8th-11th days of Christmas

On the 8th day...Bekah came over and she helped measure me for a body block.  "What's that?"  You say?  It's a pattern for making clothes!  You measure the usual stuff--the waist, bust, shoulders and torso length, then you also measure your side seam (from waist to armpit) and your shoulder rise, and you map it all out on a piece of paper like this:


Many thanks to Mistress Laurellen from the Renaissance Tailor for this image.  I took her class several years ago and no only is she an excellent teacher, she makes the most AH-MAZING clothes!  She sells some things on her web site, too.

Bekah helped me draw it out on cheap fabric, cut it out, sew it together, fit it some more, and eventually come up with a fabric pattern that I can use to make garments from.

So, what am I doing this for?  Well, I'm glad you asked!  It's for a 12th Night Tudor gown.  Not a chemise.  Not a kirtle.  Not a doublet or a pair of bodies (aka a "bodice").  Not a corset...no. (Never again!)  It's for a gown.  What's the difference?  Let me walk you through the layers.

The corset, you probably guessed.  It's the foundation garment.  Unlike the Victorian corset, the point of this piece is not to look SKINNY or curvy, but to look flat.  Tubular.  Totally.  Like, Ohmygod!

(This is not me...I borrowed this image from Tudortalkandcatwalk.com to show both the very nicely made corset, the lightweight chemise underneath, and the Spanish farthingale (hoop skirt) that gave the Tudor fashions their silhouette.  Apparently, they make and sell these things on their web site, so if you're in the market...there you go.  Many thanks to tudortalkandcatwalk!)

A chemise is the underdress.  It's loose and made of a lightweight linen using rectangular construction.  This is the part that will be touching your skin, absorbing body oils and sweat and will be washed the most.  The outer layers are often more delicate and can't tolerate the abuse of frequent washing.  Corsets, for example, are filled with metal, wood and/or reeds for rigidity.  In the case of the nobility, the gowns and jackets were often made with lace, gold and jewels that would have to be removed for washing and then sewn back on.  Time consuming and laborious, and delicate things like lace could be damaged in the removal, so best not do it unless it's absolutely necessary.  The chemise is usually a long-sleeved garment that reaches the knees or thereabouts and can be heavily embroidered, though more often, it was plain.  Some people like to make them full-length, but from what I've been able to gather, it's not typical for the chemise to be that long on women.  Makes sense...just more stuff to get in the way when you're trying to pee.

A kirtle is a sleeveless (usually) dress that can be one or two pieces--that is a long, straight gown or a bodice with a skirt sewn to it.  The straight kirtle might also serve as a maternity gown--I made one when I was pregnant and it was roomy and comfortable.

Here's a fancier two-piece kirtle with side lacing and trim around the neckline.  It has a straight placket in the front and is heavily gathered around the rest of the dress.  On a warm day, or if you were a working-class woman, this might be all you need.  After all, you need to roll your sleeves up to wash clothes in the river, work in the kitchen or rake hay in the fields.  Throw an apron over the top and you're good to go!


Now, the GOWN, which is the one I'm making, is the layer that goes over the kirtle that has sleeves.  For the upper-class woman, like this portrait of Katherine of Aragon shows in 1502, the sleeves were long and bell-shaped...perfect for doing absolutely nothing!  They also appear to be lined with white fur, although it could be velvet.  The gal in gold even has the skirt turned up in the back to prove that it's FULLY LINED and isn't just a strip along the edge.  Show-off.  The gal in the red-orange has a green kirtle under the orange dress.  All three are wearing a black partlet under the gown.  At some point, the partlet turns into a layer that goes over the gown, like a sweater.


Or she might have worn some tight-fitting sleeves and the turned-back cuffs, like this one...love the details of the construction on this bodice, including the square armpit seams...


But the working class woman kept things simple, close to the body and able to roll up out of the way. Over-sleeves were even tied on so they could be removed completely. Not sure what's going on with short arms and her enormous hands, though.

Now you can't stop staring at them, can you?  Creepy, isn't it?  That cat is seriously ticked off, too.

So on the 9th day, I mostly just sat around.  Kidding.  I pulled out the green linen, took a big breath, and cut into it.  I only made the body part of the gown, sewed the pieces together in the green linen as well as the lining, and set it aside.  More fitting would be done the next morning.

I also put together most of a newsletter for the quilt guild.  Darn helium hands.  At least I foisted off the majority of the work (taking notes, attending meetings) on another guild member, so I can do all the work from home in my spare time...like at 1:30 in the morning when I can't sleep.  6:30 is going to show up awfully early tomorrow.  Sigh.

So on the 10th day of Christmas, I got a visit from my friend, Rachel.  She's renting Omi's house with her husband, John (and seeing a couple of ghosts now and again...but that's a longer story).  Rachel helped do the final fitting on the gown bodice and helped with the sleeve pattern.  I hadn't made a really successful pattern, but she showed me a couple tricks and now I've got it!  Boo-yah!  I might even write a paper on how it was done and submit it to the Barony's newsletter.  I got the sleeves sewn on to the bodice and then cut the pieces for the skirt.  (I only have about a half-yard left of the fabric, which might not be enough for more than a small tunic for Ben.  Maybe I'll make a short-sleeved tunic for him.)

Here it is hanging out, letting the fabric settle before hemming it to length.  Rachel recommended that I hang it so that if the fabric was going to stretch from gravity, it would get it all out of the way before I hemmed it and started wearing it.  Then I wouldn't have the surprise of having it grow in length and drag in the mud or get in the way as I trip over it all day.  Gooooooood thinkin'!  I also need to add hooks and eyes up the front of the dress, hem up the cuffs, and then it will be DONE!  I may add some decorative touches to it later, but it's meant to be a working woman's outfit, which many of them weren't decorated heavily.

On the 11th day, I forgot about the A&S gathering at the cafe, but I finally got out the door 90 minutes late.  By the time I got there, they were already breaking up and heading home.  I said hello to a couple people who were only there a minute or two before heading out, but chatted with Rachel for about 30 minutes discussing what we'd like to see happen with the costumer's guild--both locally and at Kingdom.  The Kingdom office mostly fell apart from lack of volunteers, which I totally understand.  If I were free of Ithra, I might be willing to take this on--at least the guild challenges part.  Finding judges and setting up contests would be fun, but not running the whole guild.  I need to train up my replacement for Ithra and move on, I think.  As much as I love doing what I do, I think it's time.

So...when I got home, I took the weaving project apart that I was working on with the 6-hole cards and reduced it to a 4-hole card project.  I have the wrong kind of loom for the 6-hole cards.  Someday...but not now.  I started weaving the Tiwaz trim (a letter in the Runic alphabet, and also a symbol for the god, Tyr) for my friend, Tyrssen.  The letter is sideways, but looks very much like an arrow, pointing up.  It's a really straight-forward pattern; 4 turns forward and 4 back, so it's chugging right along.  I should have it done in just a couple days.

Tomorrow is the 12th Day of Christmas.  The kids go back to school.  I'll take the tree down and put the decorations away.  I'll also do some laundry, clean beads and maybe do a little weaving.  Not a really exciting day, but given that I'm not going to get much sleep tonight, I'm not surprised.

Soon...packing for 12th Night!

12 Days of Christmas (or at least the first 7 days)

On the first day of Christmas, my little loves did with me...
OK, we already did that on the last post.  Kids.  Gifts.  Apple crisp.


On the second day of Christmas (26th)...we headed over to visit my in-laws and let the kids open gifts.  We stopped giving gifts to adults (mostly), although Kelly and I did give gift cards to each family to go to the theater.  We also have the cousins get together for the annual photo in front of the tree.  My three kids (seated on chair), Nate (standing), Aurora & Aaron (seated).  Nate & Cam are in the same grade (different schools, of course) and have been bosom buddies since they were toddlers.  Ben and Aurora are about the same age (I think Miss A is a year or 18 months younger).  Aaron is now in his young 20s and will be getting married to his high school sweetheart soon!  (She's not pictured here...I didn't get any photos of her...bad auntie.)

On the third day of Christmas (the 27th), we had dinner at the local Asian buffet place with the in-laws.  Cam decided that she wanted to try a whole cooked mackerel.  She ate quite a bit of it, which was surprising since it's such a strong-flavored fish.  She's brave, that one.  Crystal wondered if they shared any genetic material at all (she's a self-proclaimed picky eater).  Cammie may not like everything, but she's certainly willing to try lots of things at least once.  She's turned into quite the chef, too...I got her a copy of the 1930 (reproduction) of the Joy of Cooking.  I hope she finds lots of inspiration in it!

We hit the ferry to head back home.  We had some time at the ferry docks, so we wandered around the park to look at the lights for a few minutes.  I found a Geocache there, which I had tried to find once before.  The trick--bring a flashlight to those night-hunts and trust the Geosenses.  It was right where I thought it was but couldn't see it without the flashlight.

When we got home, I found this in the mail!  What is it?  Most of you will recognize the metal piece in the plastic envelope--it's a sewing machine foot for the Brother XL 2600 that I got for Emma several years ago.  She lost the original foot a few years ago, but I found a web site that sold replacement parts.  I also needed to get a bobbin cover, which also disappeared while it was in storage.  I was really excited to be able to replace this as well!


On the 3rd day of Christmas (28th)...we had a great dinner with Mom & Dad, Tara & Hollie, Andy & Courtney, and my family.  We had dinner at a nearby restaurant, which was fabulous.  They had a few issues in the kitchen, which Andy called them on (he works in a high-end restaurant up North, which has very strict standards on food quality and presentation), but they fixed it right away and everyone walked away with full bellies.

On the 4th day of Christmas (29th)...I stayed home rather than go out for breakfast with the family.  I had probably five glasses of wine over many hours (with food and I was drinking water, too), and something didn't agree with me.  I don't know if it's a sulfite thing, or what...in any case, I won't be drinking any wine for a while.


After the rest of the fam had breakfast, they came over to open presents for Malcolm.  I got a couple of pictures of Mr. M. with his new quilt, but this one where the boys were all together was just precious.  I gave Mike & Laura the poem that goes with it, and everyone passed it around and got a giggle out of it.  I think Ben wants a copy of the poem, and I'm thinking maybe I need to take the leftover charm squares and make him a quilt, too.

Emma got a very special gift from Gramma--a bracelet that has been handed down for generations.  This was originally given to Sophia Burgwardt from Charles Krakow, possibly as a wedding gift.  It is inscribed, "C.K. to S.B Oct. 26, 1876".  According to a census, they married in about 1877 (which is an estimate based on "years married" in one of the columns in the 1900 census), so that's about right.  Mom wore it all the time as a teenager, and it barely fits Emma's tiny wrist, but it needs to have the latch and safety chain fixed to make it wearable.

On the 5th day of Christmas (30th)...Cammie decided to make Chinese food.  We made meat dumplings and were planning on making more things, but the dumplings took so much time, we cut the list back.  Cammie made a sort of beef egg drop soup with mushrooms and I chopped up a bunch of veggies and chicken for a stir fry.  We were going to make some fried rice, but that didn't happen.  Ah, well.

On the 6th day of Christmas (31st)...we had a New Year's...gathering.  I'm not sure how many people you need to have over to make it a "party", but it seems like we just didn't have enough to really make it a raucous event.  We had four--Jeanie, Bekah, Neil, and Carol.  Jean had to leave early, so it was just three guests and us.  We played a few hands of Fluxx, then watched a movie, ate my gumbo (made with Kelly's recipe) and chocolate fondue with fruit and cookies to dunk, and ended by watching a vampire show until midnight.

Before

We watched the fireworks go off on TV around a very foggy Space Needle, which started off looking very cool, but quickly turned into a light show in the clouds.

After

On the 7th day of Christmas...I went Geocaching.  I wanted to see if I could find 17 to make up for the number of finds I was short for 2013...kinda sneaking in the last few I needed for the One-a-Day Geocaching challenge (find an average of one a day for the year), but alas, I fell short again.  I did find 10, but DNF (did not find) 4 that were either missing or too challenging, and by the time I came across a dead seagull by the last one I tried to find, I ran out of steam.  It was after 3 pm, and the light was starting to fade.  So, I will have to concede a failure to meet that goal, although I was very close.

I decided to try the One-a-Day challenge again for 2014, which will be a bigger challenge since I will have to go even further afield to collect them; I've gotten most of the ones that are located near my house.  Last year (2013), we did a cross-country trip with the family, which would have given me ample caching opportunities, but I got so few Geocaches...which was a huge shame.  I did get to 10 different states on our summer trip, which was an unexpected goal, but cool.  I could have spent just a couple hours more and gotten all I needed to meet this (rather silly, but still fun) goal.  Maybe we were in just too big a rush to do that properly...another four or five days to take our time...and an RV...and a scooter.  Yeah.  I'll have to make plans to do some in-state exploration or something.  I know lots of the state parks have several caches in each one, and we should try to get out and see what kinds of great things are out there in our state!  Ben has a book on National Parks, so it would be cool to do a road trip to one of those parks each year and do some Geocaching on the way.

What else?  Today I finished reading the Hunger Games series.  The first two books were pretty good, but that last book was a lot of war scenarios that I couldn't picture in my head.  Lots of running and crawling, supernatural creatures sproinging out and attacking people, streets turning into oceans of tar or turning into giant trap doors.  Lots of death and blood.  Overall, I liked the way it ended and she settled down with the guy that I figured she might, but I gotta admit, I skimmed quite a bit of the third book.  I haven't seen the movies yet, so that'll be interesting how that compares to the books.

The rest of the 5 days of Christmas will probably be filled with sewing--I need to make a couple new garments for 12th Night.  I gotta get crackin!

Christmas Sugaring & Feasting

Christmas dinner went really well, although I didn't get any photos of the feast.  I made a 15 lb. turkey, which came out perfect and juicy--I was just as surprised as the rest of you!  I also made red mashed potatoes, green beans, cranberries, sourdough rolls, and stuffing.  And gravy!  Amazingly, the timing was just about perfect!  The beans and rolls could have been a bit warmer...probably needed to set the oven a little hotter.

In the middle of the day, after getting the turkey in the oven, I also started making an apple crisp in the crock pot.  I just took a portion (or two) out of the crock and gave it a try.  I slightly modified a recipe on Allrecipes, and would make a couple more, which include:

6 large Fuji apples, peeled and cored, cut small
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbsp flour
1 tsp (or more) cinnamon (I think I put in a tablespoon or two)
1/4 to 1/2 cup water
Mix in crock pot - turn on low.

Make crumble:
1 c. oats
1 c. flour
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 c. butter
Melt butter, mix in brown sugar, then oats and flour.  Sprinkle over top.  Let cook for a few hours.

The original recipe called for a cup of sugar and a cup of brown sugar...and it's just TOOOO sweet.  I'd try it again with the recipe above and see how that comes out.  I think I'm going to be on a sugar high all night now.

Cammie got a cotton candy machine for Christmas and we discovered that we can use normal sugar or crushed (powdered) candy.  So of course, Cammie wanted to immediately start experimenting with candy canes.  We got out the mortar & pestle and ground up some candy canes and, sure enough, after it warmed up, it worked!  Peppermint flavored cotton candy!

  
One thing that seems inevitable is that I always end up getting either medicine bottles, the butter plate or the salt shaker in a photo.  Not sure what's up with that.  But there you go.  Salt shaker.

Kids at Christmas!  Are the kids getting bigger or is that tree getting smaller?  It's amazing how fast they've grown!  Amazingly, I got this photo on the first try.  Ben's got his new shirt on--he now has a rather impressive collection of Minecraft t-shirts.  It makes him happy... :)

Tomorrow we'll be visiting with Kelly's family; the traditional Boxing Day/Second Christmas.  We got gift cards for each family--not individual gifts.  Each card is put into these cute little baggies...it just looks so tiny.  It doesn't look like we didn't get enough, but it's not the size of the gift, it's the value...right?  Maybe I'll drop some Hershey Kisses in the bag with the gift cards.  Sometimes I think that Christmas gift exchanges are so silly.

Kelly got me something fabulous!  In Tara's words:  "What is it?"  Well, in short, these are bead-making tools.  On the left, the channels can shape beads into tubes or balls of certain sizes.  The triangular thing is a tool rest--keeps things off the table and avoids burning the table.  I often use the rusty cookie sheet edge, but this is taller.  The middle packet is a bunch of new mandrils and a bead rake, which can pull the glass into cool shapes.  The metal thing in the upper right can make the beads kinda bumpy.  On the far right is a graphite paddle, which you can roll the hot glass on to change its shape.  There's another graphite shaper at the bottom (with the orange handle) but it's thicker and heavier than the one on the far right.  I'll get a chance to play with these more after Boxing day.  One thing I still need is a lampworking bracket--something to attach directly to the hot head torch instead of having to tape the canister to the L bracket.

Now the quilt is finally *officially* done!  Binding, label and all.  I also made a poem to go with it.  It's funny, so I'll share it for the three readers that aren't going to be at dinner with us on Saturday:

I-Spy a Quilt

I spy some crayons, some colorful clown fish,

I spy some green peas to put in my dish.

Some bathtubbing duckies, some bugs that can fly,

A bunch of small beetles, some apples for pie!

I spy some flames, and some cars on the road,

I spy a whale and a colorful toad.

I spy some chicks and a rainbow of cats,

I spy some lemons and some balls needing bats.

I spy running horses and a tooth that is blue,

A sky full of stars, and some strawberries, too!

Your Auntie does love you, though the poetry’s lame,

I hope you enjoy this quilted I-Spy game.

Much love, Auntie Karen

Aside from that, we've been watching movies and stuff.  I got to see the 6th episode of Tudor Monastery Farm on YouTube.  I love free internet entertainment!  You can watch the first episode here.  The other links are available from the same poster, Nina O.  There's another episode coming out on New Year's Eve, which is the Christmas special.  That might be the last in the series, which makes me sad.  The same group of anthropologists have also done series on the Victorian Farm, the Edwardian Farm, the Wartime Farm (WWII), Tales from the Green Valley (post-Elizabethan farm), and there are a few other specials, like the Tudor Christmas Feast, and a show called Time Team.  Archaeology is COOOL!

Merry Christmas!

This evening, we enjoyed our traditional beef tenderloin Christmas Eve dinner.  In years past, my parents would get out the fondue pots and skewer the meat and fry it in oil, and we would then dunk the meat into either chili sauce or a mustard horseradish sauce.  Meanwhile another pot contained unhealthy quantities of cheese and wine which we dipped bread into and virtually inhaled.  We do not have fondue pots anymore...we had some, but we pitched them in the last move from lack of use...so we opted instead to make sesame beef. Given that it didn't have sesame seeds in it, so I suppose it was Asian-style beef tenderloin.  It had soy sauce, ginger powder, mustard powder, garlic, and honey.  And the beef, of course.  Cooked for about an hour at 325, then I realized I should have had the oven at 350 for 45 minutes instead.  It was delicious (although I would have liked it cooked just a little more...I'll fry up a couple pieces for lunch tomorrow)!  As you can see, we also had salad, red potatoes, and just out of camera shot, sourdough bread.

Tomorrow night we'll do the full-on turkey thing, although probably not with as many side dishes as the usual Thanksgiving fare, but at least with green beans, cranberries, and rolls...and probably more potatoes.

In the past few days I have been trying to organize corners of the house that have needed attention for some time, and trying to get the kids involved, hoping to instill in them the urge to stop messing the house up in the first place.  The younger two, in particular, have a habit of picking something up--be it a toy or a tool or something they find remotely interesting--and carry it around for a few minutes and drop it unceremoniously somewhere else.  A belt will be dropped at the top of the stairs; a candy wrapper on the TV cabinet; a die or a game piece left on the countertop....there's no rhyme or reason for the placement of these things.  Tomorrow we'll be going through some more areas that have been long ignored--those flat surfaces that tend to collect things, like papers or scraps of fabric.  We've pitched so many things in recent days.  I'm already anxiously awaiting Saturday for the garbage & recycling pick up as they are both already overflowing.

Saturday we'll have rellies coming to visit, including my bro & his wife and offspring!  I finished putting the binding on Mal's quilt this morning--I just need to wrap it up for him.

Christmas Festivities Parte the Firste

Kelly found this at some store.  I had long been advised by my wise father never to eat the yellow snow...so I may just put that back on the shelf.

Last night was the school's annual Christmas program.  It seems to get shorter every year.  The music teacher has been with the school for about four or five years.  The first year, the Christmas program ran REAAAAAALLLLLLY long--getting out to the car by about 10:30 pm, so those little elementary kids got to bed REAAAAAAALLLLLLY late, which made it all the more fun for the teachers and parents the next day.  This year, we were out by 9 pm.  There wasn't much of a nativity program, although the 8th graders did a short play about doing unto others.  Then they all changed into nativity costumes and just posed around the little wooden manger, kneeling on the hard stage for quite some time.  Bekah, who came with us, wondered if any of them brought knee pads.

Cammie played in advanced band (we didn't get a chance to get her some nice black shoes).

She also sang with her class.

Ben performed with his class--unfortunately, the mic stand was right in his face.

And with the whole school as they lined up for the opening number.

This morning was supposed to be a late-start & early-release day at school, but we were greeting by this dusting of new snow today.  While it wasn't much, it was enough to cause some dangers on the road, so they did the wise thing and cancelled school.  Not worth it for a half-day anyway.  So we are now on our holiday!  

Yesterday, Camille decided that she wanted to make fried rice by herself, so she dug around in the fridge, found some leftover rice, bok choy and celery and fried it up with an egg and soy sauce.  It was really good!  A budding chef!

I saw this online as I was shopping, and although this isn't the time to do shopping for yourself, I couldn't resist.  Go USMNT!  I also ordered a couple of bumper stickers for Kelly and myself.  Let's hope that the US performance in Brazil goes well!  Wish I could be there for it, but...kids...cost...the usual.

I wish I had something more for Kelly for Christmas.  I can never think of anything for him--techno guys are so hard to shop for.  I didn't have much trouble coming up with something for my nephew, but it was a whirlwind 24 hours getting it done.

I still feel like I have to get something organized (besides the house for visitors) or wrapped or...something is missing.  Can't quite put my finger on it.  Hopefully it'll make itself known soon.

Chinese Proverbs and Lampworks

There's a Chinese curse that says, "May you live in interesting times."  I have had just enough interesting stuff going on in my life.  I need more boring days.  This is Ben's tooth before the dentist.  Luckily, it was just a small chip and the dentist was able to file it down so it's now smooth and looks good as new!  He didn't even need to put in any fillers since it would likely chip and flake away.  Quick and painless.  In and out--nobody gets hurt.

Wednesday marked a momentous event...I cleaned out the linen closet (sound scary music).  The pile of debris was almost up to my hip (there were boxes underneath), but nothing had been put away properly in weeks.  I gutted the closet and spent a couple hours tossing a few things, refolding everything else, and stacking into logical piles.  I still need to cull a few more things from the piles of towels and sheets.  We really don't need more than two sets of twin sheets for each bed, and maybe three for the king.  We've got about 50 pillowcases and two large piles of towels...some of which are ready to be donated to the local animal shelter.

One thing I did find in this mess was a basket that contained these 49 Civil War blocks!  I started sewing them into pairs to make a quilt top.  I'm debating whether or not to make 15 more blocks to make it bigger or to assemble a lot of 6" half square triangles for a border.  I'm leaning towards the triangles.  I still have a quilt on the frame that needs to be quilted, and another quilt top that is up next for the machine.

Bekah came over on Thursday and we each made one bead.  We would have made many more, but I needed to run a packet of fabric down to the meeting, and we ended up having dessert and listening to speakers describing some of their programs they run for the needy in our community, and thanking our guild for our generous donations through the year.  The guild meets in the church, but it really doesn't have any religious affiliations...but one of the speakers went on and on about the power of God's love and sharing fishes and loaves.

Worked on a bunch of beads this last several days.  I needed to get these ones done before an event in January, where I will hand them over to the lampworkers guild for stringing.  I still need to clean them, which will take some time...lots of scrubbing.  The metal rods are dipped in a ceramic slip called bead release, and when you make the bead, the release sticks to the glass but not the rod.  If you were to make the bead right onto the rod, it would stick to the rod...becoming a sort of hat pin.  I have a couple of those, which happens occasionally when the bead release cracks and the glass oozes and adheres itself to the rod.  Sometimes you can pry it loose if it's just a small spot.  If not, the only way to get the bead off is with a hammer.  They're not nearly as easy to string in that condition.

This first string is for the SCA's Kingdom of Calontir, which consist of the states of Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and a bit of Arkansas.  All 20 beads will need to be cleaned and strung as a gift to the King and Queen of Calontir.  They will receive it at the annual event in Pennsylvania, called Pennsic, this August.  Unfortunately, they didn't photograph very well.  I think it's the fluorescent lights in the dining room that cause issues with the camera.

Purple glass is hard to come by...or rather, the right shade is hard to find.  The two yellows I had were either a tad too bright or too school-bus orange.  The yellows both bled into the purple really badly, making everything look fuzzy or muddy.  Yuck.  It was frustrating but I finally found an acceptable combination of colors for these beads, along with a trick of using clear glass to add a buffer between the colors, which seemed to help.  

These are the final beads in the sunlight, which look much more like what the colors look like in person. The white and orange bead at the bottom is an attempt at making a giraffe bead.  Bekah was trying to make a pair of them for a co-worker.  I was trying a combination of a couple different amber colors.  I think the colors are right, but the amount of glass added needs to be increased to better fill the white areas.

The second string is for the Kingdom of Drachenwald, which covers a lot more land mass:  Europe, the Middle East and Africa.  The colors were a lot more fun to play with and the yellow worked perfectly with the black and red.  I made a couple new beads since my last photo to replace a couple that just weren't working for me and made a big fancy "Queen" bead with flowers on it (far left).

Now that I got all those done, I figured it was time to make a few beads for myself.  I really love oceanic colors, so I pulled a bunch of blues and greens and made a couple for myself, as well as experimenting with some unusual colors.  I ran out of gas on the third bead--the one on the far right--so I had to pick up more on the way home from dinner.  Sushi...mmmmm!


I don't have any plans this weekend...that's a first!  I think I'll catch up on my quilting.

FIRE IN THE HOLE!

Grandma O's quilt finished!  Maggie, the owner, dropped it off a couple weeks before Thanksgiving and I got all the binding done on it last Friday.  I was going to sew it down by machine, but I knew that it was going to be a disservice to the quilt and to its beauty by not doing it by hand.  The whole thing was pieced by hand, so it just seemed a sin to do otherwise.  I attached by machine and stitched down on the back by hand.  I was pleased that this fact did not go unnoticed by the owner's mom when she picked it up. :)

Beads have been the big thing this week.  I volunteered to make 40 beads for the Lampworkers Guild--20 for Drachenwald (red, yellow and black) and 20 for Calontir (purple and yellow).  I also got a couple of commission requests from Jadwiga (red, black and white) and Samira (red, orange and yellow).  I got a chance to try a couple of new techniques and came up with some really fun patterns.

Drachenwald:  19 great beads and one whoopsie (ran-out-of-gas bead)

Samira's first few beads:  I made 15 total that she could choose from.  She bought 8 and may purchase the rest, depending on how many she finds she needs for the necklace.  I suspect she thought the beads were going to be smaller.  Once she gets the other pieces strung up, she'll know whether or not she needs more.

I started making some beads for Calontir, but the purple I had was wrong...it's really pastel.  I ordered some new glass, but it'll be a day or two before it gets here.  I also ordered some orange and dark yellow, too.  Most glass isn't very expensive--about $3-4 per quarter-pound; the pricey part, like always, in the shipping.  It means I can make upwards of 30 beads for under $10 in materials.

This is the only bead I got a photo of for Jadwiga's commission.  It turned out so nice, though.  Maybe I can get Jadwiga to photograph the six she bought.  A Canadian friend asked me if this was a "drunken ookpik".  Apparently, ookpik is the First Nations (Salish?) word for "owl".  I can totally see the owl now!

I just got new glass in the mail, so more beads are forthcoming!

Ben had surgery on Monday for his nasal polyps...again.  They got them out successfully along with a bunch of pus and stuff...gross.  However, they chipped a tooth as they intubated him.  Ugh.  Off to the dentist tomorrow to get that fixed.