luciab | Entries tagged with garb

What a lovely day it's been. Tucked up inside my cozy apartment all day, watching the snow this morning. I did some reading, washed some dishes, and tried to start a new cape I've been planning. As it turns out, I, the former architect who is supposed to be able to plan things, have had a terrible time with figuring out how much fabric I need for a full length cape with a roomy hood. I finally resorted to drawing it out today and realized that I haven't bought enough fabric. (I was trying to use logic before, and we know how shaky my logic can be.) And now that I've washed the fabric I have, I'm not sure it's really suitable. I wasn't about to venture out today to see if the store (20 miles or so away) still had the fabric so I could get enough extra to actually make a cape, especially being unsure about it. Sigh. Ponder, ponder.

And tomorrow, joy of joys, I will have the pleasure of taking two cats to the vet. The trickiest part of this is that I only have one carrier, and the sisters aren't the two cats that are going. Nope, it's Molly and Carmen. I have a terrible suspicion that the whole morning could turn into a Laurel and Hardy routine, except bloodier, and I expect the blood to be mine. Carmen has been sneezing, one eye doesn't look right, and she's been doing that butt-scootin' boogie thing across the floor. She doesn't seem to have a fever, and I don't really think she's acting any different than she usually does. I hope it isn't too unpleasant for us all.

Tomorrow night should be infinitely more fun-- I'm crashing at

harleenquinzell's house so we can get an early start on Saturday. Oops.... just remembered-- I also need to make soup of some sort for the Saturday spread. Chili, I think, though it seems redundant to make chili when that's what they're selling. Mine will be better, though.

I've been working on the log I'm putting together for my practicum. I've been using my beloved Word program, (sarcasm off) which has of course meant certain limitations. Today, though the aforementioned harleenquinzell sent me a document she's put together in Publisher, and damn, yo, I gotta try that. She's got pictures all mixed in with words and everything. Sweet. Oh, and it's gonna be a good class, too. I learned a lot of stuff I didn't know about analysis of vinework and the different styles thereof. Wow.

Okay, gonna go wash some more dishes, and then play with the new (to me) program.

My friends, I have made a HUGE tactical error. I got up this morning all fired up to start my Italian Ren dress for next weekend. Yeah, yeah, it shoulda been earlier. Sigh. Anyway, I got the table cleared and drew the pattern from the pinned bodice Her Ex helped me with last week. The rustle of the tissue paper kept kittens clear of the area for that bit. When I got done drawing, though, Miranda leapt to the tabletop and started attacking the measuring tape. She was soooooo cuuuute, and I've been remiss and haven't played with them enough lately, so I played with her. Ooops. Now I can't cut lay the fabric out because she wants to hide under it (wigglebuttPOUNCE!) or cut anything because the scissors blades go up and down and make funny noises and Must Be Captured! I haven't got far enough yet to find out what else I can't do. But I sure have one happy kitten!

Current Mood: amused/exasperated

I had a good weekend; I got to spend several hours with a couple of women working on scribal stuff. We got a lot done, I think. Fun, too, and very relaxed. And the spiced peach-blueberry pie I made was yum! A note to

nomadicmedic-- I used HT's frozen piecrusts. They are great-- flaky and good-- I like them better than the brand name ones I've tried. Of course unless you have an HT handy, that's no help. Oops. But still, yay for frozen pie crust.

I got some straightening done before people came over. It wasn't bad before, but was straighter after. And this morning I had a respite between migraines and depression-induced lethargy and whatnot and got a fair amount of clearing done in the studio. Several square feet of floor are now visible that hadn't seen the light of day for months. I've got plans for more of the stuff that's here, too. I want to donate my old computer (it's slow but still works fine, and I would think it'd be a start for someone who doesn't have one at all) but want to be sure I can get everything off the hard drive so as to protect myself. (Unlike the hapless idiot who sold a non-working laptop and left all his pictures and personal info on it! The new owner apparently got it working, at least enough to recover the pics and plaster them all over the internet.)

I also need to get enough clearing done to get to the drafting table. I really would like to get some more scribing done. It is much more of a balm to my soul than I had realized. I was practicing callig yesterday and it was indescribably peaceful.

All the cleaning and straightening is required if I am to get a new dress made for Midsummer's, as I hope to do. I got some new linen in a beautiful dark green. Most of the other linen I have is light colored--what the hell was I thinking? Between the way I spill food all over myself (much like a two-year-old) and the mud that happens whenver it rains at an event or you walk around site in the dew, I fear it'd be a pitiful looking mess before I wore it a half-dozen times. And because I was shopping with a garb Laurel and trying to select appropriately period material, there is no pattern, eiather printed or woven into the fabric, to disguise said stains. There is a light yellow and a light green; both are beautiful, and both look good on me. Sad.

I was just looking at the dictionary and thesaurus for words that I could use humorously to mean "messy," as in a messy person, to describe how I'd look at the end of a rainy day after spilling food down my front. Man, it's way worse than I thought. "Slob," I found out, has overtones of "jerk" so that's not one I'd want to use even jokingly. I mean, I have my bad days, but still. "Sloven" means a person lacking precision or tidiness in personal appearance, but the word (at least to me) has overtones of much more than untidiness. I'm going to settle for "mess." It's a word my Aunt Jean uses affectionately and seems to be most appropriate. I'm a mess. Just be sure to put the affection in there, would you?

Current Mood: content

I kept forgetting to post the link to the photos of the apprenticing ceremony last week. Master Danr and/or Mistress Isabele took a nice set of pictures, didn't they?

I finally got some sewing done yesterday. Lately I feel like I've been wading through molasses to try to get anything done, but I got two tunics cut out and one about half sewed together. I have fabric for seven more lightweight dresses-- well, four really lightweight, and three moderately light. I plan to make them all pretty simple, so I should be able to get them done in time for Pennsic. If I'd been moving at regular speed instead of half speed yesterday, I would have both of them nearly done. Sigh... I figure a couple of Italian Ren out of linen, some tunics, and some.... eh, I don't know the correct name for the "bog dresses." Anyway, I have solid colors for a couple of simple tunics that can be underdresses, and plaid for the bog dresses to wear over the tunics. They won't be exactly true to history, but they shouldn't send most people screaming for the hills, either. I've got the big brooches for pinning the little thin straps to the front of the apron dresses, but I don't think the big ones are used to hold the shoulders of the bog dresses. I'll have to figure out what to do about that.

I need to get with Livia, too, so we can work on garb for her. I'm thinking a similar approach ref the styles-- they are simple to make, and if we do the lacing right, even the Italian Ren can be donned without assistance.

Yesterday I was remembering some of my first ideas about garb. My first event was Pennsic 24, aka "The Hot One." I immdiately fell in love with the SCA and therefore went shopping for fabric. The woman who had convinced us to come to Pennsic (she'd be a garb Laurel if she decided to go for it,) was my mentor in this endeavor. I had earlier had some awfully negative run-ins with attitude-brandishing sticklers for authenticity, (didn't 'I put that politely?) so I was really reluctant for years. She had finally convinced me that if we were even relatively accurate, no one would fault us. (After all that, Pennsic was an eye-opener!) Anyway, I had this fairly free-wheeling attitude in my head when I hit the fabric stores. I bought so many yards of inappropriate stuff, you can't imagine. Well, maybe you can, if you've seen the fabrics available there. My choices were all rayon, poly, or a blend thereof. Goin' for the glitz, baby! (Read, "cheesy.") "Oooh, shiny!" was literal, in this case. I don't think I've ever used any of that fabric. At first I didn't want to start out trying to make anything too fancy, then I learned enough to not to want to use it. I think I still have some of it, tucked away, taking up space. One of the pieces I really wanted was a plaid taffeta; I think I wanted to make Italian Ren with it. Heh. It took Brenda some serious talking to convince me that "plaid" and "Italian Ren" do not belong in the same sentence. I get the giggles every time I remember that. I think Brenda was relieved when I focused on C&I instead of garb.

Off to sew my reasonably appropriate garb!

Current Mood: amused
Current Music: early morning quiet

So maybe the cinnamon ran away with.... geez, I dunno, maybe the other jar of cinnamon. I had a new jar that I had been using in my coffee in the mornings, and a few days ago it vanished. I looked everywhere--the cabinet where it belongs, the refrigerator, the pantry, under the cart where the coffee pot sits, but it was nowhere to be found. Finally I decided the kittens must have knocked it off into the trash can which sits too-conveniently close. Silly me, I guess I forgot to put it away, and the kittens are definitely enjoying knocking things off whatever they're on. So I gave up and bought a new jar. I got to use it once, to make cinnamon toast... and now it's gone too. WTF? I've looked all over- again- and all I can think is, maybe I need to start buying the stuff in bulk. Maybe I'll get to use some before they all vanish.

I made some stuffed peppers today. I found eggplant, peppers and onions on the day-old shelf at the Teeter. (Brigida says they called it "used food" when they were kids and the damn phrase is stuck in my head. Ewwww....) I made what would be moussaka if I layered it with bechamel sauce, and it's pretty tasty as stufffing for the peppers. (It would have been better with the cinnamon the recipe called for, though.) I got papaya and passion fruit on the same shelf.... yeah, passion fruit. Boy, that's what I need, alright. Huh. I've never bought either of those things and had no idea what to expect when I cut the passion fruit open. Whatever I expected, it wasn't what I saw, though. Weird. I had to look it up online to find out what the hell to do with it to make it usable. (It's used for juice, which you get by straining the pulp and seeds through a wire mesh strainer. It's going to have to be pretty damn good to be worth the mess!)

I really hesitate to say this, but I haven't had a headache for most of the week. Wow, what a great feeling! I've been really productive, too. I'm getting lots done on the current scroll, and it's looking pretty good. I'm still having trouble with the gold leaf, but a different type of trouble than I usually have. I got some stuff called "Instacoll" to use put the gold leaf on, and it was supposed to give a smooth finish like gesso. Ha. I've tried thick coats, to get the surface tension to prevent brush strokes, but that gave me a pebbled finish. Nobody else has heard of this happening. Several thin coats still give me the funky texture, and it's not brush strokes. Anyway, the gold sticks to it wonderfully but I can't get the damn texture as smooth as I want. It still has that great flash, though. Heh. I can't post pics of it yet (court scroll) but I'm happy with how it's coming along. I'll post a link when it's safe.

I'm volunteering at the local library starting Monday AM. Nia had this idea that the library would be a good place for me to work-- low stress, no overtime-- and hey, it does sound good enough that it's worth volunteering to see what I think. Besides, I'm there regularly anyway, so I might as well be helpful. I need to balance it with the other commitments, including working on the proposed business stuff, as well as another court scroll, and of course there's Pennsic to sew for. I have lots of garb, but most of it's way too big now, and while many of the dresses look like T-tunics, I got just fancy enough with most of them that taking them up will be a pain.

I'm off to bed with my book now (passion fruit notwithstanding) so I can get up and do laundry tomorrow morning, and then work on the paying commission job, and the scroll, and cuddle kittens in between.

Current Mood: relaxed
Current Music: I want a little sugar in my bowl- Nina Simone

Carmen and Miranda just love it when I paint. For some reason, they love the water that I use to rinse my brushes. You'd think it tasted like salmon or tuna or something; they keep trying to sneak up and drink it when I'm not looking. Since I know that some pigments can be kinda dangerous, I try to keep them out of the water, but damn! They love it. And all those little tiny brushes bounce real nice and make little tinky noises when pushed off the edge of the desk. If the kittens are really lucky, they can catch the paint just right in the little flat pans and step in it while it's wet so it'll make great pawprints. You know, when they're climbing over things to get to my lap or shoulder or wherever else they plan to sit on me. Oh, but they purr so loudly when they get there. They know their job well. Since I'm not in the middle of painting anything at the moment, they've managed to clean off the corner of the desk, and now Carmen is curled up there in a perfect little ball, looking tidy and innocent.

I'm debating whether to modify a couple of my t-tunics tomorrow so they'll fit better. The question is, how are are t-tunics supposed to fit? Especially since the ones I have are pretty much generic t-tunics instead of specific period versions of anything at all. I just don't want 'em to look like potato sacks. I could easily fix two or three of them tomorrow.

Caroline contacted me about getting signatures on her Pel scroll that I just finished. You know, the one I did on black paper, which thus can't be signed with normal ink, but must be signed using the same paint I used for ink when I did the scroll. I'll have to get it to the right consistency on Saturday and have some paper there for TRMs to practice on. Sometimes I'm just too damn artistic for my own good.

I had a good day today, though I was dubious when I woke up. I had the vague beginnings of a migraine, but used a sublingual homeopathic preventive OTC med, and it actually worked. This is the third time it's worked for me, and I'm pretty excited about it. The only problem I've found with it is that it has to be used before the headache is really started, and lots of times I wake up with a full-blown headache going on. Today, though, after I took it I worked at Ten Thousand Villages in the morning, dropped off donations at two different places, (yes, I actually gave away more of that stuff I gathered up last week! Whee!) went to the grocery and then finished the self portrait I've used as my icon for LJ. Actually, the icon is a cut-down version, because I got carried away as usual and made the miniature too big (and too elaborate?) Anyway, I couldn't figure out how to get it down to 40 KB; even when it was 100 pixels square it was more than double that size. Needless to say, the bigger one is much cooler, with irises behind the book stand and Molly beneath the desk. I'd love to be able to use it. It's also true that even if I got the numbers right, you might not be able to tell that it is Molly beneath the desk. It is actually possible to have too much of a good thing. Sigh. Like, even if there are a thousand angels dancing on the head of a pin, who could see them anyway?

I pulled a real good one earlier this week. I was supposed to go to jury duty Monday morning, and was actually looking forward to it. (You know, us folk on disability are amused easily.) Except I had a godawful migraine for about three days and didn't even realize I was supposed to go until it was a day or two later. As Nia says, "Oh, so there's a warrant out for your arrest?" To which I could only anwer "yes." I've been trying to call ever since to find out what to do but there hasn't been anyone to take the call ("please call back") so I guess I'd better go down there tomorrow. Of course, I suppose if they were going to arrest me, that would make it awfully convenient. Somehow I suspect there's another option-- at least I hope there is. If I were to go to jail, I'd get absolutely no respect at all in the joint if I were in for missing jury duty. I'd be somebody's bitch for sure.

On that cheery note, I'm signing off. I want to get t-tunics pinned and miscellaneous stuff ready to go for tomorrow night. See y'all.

Current Mood: productive

I haven’t filed a kitten update for a couple of days; I’ve been trying to wean you off gradually. They have actually settled down a lot more quickly than I expected in relation to my painting in the studio. For the most part, they curl up either in the office chair or on the towel behind the painting table and are happy to be nearby. Every hour or two they decide they need some love but then they quiet down again. They have, of course, discovered the knock-the-paintbrush-off-the-table game, so I have to keep an eye out for that, but I have been delighted for the most part. And relieved. It had been so many years since I had a really-truly-kitten I wasn’t sure what I was in for.

I’ve been closing the door to the studio at night to keep kittens off the scroll and out of all the tempting toys, and last night the inevitable happened—Miranda got shut in the studio. Hey, they were all out, and she was just awfully fast, okay? This morning when I got up I saw her paw reaching under the door to play with Carmen and realized what had happened. Oh, no! Poor lonesome hungry kitten! When I opened the door she threw herself upon me, meowing piteously, and immediately started purring like mad. When she started chasing Carmen ferociously, I figured she couldn’t have been too traumatized and relaxed. There were no disasters in the studio, either, fortunately.

I have finished the scroll and started making a dress for my current narrow self. The kittens are enjoying the hell out of that endeavor, of course. Little bits of fabric flip enticingly, large folds of fabric make great places for hide-and-seek, the paper pattern rustles, the scissors tip bobs up and down, thread spools make such a funny sound when they roll across the hardwood floor… what’s not to love? The only limiting factor is how many places can they pounce at once.

I saw the neurologist today, to mixed reviews, I guess. She thinks I’m maxed out on dopamax but says that there is another med that works well in combination with that, so now I have yet another pill to take every day. Sigh. If it works, I won’t complain. Hell, if it works, I’ll be dancing in the streets. Yeah, I know, working on my crazy-lady street cred already.

The Legend of Earthsea is on Sci Fi tonight. It is apparently a re-run from November, but I didn’t catch it then, so I’m looking forward to seeing it. On second thought, high hopes may be misplaced, since I haven’t heard anything at all about it. Oh, well, I’ll keep sewing and watch while I work.