Eleanor's Closet Opened

I'm Moving

2007-05-15T11:05:00.000-05:00

to a new Blog location. Catch the new stuff here:

http://eleanors-closet.livejournal.com/

God Save the Queen

2007-05-04T20:14:00.000-05:00

Several of us from Gardner's Company received a huge honor today. Several of our guys were invited to serve as an honor guard for the Queen of England's visit today, and boy was it awesome!

At first it seemed that the women of Gardner's were going to be grouped along with the public, which was fine, but things improved dramatically once we were on site.

We were able to commandeer a most excellent vantage point.

And we were able to see just about everything from here, particularly our guys looking absolutely splended as the honor guard when the Queen left the Fort. Ron is in the foreground and Tom is in the background (most clearly, anyway). You can see Harv as well.

How awesome was that!

I'm back again

2007-05-01T19:18:00.000-05:00

I got back from my trip to Arkansas last week, but I had to fly down to San Antonio yesterday for a quick meeting. It's good to be back and in my own bed, at least for a couple of days. I can't elaborate on the next trip until we're back. It should be interesting.

But in between trips, we met up with some friends and went to the Fort Frederick Market Fair, held at Fort Frederick. This is strictly an 18th Century fair, and the vendors are held to that standard. It's a great event to find things like wools, linens, linen tape, iron ware, and general camp stuff. Some stuff is just out of our time period, but it's still fun to admire the artistry. Most of the vendors create their goods, so unlike Pennsic, there are very, very few "junk stores." Smoke and Fire was about the "junkiest" but they still have to sell 18th Century items or reproductions, so there wasn't any Wal-mart finds laying around.

The woman selling bread out of her cart grew the grains, ground them to flour and baked the breads. While pretty expensive, they were pretty awesome.

This is the stall that friends of ours were selling some 18th Century wares. Kelly is an excellent seamstress and has been doing fairly well sewing things for the Fort McHenry crowd and others. The tea urn is her acquisition for making tea and keeping it warm. She was awfully happy to find that!

There was a lady making baked goods in her brick/clay oven. Believe it or not, this is not a permanent structure. I got to talk with the proprietress and she was very interesting. Unfortunately she was done with her baking by the time we made it to her stall.

And this is my purchase. A 1790 reproduction reflector oven. Obviously I can't use it for Elizabethan stuff, but Fort McHenry, you bet! This makes some awesome roasted meats. I can't wait until September when we can break this in! This was a rather expensive purchase, and Jim can tell you I agonized over it. I tend to talk myself out of expensive purchases.

The Bandes did purchase some things, a few Father Christmas gifts, some iron table legs, and a couple of iron trivits. I personally also picked up a new grill. The tin monger and the iron monger were very happy to see us.

I'm on a business trip

2007-04-17T18:58:00.000-05:00

So I'm ducking out and doing this quick post.

Your Personality is Very Rare (INTP)

Your personality type is goofy, imaginative, relaxed, and brilliant.

Only about 4% of all people have your personality, including 2% of all women and 6% of all men
You are Introverted, Intuitive, Thinking, and Perceiving.

How Rare Is Your Personality?

The Pictures are In!

2007-04-07T06:17:00.000-05:00

The pictures that Cindy took at Jamestown in March came in today! So now I can show off Jim's new outfit that I worked on.

But first, a foodie. On some of the foodie blogs I lurk on the latest recipe has been Hot Cross Buns. Having never tried these before I collected a recipe from BBC and gave it a whirl.

The Result:

The only thing I would do differently from the recipe is less lemon zest. I think there is just a bit too much, so maybe half as much. I used raisins and currants for the mixed dried fruit, and pumpkin pie spice for the mixed spice. Overall light and tasty.

On to the pictures.

The first picture is the complete outfit. The doublet is the new wool one I made just before MTA. The pants I let out so that he could wear them again. They are also wool, but a Christmas present from a friend. The falling band you see completed and "pinned" to the doublet collar. I actually use a long basting stitch so Jim doesn't have to worry about pins. And the shoes are the altered Clarks desert boots. Overall a spiffy looking dude.

And this is Jim hanging with some friends before the Fort opened on Sunday.

And Jim trying to pinch some coins from Cindy, the person who took some of these pictures for us.

How Cool is That?

2007-03-27T18:40:00.000-05:00

Over at Baking and Books, Ari had a contest for folks who signed up for her mailing list. I signed up and guess what? I won a cookbook! I never win things. Really. Just ask anyone who's ever been to Las Vegas with me.

The book arrived today and it is fabulous. Thanks Ari!

Waiting on Pictures

2007-03-22T07:51:00.000-05:00

Well, Jamestown was great, a little cold, but no rain. MTA is famous for having the worst rain all season. Unfortunately, the day Jim wore all his new stuff, I had packed the camera carefully away in my basket. Which was in the car under a mountain of stuff. So I asked Cyndy to take some good pictures of him, which she did. I know the pics have been burned to a CD and hopefully placed in the mail, so I'm sure I'll see them soon.

Otherwise I took almost no pictures. We were pretty busy. I did capture one fun photo of Cyndy and Henrietta.

Henrietta had to be the most tame chicken I've ever seen. She sat on Cyndy's lap for about an hour and let children touch her. Cyndy wasn't holding on to her and Henrietta could have left at any time. It was funny!

Some Progress

2007-03-12T11:13:00.000-05:00

I finished the falling band this weekend. I got hemmed linen all stitched into a neck band and realized I needed something to tie it with. So I made linen ties by doing some fingerloop braiding. I think it turned out okay.

I'm still working on the wool doublet, but it's coming along nicely. The sleeves are all done and the doublet itself needs buttons and the buttonholes cut open. We're getting there.

Then we decided to do something fun for dinner and we made homemade pizza. I made a whole wheat crust, used homemade sauce, reduced fat pepperoni, canadian bacon, and lean ground beef. This was the meat-lover's version. It looked so good out of the oven, I had to take a picture. The one in the back just came out of the oven, and the one on the peel is getting ready to go in.

Too many projects

2007-03-05T08:00:00.000-05:00

I'm not usually this bad. Granted, I do start projects and leave them hanging (sometimes for years). But most of these current projects I have every intention of finishing because either Jim or I actually need them. Jim mentioned before the Volunteer Training Weekend that he doesn't have any wool outfits. Which is true. It's never been an issue before. So I ordered some wool on-line and have started a wool doublet (pictured below) that I will hopefully finish for Military Through the Ages at Jamestown.

I altered a pair of wool trunk hose so that they will fit again. I altered a pair of Clark's Desert Boots to look more Elizabethan. That was easier than I thought it would be. I'm still working on the falling band, but it is closer to completion. I'm still working on my wool bodies.

Meanwhile I desperately want to start a knitting project. I'm refraining from yet one more project in my basket until I finish a few more things.

The wool doublet is coming along, but I'm having more fun with other projects than sewing right now.

Someday it will all come together. I just have to remember to take a picture of it.

In-Progress

2007-02-25T15:47:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted much about sewing lately, so here are a couple of projects that are in the works. This is a pair of bodies that I'm working on and have been for awhile. I'm hand stitching the channels for the reeds with linen thread. The blue fabric is a light wool and it is inter-lined with a stiffer linen canvas. It will be lined with another linen layer to hide the stitching on inside. This project has been a little daunting because it's so much handwork, but it is moving along rather nicely. I would like to finish it in time for Military Through the Ages at Jamestown, but I'm not going to push it. I want a nice article of clothing when I'm done.

After the Volunteer Training Weekend, Jim and I made a list of all the "stuff" we needed to do for the Anniversary Weekend in May. While I have a corset that works, Jim needs falling bands. He has 1 or 2 at the moment, but MTA is a 2-day event and the Anniversary Weekend is going to be a 3-day event. He needs more. This one I've been working on, off and on, for years. It's been a nice little hand work project that I take with me when I remember it. It's linen with a pulled-thread hem. I need to stitch down the pleats and then attach it a band that will get pinned to a collar.

Volunteer Training Weekend

2007-02-23T11:52:00.000-05:00

Last weekend we attended a training weekend at Jamestown in preparation for the 400th Anniversary Celebrations going on in May. Lots of things happening in Jamestown this year.

Cindy is the Fort supervisor and she does a fantastic job of organizing the bunch of rabble called re-enactors. We had some class room stuff (teaching methodology, women in 17th century England, Angolan society, Powhatan society) and some getting out and viewing the buildings and the interpretative goal behind them.

On Saturday because we had a critical mass of Gardners members in one location we had a meeting! Surprise! The hotel was cool and let us use their breakfast room as long as we cleaned up. Then of course we hung around and stitched, conversed, and negotiated. It was a good time.

Yarn-Foo

2007-02-13T12:18:00.000-05:00

I was on business travel to San Antonio last week and I was able to hook-up with a friend who knits. She took me to a fabulous yarn shop. I think she has gotten me hooked on knitting. We picked up some large needles, some small needles and some wonderful yarn. The blue is a fat yarn requiring size 10.5 needles. I'm hoping I can learn to do a monmouth cap with that yarn but I need to get some double-pointed needles first.

The red is a nice weight for socks, but I'm hoping to knit a miser's purse with it. My friend copied out some directions for me. Obviously I need to learn to knit in the round first.

What fun trip!

Buttonholes

2007-01-28T13:58:00.000-05:00

I have been continuing to work on the red cassock. I've been doing a bit of handstitching, and now I'm working on the buttonholes. I'm handstitching those as well, but I found some beautiful pewter button from Steve Millingham's Pewter Replicas. Even though he is located in England, his prices are so reasonable that even with overseas shipping and an abominable exchange rate, the buttons usually work out to be less expensive than what I can find over here.

The cassock is madder red wood lined with linen. All the hand stitching is with linen thread.

Resolutions

2007-01-25T07:42:00.000-05:00

It's taken me awhile to come up with a resolution. At least one with a reasonable chance of success. I'm resolving to be better organized.

Ha! I hear you laughing again! It's true! It appears to be the one skill I have that I can share and help others with. Thus I'm trying to be better organized.

I'm working on getting the Calendar together for Gardner's Company. I didn't realize how busy we could be until I started working on it. We could be pretty busy the first 6 months or so of the year. If we do all of the major events at Jamestown that's 4 trips.

We had our Yule event last weekend and I have to say, I was horribly unhelpful in getting this event together. Poor Carla did the lion's share of it, from the murder mystery, organizing food, and coordinating the site and sending out the announcement e-mails to unresponsive members, and determining who's coming (which you need to know to do a murder mystery). My total contribution was getting the Father Christmas gifts together, and even then, Carla helped pick things out. I was a putz. So, that's part of the resolution. Get my act together enough to be more helpful in coordinating and organizing at least our own events!

Wish me luck!

Thank you!

2007-01-14T20:53:00.000-05:00

Thanks to LornaJay I figured out the twist in my garters. It's funny, you can see where I changed my stitches and the twist disappears from the garter. I evidently need some expert guidance before I tackle anymore knitting projects. Bad habits are hard to break, and just the way I was wrapping the yarn over the needle made the difference in how the garters turned out. So, it took 3 or 4 rows before I would remember wrap away from me, not toward me, without thinking about it. I'm hopeless.

The funny thing is that I find myself reaching for the yarn and needles. Maybe another pair? Really, a person only needs so many pairs of garters, and I already have a beautiful knitted pair from my friend at Knitiot. Maybe I need some different yarn .....

Progress Report

2007-01-11T07:21:00.000-05:00

I finished one garter, at 30 inches long. Considering the stretch factor, I'm sure that's plenty long. As you can see, I've started on the next one.

As I was cruising along on the first garter, I realized I had no idea how to stop knitting. How do you end these things? I did a quick google on knitting, and found this site. Where I learned it's called binding off and there is a proper way of casting on. Anyway, I successfully ended the first garter and I have proceeded to the second.

But notice the twist in the second garter. If the dog toy wasn't holding down the completed garter, that sucker would be all twisted up as well. What's up with that? I know it's something I'm doing, because a friend's knitted garter isn't doing that.

Knitting?

2007-01-06T11:39:00.000-05:00

Well, I think this is knitting. A knitter I am not, but in a fit of ambition, I decided to try to knit a pair of garters. This is about 2 hours of work. It took three starts and then the yarn was so overworked it was a mess until I got past it. I am so not a knitter.

Considering Yule is in about 2 weeks, I'm not sure I'm going to get a pair of garters done in time. So its a challenge.

Jim looked at it this morning and said that Heather would be done by now. Heather is a friend of ours who knits very well. I just laughed and agreed, she probably would be done by now.

Secret Project No. 2

2007-01-03T18:34:00.000-05:00

This is a Capote coat made from a 4-point Whitney blanket. It is a fairly simple pattern - the body is all one piece. You attach sleeves and the hood and you have a Capote coat. However, what you don't realize until you try to jam two layers of 100% wool blanket under your presser foot is that Whitney blankets are thick. THICK. At least 1/4 inch in a single - yes single - layer. It does compress under the foot, but you are struggling to push this through the machine. Had I been a smarter cookie, I would have cleared off the treadle machine and used it. I think it would have worked better.

Anyway, the coat is for when Jim goes to Cowboy Action Shoots during the colder months. Around here most clubs stop shooting in December, January, and February, but there is one club that still holds monthly shoots during the winter. So he will get to use it. Maybe. It's been in the 50's here lately.

Secret Project No. 1

2007-01-03T12:27:00.000-05:00

Well, this is one of the secret Christmas projects, in a somewhat finished state. It is a knock-down bed, but it is missing the slats that will form the base for the air mattress.

I got the idea for a friend of mine who was cobbling together a sort of platform for her air mattress for Pennsic. While it worked, it wasn't pretty or easy to put together.

This bed is made out of poplar and is painted with Lexington Green milk paint. I have one coat of satin finish polyurethane applied but it needs at least one more coat. We going to use the slats from her other bed for this one. Then it will be done!

I learned a few things while working on this project. I suck at mortises. I really need to practice chiseling. Keeping your chisels sharp helps a lot. I learned how to sharpen my chisels, but I probably need to stop and sharpen them more often during a project. Wood filler hides mistakes. I do need to invest in better mortising chisels - apparently there is a difference in chisels. I hear you all laughing at me! Anyway, the bed works and is easy to put together. I used my own knockdown bed as a guide with a change or two.

I did get some cool loot over Christmas, specific to this project - three of Roy Underhill's "Woodwrights Shop" books. I've only had time to sort of flip through them at this point, but I think they are going to be very useful and informative.

A couple of things

2006-12-21T08:50:00.000-05:00

Last weekend I baked cookies. Lots of cookies. I've already given most of them away. Jim and I could absolutely eat all of the cookies, however, we really don't need to.

I've also been doing a little bit of non-Christmas sewing. This is a red wool cassock, lined with linen. I had hoped to get it done before Foods and Feasts at Jamestown, but that didn't happen. I still have to put on the collar and do button holes and buttons. I'm doing a bit of hand sewing on this as well, so it's taking a little longer. It will be nice and warm when it's done!

Have a Merry Christmas everyone!

Can't tell you

2006-12-04T10:47:00.000-05:00

I've got baking, sewing, and woodworking all going on this month. But I can't tell you about the sewing and the woodworking because they are Christmas presents. And they read this blog.

The baking I'm doing are Christmas cookies for us and for a friend. I've made all cookie dough for the various cookies I'm making and it's all now in the freezer. That way I can bake cookies when I have time in two weeks. So no pictures yet.

Just can't tell you about the rest. Its a secret.

Thanksgiving Day Fun

2006-11-27T12:38:00.000-05:00

For the last several years, several members of Gardner's Company volunteer at Jamestown for the annual Foods and Feasts event. This event is over the Thanksgiving Day and the weekend and focuses on food, of course.

Carla and I usually set up "shop" in the Barracks Building of Jamestown Settlement. We volunteer there and do 17th Century English cooking demonstrations. Using period recipes we prepare various dishes in the huge hearth behind me in this picture.

While we are toiling away preparing food, there are also military activities, and some of our other members help fill out in other buildings of the fort.

Here are some of our guys in formation for a military drill. Robert is wearing the very sexy thrummed hat. It was a bit chilly in the morning.

Anyway, some of the wonderful foodies we made were:

A Mushroom and Leek tart on the Left and a Dried Fruit and Almonds Tart on the right.

Chicken Fricassie - Martha Washington's recipe I believe.

A meat pie. This particular recipe is a pork, fig, and cheese pie which turned out quite yummy.

And and almond tart. This tart is an amazing cream-based confection. The crust is like a sugar cookie and the filling is cream, almond paste, sugar, and egg whites. Yum.

That's just a sampling of the goodies we made. We made more that I didn't get pictures of before the volunteers and Staff gobbled it all down. It's hard to take pictures of stuff when you're supposed to be interpreting and trying to hide things like the camera under your apron. Thanks to some friends I have pictures of me, which I never get.

Overall, the weekend was some work, but I always have fun doing the cooking. It's also interesting working with the public and passing on some early American history in the process.

SkyMaul

2006-11-22T12:15:00.000-05:00

I read this article in Salon through an RSS feed to Bloglines and nearly spewed coffee through my nose this morning. Anyone who has flown on a major (and probably minor) airline in the last few years is familiar with the SkyMall catalog in the pocket of the seat in front of you.

Sheer boredom drives you to flip through this Mall of Unnecessary Stuff. Well, apparently there are other folks wondering just who is ordering this crap and have put together SkyMaul a parady of the ubiquitous airplane catalog.

I'm going to have to find this and read it. The little bits I've seen have been quite funny.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

2006-11-17T12:18:00.000-05:00

Isn't it funny how time flies? Okay, sometimes not so funny. Like now, it's the 17th of November. Next week is Thanksgiving, and Christmas is just around the corner. I find myself pretty much unprepared for the holidays. And then I wonder why I'm so unprepared, considering they happen every year, predictably at the same time every year!

I used to be better about getting ready for the holidays. I don't like procrastinating. It's not really in my nature. I’m the type who wakes up at 3:00 am and worries over things. Any thing. So I try to make sure I don't have anything to worry over. But yet, for the last couple of holiday seasons, I have found myself unprepared for the holidays.

And I wonder why.

Am I really so busy throughout the Entire Year that I can't come up with ideas for the holidays? I can't say that I am, but yet here I am again unprepared. I have a few gifts already purchased, and have a couple of ideas for some family, but for most of them, I have nothing, and can't think of anything cool. Maybe that's the problem; I want to find that cool gift.

But then, what is a cool gift? I think it's something that maybe the recipient wouldn't necessarily buy for themselves, but wouldn't mind having. Or maybe something hand made.

But then, if they wouldn't buy it for themselves, who's to say it wouldn't just sit around collecting dust? Having been the recipient of many dust collectors, I don't really want to do that to someone.

I love the holidays. I enjoy being off from work, cooking yummy food, wrapping gifts, and giving them to my friends and family. I enjoy gift-giving, especially when you've found that gift you really want someone to have. Many of my Christmas decorations are things I purchased in Germany and they are very special to me. It's always fun putting those decorations up around the house and on the tree.

It's finally fixed!

2006-11-05T21:08:00.000-05:00

Finally I have a reliable FAST connection to the internet. It's been a week long odessey. After spending hours reloading all of my software on my brand new hard drive, the internet connection problems still persisted. After all that, you would think something would have improved. I call Comcast yet one more time, and the guy said your modem is shot. Well Hell, I figured that out! What else is there ? Now, you can go to a Comcast store and exchange it or call a tech.

I've been waiting for people to bring me things all week. Which is another story. I wasn't going to wait for yet another tech.

I went to Best Buy and bought my own damn modem. Of course, the broken rented POS still has to go back to Comcast, but my internet connection is fixed!

Yeah!

Out and about

2006-11-03T08:47:00.000-05:00

I've been out and about on business and vacation over the last couple of weeks. While it was fun, I'm glad to be home.

Until, that is, the hard drive quit. You know, for the computer.

So I have spent the last few days reinstalling the operating system, drivers, updating the operating system, and finally, tonight, I'll be able to transfer the files I did manage to save.

What a pain! I have to figure out a better way of backing up the computer, I guess. I managed to lose every bit (byte?) of e-mail. I have to recreate all of that.

I hope everyone had a great halloween!

Another Event

2006-10-11T11:12:00.000-05:00

Aren't they pretty? A co-worker had a bumper crop of beets so I took some home. I made pickled beets and a beet pie. But anyway on to the event .....

This past weekend Gardner's Company did a "presence" at an SCA event called Crusades. Its a rather large event between the East Kingdom and Atlantia. We set up in a tent by the Rapier field and set out a wonderful Arts and Sciences display. We did this venue as a recruiting effort however, the weather did not exactly cooperate. Up where we were it was damp, chilly, overcast, and breezy. Fortunately the rain stopped around 9:30 in the morning.

Isobel made a stewed rabbit, smoked whiting, and baked eel, featured below on the center platter. There are two dishes of different kinds of cheeses, closer to those found in period. It all made for a wonderful display of the different sorts of foods Elizabethans ate.

The photo album was put together by a Olivia to show off what other cool stuff we do.

The idea was that a sign put in the Arts and Science Display area would invite folks to come down and visit us in person. While some people did venture down, I think the weather kept quite a few people away.

Tom also set up his wood working area with tools and examples of his work.

Tom also brought his new livery cupboard (as seen at Pennsic) and we were able to sort of use in that sense. We put some food and pottery in the cupboard.

Overall, I think it is worth the effort of doing a set-up like that in order to recruit and draw interest into our group. However, we may want to consider other factors of the event, such as weather, location, and whether we can show off other activities such as cooking or drill.

Fort McHenry

2006-09-20T06:31:00.000-05:00

Okay, so not much as been done on the quilt, but it's because I've been busy. Things aren't slowing down much either. Ever want to stop the world for just a weekend? Just to catch your breath?

Anyway, I participated in the activities at Defender's Day, an annual event around the Battle of Baltimore in 1814 at Fort McHenry. If you remember your U.S. History, Fort McHenry, and specifically the Battle of Baltimore was when and where the Star Spangled Banner was written.

Here are the guys of the Virginia Militia. A dashing lot aren't they?

To augment the food provided by the Fort staff, we cooked some beef in a reflector oven, a pie, and some cabbage and ham. It made for a nice demonstration and some tasty food for lunch and dinner.

We also had tea time. Debbie brought all sorts of yummy tea things - cakes, tea, jams, you name it.

It's always a good event and the evening program is awesome. The program ends with a military band/orchestra playing the 1812 overture with the Maryland National Guard firing their howizters at appropriate points. Then the raising of the 30ft by 40ft flag and playing the national anthem, followed by about 30 minutes of fireworks. Always a good show.

Quilting!

2006-09-04T18:11:00.000-05:00

Over the Labor Day weekend my mom and I worked on a quilt. Not just any quilt but a quilt top that my great Aunt Minnie had made sortly after my Aunt Betsy was born. That makes this quilt about 35-40 years old. It apparently sat around waiting to be quilted somewhere where it was damaged with some leaks. So, I brought the quilt with me when I was staying with my mom for my Grandmother's 90th birthday shindig.

Mom has much more experience with quilting than I do, so she did the cutting.

I did a fair amount of sewing.

and we came up with this top. The original is what is inside the blue border. We also put on a white border after the blue, but I somehow didn't get a picture of that.

We had to replace a little bit of the white fabric along one end because the stains wouldn't wash out. There are still a few stains here and there, but that's okay. It's part of the quilt's history.

We then tackled the back. There wasn't one. And apparently we didn't guess well enough when we bought the blue, oh, 4 years ago? There wasn't enough fabric to back the quilt with the blue fabric. Mom came to rescue with some white fabric and between the two colors, we managed this:

Stripes! We've since pinned the backing, batting, and top together and it is now waiting for me to quilt it all together. Hopefully it won't be another 30 years before that's accomplished!

It was fun sewing with my mom. We had never done that before and I hope we get to do it again.

It's been busy

2006-08-22T12:25:00.000-05:00

I went to Costume College 4-6 August and then it was off to Pennsic 11-19 August. I haven't been around to get to much posting lately.

Costume college was fun with lots of classes and a definitely more historical bent to it than say, Costume Con. I'm glad we're back before the changes in security occurred. It was bad enough flying into and out of LAX without adding the confusion of no liquids on board.

I have posted some pictures from Costume College on my flickr account, but I'm not finished. I have finished the Pennsic photos, so take a look. The sets are labelled appropriately.

Now it tons of laundry and putting everything away.

Not enough to do?

2006-07-26T06:07:00.000-05:00

Evidently I didn't have enough to do in preparation for Pennsic. After reading Tom's Blood and Sawdust page, I've wanted to make a knock-down hutch to hide a cooler at events. Packs flat for easy transport, does a wonderful job of hiding a cooler while keeping the cooler accessible.

I started last weekend and the results so far:

While not nearly as nice as Tom's, I think it will do well enough. I still have to paint and finish it, which I hope to do this weekend.

Someday I'll take the time to actually learn how to use my tools better. I learn more everytime I make something, but I'm always somewhat disappointed. In this case, the plywood chipped in some places when I cut the boards to size. When I was routing out the legs where the front panel connect some of the wood splintered. I'm sure I'm the one doing something wrong, and I need to get some good woodworking books and do some reading.

FO in the AO

2006-07-21T10:34:00.000-05:00

I finished the Cothardie last night. I was so excited! I've never made this pattern before, and of course, I made some mistakes. I know what I have to do differently, so if I ever make another one ....

Details: 100% linen fabric for both the undergown and overgown. I sewed most of it by machine, but I finished the sleeve hems, neckline, and buttonholes by hand. The buttons I had purchased from Billy and Charlie's ages ago, and I was thrilled when I discovered I had enough. I didn't have to make them!

The closeup shows some detail, but you may have to click on the image to get a larger picture. I came to realize that I really do not have a talent for handmade buttonholes.

The next FO is actually only mostly done. The reason the skirt is on the dummy and subsequently attached to the bodice is to mark the skirt for hemming. The bodice is a modification of a pattern I had and I'm real pleased with how it has turned out. The bodice needs the epaulets and of course sleeves. I'm not making the sleeves for Pennsic, however, so they will be laced on at a later date.

The skirt and bodice are also 100% linen. The skirt is cartridge pleated. The buttons on the bodice are cheezey JHB plastic buttons (I know) in the shape of a knot, so they do okay (for Pennsic anyway). They are about the same size of my handmade buttons, so I can replace them later.

I'm excited. I'm beginning to see the end of the gotta-hurry-up-and-sew-for-Pennsic tunnel.

Busy-ness

2006-07-05T10:49:00.000-05:00

I can't believe I didn't post ANYTHING last month. I've been very busy getting ready for Pennsic. Spousal needs new clothes, I need new clothes, it's never ending. I have started: a skirt, a bodice, two doublets for Spousal, and two cothardies for me. What's finished? A doublet for Spousal. Skirt needs a closure, bodice needs handwork and eyelet holes, doublet needs handwork and buttons, and the two cothardies, well, let just say they still need some work.

I do have help! Lots and lots of help!

Boogalu and Pearl decided that laying on the pieces of the dress I was about to sew would be wonderful help. There was something about this dress that attracted at least one dog to lay on it whenever the dress hit the floor.

Helpful.

Yep.

Despite their efforts, the dress is further along than shown in this picture .

Been Slow to Post

2006-05-22T11:32:00.000-05:00

But I have been busy! I finished this shirt awhile ago, but I didn't get it up on the site before it's first wearing. This is a linen shirt for Jim, with lucet cord for ties on the neck and linen tape for ties at the wrists. I was going through is garb for an event and realized that he needs more shirts and some garb that fits.

The close up shows more of the handstitching detail I put on to make it look "more authentic." I use a machine, more for time convenience than any aversion to hand-sewing. The pattern is a Janet Arnold pattern based on the shirt found at the musuem at Bath. When I find better specifics, I'll change this post.

And this pile is the start of more projects. The reason for the sudden urge/need to sew is we're going to Pennsic this year. Large camping event in the middle August.

Sorry for the dog butt. That's Pearl if you're interested. She's standing on some brownish-olive colored linen, next to that is a raisin color, some olive, a navy, and a dark taupe, all more linen. Oh the projects. The check fabric is a cotton/linen blend that is going to be a skirt for me. So, I need to get on the stick and make some garb for me and Jim that fits!

Finished Object!

2006-05-01T11:09:00.000-05:00

I've finally finished the doublet I posted about earlier. Of course it doesn't fit Jim because I started the doublet about 4 years ago. So, the son of friends of ours, The Boy, has inherited a new doublet. It's a bit big on him, but The Boy has some growing yet to do. We'll be lucky if he wears this much beyond a year.

The fabric is an olive colored linen, I believe I got it from Jo-Anns. It is lined with black linen. I don't remember where I got the black linen. I hand made the buttons. The trim is just plain midi braid, several packages.

The sleeves are detachable. They are laced on with linen lucet cord lacing that I made in a fit of boredom. It always comes in handy.

So there it is, on The Boy. As I said, it's a little big now, but probably not for long.

Unrelated bits

2006-04-02T06:15:00.000-05:00

I'm back from my business trip to Germany, so hopefully my subsequent posts will be more about sewing or cooking than travelling. Overall, it was a good trip, albeit a rather long time away from home.

Wuerzburg

We started the trip at Wuerzburg and ended up with a day we could get out a see some of the city and surrounding area. I did make it to the trim shop, however, in Germany most shops close early during the weekday. I got to the shop about 5 minutes before closing, so I wasn't able to browse and shop. I never made it back, which is probably fortunate for my checkbook.

Marienburg Castle dominates the skyline at Wuerzburg sitting high up on the hill. A co-worker and I walked from our hotel to the castle and walked around the grounds. It was a cold breezy day, but pretty. The views from the castle were grand. That's the Main river that is flowing through the town.

Before we left Wuerzburg some of us were able to take a quick trip down to Rothenburg ob de Tauber. This town is the quintessential German town.

Landstuhl

After a week at Wuerzburg we travelled to Landstuhl. We didn't get out as much at Landstuhl, but we did get to the ruins of Nanstein castle. From the heights of Nanstein, you can see Ramstein Air Base fairly well. I'm sure some security official is not happy about that, but hey, what can you do? If you click on the picture of Ramstein you can see a military plane landing.

Heidelberg

After Landstuhl, we moved on to Heidelberg. Of course, Heidelberg boasts it's own castle, which has been abandoned since 1764 when a fire destroyed it for the third time.

The Pepsi machine provides scale and options I suppose.

After Heidelberg we came home and I was glad to get back.

I'm travelling

2006-03-08T07:28:00.000-05:00

I'm going to be travelling on business for the next three weeks, so I won't get to making another post until April. Where am I going you ask? I'm off to Germany. I've been there several times before, but it has been 16 years. I'm sure it has changed a lot.

One thing that hasn't changed is the trim shop in Wuerzburg. I found the card for the shop (I had kept that for 16 years!) and looked it up on the web. Sure enough, it's still there. You can see it at http://www.dorbath.de/ Click on Kontact and you can see a picture of the front window. When I was there last, the owner had metalic trim that was from the 1800's. Still for sale (DM 150/meter). I don't really have any projects that need trim, but I'm hoping to make a pilgrimage over to the shop and look around.

See you in April!

Bread

2006-02-26T15:46:00.000-05:00

No, I don't mean money. I decided to make bread this weekend. I was looking through the book All the King's Cooks, The Tudor Kitchens of King Henry VIII at Hampton Court Palace by Peter Brears and decided to try his Cheat Bread recipe. Cheat bread is the brown bread the servants and staff would have eaten. It is made with whole wheat flour, and in Henry VIII's time, the bran separated from the finer whiter flour would have also been added. The recipe is just whole wheat flour, water, salt and yeast, so I expected a fairly dense loaf of bread.

Cheat bread was traditionally made with sourdough leavening. To modernize the process a bit, a sponge is made the day before. The sponge is half the flour, most if not all of the water and half the yeast mixed together and left overnight. Because the recipe is in weights I got to use my new kitchen scale. I measured the flour and divided it in half, and then the yeast and divided that as well.

I then mixed 2 cups of warm water into half the flour and yeast. I didn't add the salt into the sponge because salt inhibits the yeast and I wanted things to ferment overnight. The mixture is a very wet mixture. I then covered the bowl and put it into the oven with the light on. This makes a nice warm draft free spot. After leaving this to stand overnight, the sponge looks, well, spongy.

I then dumped the whole thing into my stand mixer and slowly added the remaining flour, yeast, and the salt. I have learned the hard way, if you have had carpal tunnel, don't knead bread dough; let the machine do it. So I do. After about 10 minutes of kneading, I got a wonderful lump of dough.

Because this recipe has no fat, I put a thin layer of oil over the dough with a paper towel so the dough wouldn't form a dry 'skin' while rising.

After the first rise, I punched down the dough and shaped them for the pans. I decided to use a round terra cotta dish I got at Hampton Court Palace and a stoneware loaf pan from Pampered Chef.

These lovely loaves were then left to rise again for an hour and a half. Then baked for 30 minutes at about 375 F. The end result being:

After they cooled for an hour or so, I sliced the loaf to see how dense it was. It seems to have turned out a rather nice, just slightly dense loaf of whole wheat bread. I was afraid the 2 teaspoons of salt in the recipe would have left it a bit salty, but I cannot detect it. It will be terrific with some sharp cheddar cheese.

I'm Done!

2006-02-22T17:33:00.000-05:00

I'm officially done with school. Unlike most normal people I decided to go to school and get this expensive piece of paper only 8 years ago, after working for 15 years in other jobs. So, while working part time and going to school part time, I finally finished.

Of course I had the help of family and friends. I would not have been able to accomplish this without the unbelievable support of my husband. He gave up a lot, too. I also had an employer to helped with the school bills. It wasn't just me getting this, but I definitely earned it!

Buttons!

2006-02-20T16:29:00.000-05:00

I finished the button holes and have started sewing on the buttons. I'm excited to get this finished. The problem is, it doesn't fit my husband anymore. I've been working on this project for so long, he's changed shape. But the good news is that a friend of ours son can wear it. It's a bit big, but he's 12 and growing.

So, Jim needs shirts and doublets. Preferrably those that fit. I'll have to have him try on his pants and see if he needs those as well.

Circles

2006-01-30T10:27:00.000-05:00

It's funny how life seems to travel in circles, while at the same time, it's a new circle.

When Jim and I got married 20 years ago, we had no money, just my pittance of a paycheck. Our goal was getting Jim through college and then he would become an officer in the Army. For fun, we joined D&D and Call of Cthulu groups. These were fun role playing games and we met some great people. We remain in contact with some of them. We would play on weekends and paint figures. It was fairly cheap entertainment that suited us at that point in our lives. We moved onto new places, jobs, and new interests.

When I started on my own education about 8 years ago I had to give up a few things such as a sewing guild and the numerous SCA events we used to attend. The amount of reading and homework reduced the amount of time I had for other activities. Now that I'm finished, I find sewing, SCA, D&D, and figures, coming back into my life. The sewing I searched out, but the D&D and figures came back through Jim. We went to a friend's house for a birthday dinner and Greg was playing a quick D&D game with another friend. Jim watched for a time, and his interest was renewed. We have since broken out the old books, figures, and purchased the new version. Jim's hooked and I admit I miss painting the figures.

I never realized how much of my life was put on hold while I was in school until I started looking around for things to do. Blogging is fun. Boogalu's blog is a real hit with his foster mom who passed it around to other BREW folks. Reading other blog sites has opened up a new venue for discussions. I have found loads of knitting sites, but not too many re-enactor or sewing sites. But I'm still looking.

So it’s a new circle of friends with many of the same interests. It's also new or expanded interests with many familiar friends. I finished school in October, but I've been rattling around trying to pick up the pieces of my life I had forgotten about. I'm getting there.

The following pictures are of the rediscovered sewing room and the progress on the doublet pictured in an earlier post.

I've started on the button holes. So far, so good. I think I have to make about 18-20 buttonholes on this doublet. Fortunately, the buttons are already made.

Sandy

Yule Event

2006-01-22T13:09:00.000-05:00

Gardner's company had it's annual Yule event this past weekend. This year we had a murder mystery theme, and we've discovered that having a theme, along with a sort of script helps people to carry on period conversations. We have something to talk about. We all have personas that have us knowing each other, even living close to one another. In that idealized setting we would have gossip and daily life activities to discuss. In reality, most of us live at least an hour away, some even more, and we don't discuss daily life amongst ourselves. To help achieve a more period level of conversation, Carla and Diane created a murder mystery, carrying on the torch started by Vic and Laura last year. We also had a new site which was just wonderful.

We started the day around 11:00 am, with areas for folks to work on projects and allow us to catch up with each other.

Laura (Isobel) is in the foreground and working on an embroidered bodice. It's amazing the amount of work she has invested in the project and it is just stunning.

Greg (Nathaniel) is sitting in the background doing some leather work. Obviously, we haven't started on anything in a period setting, yet.

The site had a working fireplace that we were allowed to use. A few props made for a beautiful display. You just have to overlook the glass doors and chain curtain over the fireplace.

Late in the afternoon, folks got dressed and the mundanities cleared away. A period dinner was put out on a buffet table. In period, dinner would have been served; however, we simply aren't a large enough group to have folks playing servants as well as have an evening.

The evening pictures are taken without a flash in order to be less intrusive. However, in just candle light, the shutter speed is so long that any movement is registered as a blur. So, some parts of the evening pictures are a bit blurry.

James and Christopher (far side of table) and Robert are playing a card game called Put. Of course, its a betting game. The second picture is the same, just from a different angle.

The event went very well, and I believe everyone had fun. Now it's time to recuperate.

I've Been Tagged!

2006-01-19T12:49:00.000-05:00

This is exciting! Of course, no one but my friend is reading my blog yet, but this is fun!

4 jobs you have had:
Environmental Scientist
Secretary
Word Processor
Fast Food Clerk – You want fries with that?

4 movies you could watch over and over:
Serenity
Pride and Prejudice (A&E)
3 and 4 Musketeers (1972)
Any recently purchased movie

4 TV shows you love to watch:
I really don’t watch shows on TV
I catch original CSI re-runs on Spike on occasion

4 places you have been on vacation:
Royal Caribbean Cruise
Virginia
West Virginia
England

4 websites you visit daily
CNN
For Better or For Worse
Red and Rover
MSNBC

4 of your favorite foods
Chocolate
Is there really anything else?

4 places you would rather be right now
In bed
Sewing
Petting the dog
Snuggling my hubby

4 bloggers you are tagging
I haven't scoped too many other bloggers yet. I've been to:
Self Portrait Tuesday
Knitiotsavant
Julia's Sewing Blog
and I'll be going to Costume College this August

Pepetual Projects

2006-01-08T18:10:00.000-05:00

We all have them. Projects we start with all the good intentions of completing. But somehow, things go awry, either life, or the project itself, and there it sits.

I started this doublet for my husband probably 4 years ago now. Heaven only knows if it will fit whenever I happen to complete it. It doesn't really look all that good in the picture because its on my dress dummy. Jim is much larger than me.

It's so close to being done. I've even made all of the buttons. All it really needs to be finished are the button holes and lacing holes for the sleeves. The sleeves are done except for button holes.

Now that I've reorganized the sewing room, I think this will be my second project. My first project has to be sewing little bags for Yule gifts. Gardners Company is having its Yule event in two weeks and Father Christmas usually drops in distributing small gifts. Of course, Father Christmas has to be provided all of the cool loot in cloth bags.

Maybe next week I'll post yet another perpetual project. Just on the odd chance that anyone else is reading this blog, describe a perpetual project and what is keeping you from finishing it?

First Post

2006-01-04T12:34:00.000-05:00

A couple of months ago I started a blog about Boogalu, our beagle. While Boogalu is loads of fun, there is only so much to post about a dog's life. Believe me, Boogalu has the life of Riley.

So, in an effort to address my personal pursuits, I decided to create a blog about my hobbies, specifically sewing, re-enacting, cooking and occasionally cowboy action shooting.

Right now, in a fit of New Year's Reorganization, my sewing room is a complete disaster. The closet is emptied and the shelf/rod contraption removed. You can't even walk through the room. Hopefully this weekend's efforts will result in a room at least semi-functional.

I got cool stuff for cooking, specifically a kitchen scale, for Christmas. Curiosity made me weigh a cup of flour (4 oz, approx) and how much 4 oz of sugar is volumetrically. I have several European cookbooks, hence weights instead of cups, and this device will be a godsend.

As for re-enacting, I belong to Gardner's Company, a group dedicated to Elizabethan re-creation. We do some cool things, however, things have been slow of late. I'm hoping to fix that this coming year.

Cowboy action shooting is a fairly new hobby. I've participated in only two matches, but I had a good time. It's January, so things in this hobby are fairly slow. Matches start happening regularly beginning in March.

Sandy