Vacations mean movies - and sewing!

I just saw X-Men Origins: Wolverine and it wasn't nearly as dire as some of the reviewers made it out to be. It was good, start-of-summer fluff and what woman minds looking at Hugh Jackman? The funny part was before the film even started. There were 30 minutes of previews for upcoming films. Really. One quarter of the length of a normal film just for previews! It did let me know that there will be more fun this summer - Angels and Demons, Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince, another Terminator, and (huzzah!) the new Star Trek flick.

I also got more sewing done - one pair of trews for Guy as per request, following the Levantia pattern. I did go with the optional drawstring waist, rather than belt loops and cord, because that version just screamed "Jed Clampett" to me. Next on the sewing list is a new tunic to go with the trews. It's going to be just the rust color of the one I saw last August in the Byzantine Museum in Thessaloniki.

I love a holiday!

And Bulgaria has lots to celebrate! Yesterday was May Day and the town, despite the drizzle and cool temperatures, was full of people taking time to relax. In front of the university, there were the usually folk and chalga singers and lots of tents full of the summer version of the Christmas village. This means lots of beer and kabapche!

Over in front of the opera house, the Blagoevgrad Brass Band and the opera folks were swinging away to old US pop music (please envision the Loco-motion with a heavy Balkan accent...) and loads of Gershwin favorites. The little kids were everywhere on rollerblades, or scooters, or bikes. My, how the place has changed!

I walked over to the old town to see Petar, the cobbler. He needed to measure me for a pair of turnshoes that I'll get later in the summer. While I was there, a school group stopped by and he played an impromptu concert for them on tambura, tupan, and kaval. You have to love Bulgaria!

The best part of all this is that because May Day was a Friday and St George's Day (May 6 here) is on a Wednesday, the national powers-that-be declared a holiday right through - so I'm on day two of a six day vacation!

One, two, three!

The pilgrims' scrips for Winchester are done and I hope they suit Constanza and Guy.(Too bad if they don't, because I'm not making more!) I quite like mine and think it will be very useful in the future at events. Since all three are basically identical linen bags, I put discrete identifiers on them.

A Lover's Knot

That's what I've been working at off and on for the last couple of months when I wasn't sewing SCA stuff. Back in the late 1980's (argh - I'm old!), I bought a pattern for a cushion cover out of a magazine. It might have been McCall's Needlework, but I'm not sure anymore. In fact, I don't even have a picture of what it's supposed to look like - just the counted thread chart.

Anyway, I never made it up, but always thought it would be nice "someday". Well, "someday" is here. It needs 18 more little flowers and then it's on to the words in the knot. It has a love poem that threads around the embroidery and it should go very fast from here on in. Here's a current picture:

Winchester Pilgrimage

The pilgrimage is the next SCA event I'll be attending and I'm definitely looking forward to it. I think I'd like a new outfit, but if not, my Byzantine stuff will do. I am not ever going to pull an "I can make three full outfits in 6 weeks" again. (At least I'll TRY to stick to that resolution!) I haven't been to Winchester since high school and I'm sure it will seem quite different today.

Happy Easter (just a little late...)

So Easter has come and gone and it was lovely - except I was sick. So for the first time in 16 years I did not have a big group of people over for ham and all the trimmings. It was actually liberating! Instead, I hung out and relaxed, which certainly contributed to getting over the stupid 'flu that's been going around campus. I did have some kozunak though.



I've been doing a very little crafting, because once again work has been crazy. I did manage to finish the Drachenwald badge I started and now it just needs making up into a jewelry roll to store veil pins, etc.





I also forgot to say I took a very useful good class at Crown in narrow wares. Here's a sample:


Just remember, "under two, over one"!

Almost to the Easter holidays....

Not that I'm counting days or anything, but it's only 12 days till the Easter break and I can hardly wait! Spring is really here - windows open upstairs, clothes drying on the line, and flowers everywhere. Alas, it's also the busiest time of the year for me at work. Yesterday (yes, Saturday) I had four events to attend. Here are pictures from three to prove it!



A visit from some Serbian journalists.



The international American flag football tournament.



The start of the river clean-up.





And the result!







I don't have photos from the Debate Tournament, alas. Next weekend is taken up with the AUBG Research Conference, West Side Story, and Honors convocation. Then it's Easter (a break - phew!), followed by the choir festival, More-Honors, and the AUBG Olympics. Then it's finals, ending with graduation. Hurrah!

And as I said, it's gorgeous outside so who wants to go to all this stuff?