oh so busy...

in which our plucky heroine accomplishes much...

For weeks now, I've been working on making a set of 16th century German clothing for my friend Maeva; she was attending Perfectly Period Feast North this last weekend, and I completed her linen-lined wool supportive undergown and her wool long sleeved overgown. In addition, I made multiple accessory items, including a gollar (shoulder capelet), a three layered headdress, and a hand-smocked, entirely hand-stitched linen apron. This sewing was quite the stretch, as it combined a small amount of machine stitching with a lot of hand stitching, and a number of techniques that were new to me. While I myself do historic re-creation as a hobby, my primary interest is in the Viking Age, and the clothing styles of centuries later than that are very different and much more complex in construction. I learned a lot and enjoyed the challenge.

Maeve, wearing the 16th German clothing I sewed for her, put on an impromptu fashion show Sunday afternoon when we stopped by Bolt Fabrics. The sales associates there had been following my progress with great interest, and it was a treat to be able to show them the results "as worn". Here I am helping her get all the layers properly in place. I hope to have better photos soon!

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Mindy came down this last weekend, and the biggest thing we tackled was removing all the horrid irregular red plastic "privacy slats" from the chain link fence in the backyard. They didn't ever actually block the view of the neighbors, or the alley, but being all different lengths, turned the never-very-attractive chain fencing into a real eyesore. Now it is a lot less visually cluttered, and the offending plastic bits were tied in bundles and donated to the Rebuilding Center for re-use. We also put away the air conditioner til next summer; being able to close the window all the way means that the kitchen is a wee bit less drafty.

Saturday night we sorted through and re-folded all my wool fabrics, so the resource center shelves are now about a quarter dealt with. Not sure but that in time I may donate some of the wool, as there is definitely SABLE* happening in that category! There is only so much melton cloth our plucky heroine can use... That said, I found a piece of nice thin finely-woven grey herringbone wool, and even better a very special piece of what is probably cashmere in a deep chocolate brown! (soooo silky-soft) After trying on the gollar I made for Maeva, which seems the ideal garment for warmth in my Very Chilly Cottage, my plan is to make one for myself as well

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In the interest of using up some of my assorted precious indigo fabric scrap (as opposed to the simply ordinary scrap, which gets discarded in various ways) and inspired by the current "Freewheeling Single Girl Sewalong" I've started piecing arcs of indigo, with the idea of a quilted bed throw... While at Bolt yesterday, took advantage of their anniversary sale to acquirea few yards of Kona cotton chocolate brown fabric for the background to said indigo rings. While I won't be finishing a quilt in six weeks, most of which I spent on the aforementioned 16th century clothing, my hope is to turn at least some of the fabric stored here into  wintertime warmth and comfort. Aside from the brown cotton, all else needed for the project was already in the resource center!

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October SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	6 jars grape syrup	moar apple pruning	grapes harvested
2	Maeva undergown	wool fabric sorted	yard waste bin
3	Maeva overdress	AC put to bed	yard waste bin
4	Maeva wool gollar	x	red fence slats
5	Maeva wusthalbe	x	-
6	Maeva steuchlein	x	-
7	x	x	-
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitude - my "emporium" aka "resource center" formerly known as stash, is a highly curated (if not yet well organised) source of materials for Useful Projects, and I am continually grateful for that

* SABLE = Stash Accumulation Beyond Life Expectancy