Spammity Spammmmmm!

Sorry folks, for the time being I've had to turn off anonymous comments.  Been getting flooded with spam/advert comments lately - twelve so far today, in fact, and it's not even noon yet.

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Stuff I'm Working On

Honest to gosh, I have NO clue what to do for February's Sewing Challenge project.  I have eight yards of a beautiful black silk that I got on clearance last month (four. dollars. a yard.  Not even kidding), but I also have:

• an arming cote for a guy
• a Viking apron dress for a gal
• a wooden X-chair to strip and refinish for a guy
• a non-SCA art project commission for a gal
• THIS: 

Oops. 

And I'm about to take on a second job and will likely be working anywhere from 70-90 hours a week, depending on what my night job's schedule is going to look like.  (Hopefully it won't last for more than three or four months).  

I'm going to be down to weekends-only, project-wise. So...I guess we'll see?  Anyway, if I'm scarce going forward, that's why.  See you guys on the flip side, or as soon/often as I can.  

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The Case of the Red Satin Pomegranate

I'm so excited about this I don't even know where to start.

I MADE A POMEGRANATE.  This purse was inspired first by this modern pomegranate-shaped box, made by  Michael Michaud ("I could make myself a pomegranate to wear and keep things in", I thought), and later by this gorgeous petal pouch made by Janet Granger, after an example in the book Elizabethan Needlework Accessories  Sheila Marshall ("OOH!!!")

pattern shaping and some of the embroidery

 All the of the embroidery, and most of the sewing, was done by hand.  It went fairly quickly - about four days from start to finish - since I did most of the embroidery on the red pieces during my day at the event in the Shadowlands last weekend.

The green lining and red satin outside are married with a
satin stich all the way around the top.  It took. Forever.

The green cord that laces the bag was made by me and my
friend Simona at the Shadowlands event, at a Viking whip-
cording workshop, which was REALLY fun.  The cord was
fast and easy to make, and both Simona and I plan to
continue doing this craft. 

Possibly the nicest buttonhole I've ever made by hand.
Which means it's a good example of how badly I suck
at making buttonholes by hand.  I'm getting better. 

"Leaves"

To compare to the first picture, in which the bag was
stuffed with paper towels to fill it out for the photos,
this is the bag completely empty.

And this is my very favorite thing about the bag:  the six-
rayed star on the bottom.  So pretty!  

Madylyne Does A&S (3)

I really don't.  I don't like being involved in competition or judgment of any kind, hehe.  But a friend convinced me to display my needlework bags at the display-only portion of the A&S thing at Candlemas, and so I did:

You've seen [nearly] all of these pieces before: 

• Teal satin pouch
• Linen pomegranate pouch
• Blue velvet pouch
• Red velvet (machine embroidered) bag
• Red velvet needle case
• Satin pomegranate
• Black velvet pouch 

The final two projects are new:  the satin pomegranate I just finished last week before the event; and the black velvet I've only just started.  More on those this week! 

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