"What Do You Do Besides Write?" — And a Fantastic Giveaway

But what do you do for fun? Do you feed your writing muse through any other activity?


In this first post in my new mini-series, I’m going to share how I spent a Saturday helping Renee and David Gillespie, professional living historians and owners of Pumpkintown Primitives, prepare for an historical marketplace. 

This was taken in Beaufort, NC in 2017. The Gillespies are standing in front of Captain Sinbad’s ship which he built by hand. Notice Renee’s dress.

She dyed the fabric and the dress was made by Fort Downing.

Weeks before I volunteered to help, Renee (also known as my favorite Indigo Girl) died silk scarves.

Notice how when extracted from the vat, the cloth is first green, then within 60 seconds after hitting the air, the cloth turns a nice shade of deep blue! Sometimes Renee dyes the fabric 6-8 times to get the color she wants.

After stirring the vat of indigo dye, she hung up the fabric and scarves to let them dry.

The fork which Renee uses to stir the vats was owned by Jim Lyles, a “dyeing genius” who taught at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

By the time I got there, she had already soaked the scarves in alum and set the color with mordant.


Renee demonstrated my job, which was a simple task compared to the hours she had already invested into each scarf.

Afterwards, we had a nice pile of scarves of many different shades of blue.

Renee is experimenting with men’s ties and matching handkerchiefs.

Renee also marbleizes scarves.Wouldn’t sets of these make wonderful groomsmen gifts?

After I pressed them to make the color stick, Renee washed each piece again and then hung them out to dry.

Notice the bowties on the top left!

We were proud of our accomplishments!

I am holding a roll of scarves which is how Renee transports them to a show.

David modeling one of Renee’s new creations–a marbleized bow tie that I ironed!

I won’t be able to attend their next event, but you can be sure that I’m going to try and attend one soon! 

Their booth at a previous show.

And who knows? Maybe in my spare time I’ll become a reenactor too. You never know what I’ll end up doing besides write!

Maybe I’ll get to wear an indigo scarf like this.

Renee and David take Pumpkintown Primitives on the road and have appearances in Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, Maryland, Virginia, and New Jersey. Contact them through their website and find out when they’ll be in a town near you.

Renee will make you a customized indigo scarf!  The winner will pick the shade of blue and the size of the scarf–square (33″x33″) or rectangle (14″ x 72″).  Leave me a comment to enter this contest once. If you answer the question, “What do you do besides write?” OR share this on social media, OR become a new subscriber to my blog, your name will be entered twice. REMEMBER! Leave me your email address if you are new to this blog and how you shared it. Giveaway ends January 26.