Promised photos

Here are some photos from my holiday shopping. First, the bargain find: reels of silk originally from the Handweaver's Studio, now sourced from a charity shop. Not shown are the two giant reels that stayed at Constanza's flat. Each was easily as large as all of these combined!



Next, the wool batting for Lord Guy's gambeson (someday!!)



And now my current embroidery WIP - The Patience Sampler from Just Nan. I have had it around for 11 years (!) and I figured it was time to get it out and make it. It is 100% silk on linen with many, many embellishments. It was originally issued in four parts and the photo of the linen with a tiny bit of embroidery and the first pattern section gives you an idea of its final size.

Yes, I am still alive!

I've been nagged by friends and family to get posting again. They KNOW I've been travelling for three weeks, but they still want a blog, even though I haven't been near a needle for the whole vacation (except in a tattoo parlor, but that's another story...). Oh well!

What I can say is that in the course of my travels, I found half a dozen reels of lovely natural colored silk thread (originally from the Handweaver's Studio) in a London charity shop for a ridiculously small amount of cash. My goal is to dye it up over the next month using natural dyestuffs and then embroider some garments with the results. Other travel shopping was also quite successful. I now have six nice rabbit furs to use for tippets or hood trim or whatever. Visiting historic forts is a good way to score stuff like this in the US - gift shops have unusual stuff. I also found some nice 100% wool batting to use in a quilted gambeson for Lord Guy. Hopefully that will be done for his next birthday. When I get some batteries in my camera, I'll put some pictures up of the latest purchases.

Happy Birthday to me!

I'm in London and have had a wonderful vacation so far, with a great birthday party at Genny's, an excellent Thamesreach revel, some shopping, visiting with friends, and time wandering in Camden Market - and there are still fun things to come, including a visit to the British Museum before I fly out to the States for two weeks.

Here's my birthday brunch from this morning. Fresh blueberry muffins, bacon, OJ, and tea. You have to love the candles on the muffins! Yum!

Happy Independence Day!

I spent the day doing many usual things, including having homemade burgers, pop, etc. to celebrate the holiday. Picnics are great, even when they are inside due to rain!

Since Constanza and I are in Bulgaria, we didn't get the usual fireworks display (although we heard a few in the distance, for some reason...). Instead, when we went to the grocery store for picnic supplies, we got to see the first stork of the season flying across town to the river. I wish I had had a camera along. You have to love this country too! Chestita!

Dance and garters

We had a small dance practice last night - some very simple bransles - and I was given a new pair of garters by Lady Constanza. She is a whiz with yarn and knitting needles! They are period, based on a pair in the Museum of London. And if you look back to the June 12 post, you can see her knitting them at Winchester!

One more done!

I finished the lover's knot pillow top and now it just needs to be sewn into a pillow. Woot! I quite like it and am looking forward to picking out the backing fabric.

Winchester wrap-up

We spent a more peaceful night Saturday. I don't know if we were just too tired to be cold, had figured out how to layer clothing to be more comfortable, or had just settled into camping mode, but I think we all slept soundly. Some folk attended the morning service at St. Cross, in garb, of course, while some of us got started with camp break-down. Then it was off to the station for the train back to London.

There are just a few more photos I wanted to post that didn't follow my earlier narrative, but were too nice to leave out.