A Visit to the Chinese Gardens

This past Sunday, the Cartwrights, Sir Thomas, and I made their way to one of the cities hidden treasures, the Chinese Gardens. The garden conjured images of far away lands to the East and it’s beauty was breathtaking.

Following the gardens, we made our way to Portland House to dine under our pavilion.

While my feathery friends played around us.

It was a lovely day!

The Captain in His Ensemble

Here’s the wasitcoat and breeches on the good Captain. I’m quite pleased with the results!

The Pavilion!

Hubby finished the pavilion on Sunday and we are both super excited about it. I’m thrilled at how it turned out! He did an amazing job. He even sewing the curtains and the roof himself. What a talented guy I have :)

Here is is with the curtains/ walls closed.

And with the curtains open. You can also see the make shift fire pit and the moose dog :)

I had to include this picture of little girl doggie! Aaron snapped this and it has to be one of the best pictures we have of her. She looks so pretty! Love my Leila Lu.

Cpt. Cartwright’s Breeches

I finally have some sewing pics for you. Last week I finished up the good Cpt’s new breeches. I am currently finishing his new waistcoat and should have pics for you soon.

They are entirely hand sewn :)

Hopefully I will get a pic of the good Gpt. wearing his new duds soon.

A Rainy Picnic

    On Sunday, a small group of us convened at the Peninsula Rose Garden for a small picnic. We took shelter under the large, and stunning gazebo overlooking the gardens as the rains continued to pour. It was a lovely afternoon full of good wine, good food, and lovely company.

Sir Thomas and I,  Mrs. Cartwright, and Cpt. Cartwright

Now he’s just being silly

Fair at New Boston

Hello Dear Friends and Readers,

     I hope you all are doing well and are having a lovely start to the weekend. I’m currently sitting in the chicken run with my laptop watching the girls run around and explore. They are seriously too cute for words.

    Anyway, hubby, the Cartwrights, and I will be making our way to Ohio this September for the Fair at New Boston. I am soooo excited I can hardly stand it. Not only will it be our first reenacting trip together, but we’ll hopefully get to meet some of you bloggy buddies out there. :)

  Of course, this means that I have my work more than cut out for me over the next 3 and 1/2 months. I will be turning out two suits for Cpt. Cartwright, a new dress for Mrs. Cartwright, as well as other items for Sir Thomas and myself. I hope I can get it all done in time.

  And because I’m just not busy enough, I’m going to be bumping my horseback riding up from two days to three days starting in June. So yeah, I’m slammed and loving it.

   Well, that’s all for now, friends. I have sewing to work on. Have a lovely day!

Love Lauren

As you can see, I had help. Miss Henrietta decided she needed to see what I was working on. Apparently, she likes American Duchess too :)

Love my Girls!!!

First day in their coop and run. They love the coop but aren't so sure about the run yet. So it was chicken pile on mom. We are also dealing with a jealous parrot who thinks the coop should be his too. He jumped up there right as I was taking the picture.

P.s. I did this post on my phone, so it may look weird.

My Portable Writing Box

   My dear friend, Mrs. Cartwright, and I made our way to one of our favorite antique stores a few days ago. When we walked in the door Mrs. Cartwright spotted what appeared to be a writing box sitting on a table with a $65 price tag on it. Now, I have been looking for a box like this for ages, and the cheapest ones I have found run in the $120’s and a reproductions made out of cheap wood with little decoration. I about fell over when I found this lovely.

    I took it home and showed Aaron, feeling quite convinced that it was probably from the early 1900’s, until today. I started researching and after a few hours of scouring antique writing box sites, I’m beginning to believe it might be an original from around the late 18th and early 19th century. I would love to hear your opinions and see if you agree with me. I’ll love it, regardless of its age, but it’s exciting to think it might be the real deal.

   So, here’s a few pictures of an original dated box from around 1800….

This is the secret compartment on the original.

Ok, now for some pictures of my box.

The workmanship is really beautiful. Everything is inlayed and well fit.

The box opened revealing the writing slope.

Each side of the slope opens to a compartment.

This sticker on the panel made be begin to wonder if it could be original. So I did some research and found a reference to Elizabeth Gaimes’ shop in the UK National Archives. Here’s what it said

[no title]  MS 11936/467/904379 23 February 1815

Contents:

Insured: Elizabeth Gaimes, 53 St Pauls Churchyard, jeweller and dealer in writing desks.

You can read more about the insurance that was purchased here… UK National Archives The Sun Fire Office

The pen holder is removable and there is a small compartment underneath it for storage.

The most thrilling thing I found was a small pigeon hole in the inkwell slot. I didn’t notice it until about an hour ago. After I had looked at tons of pictures of these boxes with secret compartments. I finally put two and two together, I discovered that pressing on the pigeon hole with a small pin reveals this…

The pigeon hole

It has a secret compartment with two small drawers. I literally squealed!!!

The tiny knobs are so detailed. I’m not sure what they are made of. Bone???

I love the delicate dovetails on all of the drawers and corners.

So, what do you all think??? Could it be the real thing???

Love Lauren

Finally… A Costume Post

Hello All,

   I finally had a chance to finish Mrs. Cartwright’s new gown and get some photos. I’m thrilled with how it turned out. Hopefully, you will get to see her in it at our next event in May.

Mrs. Cartwright embroidered her own buttons for the gown. They turned out lovely.

Well, that’s all for now.

Have a lovely week!

Love Lauren

Mrs. Cartwright’s Deathhead Buttons

Hi All!

My dear friend, Mrs. Cartwright has found an interest in making death head buttons.  She enjoys making them so much that she is considering selling them to those who do not either have the time or inclination to do so themselves.  But before she embarks on this endeavor, we wanted to know if there was enough of an interest out there to warrant the effort.

So, my question to you, my fellow re-enactors is, would you be interested enough to purchase and/or contract Mrs. Cartwright to make these beautiful buttons for you?  She can make both, the simple but elegant single color buttons as well as the multi-color, intricate ones as seen in the pictures below.

Her prices for silk threaded buttons would be as follows:
$3.50 for each single color button.
$5.50 for each fancy button.
Please comment on this post and let us know your thoughts!  Any contribution will be appreciated!

Fancy Buttons

Plain Buttons

Thanks all :)

Love Lauren