Pirates and Caraco Jackets

By Susan F. Craft

In my upcoming novel, Cassia, several of the females in the pirates’ den are wearing caraco jackets.

Caraco jackets usually were thigh-length, fitted jackets worn over a petticoat (a simple two- paneled skirt gathered at the waist). If worn with the front open, then a stomacher was added or it was fastened with ruching strips (a strip of pleated lace, net, muslin, or other material for trimming or finishing a dress, as at the collar or sleeves), or fastened with stays (strings or lacing strips).

The women living with the pirates and who were not the most demure of creatures often would not bother to lace the strings.

 

 

Susan F. Craft is the author of The Xanthakos Family Trilogy that spans from 1780 to 1836 and from the Blue Ridge Mountains, to Charleston, SC, to the NC Outer Banks and back. The first book in the series is The Chamomile, and the second is Laurel. The third, Cassia, will be released this September.

The Bells of St. Michael's

St. Michael's Church, Charleston, SC

Susan F. Craft
Author of The Chamomile, a SIBA Award-Winning Revolutionary War suspense, and of Laurel, a post-Revolutionary War suspense

        The bells were cast in London and installed in St. Michael's Church in Charleston, SC, in 1764. 
        When the British took over the city during the Revolutionary War, they took the bells back to England. At the end of the war, a Charleston merchant visiting England bought the bells and shipped them home to America.
        In 1823, cracks were found in some of the bells, and they were returned to London to be recast. 
        In 1862, during the siege of Charleston during the Civil War, the bells were moved to Columbia, the capital of South Carolina, for safekeeping, but Sherman's army set fire to the city. Only fragments of the bells were found and were sent to London once more, where the original molds still stood.
        In February 1867, the eight bells were again installed in St. Michael’s Steeple and on March 21 joyously rang out, "Home again, Home again from a foreign Land."

To hear a group of master bell ringers from London ring the bells of St. Michaels, click on this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25spIYJr4Ho

Shown in this century-old picture, a chimer uses a clavier

device to strike clappers against stationary bells. Chiming is now performed

from a keyboard in the choir loft and by a programmed mechanism.

Susan F. Craft's post-Revolutionary War suspense, Laurel, was released January 16.  It's sequel, Cassia, will be released this September by Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas.

Laurel, a Post-Revolutionary War Inspirational Romantic Suspense

Stitches Thru Time's very own, Susan F. Craft’s newest novel, Laurel, was released this week. From 2-4 p.m. EST today, she’s celebrating the launch of Laurel on FaceBook at the following link: https://www.facebook.com/events/323605987833539/
Visit the online party, chat, and leave a comment for a chance to win some fantastic prizes.

Here's what she had to say About Laurel.
Desperate to rescue their kidnapped daughter, Lilyan and Nicholas Xanthakos trek two hundred miles through South Carolina mountains and backcountry wilderness, fighting outlaws, hunger, sleeplessness, and despair.

When the trail grows cold, the couple battles guilt and personal shame; Lilyan for letting Laurel out of her sight, and Nicholas for failing to keep his family safe.

They track Laurel to the port of Charleston as post-Revolutionary War passions reach fever pitch. There, Lilyan, a former patriot spy, is charged for the murder of a British officer. She is thrown into the Exchange Building dungeon and chained alongside prostitutes, thieves, and murderers. Separated from her husband, she digs deep inside to re-ignite the courage and faith that helped her survive the war. Determined to free his wife at any cost, Nicholas finds himself forced back into a life of violence he thought he’d left behind.

Following a rumor that Laurel may be aboard a freighter bound for Baltimore, Lilyan and Nicholas secure passage on a departing schooner, but two days into the voyage, a storm blows their ship aground on Diamond Shoals. As the ship founders, both are swept overboard.

Will their love for each other and their faith sustain them as they await word of their missing child? Or is Laurel lost to them forever?

Did you have to travel much concerning your books? If so, what’s the most interesting place you traveled?
Since I want my history to be right in my novels, I do extensive research and travel to the locations of my novels to absorb, to breathe in, everything I can: sights, sounds, smells.

Thank goodness my husband drives us, because I have no sense of direction and can get lost in my driveway.

The most fun trip was one we took to the North Carolina Outer Banks to research for Laurel and its sequel, Cassia. In Laurel, which takes place in 1783, my characters are shipwrecked on an Outer Banks island. Cassia, which takes place in 1799, has pirates. Between the two books, I knew I needed to learn more about the ships that sailed at that time, some of the nautical terms, and seafaring jargon.

In Beaufort, NC, I explored the Maritime Museum where I spent hours in the library that still uses a card catalogue system (at my age, I felt right at home).

I learned about the wild ponies that have roamed Ocracoke Island for hundreds of years and I became fascinated by the pirate lore of the area. A local restaurant owner pointed out an area for us to visit that still looks the same today as it did in the late 1700s.

You say you’d rather research than write.
It’s true. Researching for my novels brings me the same excitement Alan Quartermain must have felt hunting for King Solomon’s Mines. I’ve been known to spend an entire day in a library scribbling notes from someone’s diary, spending a wallet of quarters making copies of maps and old newspapers, and trekking from one book or document to the next with a perseverance Lewis and Clark would have applauded. I enjoy the chase when one clue leads me to the next, to the next…

On my website, http://www.susanfcraft.com, I have over twenty years of research on a wide range of topics. I knew I’d never be able to write enough novels to use all my “historical treasures,” so I decided to share and put them on my website.

Will you share one of your “historical treasures” found in Laurel?

During Colonial American times, toddlers sometimes wore padded pudding caps much like modern crash helmets to protect their heads if they fell while learning to walk. The caps were often made of quilted cotton velvet bound with silk ribbon, stuffed with horsehair, and lined with leather.

Here’s how I used that tidbit in my novel, Laurel. (Callum, a loveable curmudgeon and patriarch of the family, scoffs at the use of a pudding cap.)

        Callum had had a fit. “Such mollycoddling. Never heard of sucha thing. The lassie needs to learn how to come back from a fall. But she can’t do that unless she bangs her head once in a while.”
        The first time Laurel stumbled and hit her head, she had held up her arms to Callum, her bottom lip quivering. He had avoided Lilyan’s eyes as the unhappy little girl fell asleep cuddled against his chest.
        And that was the last complaint she heard from him about the pudding cap.

Which of your characters is most/least like you, and in what ways?
Except for not being able to find my way out of the woods, I identify most with my main character, Lilyan, who relies on her faith in God to get her through the dangerous and tragic happenings in her life.

About Susan
Susan’s Revolutionary War novel published in 2011, The Chamomile, won the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance Okra Pick. Susan recently retired after a 41-year career as a communications director, editor, and proofreader. To assist authors to “get it right about horses in their works,” Susan worked with the Long Riders’ Guild Academic Foundation to compile A Writer's Guide to Horses (also known as An Equestrian Writer’s Guide) that can be found at www.lrgaf.org. Forty-five years ago, she married her high school sweetheart, and they have two adult children, one granddaughter, and a granddog. An admitted history nerd, she enjoys researching for her novels, painting, singing, listening to music, and sitting on her porch watching the rabbits and geese eat her daylilies. The sequel to Laurel, entitled Cassia, will be released this September.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit with Susan. Be sure to pick up a copy of her new book.

Author Interview with our very own Susan F. Craft

I'm so excited that today we get to celebrate with our very own Stitches author, Susan F. Craft! She has a new book coming out this month, so let's give her a hearty Stitches-Thru-Time, whoop and hollar congratulations! HURRAY SUSAN!

For those of you that don't know her, Susan writes historical romantic suspense. Her Revolutionary War novel, The Chamomile, won the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance Okra Pick.  She recently retired after a 45-year career as a communications director, editor, and proofreader.  To assist authors to “get right about horses in their works,” Susan worked with the Long Riders’ Guild Academic Foundation to compile A Writer's Guide to Horses that can be found at www.lrgaf.org. Forty-five years ago, she married her high school sweetheart, and they have two adult children, one granddaughter, and a granddog. An admitted history nerd, she enjoys researching for her novels, painting, singing, listening to music, and sitting on her porch watching the rabbits and geese eat her daylilies.  She has two post-Revolutionary War novels being released in 2015 by Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas—Laurel, in January, and its sequel Cassia in September. She is represented by Linda S. Glaz, Hartline Literary Agency.

Did you have to travel much researching for your books? If so, what’s the most interesting place you traveled?

Since I want my history to be right in my novels, I do extensive research and travel to the locations of my novels to absorb, to breathe in, everything I can: sights, sounds, smells.  Thank goodness my husband drives us, because I have no sense of direction and can get lost in my driveway.

Wild Ponies of Ocracoke Island

The most fun trip was one we took to the North Carolina Outer Banks to research for my upcoming books, Laurel and its sequel, Cassia. In Laurel, which takes place in 1783, my characters are shipwrecked on an Outer Banks island.  Cassia, which takes place in 1799, has pirates.  Between the two books, I knew I needed to learn more about the ships that sailed at that time, some of the nautical terms, and seafaring jargon. In Beaufort, NC, I stumbled upon a maritime museum where I spent hours in the library that still uses a card catalogue system (at my age, I felt right at home). I learned about the wild ponies that have roamed Ocracoke Island for hundreds of years and I became fascinated by the pirate lore of the area. A local restaurant owner pointed out an area for us to visit that still looks the same today as it did in the late 1700s.

Which of your characters is most/least like you?

Except for not being able to find my way out of the woods, I identify most with my main character, Lilyan, who relies on her faith in God to get her through the dangerous and tragic happenings in her life. 

If you could have dinner with one of your characters, who would it be and why?

That’s an easy one. I’d have dinner with Nicholas Xanthakos. I have a place in my heart for this gorgeous Greek who embodies all the traits you want in a hero—bravery, gentleness, honor, faith. (No need to tell my husband—he knows already J)

Here’s how Lilyan describes her husband in Laurel:

“She turned over and watched her husband’s chest rise and fall in his slumber, observing him as he lay in a partial shadow cast from the moonlight. His hands that could wield a knife with deadly accuracy—and yet gently rock a cradle. His arms that could sling an axe for hours—but also encircle his child and wife in a tender embrace. His broad shoulders that could bear the weight of a felled tree, and yet they provided a nestling place for his wife’s head. His firm chin that jutted out in moments of white-hot anger—but also nuzzled into his daughter’s feathery curls. Lips that shouted orders so harshly grown men cringed but also whispered endearments to his wife in their most intimate moments. She regretted the furrow that creased his brow, the only outward sign of how much he missed his koukla—his little doll.”

Do you have a life Bible verse?

…but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. (Isaiah 40:31)

Who is your greatest encourager?

Fortunately, I have several. My husband, my daughter and son, and my granddaughter are my cheerleading team. Rejection is painful and, over the years as I grew more discouraged about not being published and wondered if anything I wrote would be of interest to anyone, they lifted me up. 

Tell us about some of your personality traits.

I could be the poster child for persistence (some might call it hard-headedness). I’ve been writing for 35 years, honing my craft at more writing conferences and reading more books about writing than I can remember. I simply refused to give up until I found someone interested in representing and publishing my novels. For all those years I worked fulltime, took care of my family, and made time for writing—sometimes into the early morning hours. I’m sentimental and cry at Hallmark commercials. I love the Lord with all my heart and strive daily to please Him, though I fail miserably at times.

Where can people get a copy of your books?

You can purchase The Chamomile at all the major bookstores, some regional southern independent bookstores, Amazon, Kindle, and Nook. When Laurel is released January 12, it can be purchased at the same outlets as well as from Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas. 

I'm so glad you were able to join us today, Susan, and congratulations on your new release! 

Pssstt, hey ya'll don't forget to check back the week of January 12, because Susan is going to be giving away a copy of BOTH her books! 

 

About Susan's New Release, Laurel Available January 12!

 Searching for their toddler and her Cherokee aunt kidnapped by slavers, Lilyan and Nicholas Xanthakos trek from their North Carolina vineyard, through South Carolina backcountry to Charleston, a tinderbox of post-Revolutionary War passions. There Lilyan, a former Patriot spy, faces a grand jury on charges of murdering a British officer. Once free, they follow Laurel’s trail by sea and are shipwrecked on Ocracoke Island. Will they be reunited with their dear child or is Laurel lost to them forever?

You can keep up with Susan right here on the Stitches Thru Time blog, or on any of the following:

www.susanfcraft.com (my website)

http://historicalfictionalightintime.blogspot.com (Historical Fiction a Light in Time; my personal blog)

http://colonialquills.blogspot.com (post fourth Monday of each month)

http://www.hhhistory.com (Heroes, Heroines and History; post on the 31^st of each month that has a 31^st)

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/susan.craft.108

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/susanfc/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/susanfcraft @susanfcraft

Colonial American Aromatherapy

Susan F. Craft
(Author of the award-winning Revolutionary War novel, The Chamomile.)

Considering unrefrigerated food, people’s infrequent full baths, chamber pots, odors from horses and other animals, and the fact that people wore shifts throughout several days and nights, can you imagine the odors that must have assaulted the noses of colonial Americans?

Or were they so acclimated to the smells that they didn’t notice? Apparently not.

Many colonists doused handkerchiefs with rosewater or other perfumes, or carried pomanders. A pomander, from the French pomme d'ambre, means apple of amber.

Pomander ball

A ball made of perfumes, such as ambergris, musk, or civet, pomanders were carried in a vase or worn in round containers hung from a neck chain or belt. For the wealthy, the containers were globular and usually perforated and made of gold or silver. Simpler pomanders were bags of fragrant herbs.

Venetian woman wearing a pomander chain around her waist.

Europeans carried nosegays, which were small, hand-held flower bouquets. They have existed in some form since at least medieval times.

A tussie-mussie, nosegay brooch

Posy brooches, or tussie-mussies as they were called in Victorian times, came in all shapes and sizes and enabled people to pin the flowers at the waist, the shoulder, or in the hair.

The term nosegay came about in fifteenth-century Middle English as a combination of nose and gay (gay meaning "ornament"). So, a nosegay was an ornament that appeals to the nose or nostrils.

 

How to make a pomander –
You will need:
• toothpick
• apple, orange, or lemon
• whole cloves
• ground cinnamon
• gallon-sized ziplock bag
• ribbon

Instructions:
• Prick holes in an apple, orange, or lemon using the toothpick. You can cover the fruit in rows or you can make the holes in a pattern.
• Push a whole clove into each of the holes you made, so that the top of the clove sits on the surface of the fruit.

• Put a tablespoon of ground cinnamon into a ziplock bag; place the fruit in the bag, and shake until the fruit is completely covered in cinnamon.
• Tie a ribbon around the fruit, making a knot or bow at the top of the fruit with a streamer.
• Hang the fruit in a cool, dry place for several weeks until the pomander is hard and dry.
• Hang the pomander in a room or fill a bowl with several of them and enjoy the sweet, fragrant arrangement.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, when people stepped out of their houses into the filthy, smelly streets, they would wear vinaigrettes, which were jewelry pieces that held vinegar-soaked sponges. If the odors of the streets were so strong that people felt faint, they would sniff the vinaigrette.

Vinaigrette

Trapunto or Stuffed Needlework, So Elegant

      

      Average Colonial American women were so busy spinning, weaving, cooking, making candles, and tending animals, as well as doing hundreds of other daily chores, they didn’t have much leisure time for quilting.
      Many of the quilted garments, such as winter petticoats, and bedcoverings were stitched by professionals who made meager salaries. It was mostly the well-to-do women who had time for fine needlework such as trapunto, which in Italian means "to embroider." In Latin it means "to prick with a needle." English and American quilters called the technique stuffed work.

Quilted petticoat with trapunto trim

      Quilters would stitch lines through the quilt top, the batting, and the quilt backing. The patterns were usually flowers, feathers, leaves, and vases.

Picture courtesy of the Quilts a Lot Blog

Once they sewed the lines of a pattern, the quilters would separate the threads of the thin backing making a tiny hole.
      Next, using a stiletto, a toothpick, darning needle, or an instrument called a bodkin they stuffed tiny pieces of stuffing or yarn through the holes. After stuffing the space evenly, they would move the threads of the backing into place, closing up the holes.
      In some of the finer examples of trapunto, quilters would stuff darkly dyed batting or yarn underneath the thin white topping, allowing the color to shine through like a pale shadow. This was a tedious process that took a long time.

There's a nice video that shows how to do this elegant needlework at:

http://www.threadsmagazine.com/item/3836/video-boutis-provenal

You may also want to visit the Quilts a Lot blog at:

http://quiltsalott.blogspot.com/2011/03/trapunto-by-hand.html

Susan F. Craft is the author of a Revolutionary War suspense novel, The Chamomile, which won the SIBA Okra Pick. Her post-Revolutionary War suspense novel, Laurel, will be released by Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas January 12, 2015. She is represented by Linda S. Glaz, Hartline Literary Agency.

An Author's Garden, Brick Books

Bricks painted to look like antique books.

 

Susan F. Craft

Since my Revolutionary War and Post Revolutionary novels have the names of flowers, I'm growing an author's garden with chamomiles, laurels, and cassias.

When looking for garden art, I came across the idea of painting bricks to look like antique books, which I'll place among the flowers.

My granddaughter and I painted six books, 3 named after my novels, and 3 after our favorite books (Ben Hur and Jane Eyre for me; and Tuesdays with Morrie for Kenzie).

I'm amazed at how much they look like real antique books!

Here's the video my granddaughter and I followed -- How to Make a Brick Book www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8JkAyjNf1Q

Susan F. Craft is the author of the SIBA award winning Revolutionary War romantic suspense, The Chamomile. The two sequels, entitled Laurel and Cassia, will be released in 2015 by Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas. Susan is represented by Linda S. Glaz, Hartline Literary Agency.

The Chamomile Giveaway

So excited to announce that Britney Adams won this week's giveaway of a signed copy of my Revolutionary War novel, The Chamomile, as well as packets of chamomile seeds. 

Britney, I have the email address you left on your comment and will get in touch about the address to send your prize. 

Susan F. Craft
Represented by Linda S. Glaz, Hartline Literary Agency.

Tidbit Tuesday--Was She Anything Like Scarlett?

Jodie here.  I know, it's typical for me to talk about the Outer Banks, but I've been reading up on something (well, someone) else lately, so why not share about that?  I share an agent with the lovely Julie Cannon, who passed suddenly in October 2012, leaving many friends stunned and saddened.  The "book of her heart," Scarlett Says, released this past October and it's been on my TBR pile.  Now that school's out, I've been able to dig in.  And it has me wondering about Margaret Mitchell, who (as pretty much all of us know) wrote Gone with the Wind.

I always knew Mitchell was killed when she was struck by a car. She was writing the sequel when she died.  That always made me sad.  And believe you me, I was not a fan of the 1991 sequel.  I believe it's the only book I ever threw at a wall.  :-)

What I did not know was that Margaret Mitchell declared she was more like Melanie Wilkes than Scarlett O'Hara.  After reading up on her a bit though, I wonder how well she knew herself.  Apparently, she was quite the flirt--and proud of it--and was a woman who had no problem standing up for herself or the things she believed in.  I think I'd have liked to have known her… and I think she was more Scarlett than she realized.

But it's her childhood years that fascinate me.  When you read her biography, you see where the characters from Gone with the Wind were born.  The family plantation in Wilkes County.  Great-grandparents who immigrated from Ireland to settle on a plantation near Jonesboro, where they proceeded to have a multitude of daughters.  A paternal grandfather who made his fortune running a lumber mill near post-war Atlanta.  Fearful nights hiding during race riots near her family home. Sundays with her aunts, uncles, and grandparents, who told story after story about the Old South and the ravages of the Civil War.

It's that passion, that drive in her blood, that made Gone with the Wind resonate for so many.  It's not the story itself, it's the people who populate the pages, people woven together from Margaret Mitchell's life and the lives of those she loved.  I agree with Steven James, who said, "Don't write what you know.  Write what you feel." Wouldn't all of our books be incredible if we took that one to heart?

Comment on this post or any other post this week for a chance to win Susan F. Craft's The Chaomile! See our giveaways page for more details!

Jodie Bailey was in Atlanta, GA visiting Agnes Scott College the day Scarlett was released.  The bookstores were insane.  She was also there the night the Braves won the World Series.  All of Atlanta was insane.  Her latest novel, Crossfire, is set an hour away from Atlanta and has absolutely nothing to do with Scarlett O'Hara or the Atlanta Braves.

An Author's Garden

By Susan F. Craft

      I’m creating an “Author’s Garden” in my yard in honor of my Revolutionary War novel, The Chamomile, published in 2011, and its two sequels entitled, Laurel and Cassia, which will be published in 2015 by Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas. I’ve already planted six chamomiles and three laurel bushes.
     When they bloom, chamomile flowers look like daisies, except the yellow centers are cone-shaped instead of flat. When you walk through them, they give off an aroma of apples.
     The laurels, or mountain laurels, will have pink blossoms and glossy dark green leaves.
     I’ve ordered a cassia tree from a nursery, but it hasn’t arrived yet. It will have brilliant yellow, cascading blooms and will reach about ten feet tall. Cassia, the “poor man’s cinnamon,” is mentioned in the Bible several times as one of the ingredients of anointing oil. According to Psalm 45:8, when the Messiah returns, his robes will smell of cassia. (All your robes are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia; from palaces adorned with ivory the music of the strings makes you glad. NIV)
     I’ve been searching for some garden sculpture and have found several that I like. Some are more serious and some are whimsical. Please, let me know which you like the best.

     I'm also thinking of painting some bricks like these.

Susan F. Craft is the author of the award-winning Revolutionary War Novel, The Chamomile.