B2—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 27,1984
Pumpkin
sunbonnets and skirts
BY SALLY BAIR
Staff Correspondent
EPHRATA Grace Martin
seeks out the graceful, long-necked
varieties when she buys pumpkins.
It’s not because they make the best
pies; it’s that they make the most
interesting characters when she
puts sunbonnents, calico skirts and
spectacles on them.
Grace, the wife of Earl G.
Martin, Ephrata R.D.2, is an avid
craftsperson, and began making
her pumpkin characters about 10
years ago after she spotted one at
the Ephrata Hospital where she
was working as a nurse’s aide.
She says, “When I see something
somewhere, I revise it.” She
revises the pumpkins by adding
glasses, a sunbonnet and often a
basket of flowers or just a bouquet.
While she has kept no record of
the number of pumpkin characters
she has made over the years,
Grace recalls that one year she
1 ' I t ‘i
1 t «i
Si '
vm* *
J< v U Hi:
!
i i
, i
The little girl swinging captures the attention of ail who
pass through the hallway in Grace's home. With real rope,
real wood for the seat, and ddlicate touches, the little girl
comes to life in the frame.
With her built in sewing machine and cabinets. Grace can comfortably keep working
on her craft projects, many of which involve sewing as a basic step.
ladies boast
made 75 of them, and she continues
to get orders for them.
The nice thing about these
characters, which resemble little
old ladies, is that they often last
from year to year. Occasionally
the pumpkin will go bad or soft, but
Grace says, “Old ladies have soft
bellies anyway.”
If the owner of a pumpkin
character should decide he would
rather make a pumpkin pie than
try to preserve the pumpkin, the
clothing can all be removed and
kept for another pumpkin. Grace
points out, “Once you have it you
always have it.”
The base for the character is a
plastic container, and Grace often
takes the containers with her to
search out pumpkins that fit
securely in the base. She has ex
perimented with different bases
and finds that the bottom of a two
liter soda container also works
well. The pumpkin gets taped
//>
*
These little old ladies make a perfect fall addition to any home. The neck pumpkins are
carefully selected and lovingly dressed by Grace Martin, who adds special touches to
make each one unique.
securely in place, and then the
character gets dressed.
Grace fashions the gathered
skirt from calico, adding lace trim
and a lace apron. The sunbonnet is
made from matching fabric. A felt
beak is glued in place and features
are painted on the face with felt on
the markers.
Each little old lady becomes a
unique character, and Grace often
makes an order to a specific color,
so the pumpkin character will
really become part of the home’s
decor.
Grace’s home near Akron is
filled with crafts she has made and
they create a cozy atmosphere
along with the many antiques
which also fill the rooms of the
farm house. The Martin home was
open during the annual tour of the
Lancaster County Farmers
Association Ladies Day Out, and
the many craft projects were
greatly admired by visitors.
Although she does not go to craft
fairs, Grace says she enjoys going
to craft shops. “Whatever I see I
like to try,” she says. "I enjoy
crafts, but not too much of one
thing. I like to go on to the next
thing. I make something for so
long, and then I get sick and tired
of it.” She admits that even though
she may have given up a particular
craft, she will make it again if
someone requests it.
She does not place her many
crafts m the popular consignment
shops because she has her own
market for them. Her most recent
job as nurse’s aide took her to
Maple Farms Nursing Home, and
she says, “If I take crafts there, it
doesn’t take long for them to sell. It
spreads by word of mouth. People
want them for gifts.”
Grace says she works on her
crafts in her spare time. “Some
%
Grace works on one of her pumpkin creations in her sewing
room. The colorfully-dressed pumpkins make a nice addition
to any decor and the clothing can be removed and used on
another pumpkin year after year.
days I spend a lot of time on them
and some days I don’t do any. I
work on them whenever I’m not
busy.”
The Martin family raises about
750 head of beef, plus com and
tobacco, and Grace could once be
found in the fields much of the
time. Now that the couple’s two
sons are older, she does not work
outside as much, though she did
take time off from her nursing
duties this summer to help paint
the bam. The hired men helped her
as they had time, but she did the
bulk of the work.
Sewing plays a large part in
many of Grace’s quilts, and
wmesiead
although she says she used to do a
lot of sewing for herself and her
two boys, she says, “I don’t sew
anymore. I don’t feel like it.” In
recent years, however, she has
made fleece-lined denim jackets
for the three men in her family.
In addition to sewing the clothing
for the pumpkin characters, Grace
also sews for the picture she makes
of a little girl on a swing. This
framed silhouette of a girl clut
ching the rope, sitting on a block of
wood is a real eye-catcher, and
Grace won a second place ribbon
for one she made specially for the
Ephrata Fair this year. She has
(Turn to Page B 4)
*Sv' 7
*Si*s
p%:
* m »
i
i