Projecty Goodness

[threadwalker]

We had a great day. The kids were at grandmas for the weekend so we lolled around until 11 am or so. Then there was a very very entertaining lunch and errands and general puttering around. It was awesome to hold hands and wander through Black Diamond Games ... the hubby proving he can walk into a store like that without buying anything and me giving him "the look" cuz I know there's nothing new out that's on his "want" list. snort. He's so cute; thinks I don't see his wiley schemes. But I let him think I'm fooled.

The kids came home after 4pm and I watched my son throw and catch a football with his uncle, which is something I can't do. I sat and cheered with pleasure. My Fashion Diva (dressed in pink plaid skirt and pink "pirate princess" t-shirt) was right there with him working on the same. She can sometimes be so prissy, but she got wacked in the face and quickly said it didn't hurt. I was impressed with her gumption and cheered her for that. I'm so proud of them for so many different reasons. Then I got to putter in my long-neglected garden while Miss E set up her action figures and played nearby. It was utterly enjoyable to listen to her play, enjoy the cool breeze and sunlight, cut back my roses and pull weeds with a backdrop of ruckus in the house where F and N were having a nerf gun battle. The general feeling of wellness in our house sank in and I'm still enjoying the afterglow. The kids are now tucked in bed with my promise to begin telling the tales of Aurora's younger years while in the forest with the fairies (yeah... I make these up on the fly and I usually work in some moral lesson; I need to get the brain juices flowing so that I'm ready tomorrow night to dazzle them with "Sleeping Beauty, the Younger Years").

With the background noise of F in a CoH mission, I'm sitting here next to him at my PC, armed with my "crack" (Diet Coke) and contemplating the bits of thread and embroidery left-overs scattered around my keyboard. The battlefield mess from embroidery death-marches during the month of September. So, armored in my fluffy pink robe, I need to sort out my commitments for the next 6 months.

Ok, now what?

I finished the EBH chemise. I am having 2nd thoughts about deconstructing my 2nd sock just so that I can reconstruct it by hand. I'm questioning my sanity on that. Like, wtf was I thinking? In the time to tear apart and remake a pair, I could have made a 2nd pair by hand. Barring sock-surgery, I have one head-to-toe tourney outfit that feels "right" and now I can turn my attention elsewhere.

I need to attend to my courtly clothing. I need to deconstruct and tweak/reconstruct the skirt on my white silk 16th century Italian kirtle. And I need to take it apart and trace it so that I don't have to pattern it from scratch all over next time. I need to tack down my seams by hand on my ropa. But none of that will take long. I want to plan out a white-worked partlet, but I already have a plain servicable partlet, so that's not a rush. And I am going to make a fine pair of linen socks for my court stuff with embroidered cuffs and fancy garters.

So under the impression that I didn't have enough to do and my project schedule was wide open, I was overcome by the general sensation of good will towards friends and I wandered around Crown signing up to do projects for others. ha! I'm certifiable. My project list looks like this:

Due Dec 1:

Some embroidery for CL

Due 2nd Saturday of December:

-tweak silk kirtle (for me, due by the Boar Hunt)

-finicky finish work on ropa (for me, due by the Boar Hunt)

-linen socks (me, construction due boar hunt, cuffs do after research complete)

Due 12th Night:

- targetting my opus piece for 12th night (estimate about 30 hrs left)

- an embroidery approx 6 inches in diameter due by 1 wk before 12th night (need actual dimensions sent to me. supplies to be ordered and silk work to be started ASAP)

Due March Crown-ish (which I don't actually go to)

- making Isela's kirtle (due March Crown)

- a 4-inch by 6 inch embroidery for the needleworkers - to be entirely filled. (that's a lot of ground to cover!!! Estimate 60-80 hrs depending on stitch) (due March Crown)

- making a corset for an apprentice (no hard due date, but thinking March Crown)

-2 round embroideries of devices; probably 30hrs each. (I want them done by March Crown) (you know, I may actually work on these while I'm over seas)

No particular deadline, but probably next spring/summer

-punto in aria partlet (me - no deadline)

- making "i forget what" for JoT, bard and BFF and embroideress of the infamous mantle project (no due date right now)

-"something" for hubby. Tho he continues to dither about what he wants

-this winter I'll need to make new wardrobes for the kids for next year.

-gambeseon!! for ME!!

- after those sewing projects I'm adding a few peeps to my "to cloth" list:

-MoA, jeweler extraordinare and fellow Gryph.
-a certain shy photographer I'm going to attack with linen

-pouch for my deck of cards

I better get cracking. What I really really want to do is frame up the 2 new embroidery projects ASAP so I can get started - they are for "others" and I prefer to NOT let down projects driven by court presentations. On the plus side, I can do these on the train, which is why I took them on to start with.


Edit I woke up an hour before my alarm and then I couldn't get back to sleep because I started thinking about all these fun projects. Heh. So I'm going to work early, which means home early, which means running early, which means Corbie Cave goodness right after kid bedtime instead of after evening run (cuz I've already done the run by then). Yay!

On the Opus front, I spent 90 minutes last night doing underside couching. The piece is 13 cm "tall" and I covered an area that's 0.4 cm wide. Yeah... ZERO Point Four... look at that on a ruler. I have 4 cm left and some back-fill area that looks like about 1-2 cm. So maybe 5-6 cm of underside couching left (or at least 20 hrs of couching depending on whether or not I go blind first).

Oh - plus teaching. I plan on starting up quarterly workshops after the new year. Cuz I don't have enough to do.

Comments

[fighter-chick.livejournal.com]

When you get around to attaching Ms Shy Photographer with linen, I'd love to contribute something needlework-y to the outfit. She's been very nice to me, and I'd like to make a little something for her.

[thread-walker.livejournal.com]

That would be very cool. I will keep you in the loop.