Pennsic Panic!

It dawned on me last night that I only have a month to finish all of my projects! (We will be heading down on August 1st because Tom doesn't want to use two weeks of vacation time and, more importantly, he doesn't want me to over-do it and pay the price.)
Sewing projects for myself include another Campi style dress, a couple more partlets, and some roman garb: two tunicas and a palla (I know as a married woman I should also wear a stola but the idea is to wear as little as possible when it becomes too hot to think.)
Sewing projects for Tom include finishing the last three linen tunics that are already cut out. They should go quickly because I have decided to leave out the side gores and just leave a split. He also needs something to keep his head from getting burned so I will attempt to make a couple of coifs.(Is that the right term for the hat that looks like an arming cap?)
We also need a table for meal prep and, rather than buying a mundane table, I would like to make one like this on from the Golden Lyon web site.

TGIF Challenge

You may or may not know that the last Friday of each month there is a TGIF crop at ScrapFreak. You may or may not know that Jessica Bree has asked me to be part of the design team for her Get Meaningful blog. For this months' TGIF crop I have issued a challenge that involves the GM blog. Go HERE for details and, hey, if you wanna link your finished challenge pages here that would be cool! :)

Scrappiness

A few recent creations:

My Kind of Fun
Combines two ScrapFreak challenges- to scrap a photo of myself and to use mixed fomts for the title.


The Winter Beach
For this one I took a photo from 1987 a cleaned it up in PSE7 (my first time using it!) then created this layout as my submission to the DT audtions at ScrapFreak.


I Believe
Stupid :badwords: blogger!!! PLEASE if you know how to make blogger upload my photos correctly tell me!
Anyway...This one was my example for the Get Meaningful Lesson #14 Beliefs.

Border War

***WARNING- Long photo laden post ahead!***
Tom and I spent this past weekend attending our largest SCA event yet-Baronial Border War at Bertha Brock Park near Ionia.
We knew we were in for some rain so we got the tent set up in the Novus Soldalis (new memebers)camp and the car unpacked as quickly as we could Friday afternoon. After a brief rainshower we visited the Dun Traigh camp next door and did a little wandering exploring the beautiful park and checking out some of the other camps. We ate a simple dinner then prepared to go to a dessert revel at the Northgate camp. We didn't make it past the adjacent camp before the thunderstorm started. We tried to wait out the storm under cover of Vlas and Ermas' pavillion but after about a half hour we gave up and returned to our tent where we played dice by candlelight. Lady Sophie (who had made it to the dessert revel before the rain started) was kind enough to bring some desserts back to our camp to share. After sampling the sweet treats I decided to call it a night while Tom ventured out into the rain to find the party at the Northgate camp. The thunder and lightning continued well into the night but out tent stayed dry and cozy.



Saturday was the busy day of the event. After my morning coffee made in my french press pot (a lifesaver!) I headed over for my shift at "troll". (Troll is the check in point for new arrivals and I have no idea how it came to be called that. LOL)Then I followed Malise over to the lodge for her beaded boomark class. It turned out that I was her only student so we could have done the class right in camp but I'm sure the exercize didn't hurt either of us. After the class I wandered through the merchant area were I didn't see anything I had to buy but I did run into a guy that has worked at the same place as Tom for the last 30 years but we had no idea that he was also into ren faires and the SCA! Tom found me wandering and we returned to camp for lunch then carried our chairs up to the battlefield for the afternoon's main event- the war between the Barony of Andelcrag and the Barony of the Northwoods. I admit that I have no idea how war points are counted to determine the winner but I had fun checking out the garb and armor and did a little hand sewing on a linen apron between battles.





Then we headed over to the lodge for the class on migration era Hungarian clothing that Istvan was scheduled to present. He was a few minures late since he had to rush from the battlefield back to camp to change then rush back up to the lodge for the class. While we were waiting I was entertained by observing Her Majesty Queen Runa converse with a young couple who we too new to realize that they were speaking with the queen.
I wasn't sure which side won the battle until it was announced at court later in the afternoon that the army of Barony of Andelcrag were the victors. I love the pageantry of court as well as witnessing my new friends receive recongnition for their contributions to "the dream".











Saturday evening there was a party at the ballfield that included a chocolate chip cookie contest with samples for all, Middle Eastern dancing and drumming, and a bit too much sampling of the labors of our local brewers. LOL We had the honor of meeting a young squire called Jasper who was sitting vigil for his elevation to knighthood.(I hope I phrased that correctly. I'm still new at this.)Jasper is only 25 years old but, accordng the stories we heard that evening, he is very deserving of the honor and mature enough for the responsibility. We had a great time with friends old and new and it is probably best that we have no photographic evidence of the evening's happenings!
We packed up and left fairly early Sunday morning to get back home and celebrate Fathers' Day with the family.

The Sunshade/Rainfly

Sort of an experiment to challenge myself and see it I could do it. After reading lots of tent making tips on the Medieval Encampments yahoo group and seeing the "bloody" sunfly at Golden Lyon I decided to dip my toes into tentmaking by making a simple sunshade.
I bought seven yards of 60" wide cotton duck from JoAnn Fabrics, cut it into two 3.5 yd lengths, and seamed the two panels together (making a fly aproximately 10'x10'). I followed the suggestion to sew a french seam then sew the flange down because it sounded easier than a felled seam and I use french seaming on my smocks and skirts so it was something I already knew how to do. The french seam works just fine but I think I will go with a felled seam next time. I hemmed the cut ends and left the selvedge sides alone. And I am happy to report that my 50 year old $50 Kenmore sewing machine went through the multiple layers of canvas like it was buttah!
The next step was deciding how to do the grommets. Anyone who has been following my sewing projects will know that I simply don't do metal grommet preferring hand-stitched lacing eyelets on my garb. I had my doubts about a simple stitched eyelet being strong enough and toyed with the idea of stitching over a metal ring for reinforcement but, in the end, decided to do big honkin' brass grommets. They don't show when the fly is up anyway. :wink: What I did not do though was cut holes in the canvas. I used an awl to spread the threads apart to make holes for the metal grommets just as I would do for stitched eyelets.
Yesterday we went to Home Depot and purchased closet rods to use as the poles (as suggested at Golden Lyon) cutting six foot lengths for the corners and seven foot lengths for the center poles. We are using nails in the tops to go through the grommets and loop the ropes over. We plan to use it as is for Border War but most likely will swap out the nails for some pretty finials before Pennsic.
Speaking of the ropes- I didn't originally notice ropes attatched to the center poles in the images at Golden Lyon and thought we wouldn't need them. I had planned to set up the fly directly in front of my (modern) tent. We realized that those center poles need tension on them to keep the ridge from sagging (long debate with Tom over adding or not adding a ridgeline pole :rolleyes:) so we had to move the fly far enough out from the tent to make room for the rope there.
It was a learning experience and, all in all, I am pleased with the result of my first baby steps toward tent making.

Silly Socks & Sleeves

So back at Val Day Ermas mentioned that she and Thomasette had purchased the same reddish purple linen that I had purchased to make camping garb. At Death & Taxes the three of us wore our purple dresses (Ermas in her Russian garb, Thomasette in her cotehardie, and me in my Italian Campi dress) but they both had mustard gold accents or accessories with their dresses and I didn't. I also had yet to make any sleeves for the dress so.............I made the purple sleeves that reverse to mustard gold. :D And we all bought fun purple and gold stripey socks. :D


In other sewing news: I also made sleeves for the navy Campi dress. I hadn't originally planned on sleeves mistakenly thinking that they wouldn't be needed for summer camping events becasue it would be too warm. Silly me, I know better now!
I also whipped up a canvas sunshade/rainfly this week but need to purchase lumber for the poles before I can set it up and take pics.

A Couple New Pages

I did this one yesterday just for the fun of it. My son usually avoids getting his picture taken so when I was able to sneak this one at a graduation party over the weekend I had to scrap it. :)


This one was my sample for Lesson #12 at the Get Meaningful blog. Now if it would just get warm enough here to go to the beach.


Okay. The funky image uploads are really pissing me off. If anyone has any insite into why Blogger inists on changing the orientation of my images when I upload then please share!

Forgotten Treasure

I was so surprised and saddened to discover that this beautiful work of art was left behind when the Grand Rapids Art Museum relocated to their new modern building.





GRRR! Why does blogger keep rotating my photos???

Get Meaningful

Okay. Let me get this off my chest here and now. I am so tired of the people who think all scrapbookers are white middleclass Christian 30something suburban soccer mom's living in a McMansion with their husband and 2.5 perfect children scrapping little Suzy's birthday photos. Please don't pidgeon-hole scrapbookers. There are as many reasons for scrapping as there are scrapbookers. And many of us don't fit the stereotype. :whew: I feel better now! lol
One person I know who definitely does NOT fit the stereotype and makes wonderful scrapbook pages is jessica bree. Take a look at her blog and be inspired to Get Meaningful with your scrapbook journaling. (I don't think it's been officially anounced yet but I know the two new additions to her design team very well. :wink: )
This is what Bree has to say about Get meaningful:
What this is all about
I love to scrap and create... and I do much of it for the process, for the pure enjoyment of it. But this year I decided I want to also make sure I set aside time to scrap about the memories that really matter to me. For each person, this can be different. Questions to ask yourself:
If you left this world tomorrow would your scrapbook truly tell the story of you and your life?
Do you have a box of old photos that you still have not tackled out of fear or general procrastination?
Have you taken the time to record your family history? Not just the big events, but the little things? The traditions, the inside jokes, the little things that make each family unique?
Have you recorded the less pleasant events in life... the hard knocks that shape each of us?
Have you taken the time to WRITE down the stories behind the photos rather than just making a pretty page?
If any of these questions have you thinking about taking your scrapping further then I hope you will join us on this journey! I promise to share ideas and prompts to help get you digging deeper and thinking about the memories you want to document.

I'm a Freak

A ScrapFreak that is. :giggle: Just wanted to give you a heads up about the summer long challenge at ScrapFreak. It's not your typical challenge because you can work on whatever your little heart desires and earn points for everything you scrap! Find the details HERE.

Pennsic Brain

Pennsic is less than two months away and I'm really getting excited!!! I still need to do a few more things to get ready but I feel like I will be able to get it done.

Garbwise I have a few projects to finish:
three more linen tunics for Tom (already cut and pinned)
one more linen day dress for me
two partlets
one or two pair of sleeves

As far as furnishing our camp:
sew 10x10 shade awning & make poles
purchase fabric for and sew two camp chair covers
construct a folding/knock-down table for meal prep

I think I'll get started on the awning next so I can have it ready for Border War in 16 days.

Death and Taxes

We attended our first SCA camping event this past weekend- Death and Taxes hosted by the Canton of Dun Traigh. Our equipment got it's first test. The tent and rope bed went up easily. The bed was comfy and the sleeping bags kept us warm during the unusually chilly nights. Only a handful of us camped, many chose to day trip it Saturday, but we had a good time trying new things and getting to know each other better.





We took in the storytelling portion of the bardic competition. Lord Istvan and Lady Judith entertained us with their tall tales (as did the children who's photos I have not included since I didn't get permission from their parents.)





Tom and I took Ermas' cordial making class and are inspired to give it a try after sampling her wares. Tom went down the hill to watch some of the fighting and fencing. I stayed up at the lodge where I watched Thomasette's bead making demonstration but, as beautiful as they are, I don't think I will be getting into that since I don't think my arthrtic shoulders are up to the task.



Our girls came out for the afternoon for their first visit to an SCA event. It was also Kim's first time in garb! She wore the skirt she made herself (first sewing project ever!) and both girls added the stripey socks Tom bought for them.