The Summer Lull

 I haven't posted much lately, have I?  I really haven't been doing anything blog-related.  I'm between projects in every area of my crafty life, and have been focusing on other things instead - like refinishing a couple of tables in my house, cleaning up the yard in preparation for bulk brush pickup day in a couple of weeks, and shuffling around some of the artwork that hangs in my house to freshen things up around there.  

I have also done a little bit of SCA-related stuff lately, but nothing major - just some small mending and repairs to old costumes, and some cleanup and reorganization of my costume closet and my camping gear.  I did also get a new air mattress and a new fancy rechargeable air pump for camping, and I'm going to be replacing my old camp chair next week. 

I do also have some new costumey/crafty projects coming up in the next few weeks that I'll post about: 

• I'm still working on a hand-sewn Viking serk that I started in like May and haven't been working on like at all this summer (oops)
• There are a few new weaving projects I'll be posting about once I get them done, which is dependent on when my new thread arrives in the mail
• There may or may not be a new Regency dress in the works.  In fact, there might be TWO of them, I'm just not sure yet 
• I did make a birthday present (piece of garb) for a friend recently, which I've been dying to show you, but I have to wait until I actually give it to said friend before I post about it 

Just in case anyone actually cares, here's what's been taking up the bulk of my time this summer: 

I got this corner table for free from someone's curbside trash in 2017, and I JUST got around to stripping the paint off it and refinishing it so I could use it.  Whew!  It took me about a month's worth of actual working time to get all that paint off (three badly-applied coats of paint plus a primer coat that had soaked deeply into the wood). 

It lives in my bedroom now, and so far, I haven't piled any laundry on it. 

This little side table/stand is an actual antique, given to me by a friend several years ago, and she believes it's from the early 1900s, possibly the late 1800s (I honestly have no idea; there's a maker's signature underneath it but I couldn't make it out in order to look it up).  

The finish was badly damaged, but the structure was completely sound, so all I did was strip it and re-stain it.  This one took me about two days to do from start to finish.  After working on that corner table for so long, this was a nice, easy, fast project, and really fun. It lives in my living room.  

Anyway, I'll be back in a couple of weeks when I have some actual sewing/weaving projects to talk about.  

Update About Random Things

SCA STUFF

So, BAM (War of the Rams) was exciting and wonderful, as anticipated.  There were a million things to do and see and learn, lots of classes, music, crafts, and lots of of fun times with friends.  The Ansteorran Longship Association was out in full force with their first longship, called Skelmir, on display, and a dear friend gave a series of lectures about the history of the ship and its construction, which were fun and fascinating.  Unfortunately, this year BAM was unseasonably warm, so I didn't get to wear the velveteen houppelande that I spent October making for it - but there'll be other cold events.  

What's Next? 

So what am I working on right now?  My next event will be Bryn Gwlad's Candlemas in February, so I'm working towards that.  I'm making over an old dress into a completely new outfit to wear to the event, and making new accessories and jewelry to go with it - here's a little preview I whomped up in the ever-so-modern-and-up-to-date program, Microsoft Paint (yes, it still exists, LOL): 

I'm also working on a series of A&S entries for a largesse competition at Candlemas, which includes glass beads, bags, and lots and lots of card weaving: 

I'm getting lots of practice doing things I love, and I'm having fun working on the new costume.  I'll be working on all of it throughout December and January, so there may not be much in the way of updates until early next year.  

REGENCY STUFF

A group of Regency costumers that I follow online did something fabulous this week:  they went to see the Napoleon movie together as a group in Regency costumes!  AAA!  I would LOVE to do that, but unfortunately I'm the only person I know who's even remotely interested in Regency stuff.  Oh, well.  Maybe some day I'll live somewhere with a Regency society group that's more than just a study group like our local one is.  (Not that a study group is bad, it's interesting, but I want costumes). 

I don't have any Regency stuff planned for this winter - I'm too busy with SCA stuff right now.  Although, I do have a ballgown and a new Spencer jacket on my planning boards (Trello - if you haven't seen it, check it out, it's an awesome project management app/website that keeps me organized and on track for all my projects, and it's free!) for the future - maybe in the spring.  

OTHER STUFF

Meanwhile, while SCA work continues apace, I'm also about to start crocheting a comfy and swishy ruana for my roommate that she can wrap up in at work since her office is always freezing.  

Also, (once SCA stuff and crocheting are done), I have three wooden tables in my house that I need to refinish.  I probably won't talk about those here, although I may.  I used to have a "furniture and other home crafts stuff" blog in addition to this one, but I don't keep up with it anymore.  Maybe I should start again.  But this won't be happening until probably March or later.  

Busy busy busy!  I'll be back soon with an update about the Candlemas outfit.  

Re-Organizing the Sewing Room A Bit

Playing the sliding-tiles game with furniture in my house again:  

Problem: 

• a giant armoire full of towels and sheets in my bedroom, which was in my way, and was also inaccessible to my roommate when I was asleep in there
• a mostly-empty hall closet
• some slapdash shelves on a corner wall in my craft room, full of boxes of fabric and supplies, and  surrounded by piles of same on the floor

Solution: 

1. I removed the shelves in the craft room and put them up in the hall closet, and moved all the linens into the hall closet where they're accessible to everyone
2. I moved the armoire to that corner of the craft room, and re-organized the boxes and supplies into it

And then...

A friend and I swapped dressers over the weekend - my small one for her large one (she wanted to use two smaller dressers in her daughter's room instead of one huge one).  And so this came home with me on Saturday: 

Ikea HEMNES

Most of my fabric stash had been stored in sixteen of those white plastic Ikea (SNALIS, discontinued) boxes (like the two on top of this dresser in the pic), stacked in/on top of that long, low, black shelving unit under the window in the pic (it'll be re-homed soon).  The contents of all but those two boxes fit neatly into the four main drawers in this dresser, and I got all of my small scraps into the smaller drawers at the top.  

So, what do I do with fourteen 5-gal plastic boxes?  I'm not sure yet.  They'll probably end up holding craft supplies in the closet in this room, or full of small tools and things in the garage.  

Cross-posted from my house/furniture blog at pushingfurniture.blogspot.com

Short Hiatus

In just over thirty days, my BFF will become my roomate.  Having finished the major crush of SCA projects for the fall event season, I now turn my focus to getting my house ready to accomodate two occupants once again.

Part of that is swapping out my master bedroom and my craft/sewing room.  My bestie is also a huge crafter and maker, and between the two of us, a gigantic workspace was definitely needed.  While my sewing room is a measly 9x11', my master bedroom is 16x18' - it only makes sense that one space was essentially wasted on sleep, while the other was too small for just me, and wouldn't remotely outfit a pair of crafters.

Yesterday, I begun the process, by swapping out the two closets. If you're interested in following the process, you can see the posts about this at my home/DIY blog, here.

In the meantime, any sewing that needs to occur right now will likely take place in the living room, as soon as I start moving furniture, and I'll be posting about those things  (Bordermarch Autumn Melees is in two weeks, and I have a couple of small things I'd like to get done, but which aren't a huge priority, so no loss if I don't get to them).

I will, of course, post final results once the giant craft room - hereafter referred to as The Room of Requirement - on this blog once I'm finished.  :)