So trudging...trudging and trudging....

Still reading Quantum of Nightmares I'm at 60% now completed.

I did make an album for the apprentices scroll, so you can peruse the progress photos. I had lots of help from Ari and Art. Ari did the first digital scan and clean up of my artwork and Art then digitized it for his printer to print the resist. I spent 8-9 hours in his shop learning the process and getting things done for the etching. Text is by lferion.

Here is the album Willa's Scroll.

Here is the Album A&S

Here is the small album from Saturday at Melee Camp which includes Benton throwing weapons!

 Last weekend I managed to do nothing...this past weekend I did all of the things.  I felt guilty for not cleaning my studio and last Monday I went to Strength club and then home for dinner and Arts night.  I cleaned during the arts night and got everything done including  hanging the new mirror.  How cool is that!  Its easier to do a task with friends on the line.

Tuesday I got some news that gave me some inspiration for a project and now I'm working on a project.  Got to mind meld with some of my favorite people and we have a plan.  I hope the weather cools down so i can work on another project that needs to just been finished.  Its been too long in work.

So last week was pants...just crazy amounts of weird at work, I almost got sent to DC for meetings and I have cats/kid to watch for Ari during that week so I will support remotely. I made it to the gym 3 times and ate well.  Benton started school and that is going okay.  Mel and I worked out that I won't be doing the drop off on Thursdays so I can host the zoom call.

So the next while will be working on projects, hitting the gym and keeping track of my macros. I've been really trying to meet them.  Feeling good though and thats been a while.

 My work week last week was long and dull and way too exciting on Friday afternoon.  Seriously, why do work things wait until Friday afternoon to blow up.  In this case I don't mean literally but man it was annoying.  

I hosted a work Zoom Happy hour and started off with a nice dirty martini and then moscow mule.  We had a nice time and there were cats, a bunny and guinea pigs visiting too on the feeds.  It was good to see coworkers and enjoy some down time and drinking and knitting.  Plus mel made pork carnitas for dinner and delivered it to me while I was on the call! Woot! This week's episode of WandaVision had a big reveal and I really want to make the circus Darcy outfit now.

Saturday I got up and headed to HIIT and the ankle was much improved from Tuesday and Thursday. I was able to bounce around a bit more.  I got us breakfast burritos and then got my Saturday Ritual Shower (TM), did a face mask skin treatment, got laundry washed, got dressed up for court, sat through court and did basically simple closed captioning in the chat for folks.  Then it was relaxing and working on projects some more before sitting and watching TV into the evening with Mel.  We've been watching "How to Drink" on YT and some of the history is good. His choices of vodka is deplorable.  Seriously, you like Tito's? what is wrong with you???!!!  I did make us some new to us drinks.  I made mel a Spruce Goose which is Gin, honey, lime juice, bitters and tonic.  He loved it.  I learned that honey and shakers are annoying but I have a plan for next time.  I made myself a modified  Red Queen: gin, st. germaine, cranberry and lemon juice. I switched out the cranberry and lemon for pomegranate and lime plus a bit of tonic for sparkle.  It was super tasty.

Sunday was a sleep in day which was nice. I've been reading a really good story on A03 and its LONG. Like the middle story is 220k of awesome words and sass.  I got up and had breakfast and then got my butt dressed, laundry put away, meat pulled out for dinner, dinner plan in my head and then back to projects. I've been painting the baronial arms back onto the friendship bench and I had gotten the base painting done on Saturday.  Sunday I needed to draw things like Laurel leaves and boars heads and I used the Pennsic Traceable Art project to figure out sizing and then did some nuances.  Got things traced on using the good old fashioned graphite transfer method and got to painting. I logged into the months A&S zoom for the kingdom and had a good time painting and chatting.  Then I sat and watched TV with benton for a bit before hopping on to the West Kingdom Scribal.  Dinner was tasty (honey garlic pork chops over rice) and it was nice to sit and paint and chat some more but I was tired so I logged off early.

Hands are doing better but I made sure to not over do it.  I did one craft and then it be.  We went to bed early-ish and that was okay too.  I read a bit in my book (still on #3) and then crashed the heck out. It was a really good sleep but I did not want to be up and awake yet but here I am.  Lots to do at work. I have a 3 day work week since Benton is off Thursday and Friday for Rodeo even thought the Rodeo is cancelled we still have the break  Well it it wasn't the pandemic we would have been at Estrella so there is that as well.

Honestly this was the most relaxing February I've had...its so weird. But I will take a really relaxing and productive weekend.

The subject line was uttered by Benton this AM.  I agree and mine was 3 days long and still not enough.  Especially when I've been waking up at like 430-500am and having a heck of a time getting back to sleep.  Today I woke up and never really fell back asleep. Ugh.  I've made some med changes to try to help me get up a bit earlier since I keep getting up later and later and well I guess maybe this is my body weaning off of them? Or I'm worried about my mom in the frigid cold or its Monday and work anxiety...all of the three?  No I'm not messing with my brain meds, I'm messing with my allergy meds so don't worry about that.  

So I got up and got dressed up in a new dress I got from Karina Dresses and put on matching leggings and felt better.  I've also been putting on perfume daily cause I like to smell nice and why let it just sit not being used.  Mel likes most of them and I love the Pacifica Himalayan Patchouli berry I got at Ulta...he doesn't.  I wore it all weekend.  Meh.  Today is their Tahitian Island Vanilla which is nice as well.

The weekend was nice.  Friday I worked on replacing elastic on some masks for Mel and reworked a mask we got for him early on that just didn't fit.  So I cut it into two masks and fitted the elastic and now he had 3 good working masks that are comfy.  His head is large, his beard is big and normal off the shelf ones just don't work well for him. So it was small fiddly stuff and I spend more time getting my machine to work than anything else.  I had put the needle in with the flat on the wrong side and that makes a huge difference.  oops.  But I crafted a bit that day.

I made a huge vat of chicken curry that was a hit with the boys.  Benton had two bowls and ate quicker than either Mel or I. Which if you've eaten with the boy you know that is not normal.

Saturday I got up early and dressed in SCA clothes for the Atlantian University and the West Kingdom Service Symposium. Trying to get onto a website I couldn't remember the password for and my phone knew but every time I typed it it was wrong was annoying but I got it figured out by the second class.  The first class I did was on the phone though but all good.

Fascinating class on Bog Bodies,  The Overview of book binding was super cool, My SIL taught pickling and that was fun to see.  I got to chat with a college friend before the class started which was also nice.  Plus I was chatting away with folks on text, dicord, IG who were all in various classes and that was just super fun.  The Alchemy 101 of Dyes and Mordants was really helpful in basic understanding of the chemistry.  I had a disappointing time in the Viking Hair Class and it really should have been titled Early hair styles since only one of them was documentable Viking and the other were Iron/Bronze age...just cause its before the year 1000 CE does not mean its Viking even if it was found in Scandinavia.  Sighs.  I caught Baroness Eileth's class on being a Baroness.  She is one of my Queen's Graces from Citadel in Outlands.  The Bling of Rome was well researched and by Accidental Scandian and super fun to geek out on the bling. The Scythian Tattoos class was really well documented as well and the gent showed off his sleeves.  A gal from An Tir who is working on hand poking these designs and developing tattoo ink was also in the discussion which was fascinating.

I then zoomed back to the West Symposium and caught the last part of Giving Good critique and then took Taking Critique.  Good discussions there and had the apprentice sit in on the last one.  So a good day of classes.  I slowly knit through a lot of them and got a full pattern repeat done on my shawl and then sat watching TV with Mel in the evening.  I was tired from learning so much but still stayed up reading.  But I almost finished a book so that is good.

Sunday we all slept way in.  I got some chores done and also made delivery of fruitcake for valentines day for folks.  It was nice to get out, get some air, drive with the windows down/mask on and leave presents in mailboxes and fun text messages.  I also got us donuts for valentines day and picked up pizza for the family.  I sat down and started working on the painting the friendship bench.  It was super annoying though that the stain keeps creeping through the paint.  So I got a few layers of acrylic gesso on the areas and then do some sanding I hope that is all it needs.  If not...mel will scrape it off and we will shellac it and then get the painting on top of that.  Folks who do panel painting suggested that on the West Kingdom Scribal Zoom.  Which was neat.  I also learned to paint butterflies which is not something I've ever tried to paint I don't think. I also don't paint like others for how my paint palette is.  Most of us in Southern Scriptorium use palettes with dried paint in them and rehydrate. A lot of West Coast folks use new paint each time to mix colors and set things up.  It all valid but for me it seems a waste. I have lots of colors I've made in my palettes but the "puddle of paints" is just weird to me and seems more like a oil painting technique or a water color technique. I may try it out but it just hurts my brain a bit.

After I got done with painting last night Mel and I watched some TV after benton went to bed.  It was nice and we got to bed a bit later than I should have but I finished my book.

So Book 2 for the year (I'm so behind...:)) is The hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan from the Trials of Apollo. Can't decide if I want to blow through that series or start something else next.  We shall see.


So in EXCITING NEWS!

Friday I got a text from my SIL stating I had won part of the sponsored prizes for the CCC!  I co-won the "Head" for the "Head to Toe" portion!  Yay! I get a gift cert to the Yarn Barn of Kansas!

Sunday was the NorthShield Court where they announced the winners of the Queen of Doom's A&S Prize.  I won the Queen's Choice for All things Geek (i.e. out of Kingdom submissions!) Woot! I don't know what I won on that one but I got a prize and it was announced in Court and on IG!  SQUEE!!!

Just super proud my thing I made was appreciated.  I've been in a rut for a while and this was good.  Very good for the muse.

Ankle is doing better and my hands after the bit of work I gave them this weekend are good. Just need to not over do things.

I'm working and working on the dress. I made really good progress on seam finishing. I have just the items around the sleeve to do. I did the same on the other side on Tuesday so I should be able to do that tonight after the gym. Yes, I'm going dammit. I didn't Tuesday and that was more mental health related. I'm okay with that. Just trying not to make that a habit.

So Friday I have "off" but I have volunteered for a Leadership thing for work which is in the morning. I'm going to sit and sew during it and they can cope. So if all goes Well I will be at hems on Friday night since friday day will be the hem silk and attaching all of the tablet weaving. Course I realize I may just bind the hem...hmmmm....decisions. Two birds, one stone and all that.

I will chat with the brain trust and figure it out.

I woke up this AM with a stoopid headache from crunching up while sewing...so I'm sure it is that. And its been stoopid windy and the weather change but its really probably just sewing.

I pushed myself to finish my dress for layer 2 for the CCC and I'm most pleased with it even after figuring out that my sleeves were set too high and had to tear our seams that I had already hand finished. Doh!

So here is the dress and I am happy. The Red silk trim really makes the dress pop.
My plan for the weekend is to cut out the next layer and get that working and to cast on my hat I'm naalbinding. I can finish the layer I think by the end of the month. If I work hard I may be able to finish a coat as well but we will see. I may be up for that challenge but its a lot of hand work.

Full Shot:


Arm Movement:



Back:


Seam closeup:



Sleeve and hem shots:

Well, the election has been called but the next 70 days are going to be special. There is no concession from the Trump. Sighs. I'm worried after the firings of the top civilian folks at the Pentagon. But we shall see.

In other news I over the weekend I worked quite a bit and then crafted. I've gotten the spinning bug back and that is nice to sit and spin and watch tv with mel spinning on his wheel or doing hand spinning. He's going back through his stash of handspun singles and plying things from 14 years ago and forward. Its a lot of singles. I unfortunately didn't pay attention to my bobbins and have now filled up all of my bobbins that work with my wolleewinder which means I could switch flyers on the wheel and use the normal bobbins and have to stop and move hooks or I can use the wooleewinder gear and advance it manually. I did that fo finish a cormo I've been spinning since May but do I want to do that for the 3 ply for that fiber or do I want to transfer bobbins....decisions. I have 3 bobbins of cormo, 1 of a pretty corriedale and 1 of the luxurious merino/yak/silk blend to ply. I plan on chain plying the coriedale and the yak blend....so that will have another bobbin free or I could just order more bobbins from Akerworks. Le sigh. Decisions.

I did manage to get my fashion fabric cut out for the CCC for my shift and my serk. Its this tiny pile of fabric for how much work it took to get there. My plan is to sew them together by this weekend so I can then have plenty of hand work for the trip north. Then I can get my overdress cut out this weekend and to maybe the same spot. But I need to decide on my front placket as well...grrr...I'd like that to be set before I sew things together. Hmm. Decisions but at least I've been crafty.

I also painted a scroll this week...first time since May and that was fun. I have another one to do next week and then it will be on to finishing up the repaint of the friendship bench of the barony. It got sent to us for repair and Mel did a great job. now I need to repaint the arms on it which will involve me redrawing a chunk of it. But that is okay.

We are still planning to drive to SD to see my mom but it will be a 1 trip to the grocer and no one else kind of trip I think. SD is stoopid with the plague.

We spent the weekend in Northern Arizona visiting friends and touring geology stuff. We hit the Paleosite outside of Payson to dig for fossils and we took a quick trip to the Tonto Cave Settlement which while the trails are closed you can still see the settlement from the observation deck and see the video about it.

The fossils were small and hard to mine but we did get some and some nice pieces of agate and once mel cleaned things up we saw we had way more than we thought so that was good. And we got out and see things we hadn't, traveled on roads we've never been on and found out that dairy queen now has non-dairy dilly bars! Woohoo!!!

Our hotel was nice and clean and quiet due to Covid. The beds weren't as comfy as I usually like but it was okay. Little boy was not wanting to sleep that night but it was okay.

Saturday we got up and hit a harvest festival and a swap meet. lot of pro-trump and very few masks going on in that area...it was weird. But we distanced and watched the small town fun and Benton got to run around and play on the swings. Then we headed to see John and Anita and we spent the rest of the day with them at their house with their amazing gardens and the shop. Mel has a new helmet on order and I have to do some design work for the pieced grill but that is okay. It was fun to sit and chat and see all the stuff. We ended up having breakfast with them on Sunday before driving home. Home grown eggs and homemade peach salsa omg so good. And they sent us home with a crate of home canned goods. YAY!

We got home about 6pm and then were lumps on the couch before Bed. We were all tired. Monday was a day off for all of us and I lounged around reading before I got working on sewing things. The Pskov dress is a gathered neckline and in doing that it makes the sleeves a raglan sleeve so now I have to figure out how much to add and keep my gussets set to my waist and its a lot of pieces of fabric to add in width cause I'm a hulky girl in the shoulders which kinda freaked Ari and Tati out when I showed them on Zoom. My armscye is like 28+ but its why we do mockups.

I am really like sewing on the featherweight though. Its really nice. Its quiet and simple and easy to use Plus its small and I can just move it to the side and still have space for everything on my desk for work. Woot!

Got our ballots in today for the election and the county recorder's office was pleasant and nice like usual. I will be stalking their webpage tomorrow to make sure our ballots get settled and counted but I can check on it which I think is super cool.

I'm still reading the book from last week. I knit and watched TV and read fic over the weekend.

My summer commission was an under dress for HRM Dionysia for Crown and a kaftan for HRM Franald.

Many lessons learned on this and the final outcome for me is that I'm no longer taking commissions. This was not the fault of this crown or how this project was...its just that no matter what I do, any time a take a sewing commission it seems the world explodes and its a herculean effort to get done. I will state that I was not sewing in the parking lot the morning of the event. The clothes were done 2 days ahead and dry cleaned ready to go. Delivery was slightly problematic due to lots of dumb factors. But I'm happy with this project.

I did the patterning based off of clothes that Ari made for them since their measurement sheets were funky. They provided all materials and I used silks from Ari's project to accent things. which was good since it was so hot that Dionysia's over dress was too warm to wear all day. So she ran around in her underdress.

My apprentice sewed her dress and applied all of the silk trim. I hand cut and made all of the bias tape and did the sleeve armbands. Lady Ida did the seam finishing embroidery.

I did the coat, except for the bottom blue hem which ari sewed for me while I was working on the top. The wool was wonderful and its silk lined on the interiorfront and back to make it easy on and off. Its a small detail but you don't even realize the difference until you wear it with it and realize how nice it is.

Here is the album:

So, Thursday I was done with everything except to finish a few tweaks on my documentation, print it and pack things up. Friday night I was tired. I took a very long shower and then snuggled up into bed with an actual book, not fanfic. I was asleep before 10pm. Mel was up playing video games. I had downloaded Tekkend Tournament 2 for FREE with my gold membership and XCOM so he was a happy camper. Got up about 7am or so on Saturday and had just a nice coffee and reading and then getting into clothes, jewelry and packing things for the event. The last 15 mins of packing was weird but we got everyones stuff ready to go. Ben was whiney that he wasn't going. I explained again that the even would be boring for him and that he'd have more fun with Maddie.

Got to the event and got things settled. The unfortunate thing is that since the format had radically changed a lot of people just assumed I know WTF was going on. I had to keep saying to have folks go see Viscountess Victoria since I was also part of this grand experiment in A&S competitions.

So, unlike previous years where you are judged by 3 judges whose scores are tabulated and the winner of the category is settled by who got the highest score; this year, everyone picked their favorite pieces in each category/sub category both for novice and non-novice. The laurels then also picked their favorite novice item and favorite non-novice item.

The expectation was that folks would go around, read the documentation, talk with the artisan and look at the objects. I think it was a good experiment but with more than the 28 entrants we had it will get to be a cumbersome logistics issue. I did like that you can sit and chat with folks about their things and there was a comment book for you to fill out for each artisan. So, in all I think it was a positive experience for all. Plus I noticed that even though the requirement was "minimum documentation" the quality of the items entered was way better than I've seen on things with really swell documentation.

No, my household peeps did well on their docs. We did end up winning by default the household championship but we made a very good show, we did not do it by just the 10 entries we needed...we had 10 folks enter items so that was 20 entries. I think. I'm very proud of the heraldic display entry Sigrid did.



Its the Hrafnheim Hedge. All done Roll of Arms and shows the date of the laureling. Its really cool and we didn't get to see any of it until it was done and in the competition. So neat.

We headed out just before closing court to get changed and ready for Brew at the Zoo. Willa picked us up with Erika and off we went all schnazzyed up. Now it may have not been a dressy affair but we looked awesome and had a really good time...omg was that a lot of beer. They give you 20 drink tickets which if it was 1 oz samples that is great....it was 3-4 oz samples and ooh boy. We got home pretty knockered but it was a good time. Got bridget and the kiddos packed up and headed to showers and bed shortly there after.

I woke up at 430am and was dry...hungover and headachey....so I had ice water, drugs and more water. Mel did not and woke up pretty fuzzy. We were enjoying our coffee at 830 and Ben was just getting up. Got things settled around the house, got dressed and headed to BJ's for Father's Day Brunch/lunch. Ben was not he usual awesome self at the restaurant. He was tired and squirely and just not beuno. Mel and I were also tired so home we went to nap. I read but laid down and mel slept. Ben read in his room and was happy to stay put. Mel went antiquing and then Ben decided to be bothersome when all I wanted to do was rest.

I'm sure it wasn't so bad but he wasn't listening and later when we went to the store to pick out his dad's bday cake he really wasn't listening. What I do not appreciate is workers in the store trying to placate him with cookies and stickers for his BAD BEHAVIOUR? Seriously? He was not listening and when we got home, he got sent to his room to pick it up.

I sat and had a beer and relaxed. Mel handled him for a while, we had a nummy dinner of smoked salmon, macaroni salad and carrots. Did I mention Sunday was 115F and so hot we were almost able to cook an egg on the sidewalk? Seriously, we did science....it almost worked. I think we were all tired and crabby about things and just needed to all nap. I'd been slightly queasy all day and that didn't help either.

I read in the evening, mel played games and I went to bed on time. Mel did not but all okay.

All in all a good weekend. I now have baby gifts to make, the retreat to pack for and D*C to start working on. The BFF and I are going to mind meld over 4th of july weekend and make things cool in my head. Lots of things to get handled on that front but hopefully trim options work tonight for my sari.

So, lots to make , lots to do and the clock is ticking.