Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Oh, the agony, the agony....

Forced myself to go through my closet - ouch.  At the moment I do pretty much have 2 complete wardrobes - wearable and too-small.  I will not give up on myself, so I'm not willing to get rid of the too-small collection.  It is motivation of a sort.

I did go through both sets of clothing, looking for anything that has not held up well through a few wearings and washings, anything that did not thrill me when looking at it.  I asked myself, regardless of size, if I could wear it right this moment, would I want to?  There were 3 kitchen garbage bags of things for which I could not answer yes.  A few were things that I just did not enjoy wearing, even though I could right now.  I probably could have removed another bag-full, but that was enough for one difficult day.

On a side note, how many skirts constitute too many?  Mine are on those 4-5 skirt hangers, and I have at least a dozen of those hangers!  Why do I love skirts so much?  They really are my favorite type of garment!

So, a little space cleared.  The walk-in closet back to being the main storage for all hanging, mundane clothes, wearable or not.  The additional jury-rigged hanging space in the dressing area now usable for garb and the ugly, cheap garment rack returned to storage for use at camping events or (reluctantly) a garage sale.  The garb had been in the sewing area, but that was getting unmanageable, and besides, I like finished work to get OUT of there!

Tomorrow's goal - yup, a goal for Thanksgiving day, since 1/2 the household went camping this afternoon...mine my way back into the studio - seriously.  The entry is blocked!  Once in, restore the mess I made before the last camping event and the last mad garb scramble, as well as the prep for the hat class last weekend.  Once I can work again - back to building garb, and working on the new camping structure.  Have poles - need cover.  Lots of sewing and for the first time in a long, long time, I'm feeling motivated and excited about getting some things done.  Yeah!

Monday, November 15, 2010

Back from Southern Crusades

And boy were the nights cold!  Of course we knew to expect that going in, but still...I'm a wimpy city girl and it was cold!  So today I'm coping with stuffy nose and ears, grungy throat and general sense of needing to have a quiet day, in my pj's with my coffee and some time to contemplate things that I saw at Southern and things that I want to get busy on, once I'm feeling better.

For Chris, 3-4 shirts just like the one that we bought back at Highlands War.  He loves it so why not?  Also a doublet or two in fabric, maybe one in leather.  He needs boots, but I'm looking on line for those.  Also a pouch to go on his belt, along side his arsenal!  hehe

A pouch for me, as well as a hat or two.  Saw a real beauty at one of the merchant's shops, but over $150 is way, way over my budget.  And besides, supposedly, I know how to do this stuff...get busy me!

All of the things that I wanted to finish BEFORE Southern . . . the Viking caftan, the gray cloak, the reds and browns in the gowns and sideless surcoats.

Today I can just contemplate all of it from the cozy warmth of a blanket on a sofa.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

In the Home Dec department....

Following up on the post about Vogue 2908, the bedroom decor pattern, here's my bedspread - almost finished and already in use!


I didn't want to get much of the room in the picture as it is a bit of a mess at the moment - and nothing unusual there.  I can't wait until the rest of the new fabrics are sewn up and in place, with the walls painted Vanilla Delight.  The room is going to be so fresh and opulent at the same time.







There will be lots of decorative pillows, miles of fringes - some beaded, some tasseled.  Maybe I can have it done by Christmas and say Merry Christmas to me!

PICTURES!

Well, not here...they're on a blog page all their own.  Look to the right of the screen for Projects and Camping My Way.  I will take time to move them to appropriate posts later, but for now this was fast and easy!  Explanations are included with the pictures.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

WHERE ARE THE PICTURES???

Well, some are in the camera and some are waiting to get in....hehehe...

I will do pictures soon!  Meanwhile though, I'm in garb and encampment land - and scrambling like crazy.  With Southern Crusades coming up in just a couple more days, I'm trying to get a bit more versatility into my garb wardrobe.  Estrella War is coming up in less than 3 months and these shorter events have been my motivation to get enough garb going to be able to do the whole week of Estrella...or so I hope.

Today though, was encampment improvement day, or so it seems.  I made a maroon canvas/duck cover for the banquet table, and a brown canvas/duck cover for one of the very modern camping chairs.  Those chairs are hard to get out of, so I made a matching cushion to give myself a little boost.  I wanted to get something made to cover the First Up canopy, but need more time on that.  Also used a coarse, uncomfortable, cheap cotton sheet to re-upholster an old but still solid Coleman sleeping bag.  The inside flannel and batting were good, but the cover was shot.  It looked like a heavy cotton voile - way too thin and light, and tore like crazy.  The uncomfortable sheet is perfect on the outside and the bag has a new lease on life.  Yes, it was a lot of work, but I think it was worth it.  The bag was far too good to throw away.  Mostly, I use it as a mattress topper, on top of my 5" thick, high density foam.  Yup, I camp in comfort!

I'm seriously considering taking a real bed on this trip.  It's very old, having been my grandmothers; she was born in 1894.  It's a 3/4 bed, so no mattresses or sheets available except by custom-order.  I used it as a guest bed for a couple years, but it's been in storage for many years.  Now I'm thinking that, even though it's not in any way period, it is easy to break down and would get me up off of the ground.  There'd be storage space underneath.  If it doesn't work out for camping, then I need to look at having a carpenter take the pieces and make a bench or hall bench out of it...something that would keep the basic look of it, but perhaps with storage under a hinged lid.  Really can't keep storing it any more.

So...I'll take lots of pictures in my encampment, as well as of everything else that I've mentioned in the last few posts...and get them up here SOON!