When Madness Strikes

     The other day I hinted at some craziness that had come over me. I was not kidding. I have no idea how it happened, but all of a sudden I wanted to make saddlebags. If you don't know why that is strange, you have not been paying attention. I HATE making saddlebags! They have so many tiny little steps. And once you think you are ready to move on to the next step, you are wrong, because you forgot to do a thing that is super important to do first. Still, I felt like making saddlebags. So I pulled out some material and I got started on two sets. That's not bad, I can handle picking away at a couple of sets of bags. 

     Honestly, the ironing might, maybe, be the worst part of them. It has to be very precise so everything folds and lines up properly for gluing. Plus I have to dig out the doll iron, wait for it to heat up, not drop it off the table onto my foot (because I am probably not wearing shoes). Always something. But I made it through the ironing and then over the course of the day picked away some more and made them bag shaped. But then, even with this stuff done, there is SO MUCH MORE. 

     And yet, somehow by the end of the day, just picking away at bits of the process every now and then, I ended up with 2 finished sets of bags. And I didn't completely hate the process. I didn't enjoy it, but at least I got some bags done. Yay me! But then...

     I started on some more! How is this happening? What sort of Twilight Zone am I living in? How am I wanting to make saddlebags? Do I actually want to do it? Am I possessed? What is happening?

     So I am just as surprised as all of you. I have wanted to make saddlebags, so I have been doing it. Sometimes I still hate the process, there really are so many steps, but I have been making it through. I might get super sick of bags soon and just stop. But I will at least have some sets of bags for my next live sale. Currently that is almost ALL that I will have, but sooner or later I will get started on inventory. And I will make sure to share all of that as well. 

 

Casual Dolls

     Like I mentioned yesterday, I worked extra late on New Year's Eve to finish up some dolls before the year ended. One of them was this casual lady. I both love and don't love casual dolls. I wish there was a better way to do shirts so you could cover the arm joint and still have a cute shirt. But I guess I am just not a super fan of a traditional sweatshirt shape, which is basically what this is. But the doll will be versatile and can do all sorts of fun things. 

     This western lady has removable chaps and her hat is removable as well. I think this is the first time I have resized a hat that will be removable. Not that it much matters, once the hat is resized it looks better on the doll, just the underneath is not as pretty. But it is still a good trick to have in my doll box. 

       So I officially finished off 2021 with 114 dolls finished, the last 2 being casual. I am starting off 2022 with some dolls that are a bit more out of the ordinary. And they are definitely taking more time than the average doll. 
 

Driving Dolls

    Remember how during my doll year review I said I had 4 dolls that were nearly finished that I was hoping to get done? I did manage it. I did have to work until about 8:30 on Friday (New Year's Eve) to get them done, but I got a bit of a late start. And I really wanted to get them done. Two of the dolls were these driving dolls. 

    I know that most of the time I make driving dolls as an excuse to make fancy hats. But sometimes driving dolls need less ostentatious hats. Weird, I know. I think these ladies look pretty classy. Though the lady in turquoise kind of looks offended. Maybe I interrupted their conversation.  

    There were a couple of other dolls finished in 2021, which I will talk about tomorrow, and I am already hard at work for new dolls in 2022. I even have been working on something that makes me question my sanity a little bit.

 

Happy New Year!

     Does it matter to me that it is January 5th? Not in the least. I realized the other day, on New Year's day to be precise, that I have made it 2 years posting a blog every single day, at least once. And for the past 2 years I have had several days that had more than one post. Yay me! 3 years ago I also did pretty well with almost 300 posts. I am hoping to keep up my blogging record this year as well. So far so good. 

     One of the things I do on New Year's day is the new calendar. I take the old calendar and mark all the important birthdays, then I take both the school calendars and mark vacations, other days off, and professional development days for both schools. After that I mark any appointments for the new year that were made the previous year. My calendar is very important to me. And it is always horses. The past few years I have gotten my new horse calendar at Ocean State Job Lot. If you are not familiar with those stores they are stores that have a variety of random, cheap items. Usually overstock from a bunch of different stores and so on. I can tell you they are the best place to buy coconut oil (under $7 a jar!) and I can get a calendar for $3. I am totally OK with that. The thing I discovered this year, is sometimes my calendar is very similar to the previous year's calendar. Not every month is the same, just January and December are identical, with most of the photos for 2022 being the same as 2021, with a few new ones, but it's a horse calendar, which is mostly what matters to me. And it made me laugh a lot! I am easily amused. 

We don't really celebrate Christmas around here, but we do give gifts for New Years. Ethan got me a very cool set of... dead horses. 

     They were described a slightly different way on the website he bought them from, but it's a really good description of them. 

     They are not just skeletal... not sure if they would be zombie horses, but they are definitely different and interesting. 

    Ethan told me that he has the same trouble buying me horses that I have buying him tools or air guns. It's really hard to know what the other needs/wants. He liked these and was positive I didn't have anything like it. He was correct. They do look really excellent with my Maggie Bennett horse skull collection though. Somehow Ethan had missed that I had those. 

     If anyone that Little Elecktra visited would like to write a letter (from their dolls maybe?) saying how things are going, I would love to post them! Terri's letter with her dolls staying cozy was a lot of fun and I would love to do more. 
 

Breyerfest 2022 Drama

     The other day I was listening to Mares in Black #83. A portion of the episode was about the usual holiday drama we seem to have in the model horse hobby. There really does always seem to be something. This particular bit of drama is about Breyerfest 2022. Breyer announced, officially, that there would in fact be an online component again (we knew that, but now it's official) and they defined the different ticket levels. 

     And people lost their minds. 

     There is the camp of people that feels that if you are not in Kentucky, at the horse park, you are completely undeserving of anything to do with Breyerfest. The attitude is that if you can't be in person, then too bad. Then there is the camp of people that feels that online should have absolutely everything that in person Breyerfest has. I think both those camps are extreme, entitled, and should learn a little thing called gratitude. 

     First, Breyer will do whatever they choose to do in the best interest of their company. They do try very hard to make collectors happy. Which usually somehow fails spectacularly because people are incredibly hard to please and entitled these days. There was even an extreme group of people who said that if Breyer didn't offer exactly the same things online as in person they would be violating the Americans with Disabilities Act. Stop it. The ADA was not formed to give people equal access to plastic ponies. The Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in several areas, including employment, transportation, public accommodations, communications, and access to state and local government programs and services. 

     I have never been to and in person Breyerfest. It is a very expensive trip, and I likely would not be able to share any hotel costs with anyone since Travis would need to come with me (he's kind of a bad roommate, lol!). I have easily doubled all of my costs instantly. Is it Breyer's fault that my son needs supervision and gets really excited in hotel rooms and stays up half the night making noise? Not at all. Is it Breyer's fault that I personally cannot justify the costs of the trip at this moment in time? Nope. Does it make me mad that I can't go? Nope. If I really wanted to make it work, I could do it. Some day I probably will. Maybe when we are not trying to move. 

     I am incredibly grateful for what Breyer did with moving the event online. Yes, it was because of a global pandemic, but it allowed me to experience Breyerfest for myself for the first time. Then I got to do it again and even be a part of it. That is not something that I would have gotten to do if it had only ever been an in person event. As a person, who cannot personally justify making the trip in person, I am very excited that Breyer is doing anything at all online, now that they are planning to go back to in person. Online won't have access to special runs. My take on that? Thanks for doing ANYTHING for those of us who can't make the trip for one reason or another. If there happens to be a special run that I love so much that I must try to get it I will do what I have always done, work out a way for someone to pick it up for me. And be happy that I can have some Breyerfest with a little less FOMO.
 

Tack Room Cleaning, Sort Of

     Believe it or not, this is what my tack room looks like when it's clean. This is as good as it gets these days. And this is before some of the extras get put back in there "just for now." I really need to go through all of my miniatures and things and see what I can let go of. I have a ton of stuff. So much I am not even sure of all the miniatures I have. And I am sure I likely don't need every single 3D printed (plastic or resin) item that I have ever acquired. Anyway, for now, all of my tack is actually up off the floor of the tack room. Who knows how long that will last. But there are things I figured out during this most recent cleaning. I own 9 western saddles. Several are definitely pleasure saddles. A couple are definitely working saddles. Some are a mix of could go either way. But I have 9 of them. I also have 5 hunt seat saddles (one is out for repair). I own a saddle seat saddle, an endurance saddle, a vaulting set, a parade set, bunches of halters and bridles, and sooner or later I will have a western side saddle and an English side saddle. 

    I own a lot of tack. 

    There are people with 10 times more tack than I have, lol.

     I currently have a western and an English side saddle in the works (or in the plans) of a couple of different tack artists. Why? because I don't currently own them and I worked out the deals for them when I was really into adding things to my collection. I don't regret that, I am sure they will be amazing. The only problem is, I have 2 saddles coming (eventually) and I have only one saddle stand. And even if I got another, I am not sure where I would put it. The tack room is a bit cramped at this point. 

      I have a cute collection of tiny rosettes that I won at photo shows. Those might start to be a thing of the past again (or not have adorable tiny rosettes as prizes) so I may be out of luck in adding any more to the collection. 

      I pulled out all my Studiomaire pads and wondered why I have so few. It's because I forgot to count the 5 white pads that go with my English saddles. I still likely need more. Though I have literally only ever used one of these (and 5 of them came from recent sales so I haven't had time to use them). 

     I also seem to have a lot of barn cats. In real life I am not overly fond of cats (I can hear the hate already...). They are weirdly attracted to me, likely because I am very allergic to them. And I do like to pet them, sometimes (and then remind myself to immediately wash my hands) but so many cats will decide that they need to walk on me... with their claws out. I am definitely a dog person, not a cat person, but my 1:9(ish) scale cats are very cool. And they are doing a good job of guarding the grain bin (the trash can) in the tack room. They must be, I have not seen any 1:9 scale mice. 

      Maybe next time I will take out all of my horse blankets and share those, I don't think I have ever done that. I honestly don't even think I have even ever put them all on horses. I should do that. And maybe I should figure out all the different bridles I have. 
 

Letters From Friends

   Today’s guest post was written by Terri Wright. Thank you Terri for keeping the letters going :)

Dear Elecktra

Happy Christmas.  Another year has come and gone, and time has flown since your visit.   We passed the first snowfall and yalda (winter solstice) celebrations so quickly I feel like we forgot to blink.

We don't celebrate Christmas in our home, but we were tickled when your gifts arrived in the mail.  And we have been enjoying them during this unusually cold winter.  

We have daily lows dipping down past -25 celcius here.. and while our farmers called for a cold bitter winter, I always seem to forget how cold it can get.  I bet you are glad you decided not to spend Christmas with us in Canada !

We hope you have a good holiday, and wish we can see the spring soon!

Emmie and the girls.