At attack_laurel 's suggestion on Saturday, I updated my String Arts page with new pages for my Mother-in-Law's panel as well as the Craft Swap pincushions. I also updated my page on my participation in the Jacket Project.

I also updated my calendar since I have to work on the morning of the Lochmere Baronial Birthday event, so might show up for the afternoon, or might head home to crash. We'll see.

Laundry is done, pup is snuggled on her bed, I've got the NatGeo channel on watching The Human Family Tree, and an Ace wrap on my left ankle since it is being a bit weak and achy. I probably stepped on it wrong when we were out chasing bunnies last evening.
 

I'm not terribly thrilled with the hemming job, but part of that is due to uneven drawing, and part is dealing with the slippery silk.
I hope to put something together for a display at KA&SFest before somehow delivering the panel to my Mother-in-Law.

whew!

So last night, I snuggled into the heating pad and set to work on the stem stitch border for the panel. Of course I couldn't stop there, so I moved onto spacing out and stitching down some spangles. Oh, shiny.

Pictures:

( embroidery, pup, and icy sidewalk )

Watched the game with the pup curled up at my feet. So cute, hate to disturb her just to put her to bed. Great game, impressive run #92, and good job on the well deserved MVP #10.

( and... )

Panel for MIL progress so far:

I dislike the really wavy edges of the bottom arch in gold plaited braid stitch. This is why the ladies at Plimoth taped two pen(cils) together to make sure they got nice parallel lines for their vines. The wavy edges are me trying to compensate on the fly for my uneven tracing skills letting the vine change thicknesses. boo. Oh well, lesson learned.

I still need to finish off the central vine, add veins to some leaves, decide if it needs spangles (of course it does!), stem stitch the edge, and then hem the panel.

In non-pup news, this is how far I've gotten on adding gold to the panel:



This was all done this weekend, and I haven't picked it back up since Sunday. Perhaps some tonight might be in order.

I finished up the wing and attached it to the panel, so the 3rd dimension of this panel is tackled. I also pulled out those plaited braid instructions and worked up a few samples of that; first in black silk (hard to see, why do I do this to myself), then in yellow silk, and finally in some gold passing thread. It works so much easier in the metal thread which doesn't shift on you like the slippery silk does.

In a comment to a previous post femkederoas  asked some questions about the custom colored silks, process and advice. I made sure to take additional pictures to attempt to explain more of the process and end product.
( moar embroidery pikshures and chatter... )

Crafty things I accomplished in 2008:

• two knit flounce scarves for the nieces for Christmas
• knit pair of Tudor stockings for Plimoth Plantation
• embroidered silk laurel wreaths on a shawl
• embroidered sample pin-cushion for myself to show off the GST colors
• lots of embroidery on a panel for my Mother in Law (but not yet completed)
• three embroidery sessions at Plimoth
• finished hand-sewn shift which was begun in April 2007
• hemmed blue petticoat, and converted black petticoat to front lacing
• with the help of many others, a painted silk war standard for Alan in time for Pennsic
• an appropriate surcote for Alan for the Pas in June
• 5 sprang pouches for and during the MD Sheep and Wool Demo, as well as the still warped openwork coif
• Peep art- Marie Antionpeep before and after, Buffy the Vampeep Slayer, Zom-peeps,
• taught a fingerloop braiding class

Hey, not too bad on the whole. Would have liked to have been more productive, but I'll take this.

33 degrees and raining. This must be some form of punishment. I couldn't get just a little winter weather for another day home? (my bed is sooo cozy!)

Finished up the half a honeysuckle on the panel last night. Just have two petals on the folded pansy, the detached butterfly wing, and then the goldwork to do. Guess I should learn the plaited braid stitch finally. At least the instructions look fairly straight-forward. Really wish I had tracked the time the panel has taken so far. Oh well, next project, right?

I did have fun making custom colored threads over the break as needed. Unfortunately with the 3 ply Soie Perle it means the combined threads are two of one color and one of another, but gets the custom blending of silk colors across. I used them in some of the leaves with a green and brown and a green and yellow. I noticed that the close-up the V&A has of one of the detached butterfly wings it appears to be plain silk (not GST) and a custom blend of yellow and blue, which is pretty neat. Also, on an MFA polychrome nightcap, there are some custom blends in the leaves and some flowers. There were also a bunch of blends on one of the polychrome coifs seen at the MFA, but they don't have any pictures up of it. Will have to play with more of this on the next project too. (I did make sure to check that striped leaves and blended leaves appear together on an extant piece before applying the colorways to this panel.)

No clue what I'm going to wear to Twelfth Night this weekend, but I hope to dig up something out of my closet. I should really do the buttons and buttonholes on a long almost finished doublet for Alan, but the embroidery is more fun. sigh.

Also, the furlough plan for UMUC has been announced. I think I have three days to take between 1/18/09 and 6/30/09, and they can't be consecutive or more than one per pay-period. On the whole, not a bad way to keep the State workers employed and keep the budget from exploding.

Spent most of my time embroidering by the fire this weekend.
Panel progress so far:

I don't know why, but I've been watching Stylista since it first aired. ( tv shows, embroidery progress, and good friends... )

Here is my progress so far on the embroidered panel for my mother-in-law. I've got the pink complete, as well as the sweetpea, and some other little buds, etc. I'm trying to figure out what to do next, but I'm also waiting on an order of silk thread with more greens in the Soie Perlee so I can work on the leaves and the folded pansy calyx too. I'm also debating on what colors to make the butterfly wings, because stripes there could be fun. I obviously need a larger hoop too in order to be able to work on the corners... Planning projects, I hate planning, so much easier to jump in, but then you have to deal with the unexpected that could be planned for.

( picture )
So, small baby steps, especially considering that the week before last was spent on my Halloween costume instead of embroidering.

Tonight I need to knuckle down and seriously make my Halloween costume for Friday. I'm also trying to decide if I should temporarily dye my hair darker for the occasion or not. Tuesday night might require a visit to JoAnn's for some small accessories before practice to complete the ensemble. I'm so excited but need to get it done. I meant to play in the sewing room on my costume yesterday after I got home, but instead I succumbed to a nap and the embroidery. My fingertips were a little numb when I went to bed from playing with the embroidery, but they have thankfully recovered.

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I had a blast at St. Luke's Artisan Fair on Saturday, even if I was extremely late in arriving. I was a couple of hours late in getting up and leaving the house, and then I got stuck in some traffic on 95 just before the 295 exit around Richmond, locking me in. The plus side of traffic is that I was able to drive with my knees and braid my hair during the creeping up to the accident site. I had also forgot to pack an Acorn, but luckily I remembered looking at the map on Friday night, so I got there just fine. As soon as I checked in and was getting dressed I wished I had brought Roman. It was really freaking warm in the hall, despite being the end of October. But I got dressed, found many wonderful friends, partook of the day-board, since I was starving, and sat to chat.

I've uploaded the pictures I took, though I did not manage to photograph everything, and have to declare my favorite to be Team Cheese.
 Vitha put together a very compelling display, and it was darn tasty too. The depth and breadth shown was very impressive.  I even took the plunge and tried the liquid whey and the buttermilk, in addition to all of the cheeses offered. She had 5 cheeses available, some pressed whey, fresh butter, and whey bread. It was awesome. The cheese press made by Marcellus and Arghylle was frosting on the cupcake, and really made it a wonderful comprehensive display. 

I also really liked Sophia's food display, and declare the spinach tarts my favorites, but the sauce for the pork was also full of nom. I grabbed one of the booklets of recipes to flip through and then I will likely give it to theodorad  and try to encourage her to try some of them for a tasting panel to include myself. :) I also seized upon the opportunity to flip through her pre-view copy of Patterns of Fashion 4 at the end of the day (THANK YOU mmcnealy !) and was surprisingly able to keep all salivation in my mouth and off the book. *drool* I wanted before, and now I seriously WANT!

Other favorites included tattycat 's chocolate display of great intensity, as well as other only in Spain topics. Yum, um wow, need more of that whipped cream from the day-board and more water. Truly wonderful and she demonstrated great knowledge of the subject. I loved Mariana's casting display to include samples of cast tokens, buttons, etc. as well as the carved moulds on display. That was amazing. I am also a fan of baronessadriana 's stitching samples from the Herjolfsnes finds, Kaleeb's natural dyed wool samples, and an embroidered purse using the dyed wools, as well as orlacarey 's dolls.  Then I had fun visiting the various embroidery samplers on display with belfebe  and being amazed at the quality, variety and research presented. Janina's was lovely and impressively meticulous.

I also had a grand time showing off my pin cushion to anyone interested (and likely some not) as well as the pretty GST threads and my current project of a panel for my MIL (the center pink is almost complete now). I also was finally able to wear my hand-sewn shift with my petticoat bodies, which made me pleased, if a bit warm. Of course I've now got plans swimming in my head of an embroidered shift like the one in the V&A with the pink creatures all over it... the problem with successful artisan fairs is the bevy of inspiration afterward with only the same amount of time on hand.

Since Gracie was a little done, and the Moore's were my hosts for the evening, we boogied out a little early and headed to the Lone Star for dinner. The food was tasty, Gracie was charming and the company was fabulous. And then we were joined by John, Deedee and Amanda which only improved the evening, not to mention a peacock and peahen sighting. About an hour and a half later the kids were done and we punched out in a hurry counting ourselves lucky and extremely well fed. Then I had bdeb 's entertaining company on the ride back to their place, and we stayed up chatting and enjoying each others company until after midnight when it was crashy time. Morning came and there was more playing with Gracie and drinking the wonderful Diet Coke of great happiness, and hanging out some more before I got on the road home and left the hospitable Moore's to the rest of their day.

Fun fun weekend!

Darnnit! I've got the "Hero of Canton" song stuck in my head. sigh.

My fabric for my Halloween costume arrived yesterday. So stoked, need to wash it (and the rest of the laundry) tonight.
After Alan's "wow" response to the fabric, I asked him what he thought my costume would be.
His response? Something to tweak thornbury ?
Not in the original plan, but you know it can serve two purposes.

I had a good time attending practice last night, since I'm finally feeling okay and motivated to the leave the house for more than just work. I played with my embroidery, talked over options for variations to the pattern, got a peek at attack_laurel 's sketches of patterns and animals and designs from period resources for possible upcoming patterns. I really want a panel piece of all her cute little animal drawings. They make me happy and are totally squeee worthy. I managed to accomplish a few more little bits to the small panel for my MIL, so baby-steps. I also stayed up too late once we got home because I HAD to do this one area that I couldn't remember the stitch instructions for, dammit.

We also finally delivered brian_murray 's uber-extension cord back to him, as well as delivered a pile of Coke Points to the Bob. Got to chat with friends, see Katie out fighting and having fun, and enjoy a good dinner with fine company. I liked the Peruvian Chicken at Friday's. We even were able to have a discussion about politics, seeing the other side, not seeing the other side, what the heck some of our crazy whackadoodle friends think, that woman, and child-raising techniques.

Tonight I've got laundry to do, more embroidery, I'd like to make a quick Costco run, need to run by the post office to mail some belated things out, and we've got a final measurement for our kitchen re-do tonight as well. Hmm... not enough hours.

I've also recently reorganized by Costumes page (my closet vs. not my closet), and my String Arts page (alphabetical order, what a concept), as well as adding a little page on my embroidered pin cushion. wheee...

Gold! The Fug Girls have captured the glory that was Kelly Wearstler's turban. It makes me smile at the absurdity of it all.

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I spent the weekend mostly curled up at home. I slept in past noon on both days.

Saturday was some knitting, some suspense movies on tv, cleaning the toilets and sinks, and then being kidnapped for dinner at Ceviche by Theo, Mike and Cosette. The Aji de Galliano was perfect comfort food for the cold, and I did get to peek at the painting projects of great coolness, but they returned me home to crash. I do now have a decent start on a second set of stockings.

Sunday was knitting, watching tear-jerkers (August Rush and The Jane Austen Book Club), and drawing out my next embroidery project. I've started a bit on a little 4x6" panel for my Mother-in-Law in thanks for her hospitality and support during our many visits up to MA for the Plimoth jacket project. Again, I'm taking from Isobel's Arabella pattern, highlighting the pink carnation, and other elements surrounding it. I need more green silk though, as there are more leaves than I anticipated.