House!

So right now, buying a house is my biggest project of all. I close September 28 and move in October 2. I will have a sewing room/home office that I have some very interesting plans for. Hopefully it works. I will have a surprise after Crown, and I've started to form the tang on my next knife. Other than that, I've been sewing and embroidering. And lots of packing to move and also getting rid of things.

Violated my Fabric Rule

I know, I know. I've been very bad about updating my blog. I finished up all my paralegal classes and have now moved on to the internship. Week 3 starts tomorrow and I'll be getting close to being halfway done with that at the end of the week. That is pretty much all that has been going on.

So for more interesting things. Between G and I visiting the Faribo Woolen Mills and Lillies, I seriously violated my fabric rule. No fabric unless absolutely necessary. I now have a large pile of wool and linen, none of which has been even touched on top of what I've already got. The reason for this is I have had to completely remake two of TJ's shirts (that I'm being paid to make) because the pattern wasn't clear on if there were seams included or not, so I added a generous seam allowance that I told the shirt had. They were two sizes too big for him. I had to take two completely apart and stop construction on a third to make them smaller. I will have the last cuff on the last shirt and do the button holes today on them. They'll be shipped to Pennsic once I'm done. Then I have another commission for him which will be making some square silk veils into oval silk veils. At least I'm being paid.

There has been little or no progress on my large embroidery project because of those commissions, but I am planning on getting back to it soon, at least for about a half hour a day. You'd be surprised what you can do in 30 minutes.

Second Hand Stores

It's amazing what you can find. I had a donation to make to a second hand store, and decided to go inside after I did that. I went to Arc's Value Village on Penn Avenue South in Minneapolis. They have a craft section which I usually visit. In a small plastic bag marked at the value price of $0.99, I found two unused skeins of Splendor silk in beige, an ideal color for stalks of wheat, which I have in my corset embroidery project. I also picked up a pair of leather tan Land's End Mary Janes in my size that make passable period shoes which were nearly brand new. I can dye them black if I don't like tan. So now I can cross that off my list. I thought of a couple things to add:
18. Make a girdle book
19. Learn how to do smocking, and how it is combined with blackwork
20. Make an outfit for an infant that can be let out as the child grows (I just found out a non-SCA friend is pregnant and she requested an outfit for the baby).

More Taginne Cooking

I cooked in the taginne again today. This time it was orange chicken stuffed with couscous, currants, almonds and garlic. I also made more couscous to take to work and share. I did the couscous on the stove top, also with currants and almonds. I cheated a little on the orange for the chicken and used frozen orange concentrate and mixed in ground cloves.
















Things are going well on my large embroidery project. I finally gave up on making a frame and bought a frame. It was less than $1o, and I'm satisfied with it. I still have the problem of the ends being pinched together when it is put together. What I don't have, and don't miss, are the tension problems. The frame, from, Michael's, came with split dowels which I just wrapped some of my embroidery tape around and that fixed it. It's lightweight so my floor stand doesn't have a problem supporting it. It still plan on making small frames for anyone who wants them for blackwork, and I found what I hope is the right tool for the job. I'm a big believer in having the right tool for the job.
On the A.S. 50 project, I'm temporarily out of things to add to my list so feel free to give me any suggestions.

Frame 2.0

Frame 2.0 is a failure. So that's where I'm at. Monday night I took the embroidery off the frame because I was so frustrated. Here's what I've gone through so far with frames:
Frame 0.0
No frame. Didn't work. Started over.
Frame 1.o
1 inch square red oak. Nice wood, but far too heavy. My frame stand could not support the weight. The only way I could work on it was to put the stand on a table adn use it to prop up the frame. This made doing the embroidery really slow, and bending over the piece made my back hurt.
Frame 2.o
This is the one you see in the pictures of the project. It worked much better than Frame 1.0, but had its own problems. 1. It was made from Aspen, a really bad choice. I did not choose what type of wood. I will never, never, never make anything from Aspen again. Ever. Did I say never enough? One more time. I will never use Aspen again for ANYTHING. I don't care what the project is. You couldn't PAY ME to use it. The first problem with Frame 2.0 is that the holes were drilled to big for dowel rods. My dowel rods are 1/2" round, and that is the size of the holes in the stretcher bars. And this is where the problems begin. Because aspen is soft and the holes are too big in the stretcher bars, when they are tightened down to hold the dowel rods, there is tension for a while and then I have to tighten it again by turning the dowel rods. I had to tighten the bolts so far that the ends touched. I wrapped some of my embroidery tape around the ends of the dowel rods. My hope was this would add just enough size to the dowel rods so there wouldn't be a problem with the frame losing tension. It didn't work. It only made it so I couldn't tighten up the tension because the dowl rods didn't turn anymore due to the tape on them. Also, the started to crack while I was taking it apart. Aspen is far from the ideal material when it comes to embroidery frames.
Frame 3.0
I already have plans for it. I don't know if I'm building it or TJ is. It will be made from maple. Maple isn't heavy and is hopefully stiff enough to have some spring to it. I've already picked up the maple. If I don't use it for my frame, I will be using to make smaller frames to sell to anyone who wants one. More and more people are asking me about the small frame I have so I'm going to start making them.

More for the List

16. Make a new white apron, maybe add a little embroidery.

Yeah, it's only one thing, but it's something.

SUNrise was fun, but I'm really tired. I taught 6 embroidery classes, inlcuding individual ones. One of those was a six year old. I was teaching Gwynneth (Danr and Katherine's daughter) how to do a stem stitch and she did very well. I drew a flower on some linen for her to do, showed her how and told her to follow the lines I drew.

Maestra Giovanna tooka picture of me in my new formal Italian and wearing my gold mask. I'll have it up here in the next couple days. TJ will be ordering the beads for the neckline and wrist trim. It will be button on glass pearl trim. I haven't decided what buttons to use just yet.

Trestles

Tonight I finished building the trestle legs for my table. One of the shelf supports is a 1/4" higher than the other but that isn't anything that I can't solve by sanding. The other option is to make a piece or runner to stabilize the table horizontally that will slide over the 2x4 shelf supports and just cut one slot a 1/4" deeper.

TJ rebuilt my embroidery frame. The one Danr helped me make is really nice but my floor stand cannot support the weight. The stretcher bars are red oak which is heavy. The new one is poplar which is really light. I haven't had any time to do any embroidery at all since getting back from that trip.

Now with Pictures

I gave up trying to find software to download my digital photos. I picked up a card reader from Radio Shack for about $1o. Add another gadget to my growing family of electronic toys.

Without further ado, here are the first pictures from my digial SLR. I am pleased. I wanted the first ones to be of my table since someone requested those. These are the barn boards Giovanna gave me a couple years ago, and I didn't know what I wanted to do with them so they just sat around until I decided I wanted a new table. Danr took the pics in the shop. It's very dark inside, so I'm happy these turned out nicely. The front took about 2 hours of sanding with an electric sander and at least two hours of hand planing before that. I haven't sanded the back yet. I want to do the final sanding by hand. One end has a couple boards that are longer so I need to do some trimming on that yet. This was over the weekend, and I got the legs cut out before I went home. I was tired from working on a video shoot project since about 8 am that morning.

The next pictures I'm posting will be of the corset embroidery. I have some very nice close ups of the stitches, and it made my realize just how much more I need to practice. After seeing the pictures, I want to take some parts out and do them again, but what I'd be undoing is about an hour or two of work. I'd like people's thoughts once I get the pictures up. You'll see what I'm talking about then.

I'll be at TJ's Thursday night until sometime Sunday. It'll be nice to get away from home for a few days.

One Busy Person

Sorry for the lack of updates people. I've been a little busy getting straight A's in college again.
I've been able to keep up the 4.0 GPA despite everything I do.
So here is what is going on with A&S:
I plan on entering Nordskogen's 12th Night Competition. I haven't decided whether or not to enter the Novice/Amateur or Expert class yet. The corset project is what I am entering. It won't be anywhere near done. I've started the project over, made many improvements and I think that will show when this is done. If it is ever done. I have to schedule in time to work on it every day. One hour a day if possible during weekdays and two hours each day on the weekends also if possible. The bigger problem is that the project really isn't portable so I can't take it to work. It requires an embroidery floor stand which I had to buy since I didn't have one.
I'm working on a new dress for 12th Night. A black silk Italian, fully lined. So far I have the voided velvet sleeves done, the bodice is done. I'm lining the skirts now. I don't see any reason why this won't be done by event time, depending on what I have for classes.
My digital camera broke so there won't be any pictures until I get a new one. I have plans for one, but I'm really not sure what I'm going to be getting yet. There is a National Camera Exchange close by, and I may go trade in my film camera for a similar digital model.
The first Texas Hold'Em Poker Night was fun. I lost $10. I'll post when the next one is if people are interested. It might be a monthly thing though I may not always be hosting it.

Got the Socks!

And they are nice! Follow the link on the right to Giovanna's blog, Quickly Unravel, to see them.

In the embroidery world, things aren't coming along. I haven't touched the Tudor Corset in over a week. I have been busy making tokens for KWAR. These will be going to Their Royal Majesties to hand out as they see fit. I want to be done with these this weekend. I'm probably about half done, so finishing by this weekend or earlier is entirely possible. The Italian work dress is coming along nicely. Everything is lined, and I just have one more section to pleat and then I can sew on the skirt. Its already hemmed, so finishing will only be sewing on lacing rings. I want to have the silk Italian dress done by Boar's Head. That could be possible, too. I just have to find enough linen to line the skirt. That's what others are recommending, but I haven't decided yet.

Here are the first pics I've taken of the corset. Its silk on silk embroidery.

Halloween!

I finished the last item for the costume today...the big white bow for my hair. Everything turned out so well I'm happy to say and it looks good. I'm taking my camera to work. I'll get the pics up tomorrow.

I also popped into heavy practice to drop off Edwin's belt he left at Otsukimi and chatted with G for a bit. I got to try on my socks! G will have them done by the end of the week. I can't wait to get them.

I'm at the point of closing the front on the new work dress. Since I've been working on that, the embroidery for the new Tudor corset has kind of fallen by the wayside. I want the new workdress done by the December folkmoot. By Boar's Head, I want to get my silk dress finsihed. That shouldnt' be hard. I have the two days off before BH, plus the whole week after Thanksgiving, plus the Thursday and Friday of Thanksgiving week. I'll need to do something to keep myself busy. Not like I don't have any books to read...or National Geographics.

No wifi yet...sigh

I thought since today was the last day of my 12 day vacation from work that I could go pick up the equipment I need for the wifi. I called the tech line to find out where to pick the stuff up at, and lo and behold, wifi in my area is delayed until the end of October. Wonderful. I have to deal with Netzero in all its glorious crappyness for another month. And classes start again Monday. Yippee.

And this is what I have done on my vacation:
Blackwork, blackwork, blackwork. The largesse is nearly done. The candy is made, and the embroidery is finished. I just have to stitch the bags together. There will be pictures, eventually.
I made a bag for the chair I bought. That's it. I expected to get more done, but I was lazy. I could have gotten alot more done on the silk corset cover. I didn't touch it for the entirety of my vacation, so being that a new corset was the next thing on my list, that is my next project.
I'd like to have a new dress in time for Boar's Head, preferrably from the black corduroy silk. I'll see how that goes. I'll have to start it mid-October if I'm going to hand sew it. That is what I'd like to do. It'd make a wonderful Italian dress, but I only have six yards and that may not be enough for an early Tudor. The sleeves are almost done and made from something else, so I may have enough. If I do a Tudor, I have to get the corset done first though. I may have to do something simpler, like another work dress from some of the fabric I got at Lillies.