Liebster Blog Award Tag~too much about me

I was so pleased to be tagged by Lisa at Mommy’s Apron Strings for the Leibster Award for new bloggers.

Lisa wrote, “The Liebster Blog Award is an award given by bloggers to up and coming bloggers, most of whom have less than 200 followers (or have been blogging for less than 6 months). It is to show newer bloggers that they are appreciated, and to help spread the word about new blogs. It was created to promote appreciation and recognition among the blog world. Liebster translates to “dearest” (or favorite/best) in German. It is also known as the Love Blog Award.” It’s been fun to get to know some bloggers better and a great way to pass on the love.”

I loved reading Lisa’s post about the award and all of her personal information.  Even though we’ve never met, I like to think we are friends.  But I know her better now.  I hope Janice Ferguson Sews readers think of me as your friend, so here’s “getting to know you.”

This Leibster entry info might be far more than you wanted to know about me.  So consider yourself forewarned. It’s your choice–read on or move on.  If you choose to read on, I suggest you scan through this lengthy post to find a topic that interests you.  There is a lot of trivia here.

Here are the Leibster rules:

• You must post 11 random things about yourself
• Answer the 11 questions given by the nominator.
• Create 11 new questions for those you nominate.
• Choose 11 new blogs and link to them in your post.

11 random things about Janice Ferguson

• 1.  OWNER OF HORSE IN THE HOUSE:  I once had my horse in the house for several hours while I was out shopping.  You  think you’ve seen trouble?  I doubt you’ve seen  anything like the mess “Pony” made.

In a nutshell, we had a wonderful horse who roamed freely about our 3 acre fenced yard.  She pulled a pony cart and was reliable even in downtown traffic on her way to McDonalds where she loved being treated to a root beer.  That horse loved her cart, which seated three riders.  But she was a curious creature, extremely adept with her prehensile lips.

Our back porch door handle was an old fashioned (original to our 1926 house) knob that was really more like a lever.  So on this particular day, no sooner had I pulled out of the driveway to get groceries than she opened the back door, strolled in and made herself at home. Unfortunately, she was unable to let herself out after causing immeasurable  mischief.

Because there were some sugar cubes in the silver sugar bowl, Bob’s grandmother’s “F” monogrammed tea set was dented when she knocked it onto the hard quarry tile dining room floor.  Then Pony checked out the kitchen, ripping open a 5 lb. bag of flour on the counter (I was planning to make bread).  She moved on  to my Fannie Farmer cookbook, ripping the binding off.  (I think she had heard that they make glue from horse hooves.)

Out of sheer boredom, she gnawed on a kitchen cabinet, leaving teeth marks that would enable any forensic dentist to identify her.  Of course, after eating all those goodies and the wood roughage, she left a few piles of manure here and there.

When I returned home, she was “hiding” with her nose in the corner of the porch, behind a hammock that was strung  there.  With her backside presented,  she peeked through the hammock at me when I shrieked at her. This story is even longer, but I will stop here.

• 2.  WATER SKI INSTRUCTOR:  My college summers were spent teaching water skiing at a summer camp in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts.

The summer before my senior year, I met my husband there.  He was the sailing instructor and claimed that he knew how to drive a boat.  Turns out he just wanted to get to know me and was no boat driver at all.  I quickly discovered this when he nearly crashed the ski boat into the raft in the middle of the lake.  “I thought it would be pretty much like driving a car,” he said.  It’s not.  No brakes. So on our lunch hour, I taught him how to handle the boat.  And he taught me a few things—about sailing.

• 3.  NIGHT OWL: My normal bedtime is 2 a.m., wake up at 10 a.m.

Life around here is pretty hectic but it is relatively quiet in those wee hours.  I get more done in the sewing room those 4 hours than I could possibly accomplish during the day with all the interruptions.  I awaken at 10 a.m. but my brain is not fully engaged until about 11.

• 4.  MOTHER EARTHER:  For several years, we were in a homesteading mode.

I milked the goats twice a day, gathered eggs from the chickens, ducks and geese, raised a few turkeys each year for meat, tended a large garden, canned produce, made yogurt and baked much of our bread.  But like few other Mother Earthers, my daughter wore smocked clothing almost every day until she was 8.  After that, only occasionally, but she wore an heirloom sewn dress to church every Sunday.

• 5.  WRITER:  For several years when my children were little, I wrote feature articles and the church news for our small town newspaper.  After that,  I moved on to write for Sew Beautiful, Creative Needle, Quilt World, Vogue Patterns and other sewing publications.

• 6.  GRADUATE:  At Northern Illinois University, I earned a B.A. in English.

One week after graduation, I married the love of my life (the sailing-instructor-turned-boat-driver guy), moved to Florida with him to start our new life, earned a master’s degree in special education at Stetson University and taught mentally handicapped children for the 6 years before our son was born.

• 7.  NEEDLEWORK  TEACHER–smocking, heirloom sewing, quilting and most recently machine embroidery–became my part time job and joyful, occasional break from the housewife/mother routine at home.

I’ve taught at Martha Pullen’s School of Art Fashion about 20 times, and for shops and guilds in locations from Cape Cod to San Francisco, Australia and Puerto Rico.

• 8.  SANDWICH MAKER:  I once made my own Subway sandwich at a truck stop on my way home from teaching at Martha’s school in Huntsville. Unattended in the middle of the day, I assumed it was self-service.

The episode involved an irate and lazy restaurant manager, two burly truck drivers and my discreet getaway.  For more details, check here. Scroll down a ways.

• 9.  GATOR FAN:  Everyone in our family is a huge fan of the University of Florida Gators. My husband earned his master’s degree there and our daughter is also a graduate.  We spent years tailgating before every game and always watch away games on tv as a family.  Family babies were identified as Future Gators.
  

  My precious daughter-in-law, pregnant with Robert, and Laurel at the summer Gator Gathering at the Daytona Speedway.

• 10.  HOMESCHOOL TEACHER:  For 3 years I homeschooled my two older grandchildren, Laurel and Robert.  Few thrills can compare to teaching a grandchild to read.  I loved it.

• 11.  PLAYGROUP MAMA:  Thirty-six years ago, I became a charter member of a group we call PlayGroup Mamas.

All stay-at-home moms, we met weekly for PlayGroup so the children could play together.   For several years we took turns hosting the group one morning a week, until all 23 children were in school.

Now we meet for dinner every other Monday evening, sometimes at a restaurant, sometimes at a home, treating whoever has a birthday in that time frame.  One husband commented to his brother-in-law, “Mary says they meet for dinner whenever someone has a birthday.  There are 8 of them, they meet every other week, and then wonder why they’re getting old so fast.”  These ladies have been an incredible support system for one another all these years.

• 

• P.S.  I am active in my church where I serve as a deacon and a member of the Children’s Discipleship committee.

11 Questions from Lisa at Mommy’s Apron Strings:
1. Why did you start your blog?

• Short answer:  to  reduce my stash
• Long answer and explanation:  My name is Janice and I AM a textile hoarder.  It all started when I began teaching sewing~English smocking, heirloom sewing, machine embroidery and quilting.  Even though sometimes  there may have been only 18-20 students, most of my classes had a cap of 25.  So I had  to be prepared for 25 with extra goods for the inevitable project errors.  Then there were those wonderful finds or sales that were just too good to pass up–hey!  I could do a class with that!!!!  But sometimes, the class was never developed, and that left me with the goods for 25 students.  So I needed (and still do need) to reduce my stash.  I  planned to blog a little and sell a lot.  Turns out I had that backwards.

2. What are your hobbies?–Can enjoying my children and grandchildren be called a hobby?  Additionally, I love gardening, especially roses.

But I also love propagating and putzing in my potting shed.

And reading, especially on my Kindle.  This is, of course, in addition to smocking, heirloom sewing, machine embroidery and quilting.

3. Your favorite place on earth?    There are  two.…

• My home, where I love being with my husband and dogs, near my family and friends, where my sewing room is open 24/7. We’ve lived here for 40 years now.
  

  Home, sweet home. My sewing room is on the right with the brightly lit windows.

• Our cabin in North Carolina, where the air is crisp and cool and life is quiet and serene—except when the grandchildren come along.  Then it is delightfully chaotic.  Check it out here.

• 

  Our cabin near Banner Elk, NC, on Seven Devils Mountain.

4. What year would you like to visit for a week as a time-traveler?  I’d like to go back to a week in the summer of 1984 when my son Ryan was 9 and Rebecca was 5.  I loved all most of the years raising our children but I remember that year with special fondness.

My husband had been sent to Phoenix on temporary duty for 6 months.  The children and I joined him for the summer and lived at a golf resort in Arizona.  It was a blissfully carefree time with a housekeeper coming in daily and with no other responsibilities.  Every weekend was a new adventure as we traveled to the Grand Canyon, Sedona, Flagstaff and other spots in Arizona.  It was a very happy time.

5. If you didn’t have the job you have, what would you want to do instead?  I don’t have a real “job” other than being on call for my children and grandchildren. I would always choose to do what I do, enjoy my family, sew, garden, blog, etc.  I am blessed with a wonderful life.

6. What is your favorite food?       I love chocolate and seafood, but not together.

7. What is your favorite period in fashion?  The twenties.  I love the way children were dressed in  this era.

 

8. What is your favorite novel or series?       It’s hard to choose between Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series and Philippa Gregory’s Tudor series.  I love the history in both.  But then again, Sandra Dallas’ books are so homey, such an easy read, often with quilting built into the story.

9. What famous person do you most admire?  Miss Alice Van Cleef, (scroll down to the bottom of the post, under History) who is only famous locally.  Her entire life was devoted to helping her neighbors, supporting her church, embracing and promoting her community, Glenwood, FL.  She is a local legend and source of continuing inspiration.

10. What is your favorite restaurant?  I like any place my husband will  take us for dinner so I don’t have to cook.

11. If you are a crafter, what is your favorite thing you’ve ever made?   That’s a tough question, though I am rarely completely satisfied with what I make.  But I did love Laurel’s 1st birthday dress and would not change a thing about it.

3. Create 11 new questions for those you nominate.

• What is your favorite blog post (on your own blog)?
• Are you involved in your community?
• What do you do (or would you do) if you have free time?
• What is your favorite family activity?
• What is your favorite blog comment?
• Do you collect anything?
• Do you have a sewing support group?
• What is your fondest memory of the past 20 years?
• Are you happy with your location?  If you had to move, where would you choose?
• What do you think is most the most important component of your blog?  Photos?  Topic?  How-to?
• Do you have any pets?

4. Choose 11 new blogs and link to them in your post.

It took a really long time to write this post and I am reluctant to request that others, whom I might not even know, do the same.  So here is my short list.  I hope they will each have a Leiber post.  I’d love to read about them.

• The Thrifty Needle
• Merry Gay in Stitches
• Blumenkinder Heirlooms
• Nana Company
• Frances Suzanne/Sewing Sisters
• A Fine Seam