote to it comes and go, but it is always on my mind and in my heart.

When my great grandmother passed away in 2005, I really dove in head first. My great grandmother was raised by a step mother who was not a nice lady. Her real mother was, by all accounts of anyone who spoke about her, a very kind-hearted lady. She had seven children very close together at a young age, and thus had some ‘women troubles’ which resulted in her husband sending her to a state hospital and simply moving on with his life. My great grandmother was nine months old at the time.

I searched for several years trying to find some solid evidence of her fate. We had a date, thanks to a copied page from the family Bible, but that was all we had. I did research online several years ago and came up empty. Nothing. No obituary, death certificate, no mention in print anywhere.

I called state offices. Illinois has very limited digital records prior to 1916. We needed 1911. And, due to budget issues, the project was on indefinite hold.

I called the state hospital where she was when she passed away. Several times. Each time the answer was different. Once it was that the records were uncatalogued. Once it was they were destroyed or damaged in a fire in the 1940s. Once they weren’t even kept there anymore.

I asked about the cemetery for that hospital that is clearly marked on the map. Some denied it existed. Others said it was off limits to everyone.

I found others on genealogy sites that were having the same struggles. No one could get into the cemetery to verify if their family member was there, or not. Some got more information that the stones only had numbers, no names.

I didn’t want to give up, so I searched through newspaper sites. I started so many subscriptions to archives, I had a spreadsheet to keep track of when free trials were up. Over two years of searching, all I found was one census page and a two-sentence blip in a “this week in the county” article mentioning that she had been sent away and left behind several small children.

It has been several years since then, and I’ve casually looked here and there for her, but still always came up empty.

We did a family history trip a few years ago and were able to find her husband’s and his second wife’s grave, but not her mother’s. We said we would go back and look again because it was getting dark fast when we were there last. This cemetery is 270 miles away, so I don’t get there much. Only twice in my life so far.

In August of this year, I will finally be going back, six years after the last time, to look for her mother’s grave. I did some looking on FindAGrave.com and found out that her step father is in the same cemetery as her mother. As is one of her sisters that never married.

Then, I saw an entry for her. I had never seen it before. But, there it was. The entry had the two-sentence blip about her passing away at the state hospital and her funeral being in her parents home. It said she was buried in that same cemetery.

She is ALSO in that cemetery. We never knew. I cried.

I had always said, as soon as I hit the dead ends with the state hospital, that I just wanted to know where she was. I wanted to know so someone knew. So she would be remembered.

After chatting with my mom, no one in our family seemed to know she was there. Including her own daughter. We are assuming she does not have a stone, but I have a phone number for the cemetery. I am hoping they can tell me where she is. If not, they should be able to tell me where her parents are. We know her mother has a stone.

If she doesn’t have a stone, and we can get a location, she will have a stone.

If she doesn’t have a stone, and they can’t tell us where she is, we will put a memorial with her parents.

I never met her. She died more than 75 years before I was born. But, she was my family. She was my great-great grandmother, and her parents made sure she wasn’t left behind at that state hospital. My great-grandmother, her daughter, didn’t speak of her much, but she loved her. Her siblings loved her. We will keep that memory going.

❤

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

I’ve been sewing a lot this weekend, and I’m getting ready to go back into the shop for a couple more hours tonight. But, while I’m finishing dinner, I wanted to take a moment and mention a movie I watched this afternoon: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

I knew this movie existed, and it’s been on my watchlist for a while, but it was definitely NOT what I was expecting. I watch a lot of poorly made slasher flicks, and the Asylum is probably my most frequented production studio, so my expectations for this were not high. It was mainly serving as background noise, so quality wasn’t really a worry.

I was surprised almost immediately when I saw Lily James. So, I watched for a couple minutes. The costuming is great, the settings are fabulous, and they actually followed most of the storyline from the book. With zombies thrown in.

It. Was. Great.

If you have Prime, and have not seen this movie, it is totally worth the watch. The acting was on point, and who doesn’t want to see Lily James kick some zombie booty? You don’t really have to like classical literature either. I mean, zombies. Just watch it.

Also, one shirt down; 75% of another to go (before Wednesday).

Slumber, from Sleeping Beauty (1987)

So, when I was little, I used to obsessively watch a couple key films that were not Disney animation:
Cinderella, 1964, with Lesley Anne Warren and Stuart Damon
Sleeping Beauty, 1988, with Tahnee Welch and Nickolas Clay

I have recently started watching these both again, not only because they remind me how much fun it was to put on an old wedding dress my parents got me from an antique shop and twirl around their living room, or that the music in both is simply fabulous, but because there is a specific dress from each I want to make for myself.

Cinderella’s ball gown and the White Fairy’s dress.

I have plans drawn up for both, and I have found some fabric that will work great, though nothing has actually been purchased because I have too large a costume collection already (said no seamstress/reenactor ever). I know most people are familiar with Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella because it is extremely popular for high school performances, it’s been on Broadway, and there are three fabulous live-action versions. But, almost everyone I have ever talked to has never seen the 1987 version of Sleeping Beauty.

Granted, it was produced by a production company that went bankrupt shortly after the film was finished, but the Disney Channel played it a ton in the 1990s. I wore out two VHS tapes of it before I was in high school. Y’all need to watch it. I’ve never been able to find in on anything other than VHS, but it available to buy on Prime Video.

I remember years ago, I wrote down what I thought were all the song lyrics because the internet wasn’t really a big thing back then, and thus, they weren’t on it. I tried to find the lyrics to one of the songs this morning, mostly because it was stuck in my head, but the internet failed me. They were nowhere. So, I am solving this problem for the however-many others like me who love those songs.

I copied these down from the Closed Captioning on the Prime Video of the film:

Slumber, from Sleeping Beauty (1987)
Music and Lyrics by Max Robert
Performed by Nick Curtis

Out in the dark, I feel a spark ready to show me the way
Magic or not, this feeling I’ve got calls me and I must obey
Find her break through the spell that binds her and set her free
Blindly I’ll rush into nowhere
Armed by my wits and power of my will
Led by the love that is mightier still
Spurred by the flame that is burning inside
I’ve come a-wooing to win me a bride
Frozen in time saving for me
Are the dreams of a century

Slumber, let go your long lonely nights
Thunder, cast of the moon into flight
I have come to shake the stardust from her eyes

Fingers of fright, caressing the night threaten to clutch at my heart
No time to dread what lies up ahead nothing can keep us apart
Don’t care who came before me one dare beckons me on
Beware, you powers of darkness
Push back the bramble and brier and thorn
Out of the maze a new world will be born
All your illusions will fade with the dawn
Only one kiss, and the curse will be gone
No turning back, soon I will be
In her arms for eternity

Slumber, making my love wait for me
Thunder, waking our one destiny
I was born to shake the stardust from her eyes
Sleeping Beauty rise
Rise

I mean no copyright infringement, and I have no claim or ownership of these lyrics or the film whatsoever. I just want the world to enjoy it as much as I have for the last almost thirty years. And, to help out those others out there who have tried to find the lyrics to no avail.

This song to me has always been a happy one, filled with love that drives you onward regardless of what peril you may face on the way. It’s that light that shines a heartbeat before you give up reminding you why you started on your journey and keeps you going knowing that what you’ve been working/waiting for is still out there.

Keep on dreaming!

Been a while…

I am definitely not as good at writing in my blog as I hoped. I looked at the last few posts, from 2016, and realized it is now 2021, and I haven’t written a post since then. Well, I’m going to try again.

Instead of just writing about my sewing and jewelry, I think I will write about anything I think the internet may enjoy. Basically, whatever is on my mind or what I’m working on, and what I think about. I don’t intend to talk about politics, current events, or civil issues: just the fun stuff.

Since I last posted, I have sewn several new pieces that are not in my own wardrobe, I started gardening, I started running, and I have helped my husband with several of his own hobbies and projects around the house.

I have plenty to lay on you, internet! 😀

Learning to Ride a Bike as an Adult – Day 1

So, I’m 31. And, I can’t ride a bike. I sort of learned as a kid, with training wheels. As in, relying on the training wheels to a point that they had to continually be bent back to the shape they were supposed to be. So, in all honesty, I never really learned.

Yesterday, my mother-in-law gave her old bike. It’s a really nice Huffy, the same kind I had as a kid. This will mark the third bike I’ve owned in my life. This time, I’m going to learn to ride the darn thing.

Because I’m super short–5 foot 1.5 on a good day–the bike she gave me is too tall for now. I can’t sit on the seat and touch the ground. Thankfully, my dear husband didn’t get rid of the shorter bike I’ve had for six years and barely moved. It’s a bit rusty, and I had to climb a tall stool to get one of the pedals out of the bucket hanging in the garage rafters, but I don’t have to worry about destroying it.

I spent a good 45 minutes this morning just practicing balance and crappily riding back and forth across our yard. I was able to get both feet on the pedals four times, and may a half-revolution once. I had to put my feet down a lot, but I didn’t fall completely off, and I’m not dead.

I call it a win for today.

Unintentional Hiatus

Good Afternoon!

I realize I haven’t posted anything in a few weeks, but we (me and my husband) have been extremely busy. We bought a house!

We got the keys last Monday, and then proceeded to spend two days painting, a day moving, and then three more days painting and moving. Now, were are cleaning up at our apartment. We should have the apartment cleared out and keys turned in on Saturday, which means we can put all of our attention back on the house.

As a result, all of my shop inventory, tools, and supplies have been in boxes for the last two months and remain so. I will have a Feature Friday this week, though it won’t be a jewelry project (and unfortunately also not an update on my new work space).

See you soon!