Stitching, Knitting, and studying

 Before I say anything else, I must give a Vivat to my fiance Lord Jehan leBlanc. At AEthelmarc's fall 2011 Crown Tourney, Jehan received his Golden Alce, which is a reward for the martial arts. He received his for his work with the college group's fencing practices, receiving all of his authorizations, and also being a martial. Our friend, and his Liege, Lady Rowan created the scroll, Baroness Barbary Rose did the calligraphy, and I am not sure who did the word creation. It is a beautiful scroll, and a well deserved reward...

                                                                      Now on to me...

 Well, my productivity level has been like a roller coaster on many levels. I'm taking a break from knitting for awhile, and am focusing on new tasks. I was asked to work on a special project for a friend, and need to have that done this week, so I can send it out. It was my first semi-accomplished embroidery project, and I think it turned out semi-decent. I will make sure to post a picture after it is given to the recipient. I have also been working on a project that I have wanted done for awhile. One issue that I have at events is not having anywhere to put my belongings. I bought a beautiful leather belt pouch off of a friend, which is very useful, but it doesn't work well when you are wearing a sideless surcoat, or my green step dress, that I am trying to keep as a court dress (meaning no belt). My solution to the problem was to buy a satchel and decorate it. I first made a kumihimio braid and attached it to the front flap of the bag.One design that I love to do, and I think is so easy, is a flower pattern of my own creation.

It involves a simple flower, and after measuring it out, I lightly traced it onto 100% Belgium linen that is a size 32. With my little embroidery project for a friend, what i didn't do (or know to do), was to tape the edges so it doesn't fray as much. That small project frayed so much that I will have to sew it as best as I can onto another piece of fabric so it can be made into its final creation, and hope it is still useable.  So for this one I took freezer tape and outlined the edges, so hopefully this one doesn't fray. The colors I plan on using are yellow/gold, purple, and white, due to the coloring of the cord. I decided to do it on linen and not right on the bag so if this gets dirty or destroyed from age (or I get bored of the pattern), I can just remove the picture, and put a new one on.
I am also working on my own heraldry and badge. I think a next project, will be making a pillow for me for the car in green with a gold lamb on the front. My device is a vegetable lamb, and I am going to make my badge a gold lamb. That and making tokens will be a later project after I finish my bag and possibly my socks. The most annoying thing is not having enough hours in the day to get things accomplished. Oh how much nicer the world would be if we didn't have to work and we could just do what we wanted....

   With that thought in mind, I have a job interview set up for next Tuesday, so hopefully I will be lucky and get a full time job. Interviews always make me nervous so hopefully I don't do too bad in this one. Hopefully I can survive work, do very well on my interview, and get some embrodiery work done over the next few weeks. They should be fairly quiet event wise until the FFFand F event for me which is right before thanksgiving, so here's to motivation, time, and life!


Always,
~Antoinette

I must apologize ...

I must apologize to everyone that I have not written anything lately. It has been a crazy few weeks, involving Jehan's grandmother dying, my graduation party, and starting a new job. I haven't had the time (or the energy to come down to get internet). But here I am now for a few moments, so I thought I would give you an update on what has been going on.

Last weekend was the Mountain Confederation Ladies Event. It was very cold and very wet, but it was still a lot of fun. I joints kept locking up and hurt the whole time, but I participated in the fencing tourney, and I know I at least didn't come in last place, so I am quite content with how I did. This week will be full of working, and still working on my sock. I had to rip out over 25 rows last night, due to not making an exact copy of the other one, and I want them to be as close as possible. Hopefully I can get more worked on this week before crown. I will more then likely bring some embroidery work to do at crown, while I sit and wait. My friend Jinx is a consort for a fighter, so I'll be there to support her as well as to see some old friends. I have never been to crown tourney, so it will be interesting to watch. I have also volunteered to retain for the king and queen, meaning I will follow them around, and assist them in any way that I can. Hopefully I can be of service, and it will be fun to do :).



I received my very expensive piece of paper in the mail the other day (also known as a diploma), meaning I am one step closer to being released into the world on my own. I am still looking for a COTA job, but for right now its just working a few part time jobs to get some money in the bank. Thank fully the next few weeks will not have any events (after crown that is), so I can kind of take things slower, save some money and work on some side projects that I've been putting off. Hope everyone has a good few weeks, and I hope to be on soon (and this time with some pictures :)

Till then

Always,
~Antoinette