MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Today has been a wonderful day. I know this has nothing to do with crafts and projects, but it's been so nice, I just wanted to write about it. It seems the German tradition is to do all presents on Christmas Eve. Since we live in Germany, Michael wanted to do this. I compromised. We each opened a gift last night, but save the rest for today. We decorated the tree. Normally we decorate about a week before Christmas, but I'm tempted to do it this way again. Just plan better next time so we can make the temporary ornaments, like cinnamon bundles and popcorn strings. Also, we need to find a better place for the tree, so we have an outlet to plug in the lights. Then the kids put out cookies and eggnog for Santa. They called their father and he read them "The Night Before Christmas". Just before bed, we went online and saw where Santa was, on the NORAD Santa Tracker. At that point he was in Zanzibar, Tanzania.

This morning was proper chaos. We woke up at 4, since Michael had to go to work early. The tree had exploded with presents from family and Santa. The kids dug in. It's nice that they can both read their names now. They are able to find their presents easier. There were also a few gifts for Michael. He was very happy with the board game "Cattan" and surprisingly happy with the cute leather making kit. It ended up having a bunch of tools and other bits that he could use and didn't already have. Plus, he said his wallet was dying and he'd make a new one with the kit. COOL! He even got a fuzzy coloring poster. I couldn't help it. I picked up some for the kids and figured he'd give me a cute pouty face if he didn't get one too. :-)

The kids were also excited with the cat. They had both picked out a cat toy for her as a present. This morning they opened her presents in front of her and were thrilled when she immediately wanted to play with them. Of course she really likes Paul's new Cars racetrack. She keeps trying to catch Lightning McQueen as he flies around the racetrack. the kids think it's hilarious.

And of course I got some cool gifts as well. I received the 2 volume set of "The Oxford Anthology of English Literature" from Old English until now. SUPER COOL! And a nice little travel crib/changing table/play pen for the new baby when it comes. And the new microphones for the game systems is fun. Michael will never be able to shut me up now. So many singing games to conquer. :-)

And I'm looking forward to tonight. After Michael gets home from work, we'll have a delicious dinner. Duck, sweet potatoes, pink salad, lemon pudding and pumpkin bread. At least that's the goal.

And the view out the back living room window is beautiful. The snow on the farm behind us, is gorgeous. It's a nice Christmas.

Son's Room...

Paulchen's wall is mostly painted. There are a few spots that I need to put a basecoat on, but I'll get to that tomorrow. I just have to move a few things out of the way first, but I'm too tired tonight. Then I'll sponge paint the red overcoat.

The adhesive for the wall art never came in, so I'm not even bothering to finish with the Cricut and wall art right now. No point if I can't adhere the art to the wall for Christmas morning. So tomorrow I'll focus on the curtains and blankets. Those should whip up pretty quick. I picked up new curtain rods for Paulchen's room today. They should look cool.

And there are definitely advantages to working in a craft store. You know when there are deals. We're trying to get rid of a lot of merchandise that isn't selling, so much of the store was 75% off. I picked up a few fuzzy coloring posters, a couple wooden model kits and some pom-pom craft kits for the kids. This means the kids will have new stuff for their walls and shelves, after we do some of these things after Christmas. Neat!

Daughter's Room Pt. 2...

Aveline's room is all finished. The last little spots were sponge painted tonight. Tomorrow I start my son's room. If I don't get too tired or dawdle, I will have the blue layer painted by bed time and the red sponging will be, at latest, finished Christmas Eve. A bunch of the cut-outs are finished for Aveline's room. My only fear is, the movable adhesive I ordered to make them into stickers, won't be here by Christmas Eve. Thus I will not be able to adhere any of the cut-outs to the wall for Christmas.

The fabric for her curtains is ready to be cut and sewn. That shouldn't take too long. The little lap quilt with Tinkerbell is almost finished as well. I just need to stitch two sides to the backing. If I run out of time and don't get it quilted, she won't notice the difference and I can do that in a few days.

Daughter's Room...

So, for this Christmas, the kids are both getting their rooms redecorated. My daughter's room is in a Disney Princess motif. My son's in a Disney Cars. Their favorite themes. My daughter's room is going to be painted pink, with purple sponging. This next week I'm picking up a canopy that hangs from the ceiling, over the bed. I also ordered fabric that will be turned into curtains and a valance. The final thing, is I'm making removable wall art with my Cricut. I have a Disney Princess cartridge and will then throw the cut-outs in my Xyron with removable adhesive to make them stick to the walls. Today we began the painting. We have most of the room finished. I'm impressed with the time we made it in.

The kids are watching us paint and know we're doing that part. The rest of the stuff is being made while they're in bed. Then Christmas Eve, once they're asleep, we plan to put everything else up, so when they wake Christmas morning, they wake to their brand new rooms. It'll probably blow their minds. Also, one of their Christmas presents is shared. I ordered an 8 foot long stencil of the night sky. It goes on their ceiling and then you paint with glow in the dark paint, the actual map of the summer night sky in the Northern hemisphere. I had a similar kit as a kid, but I had a stucco ceiling, so it wasn't very good. Our kids have a nice flat ceiling. So it should work much better.

Below are two pictures of my daughter's walls. Not quite finished, but you get the general idea for the painting. As my fiance says, it's definitely a little girl's room. It's bright, but that's the point. I want my kids to have fun rooms that are all their own.

Burgundian Pt. 1...

So my Fella has made a deal with me. We're booked for Yule Ball up in Flintheath. I'm really excited. But Michael is so upset (rightly) about not having new garb, he gave me an ultimatum. If I do not have a set of garb for him by Yule, we are not going. EEK! So now the mad dash has commenced. I'm cheating and doing the long, inside seams on the sewing machine. But I'm making joined fitted hose, a doublet and a houppelande. And it looks like I need to whip up an undershirt too. The first three have all been cut and partially sewn. The hose are tan wool. I need to figure out why his buttocks keep showing though. I think I sewed the crotch a little wrong and need to redo it.
The doublet is a forest green silk shantung. It was supposed to be a burgundy silk, but then it would be too much red with the new houppelande.
The houppelande is a red cotton velvet. This was supposed to be forest green, but I didn't have enough green velvet. So the colour scheme changed. I need to figure out what to trim the houppelande in. I have tons of white rabbit fur, but I REFUSE to use it. I will not have Michael looking like Santa Clause in Medieval garb. No matter how much he tries to convince me it will be cool.

Hopefully I'll have some in progress pictures soon. Right now I'm so worried about finishing it, I haven't taken photos.

Halloween...

So Halloween was a blast. The kids went trick-or-treating over two days, between two towns by my father's. And while there were some hems I still need to stitch on their costumes, they looked adorable. My son was a cute, 1950s campy spaceman and my daughter was a beautiful Snow White. And they both absolutely adored their costumes.

Snow White...

So my daughter has decided to be Snow White for Halloween. My son found a spaceman among my 1950s patterns. Let the sewing begin. My daughter's skirt, cape and bodice are pretty much finished. Then I have to sew the sleeves and attach everything. She will look so cute when this is all finished. I can't wait until Halloween.

Italian Renaissance Pt. 10...

I am almost finished. I have made some lacing for the gamurra and just need to trim it to the right sizes for the sleeves. I may have to make another lace, but I can do that tonight. The cioppa is almost finished. I only have a little hem left to stitch. I don't know if I'll have time for new hose, so I'll move on to finishing the favour for Barobrand. If I finish that in time, I will work on the new hose. This weekend I plan to get lots of photos. If not, I will have Michael take a few when I get home.
Okay, as an update, above is a picture from Crown Tourney. It's not the best photo and I'm not super pleased with my hair, but it's the finished product. So it's all done.

Italian Renaissance Pt. 9...

YES! The cioppa is half done and looking good. I just have to stitch the lining to the shell on two more areas and it is finished. Thank heavens it is so easy. The next two days, I don't have too much to do, so I can focus on all this. The hose pieces are cut out and ready to be sewn and I only have a few more eyelets to do. Granted I need to fingerloop some ties for the sleeves and bodice, but I don't need much. Then this whole Italian outfit will be finished. Now if I can just get the hairstyle right.

The best part is, I packed my carry-on bag for the flight to Crown Tourney and I was 3 kilos under limit. That included my cloak. So I can easily make the luggage limit for the flight and not leave anything behind. PHEW!

Italian Renaissance Pt. 8...

I have been working on some extra eyelets for my gamurra and am making some progress. I only have about a week to finish tweaking and working on the Italian Dress before Crown Tourney next Saturday. So I've taken a small break from eyelets and am working on the cioppa now. I've cut out the outside layer and am currently drying the lining after washing it. I need to work out some USB problems and then I can upload the photos I took tonight.

As I cannot work further on the cioppa until the green lining is dry and cut out, I'm going to take a small break from that and work on some new hose as well. I have extra brown linen that I used for the interlining in the gamurra, that will be just perfect for the hose.

And my inspiration for tonight? I'm watching episodes of "The Muppet Show". Not the most mentally stimulating, but fun. And of course Penny, our cat, has brought another dead mouse as a present. It's great to know she loves us.

Child's Coat...

I made a coat for my daughter. It's been a long time work in progress. Partly because it was packed forever due to moving. But now I have mostly finished it. While it needs a little tweaking, it is ready for her to wear to school tomorrow. My little girl is going to look so cool in her stylish coat. I will take a photo of it on her to post, in the afternoon after she gets home. I'm so excited and I know she will love it. She's been waiting to wear it.

Now that the coat is finished, I can take the time to tweak the Italian dress and once that's finished, it's on to embroidery. YAY!

Italian Renaissance Pt. 7...

So I wore the "finished" dress to the event this weekend. I need to restitch the bodice for extra support and I seriously need to trim down the skirt. It was WAY too long, even taking pregnancy growth into account. But the rest I am pleased with. Now I just need to cut and stitch the cioppa. I really can't think of any way I'd like to embellish the bodice and sleeves, as there is no pattern to work off of, so I may have to pass and keep it simple. Also, the emergency fabric for lining the skirt came in, but it was advised I wait until after the baby is born to line the skirt. So it's fine for now and less work.

Italian Renaissance Pt. 6...

YAY! The sleeves are finished! I also attached the bodice to the skirt. It's a little bit of a challenge getting in and out of, but it works. Worse case, I can readjust the front of the bodice a little bit and loosen it if I need to. Otherwise, it fits pretty well. Since I have to leave later than planned today for the event, I will have time after packing, to sit and sew some eyelets. Michael made me some emergency lacing last night. He likes to make rope and he made some out of pearl cotton. So I'm using what's essentially a very thin rope for lacing. The white cotton lacing is just a temporary fix, as I have no time to fingerloop anything out of silver silk right now. But it was a quick and good fix. The skirt is far longer than I realized and I'll have to hem about 8 inches to the skirt. But that too is temporary, as the skirt will need to lengthen as my pregnancy grows.

I hope to get a photo or two at the event this weekend. The skirt won't be as full as I want since it doesn't have the lining yet. The cioppa isn't done yet. The bodice and sleeves aren't embellished yet. But it will be a picture of the dress in progress. And we're supposed to make masks for a ball, so I'm hoping that will help make it look a little better.

On the more modern side, I won a couple things off of eBay that are pretty nice. A cute little rabbit fur muff and hat for Aveline and a red velvet turban for me. I'm looking at a rabbit fur trimmed, wide brimmed hat right now that's going cheap. All from the 50s.

Italian Renaissance Pt. 5...

One sleeve down and one to go. I'm so pleased. After I finish stitching the layers of the sleeve, I have to attach the bodice to the skirt and then I just need to make a bunch of eyelets. I don't think the cioppa will be done in time for the event this weekend and I'll already be hemming the skirt at the event. But at least the main part of the dress will be finished. And the cioppa won't be so complicated.

On a weird side note, I had ordered 10 meters of green silk that was supposed to take 2-3 weeks to come in and 5 yards of brown silk that shouldn't take too long. The brown silk being for the lining of the skirt of the dress. Well, the brown silk has yet to arrive and the green silk only took a week to arrive. YEESH!

Italian Renaissance Dress Pt. 4...

Well, today wasn't such a busy sewing day after all. It ended up being a baking day. But I finally got the sleeves cut out and am working on them while I watch a Ginger Rogers movies, "Heartbeat". I also managed to take a couple pictures. I finally didn't forget. So here is the finished bodice and the sleeves just cut. On the bodice you can see the silver shell with the brown silk lining. On the sleeves, the brown linen interlining is on top of the pile.
As for the cioppa, it has gone back to the pinkish brocade. My Fella was all for using the pinkish for a doublet until I pointed out it was pinkish. I was not trying to discourage him, but I was surprised he wanted it. He had made a comment before about someone else's pink doublet and how he didn't like it and would not wear a pink one. He hemmed and hawed and finally decided he didn't want the pink brocade. He prefers the green. I shall give him one last chance to decide, before I cut into it, but it looks like I'll have a pinkish cioppa again.

Italian Renaissance Dress Pt. 3...

Well, the evil cartridge pleating for the skirt is finished. A long and tedious process to be certain. But now it is late at night and I am exhausted. Tomorrow I shall endeavor to sew the shell of the skirt to the bodice. This will have to do until I get in the extra silk for the lining. Of course, yesterday I started emptying boxes and organizing my craft room. AFTER I had used what brown silk I had for the lining, I found 10 meters of a blue-green silk. Figures I had enough somewhere. But as I hope to make this dress reversible, I shall have to wait for the brown silk to come in. I won't have a mismatched piece. After I attach the bodice to the shell of the skirt tomorrow, I plan to finally make the sleeves.

A plus though, was what else I found while organizing the craft room. I had planned to use a pinkish brocade for the cioppa. But I found a similar brocade in dark green. It really caught my eye and I asked my Fella which he thought would be better. He also preferred the dark green. Granted, the night before he was eying the pinkish brocade for a doublet for him. So he may have been a bit biased. None the less, I shall turn the green into a cioppa and he can have the pinkish. Also, I remember buying something like 10 yards of the green, so there should be plenty left over for something cool.

Italian Renaissance Pt. 2...

I know I said I'd get some pictures up, but I need to find the camera again. My Fella has too many and I don't know which is which. I should just dig out my simple one.

The bodice is all finished, whipstitched arm holes and all. I also finished the shell of the skirt. Unfortunately the silk I have for the lining is not quite enough. So I emergency ordered some more. It will not be here in time for the Masquerade Ball though. So I plan to attach just the shell of the skirt and line it for Crown Tourney. If I get the cioppa done, it shouldn't be too noticeable. But the skirt took a long time to stitch and I'm tired of it for the moment. So rather than attach it today, I shall work on the sleeves and attach the skirt later this weekend or early next week.

I'm still not certain how I want to embellish the bodice and sleeves. I'm short on pearls at the moment and I think they would blend in too much with the silver silk anyhow. I'm looking through paintings, but nothing really stands out just yet.

Then after this dress is done, I can speedwork the embroidery. YAY!

Italian Renaissance...

Well, it has been quite a while since I made my first post. Life has been in flux and it took us a while to move to our new home. Which is great by the way. But I'm slowly getting my craft room into order and working on new projects.

I have to wait on the 14th Century Cotehardie. I'm pregnant now and it seems a little pointless to try and fit the Cotehardie for a pregnant stomach, only to refit it later. So I'm switching to late 15th Century Florentine gowns. The Cioppa and Gamurra are fitted with a high waist that will be perfect for pregnancy. The only thing I will have to take up later on, is the hem of the skirts. That's workable.

I also have a few embroidery projects going. I am working on a favour for a friend, when he fights in Crown Tourney in October. I am using a piece of gold silk scrap as the ground. This works out perfectly, as the ground for our Kingdom arms is gold. This is being worked up so that my friend can tie it around his shield arm. On one side of his upper arm will show the counterchanged spears from his arms, surrounded by a St. Catherine's wheel from my arms. The other side of his upper arm will show the dragon and red pine trees from our kingdom arms. That's for god luck. :-) I am using linen floss and working in klosterstitch and couching.

I'm also working on a Baronial and a Shire arms for a wallhanging, headed by our lovely Racaire. Those are being worked in silk thread on linen fabric.

As for the Florentine gown, the gamurra has a silver silk dupioni shell, brown silk dupioni lining and brown linen interlining. The bodice is almost finished and I plan to have photos soon. I'm using a silver Gutterman silk thread. When I get to it, the cioppa is a light red, almost pinkish brocade. I have no clue yet how I will embellish the gamurra. I plan to have it finished for the Masquerade Ball held in Polderslot later this month, but I want it also embellished by the 8th of October for Crown Tourney if I can. At least in the case of embellishment, I only have to work on the bodice and sleeves and not the skirt as well.

This month, every Tuesday I have a pottery class at the Arts & Crafts store I work at. I started this past Tuesday. We're learning how to throw on the wheel. It's lots of fun. My first night I made a slightly lopsided salt cellar. I am going to look through the photos my man took of Italian Renaissance pottery and plates to see what else I want to make. Once I'm finished with the class I have free reign to play in our store's pottery room. (There are definitely some advantages to working in an Arts & Crafts store.)

Beginnings...

So, I have decided to join the masses and keep a blog based on my Medieval projects. I am a happy participant of the SCA since April 2006. I live in the best Kingdom of all, Drachenwald! Here in the middle of Germany, I have the opportunity to visit museums and see real Medieval artifacts. And of course, I do. Quite often right now. So I have a burning desire to make historically accurate Medieval replicas. Granted, I don't always know the technique or have the correct supplies, so my work isn't perfect. Also, I am still learning even the most basic skills, such as sewing. So I have much to improve upon.

Right now, my main projects are some embroidery, garb and music. I have been stitching some Panaches for the Kingdom to give out. These are lower level awards for those who have excelled in Arts & Sciences. They are about 2cm in diameter and will have feathers attached when they are finished.

I am also working on learning a cloak and a 14th century outfit. The cloak will be heraldic and have my heraldic badge diapered over it. However I am temporarily stalled on the cloak. The basic cloak is sewn, but I am deciding on my badge and then I need to register it. Even if it passes the SCA's College of Arms, it will take a few months. So for now, I have just a plain cloak. Yellow wool, lined with green wool.

The project I'm rushing on right now, is to learn a song in the next two weeks. I'll be attending an event called "A Later Period". It's geared towards learning about the later Medieval/Renaissance period. So mostly the 16th - early 17th century. I will be teaching a class on Fingerloop Weaving. I alo like to sing at feast. So I'm learning a song by 16th century composer, John Dowland. "Were Every Thought an Eye" It's fairly simple, as it's in Renaissance English. Thus I don't need to worry about learning lyrics in a language I do not speak. Hopefully I shall be confident enough to sing it in two weekends.

As for the 14th century cotehardie and surcoat, they won't be finished for a bit. The cotehardie is coming along okay. It's green with brown lining, both linen. I'm currently stitching the shell to the lining. The buttons for the front and sleeves are finished. After the two pieces are sewn together, I need to add the sleeves and all the buttons and buttonholes. It shall take a while. The kicker is the surcoat. I bought some bright orange wool as a neat contrast. However, I was a little short on the wool. When I tried to order more, it was discontinued. I can try to stitch some smaller pieces together to make the extra panel for the side, but I'm pretty certain I don't have enough even for that. So I need to order a whole other bit of wool to make a different surcoat. Then I'll cut this down into something for my son or daughter. Grrr...