Neat Food Trick!

I found a really fast way to scrape the pith off of orange peels last week. I didn't like the idea of using the zester end of a citrus peeler because then I'd get really small pieces of orange peels. Instead, I quartered the peels, took them off the orange and scraped off the pith with the zester side. It took only a few minutes to finish each quarter, and each piece was almost intact so I can cut it into sizes I want instead of ending up with only small bits. I used to use a sharp knife to scrape off the pith, but that put too many holes and slices in the peels. This way works much better.
At Creating the Creative, I taught 3 people one embroidery stitch. Hopefully, I'll teach them more and they had time to practice. We worked on chain stitch only.

The Table

I spent a few hours at Danr's today working on my trestle table. He helped me build the top. I'm using the recycled barn boards from G finally. I know I've had them at least a year and couldn't figure out what I wanted to do with them until recently. I had to hand plane down one of the pieces a lot, and that is not easy work. My arms hurt a little from that.
The table is going to fit together with wood pegs only, no metal and it will last longer. It will have an epoxy finish on it, so that won't be period. The only reason I decided on that is because there are holes and cracks that I'd like filled in. I'm going to use this table for cooking mostly, and I want the table to be easy to clean. That way, food bits also won't get stuck in the little cracks. The next step is to sand the top. I'm using a belt sander for this, but I might do the final sanding before the epoxy by hand.

For those who did not know, TJ is going on his third week back at work and is very happy about that. He cannot walk without the air cast on his leg though, but he can walk. The ankle will never be as flexible as it was before because of the pins and plates in it. I'll likely be down there later this month.

I read the post about Ages of War today. I can't wait to go! If the site plans become definite, it will be in my hometown about a mile from my parent's house. Guess where I'd be staying. I also read about the A&S Competition, and the later period Europe is right up my alley, so I guess I'd better begin planning a project. I think it would be fun to do something with food. Speaking of food, my last batch of candied orange peels were slightly burned. I think the honey got too hot too fast, and I didn't stir enough.

Largesse Competition

Lucia lost then found the blackwork I did for her. I'm happy not to have to do that again. I may have more to do for her yet, depending on the outcome from Crown this weekend.

I've started a new work dress in mint green. I'm lining each piece individually, then putting everything together. I'll see how that works. This dress is to see if the pattern fits for the new silk dress I want for Boar's head. I need to work on the other sleeve for that, but it shouldn't take too long. I may need to take the unfinished sleeve apart because I don't think I ever made a pattern for it. It'd be nice to have that if I ever want to make that particular type of sleeve again.

I won, meaning I get a lovely pair of handmade socks from Maestra Giovanna. I did more sweet bags. This time, the pattern on the bags was the compass rose. I brought the honey up to the hard crack stage this time. It was much harder to work with than when it was at the soft crack stage. I'm not sure what I'll do next time. I need to think of something different. This is the second time I've done sweet bags. The pictures are of the raw ingredients, the finished product, the embroidered bags and boiling honey.