Oh my!

Well, I continue to work on secret projects - hopefully I will be able to post about one of them sometime soon. Another one will have to wait a while, because I went ahead and joined the second Drachenwald Arts & Sciences Exchange. It doesn't end until October, so it will be a long wait. 

I received a wonderful package in today's post.  It held this:

 

 

 

 

Isn't it pretty? I am still gobsmacked that I received this award!

Super Secret Project revealed!

     I was a part of the first Drachenwald Arts and Sciences Exchange, which just ended on January 31.  It was described by the organizers in this way:

The Drachenwald A&S Exchange seeks to encourage creativity and joy in the Arts and Sciences through organized exchanges. The first exchange opened August 11, 2013, and ended January 2014. We encourage all in our great Kingdom to consider participating, from our budding artisans to our honored Laurels.

The sign-up opened in August and originally, it was to be for 15 participants.  Because the demand was high, 18 were allowed to join. Over the course of the next several months, emails flew about personas, interests, tastes, and sizes. It was great fun. I have now both given and received, so I feel free to write about the experience. My recipient was  Dona Victoria Alcon de Castile from Polderslot. She has a late period persona overlapping the Spanish and English courts, so I chose to embroider an English-style redwork coif for her. I had good white linen in my stash, so I only had to buy red silk for the embroidery. I looked at several extant coifs on the V&A Museum website for inspiration, then used information from the Attack Laurel's website for sizing and construction. I selected flowers and animals to embroider based on my recipient's personal preferences, but all were reproductions of period pieces. I did carnations, foxgloves, pea pods, grapes, a butterfly, a parrot, oak leaves, and several other designs. I took them from the examples at the V&A as well as from my reproduction copy of Scholehouse for the Needle. I used stem, chain, and running stitches, depending on the section I was working on. In hindsight, I wish I had made the embroidery a little more dense. It came out looking balanced to the modern eye, but in period it would have been more crowded together. I also wish I had added some spangles, just for the effect. Here are some photos I took before mailing the coif.

 These are photos taken by Victoria after the coif made it safely through the vagaries of the Post. Hopefully I will be able to add a picture of her wearing the coif at some point.

 

Home again, home again!

     Well, I was not wrong! It was bloody cold this weekend at Bolton! You could see your breath inside the great hall, where we had court and feast (and slept on the floor by the fire). BUT - it was one of the best events I have been to in many ways. It was a great bunch of SCAdians, good fighting, good food, at a REAL castle, and we had the whole place to ourselves. In fact, the owners said to the event steward  "Here's the key. Just leave it over there when you leave." So the steward spent the weekend with the keys to the castle on his belt. Awesome! And they were very pleased with just how clean we left the place! There was an interesting aside to the event. On Friday night, an unknown man in mundane clothing came into the hall. It turned out he was a casting agent, looking for extras for the next Horrible Histories movie. A number of the folk of the Dragon Isles had photos taken and got information on the casting days. Who knows - we may see our friends in the movies!

     Alas, Viscount Finnian and Lady Constanza were not victorious. Viscount Finnian lost to Sir Nasr in the final bout, but it was well fought.

     On the bright side, Constanza was entered into the Order of the Panache during court.  Here's a description of the order: "The Panache is awarded to those who have distinguished themselves by long and consistent excellence in the Arts (and Sciences) and who have also constantly made their expertise available to the various members of the Kingdom."  She was recognized for her work in wool and spinning and the fact that if you sit still near here for a few minutes, you WILL have a spindle in your hand and you WILL learn to spin!

     The real surprise for me was being entered into the Orden des Lindquistringes just after Constanza was called up for the Panache. It is a real honor and I hope I can live up to it. Here's its description: This award was established to honor a former member of the Principality/Protectorate, Fahrquar Finley Fahrquarson (John Lindquist). It is now presented to those people who have distinguished themselves by long and extraordinary service to the Kingdom. The badge of the Order is (Fieldless) a ring formed of a wingless dragon in annulo widdershins Or, maintaining in chief with all four legs and mouth a gem gules.

 

 

 

The best announcement of the evening was that Baroness Margaret de Mey was called for vigil to the Order of the Pelican at Spring Crown Tourney in April. Vivat to Baroness Margaret!

     The next event I get to will be Midsummer Coronation, also to be held at Bolton Castle. I hope it will be warmer and dryer, because I would really like a good look at the gardens.

Travel plans

I'm off this weekend to Bolton Castle. I'm so grateful to be in Drachenwald, where events are held in real castles, but this weekend may make me think better of it. We'll be sleeping in the castle itself, which is heated only by wood fires. And all the cooking for the weekend will be in the castle kitchens, again over wood fires. And it is going to be cold. And wet. After all, it is February in England. Oh my!

Groundhog Day!

Feels like I've lived through this day before.  :)  It's the mad rush to finish clothes and accessories before an SCA event. Today I made a banner for my daughter's consort and started a four panel wool hat for her. It will have a rabbit fur band, so between the wool and the fur, it should keep her warm during the Tourney. Oddly, not a single thing I'm working on or have already made is for me.

Smokkr picture

 So, here's the front of the finished project. I'm pretty happy with the embroidered seams, which are documentable in period. It certainly adds something to an otherwise plain blue wool dress. Hope Constanza likes it! It will get a band of tablet weaving around the top, but that's not my job, fortunately. Catherine Weaver is providing the band and all I'll have to do is sew it on the day before Coronet. (Which of course maintains the tradition of sewing madly up to the minute of the event!)

musings

So, I spent the weekend doing laundry and sewing. Somehow, the two just seem to go together, both in my mind and in reality. The pauses to change wash loads around  come just as I need a break from my sewing and doing wash makes me feel like I'm using my time legitimately, not just sewing for fun. What both do is leave time to think. I noticed today that it's only 126 days until graduation. The semester hasn't even started, but I'm looking to the end. Not because it's a bad year, just one in transition. The president of the university (my direct supervisor) is retiring and the process to choose his successor should end just about the end of the semester. Hence, my musing on how many days are left. I've worked well with the current president and I hope to do the same with whomever the Board selects to replace him. Time will tell.

I did finish Constanza's blue apron dress today. I even did all the embroidery on the hem. When I finish my other secret embroidery project, I plan to come back to her dress and embroider over all the seams. I'm using a lovely gold merino wool from the Handweaver's Studio for the embroidery and it sews like a dream.