Woot! My crown sewing is finished!

I did not gym yesterday I was tired and had intended to get home, get laundry going and finish his kaftan. I was not happy with the material I had for loops but that is fixable later. I used a small section of left over blue linen from the trimming and with it double folded like bias tape it was a bit stiff and chunky but I didnt quite have enough silk bias to complete it either. But I worked from bottom up, used good ergo and got things placed well during about half a movie which also included me eating my dinner. Luckily Practical Magic is on Disney+/Hulu so I put that on and finished up within the hour after I had picked up Benton and switched out a load of laundry.

It doesn't look clunky from the outside I don't think.

I sat down to finish the movie and Benton decided he wanted a shower before dinner after finishing his homework and then dawdled. I got a about 6 inches of weaving done and Benton was in bed at like 940pm. I finished the movie but then mel came home and we started chatting and well I did not go to bed early.

Work has been super frustrating for both of us. I'm in the I really don't care at all about anything and that is not a good head space to be. I just wish people could do their damn jobs. It would help tremendously.

Friday work was long and busy and even though I finished at 2pm things were just a lot. So busy. I did complete my ethics training and OMG the stories are usually based on real life examples and wow people are dumb. But yeah that is done for another year.

About 100pm Mel caught Spicy mid-pooping outside the box onto Benton armor bag and when he caught her he picked her up and shoved her in the cat box. She hissed and growled and then Tasha came to her rescue and dug into Mel's leg through his pants with claws out. Tasha was growling, Spicy was hissing and growling it was chaos. Spicy then sat on my desk (not usual) and was breathing very hard for alike an hour. She came out when I headed to my appt but still growled at Mel and then hid under the couch and Tasha was still mad and growling at him and basically bitching him out every chance she got. Like WTF?

I had an appt for my flu shot at CVS and picking up Bentons meds. The pharmacist who I've been seeing for years is awesome and she got me a coupon so it was $45 versus $342 for his meds. The shot was easy and then I was off to come back home and work on things which included giving everyone a heavy heavy dose of catnip before I headed to a happy hour for work. Spicy was hiding under the music cabinet and I put a whole pile in front of her.

Went to a new brewery to me called Slow Body Brewery. They are in the industrial district south of downtown near Barrio Brewing and across the street from where 17th Street Market used to be. You enter through what had to have been their freezer door and that is fun but it had an interesting vibe and tasty but low grav beers. I had their Tempo American IPA and their Cutie which was a prickly pear hard seltzer. Got to hang out with program folks, meet Harrison's wife and his cute as a button son who was in the 14 month I will walk all over. Got done there and headed home.

Mel was still at the dojo and I was hungry so I started making dinner with the meat he had set out. I made sweet and sour chicken (ish), I probably needed to use a different vinegar (rice versus AC) but it was tasty, I used up some aspirational veggies in the fridge for a tasty meal. Mel was surprised but I was very happy to cook when I have a chance. Also, following the recipe on the packet I have some ideas on how to change things for future making of stuff and more process orientated since I think I can make sweet and sour myself. We had a nice night and I did a bit weaving since sewing was dumb and I was tired. I think that is what I did? I don't actually remember and neither does Mel.

Saturday Mel left early for the event and I laid awake for a bit before just getting up and getting going on things. I had sewing today and things to fix and needed to get Mel's kaftan fitting. So the main issue was I had cut the main panels too short in the width by 1.5 inches. not sure what I was thinking or what I misread when cutting things out but I had to make sure the kaftan fit me well and it would fit Mel. It took some math and finding a fabric scrap but new gussets and I was good to go on the fit. I then worked hard to get the trim finished up or at least to a point to hang for the hem.

Earlier in the morning we got into the truck to get my covid shot and Benton's flu/covid shots from the pediatrician doing a saturday drive thru shot clinic. You had to sign up for it but it went smoothly. I had some chest tightness and Bentons arm hurt a lot but he got both shots in the same arm which I would not have done personally but it was his choice. He was also tired, achey and a bit nauseous. He played subnautica most of the day.

My work on Thursday or Friday was bad and I had to redo a section though I may have done that Friday night and then left it until Saturday? Dunno but I did a lot of hand sewing to get his hem settled and then left it for me to decide if I wanted to trim it in blue or make more red bias tape. I had just enough of it to do my neckline and I think the blue looks better for the bottom. In between doing that I also managed to make fig pastries with some aging dairy free puff pastry in the freezer. I did in the air fryer. They turned out very nice. I also made dinner of gyros with more aspirational veggies, a cucumber salad, and homemade fries in the air fryer. The fries took forever and the auto setting on the fryer for 1 lb of fresh fries is so wrong. But they were tasty. Benton ate good Saturday and Mel was very confused by dinner but he had also gotten two of the pastries which were set inline with laid out food for dinner. He had not seen the texts to the family chat about the pastries so he served them up with dinner. Lol. I was like that is dessert. Lol.

By the end of the evening I got his kaftan to the hanging stage. And some trim for my dress cuffs done. Sunday I slept in cause the covid shot was making me tired and I was a bit stuffy and had to make frequent breaks but I got his kaftan to buttons and loops and my dress to the hem hanging. After playing through some classic disney on Thursday night (robin hood), I went through Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and then moved into the Pirate movies realizing I hadn't watched the last two. Admittedly I wasn't paying great attention on the last two and need to rewatch but it was fun enough for a rewatch when I can pay attention and not be trying to not burn my hand with an iron.

Spicy spent most of Sunday and Saturday curled up in my studio. We have a vet appt today and hopefully we find something about this behavior cause this is weird as fuck.

And just got back from the vet and she's a healthy 9 lbs of spicy. No signs of anything wrong other than anxiety so gonna try the diffusers and another litter box? We shall see what we can fit since the bathroom is tiny.

And I came home to one the largest hair balls I've ever seen on my studio carpet left by Tasha. Thanks.

Thursday I stayed home and worked and just effed off at like 2pm. I was tired and done and took a nap for a few hours. I had finished up Wednesday on Thursday while on the couch. I then started Thursday Murder Club and shifted to Glass Onion. The vibe on TMC is good but I wasn't coping with fave actors looking old (pierce brosnen, helen mirren, ben kingsley). Mel sat down and watch GO with me when they got home and Benton was watching and said " I just started watching this and hate all of those people" well said. No one is likeable on that cast except Benoit and the twin sister.

Well, Friday I knit in the AM and unfucked my shawl (again). I managed to head to my waxing appt and then home by way of black rock coffee for an iced PSL with oatmilk and an iced butterscotch breve for Ivan. I was feeling okay still tired but more rested. I dinked around for a bit before finally heading into the studio to work on my dress where I got things all pinned on one side for colorblock. I then headed to my massage before coming home to dinner ready (pasta nom nom) and we sat and watched Kpop Demon Hunters while we both wove. Benton was not interested in watching a movie with us. His loss. It was fun and catchy music and a good message. I put another foot on the band which was good since it had sat for a week.

Saturday I got up and did errands which included the vet to pick up food, grocery shopping and the post office. I really hate their kiosk but it worked okay. Then it was home to sew and work on things. I realized that my own aesthetic made it so I hand sewed the whole color block on my dress. And then started in on working on his kaftan. Where I got trim figured out. I watched the entirety of Department Q which was amazing OMG while sewing. I also made good use of my lap app desk and my foot stool to sew in good ergo and comfort. I got on such a roll I didn't realize it was well past dinner time before I pulled leftovers out. Mel had hyper focused in the shop making paint so we were both hungry. Pulled benton out of his room and his computer for dinner and then I was back at sewing and finishing Dept Q.

Sunday I was up early and decided to use my executive member perk at costco to go before they open and OMG was that nice. I was home within the hour. Then it was on to working on Mel's kaftan and I realized I had too short of trim on the front to run it up through the neckline how I wanted so i futzed a round for a hour making the perfect. circular band. Yes I should have done this when I was doing the neckline meh. It worked out. I got it machine sewn on and then with steam and tenacity I got it to sit right for hand turning the edge. I have misplaced my tailors ham somewhere in my studio. Its annoying as fuck honestly. But by the end of sewing and watching all of the The Residence (good murder mystery in the white house and social commentary about these trying times). I had finished the enitire neckline and front trim and silk edging with just a few more hand stitches needed to tack the crossover on the pointes. I also got the sleeves the same treatment so I can get those sewn on tonight before scribble and the emergency less than a weeks notice Laurel meeting? sighs.

I'm still feeling not great. Not sure if its my girly bits being weird, UTI, a kidney stone, a pulled muscle (a la 2024 ER visit) or something else. so we shall see. Its not a lot of pain but it local to a side and the general maliase. I'm drinking lots of water taking pain meds and will see how I'm feeling tomorrow.

The weekend has ended and I think we are all in a sad with the family leaving for home but the eldest nephew had band camp as a freshman starting today so needs must. Saturday we did a bit of antiquing after they left. Benton had been dealing with a slight sore throat that has gotten worse and got so bad that we trundled up to town to get to urgent care. Its not strep but is like my issue a few months back with allergies getting past his meds. We also need to get the dehumidifiers running in the downstairs cause its musty and he may have an issue with any surface mold. But he's feeling better yesterday but was pretty chill watching tv all day after we got back to the house.

Sunday we managed to get to the local fighter practice in my original home shire of Border Downs. King Hans is a local now so Mel got to have a lot of good passes, including with pole arm (he borrowed gauntlets) and he had fun fighting other folks. I guess next year we will have to drag his C&T stuff. I spun on my drop spindle and did a good long bunch of fiber in the 2+ hours we were there. Benton was playing on the playground. I talked with a bunch of modern families that came to see and was a good peer even when I had a mom say her kiddo was non verbal, I still spoke with him to show him the fiber I was spinning and I could see he liked the texture and gave him a small sample to have. All of the kids were polite and when I redirected with if you want to touch something please ask they were really good. Two of the kids played with benton's boffers and when it was time to leave I asked them to please put them back how they found them and they did. Good parenting there which I appreciated. Another mom asked where we buy our costumes and I explained we made most everything and said I'm even making yarn right now and she went "go you!" which was hilarious. I was in shorts and tank top but still it was hilarious.

The mosquitos have been brutal with all of the flooding and rain here. Luckily the Off active dry works well but man they have been insane even in the day time. I'm looking at getting one of the mosquito thingys for the patio. Cause damn I want to sit out in the evenings. They were not this bad last year but boy howdy this year is nuts.

We got back from practice and had lunch and then I got a shower from the bug spray making my skin feel gross. I got a quick rinse off and then I took a 2 hour nap. Finally got up and worked on the pants. I did change out the needle and mucked with the thread a bit. I'm using brand new gutterman thread but the needle did most of the trick I also learned from this video how to do reverse and other things.

I finished the pants after dinner and then sat down at my wheel to spin the mohair and about an hour in my footman on teh left side snapped. This happened last year on the right side so now I need to wrangle with that today. It was late and dark and I needed tools from the big garage and I just sat down and worked on the emotional support chicken and finished its beak and now it looks like a flat chicken and is making me very happy. next up on it is the comb, then the wattle and then the underside before stuffing. I hopefully can get it done before we leave for WW and then just have some socks for mel on the needles. I will also pack my spinning since the polworth is spinning up quickly.

I'm about 50% through #24 for the year and the plot thickens. I'm not sure if this takes place in the almost timeline of now or not. There are references to the modern world and actors etc but I'm not sure that the "real" world knows that magic exists? Oh well reading I guess they don't. I'm interested in how this will go next.

So things are nice, its relaxing and the cats happy. Especially since I got a new cat tunnel that is an s-curve with extra cutouts that is making it hilarious with tails sticking out of weird spots. Happy kittens.

Well it was MLK day and I had Benton get Christmas down from the house and I helped put it away. So that is done and dusted. The tree is a thing to wrangle and the closet it goes into and the place the rest of stuff is stored is Master level tetris. But we got it done. I also got my laundry done (minus the hang and dry stuff which needs my studio to not have the ironing board setup so that will be worked tonight while I'm working on things.

1) hem on apron (marked and in work)
2) straps on apron (in work)
3) trim on apron
4) hem on underdress
5) Finish Benton's coat
6) find yarn for travel knitting (mitts for Sir Justin)
7) Gather things for gift basket (in progress)
8) Pack for trip to SC

I got the underdress hem cut and pinned and the apron I decided to get Ari to help me get the hem even. This had a really funny convo between me and her and Aesa. Ari could not grok that the back hem is longer than the front hem cause some of us have butts. lol. But I stood and she got it marked and I will cut it tonight and pin and sew. This is longest apron dress I have made. It will be wonderful for the event in SC which the high is 34 and at a Girl Scout camp. And for War of the Phoenix which we are expecting to be cold. The herringbone is a cotton flannel style and so snuggly. Its only about 4-5 inches off the floor but that will be nice and warm.

On the book front I started the 3rd book of the year which is the Omnibus for the House of M. Yes, comic books. Its 1300 pages of pretty and scary stuff. I've also downloaded a few books to my kindle for the weekend travel. So I will probably ahve concurrent books going. House of M is also like 5 inches thick.

So tonight will be working on getting the apron dress hemmed and the straps on it. Then on Wednesday I can get Benton's coat done with hems etc on machine. So with all going well all I will have to do on Thursday is to put on some trim on the dress and pack. Its cutting it closer than I wanted but I added the coat so meh.

I finished my CCC project with TIME TO SPARE!!!!!!!!! WOOOHOOOOO!!!!



This was not me sitting in my car the morning of the event sewing on loops for buttons after doing a 22 hour straight sewing binge and having the crown calling me incessantly to finish up. This was me working a few hours a day and getting things done on a schedule and finishing up the night before just after dinner and then taking my time to style a photo shoot and hand in the documentation and edited photographs.


Super fun and super comfy though I was getting hot sitting in the sun. It was 63F and we didn't have a lot of wind so warm but I love it. I felt very fancy and its all entered and ready for judging.

This is gonna be a photo heavy post so:

( Photos behind this link )

This past weekend was the mid-year virtual KWHSS. I only found out about it the previous weekend at Aten 50 year from a household member. When we were chatting. So I attended classes and social time and learned quite a few things. During all of that I worked on my CCC entries. I got the hat done. Its drying from blocking. The dress....well danabren was right...don't cut out things while drunk. Now the cutting was find but I didn't double check any math and that was past me's problem. But I sewed the dress and it was skin tight.....not what you need for layer 3 over your boobs and fluffiness. So, I set it aside on Saturday night and knit during the last few classes. Sunday I got up and took more classes (one on making parchement) and did measurements, chatted on text with the arts crewe and cut whole new larger and longer gussets. Then I moved up the goes to match the added width since I had cut them long to start with due to the math error. It now fits. Yay! Though mel was confusing me by saying it was too big...he though I wanted it super fitted. Honey, its going over a pleated underdress...I need the room!

The apprentice is awesome and picked up tasty meat vittles at Forbes Butcher shop. They are super good (spendy though) but I used their bacon to make a diary free carbonara. the bacon while fatty crisped up perfectly and didn't have extra water content. It was worth it for that alone I think. But the dairy free parmesan I grated is perfect (brand is Violife Parm Wedge). I modified the Alton Brown recipe in his latest cookbook for breakfast carbonara. Tasty. Also since it was fresh cured bacon we actually needed to add salt. That was bizarre. So good. 10/10 I'm making it again.

After I made dinner I was on the West Kingdom Scriptorium Zoom. That was nice. Got to chat with folks from all over and talk through different ways to do stuff. Everyone learns differently and for me square hands are hard. I had Palmer method writing drilled into me for decades so I can't switch well. So, its okay. Had a nice time honestly and worked on my dress and got 1.5 seams hand finished. So all good. I will be trying to stop by there more. I need the influence to scribe more and I have commissions to work on anyway. My scribal supplies and my sewing machine are just staring at me right now shoved to the side of the desk. Sighs.

I also gave blood yesterday and for the first time in a really long time it hurt. And I got woozy later. So I think I was dehydrated so that is a thing. I've been slamming water a lot.

So this week I have to finish the dress and then get gussied up in the full ensemble for nice daylight pictures which means try to finish by friday so I can get things to the dry cleaner and then me in it. Hopefully I can accomplish this but oof lots of work. I can do it. Plus I have Friday off though I have a volunteer thing for work but its on zoom so I can sit and sew.





The other things we did do was unpack and setup the new tiffany lamps we bought. Trying to keep up with the 1920s aesthetic and they are so nice. course now I have a mix of compact fluorescent bulbs which have yellow light versus the LED which are white light. I will be changing things out for better light quality. We do want to replace the ceiling lights in the front room and the kitchen with tiffany style but need to pick one.

Well, when last I wrote we were planning on going to SD for Thanksgiving. We did not do this. Things are so bad with the virus and SD is one of the worst states at that time. Things are even worse now due to people getting together for the holiday. Mom and I were sad but its way safer.

We had a very quiet thankgsgiving at home. I only made 3 pies and I delivered food to Ari so she had good noms. We did a nice turkey and some salmon. Green beans, grilled sweet potatoes, sweet rolls, and the best stuffing I've ever made. Seriously. We used herbed bread mel had made as the croutons. It was so good.

On the craft front I've had a bit of enuii but I did manage to get my shift done. I still have my underdress to finish..its together but I need to sit and pleat it. The hand finishing has been triggering my tendonitis and I've not beem feeling great overall. The weather change gets to my sinuses badly.

Work has been...special. I've had to give large presentations for a new proposal to my new director who is back east due to the merger. Its been a big learning experience and frightening as well. Talking casually about millions of dollars just freaks me the eff out. But its going okay. I have 8 working days left in the year. Ugh. But I've made some progress on some career goals for a cert I've been working too.

The girls turned 2 over Thanksgiving and that is so surprising. It doesn't seem like we've had them a bit over a year and a half but they are.. they are enjoying having the weather cooler. We did get the furnace fixed and that has been nice. The house is now reasonable. My studio is still too chilly but I have a space heater.

The boys got the xmas lego train up and have been putting up a lego xmas building kit from last year. It takes up the entire piano and that is okay.

The dress:


The legos:


I felt very pretty for my big presentation and tried out new lipstick:

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.

Work has gotten a bit busy again, which is good and bad. My brain has not been up to the task of organizing this much data but I've had to put on my big girl panties and just do it. But its leaving me exhausted. I'm still a bit beat up from the previous weekend and I hit the gym hard on Wednesday and Friday. I did not woos out on my running on Friday and hit almost 2.25 miles in 35 mins. Not too shabby. Have a coworker who asked me if I wanted to do a 1/4 marathon at the end of March and well, I'm tempted. I'll be slow but it would be good I think. It will be the longest I've ever run but if I get my distances up for the next while I think 6 weeks is a good time to try it...before the dreaded milestone birthday coming up.

Anyhoo...got home, got cleaned up and changed and Mel, Benton and I met Will and Ari for dinner at the Welcome Diner (formerly ChafFins Family Restaurant). Its hipster but the food was tasty and teh drinks were good. Benton at his entire bowl of mac/cheese with bacon and I had a sample and it was good. I had shrimp and bluecorn grits. Got home and got Ben to bed and then Mel and I were both tired. We went to bed early and I slept pretty good. Ben got up early but I made sure to get him breakfast and made pancakes for the family before he and I trundled off on errands.

First we got him a hair cut which he did well with. Then I returned things to BB&B, hit Target for essentials and then picked up Obsidian's ashes. The staff had done a pawprint for us on an ornament and Ben and I were pretty sad after that. I got him ice cream (his first Blizzard) which he ate just a bit of before it went into the freezer. Icka was over for a visit when we got home and after some chit chat I managed oh so slowly to cut out 2 tunics and facings for benton, 2 tunics and facings for Mel and a dress for myself with facings. Seriously, it took hours. I know in that I was helping Benton learn to use his icord maker, I did some laundry, I checked some patterns and did a bit of ironing but still...I finished up jsut a bit after dinner and then by that point mel was going to bed. He'd been sick all week and was just done. I was not in the mood to cut anything else out or sew things like facings so I snuggled up on the couch with a beer and my knitting and watched Sherlock : The Abominable Bride. I never got to watch it. But was glad I did. Cumberbatch did a great job of being Jeremy Brett, my first love, to a tee. I loved all of it and the trippy nature of when things actually took place. So fun. It was good and I hit the hay about 1030 and snuggled in to sleep.

Sunday dawned and I again got up with Ben, got him breakfast, made coffee and tried not to be a lump. I had sewing to do and so I got myself fed, dressed and slowly sewed all 5 facings/necklines before I lost steam and headed out to do errands. I got new knee pads and things at Dick's Sporting goods. I really don't like there store and their selection is meh. They had no elbow pads or any high impact sports bras that didn't include a wire closure or underwires....seriously. sighs. Got home and Ai'sha and Lucian were over working on their bed. I started on sleeves for Benton's tunics and then it was dinner time. Mel was as tired as I was but I managed to get some laundry put away and put away everything related to sewing from the front room so we could have scribble tonight. I did manage to get the sleeves on his tunics and then sewed the pad of my thumb with the machine cause I'm an idiot. It hurts but I'm not injured.

So a few pics and a video:
Ben'd cute Tunics:


Mel's Wheel All done:



Me spinning on the wheel: