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.
 

So back in January there was this craft swap meme on LJ. I foolishly agreed to participate, and I'm glad I did, but I missed the two month date by quite a bit. oops. Oh well. Sorry.

Anyway, these are the results:

salviati  got the lily, narniarose  received the rose, the butterfly was made for isenglass , and the honeysuckle went to caemfind 


and finally the spider was for allasondrea 

Now, hmm.. what's next?

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...

Finished my little 2"x2" sample embroidered pincushion top. I still need to decide if I'm going to add any spangles to it before sewing the backing and stuffing it. Overall I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out, though I'll definitely do the vine work differently. I was impatient and used the stitch I knew rather than taking the time to learn something new.

More pictures of it in-progress are available in my Projects set on Flickr.

We went to Lochmere's 20th Baronial Birthday on Saturday for a few hours to brave the rain and hang out with friends. My feet were wet and muddy, but the temperature was mild, and the company was amazing. I got to chat with those from far (Tamma and Terry) and near (Mikey and Tara), and work on my second sock of the stockings I've been knitting since Feb. I also informally officially took gabrell  has my protege. He truly has the heart for service, as witnessed by him constantly braving the rain to check in to see if Her Majesty needed anything, helping out with the cards for the rapier tournament, and doing whatever was needed. I have every faith in him, and only hope I can be a good mentor and example.  We'll do something more official when I get a belt woven for him and we can get the household together for it, so I gave him my favorite yellow sprang bag as a placeholder.

We spent Saturday night up visiting with the Toscano's for dinner and conversation. I got a good dose of beagle love from Pearl and Boogaloo, did some more knitting, and pawing through Sandy's Dress in Ireland book. Sandy fed us some tasty pot roast, and we had Craig and Frances for company for the evening, and a great time was had by all.

Sunday morning, after a good long session of sleeping in, I randomly decided to document and archive the fridge-art. It was really about time, there was no room for any new incoming photos, and soon I'd have to clear it whenever we get to the scheduling and installing of the new kitchen cabinets so nothing gets lost or destroyed.
Here is the fridge in the before state:

I made sure to take close-ups of the front top and bottom, as well as the left and right sides before I cleared, cleaned, put the photos and postcards away in a photo album, and rearranged the magnets back on the fridge.

While I was cleaning off the fridge, theodorad  calls to see if Alan has time to spend with halowenslut  playing with swords in the backyard. She also invited us over for dinner for pot roast. After I was done laughing, I cheerfully accepted the dinner offer since I'm not too good to refuse Theo's cooking, ever, and know it would be different but equally as tasty. And so another fine evening was spent in the company of friends, joined also by Tara, Bess, Schecky and Ziggy. My belly is full of yummy home cooked food, and so I must now go to bed.

hmm... nom nom nom

Have not seen a return of the Blue Heron. Hopefully it was just a fluke and we won't really have to worry about them until Winter. Then I took a closer look at the fish when feeding them last night, and man are they huge. I need to lay the yardstick on the edge of the pond and try to catch them on film at feeding time some time. That puny heron wouldn't have stood a chance. :)

My tootsies are feeling better now. Blisters have gone away, although I did sink to wearing flip flops for the foamy cushiony goodness on Tuesday. My legs are feeling better, especially the outsides of my ankles/calves that I strained from walking funny on Monday to avoid walking on my blisters. That was stoopid. Heating pad and rest helped.

Still need to finish the little sample embroidery. I'm stuck on what to do for the vine given the materials I have on hand. Do I compromise and just use the Isabella in the Ceylon stitch for the vine? Do I dig out the gold from a kit we got from Tricia back in June '07? Do I try that gold in the ceylon, or dig up plaited braid instructions? Do I break down and order the sanctioned plaited braid instructions online? sigh...

I haven't been to an event since Pennsic and am lacking in motivation for Lochmere this weekend, though it will be fun and wonderful once there. Totally dayu-tripping it. BTW, is anyone booked to crash with us that I forgot about? We think the bedrooms are not booked for the weekend.

So, contrary to my statement to finish those unfinished projects before starting something new, I've buckled. After our last Plimoth session, and the acquisition of more GST colors, I was inspired to embroider a little sample to both show off the colors and sparkle. I took inspiration and tracings from Extreme Patterns' Arabella coif pattern, and designed a little 3x3" (which I reduced to a 2x2") pin cushion of folded pansies, a thistle bud, a "plain" worm and a bee (from a nightcap in the MFA). The worm is done, and I can't wait to try the bee with the black GST. Drew it out on Wednesday, played a bit with the embroidery this week and weekend and hope to finish it up soon. I think it's very cute. Will post in progress pictures when complete.

Sunday Alan and I decided to take a nice walk in the pleasant weather. We saw chipmunks, squirrels, a bunny, and more than a few deer. One deer crossed the path slowly and disappeared into the woods, but then we saw practically a herd of deer (5?) in the woods by a stream drinking and nibbling on grass. They were all very cute, and I told them to stay in the woods and off the roads, but a bit too tame. As we moved on down the path, I said to Alan in my best Marissa Tomei accent, "So, you're a dee-ah..."

Sadly the walk was longer than I had planned and I wasn't wearing the best shoes. Our little half hour walk ended up being over an hour over more hilly terrain, and I was able to discover exactly how out of shape I am. Now my hips/quads are very sore, so I've been stretching them periodically. And my feet have a few blisters on the balls of my feet. Thank goodness for my Dearfoam slippers so I can mosey about the house in relative comfort. Man, work shoes were murder today, and I was even wearing Naturlizer flats. sigh.

To top it off, this morning I wake up to a Blue Heron in our backyard. dammit. It looked to be immature, smaller and speckled on the breast, but took a few tries to chase away. First I just opened the sliding glass door, then I had to actually yell at it, and finally I had to yell and clap from the bathroom window. Stupid bird. I thought of digging out the bird netting, but couldn't be late, so I just added some more water to the pond to give the fish room to maneuver and was vigilant as I was getting ready for work. I didn't see it about on nearby roofs or anywhere when I left. I'm hoping that if the heron did try for the pond that Bubba and the other big fish bitchslapped it into next spring.