31 January 2007

Good Service

I ordered the fabric I was missing from the Moonglow quilt on Monday afternoon and it's here by Wednesday lunchtime, that's pretty good service, so kudos to Logans Patchwork Fabrics.

30 January 2007

Sea of Crisis


Sea of Crisis, originally uploaded by laren_oz.

Only two more to go of the compass blocks after this!

29 January 2007

Traditional Buckram


Traditional Buckram, originally uploaded by jane_stockton.

This is a traditional mesh and cardboard buckram. It is used for a variety of purposes, but especially in hat making.

This is the stuff I was trying to track down a couple of weeks ago. Managed to find some, and cheaper than what I was paying for it previously!

My new supplier is:

CJ Preston Milliners
38 Walsh St
West Melbourne VIC 3003

Ph: (03) 9329 8944
Fax: (03) 9329 6537

Cassie was the very helpful person I spoke to. They also had the cloth covered millinary wire much cheaper than other places as well. They are out of buckram at the moment, I got the last three metres, but they will be getting more stock in about the end of March, beginning of April.

28 January 2007

I Knew I'd Be Short!!

I spent most of today cutting out the remaining blocks for the quilt and as I suspected, I've come up short on a couple of the fabrics. I had issues when I was getting the blocks month by month, that what the shop was sending me was not the recommended size of the fabric pieces. I realise that the company selling the project, ie fabric company, might give generous fabric requirements, as they will sell more fabric. So the shop I bought the BOM through was sending what they thought would be enough. But on a couple of occasions, after washing and shrinkage, their wasn't enough. They weren't particularly helpful and now after cutting out all the pieces, there are a couple of fabrics that I will have to buy more of. Since this is from an old range of fabrics, I don't know if I will be able to track it down.

27 January 2007

The Border Sea



Alternate Block, originally uploaded by laren_oz.

I made up a full demo of the alternate block as I had to work out all the measurements for myself. The instructions only had measurements for doing machine piecing. So I made up the templates, but not trusting my maths or working in Imperial measurements, I wanted to make up a full size block before cutting the rest of the material. So this is it, it worked out the right size, so now I can do the marking and cutting for the rest of the blocks.

26 January 2007

Sea of Clouds


Sea of Clouds, originally uploaded by laren_oz.

This is the Sea of Clouds block from the Moonglow quilt. Just a couple more individual blocks to go on this quilt. I hope to also get some cutting out done for the alternate blocks over the long weekend.

Happy Australia Day!

25 January 2007

Sea of Vapor


Sea of Vapor, originally uploaded by laren_oz.

Another block for my Moonglow quilt.

24 January 2007

Medieval Embroidery Fragments In The V & A


Medieval Embroidery Fragments, originally uploaded by KCEngland.

Does anyone know anything about the top fragment in this image? I love the little wreath with the monogram in the middle. If anyone can help me identify it, I would be most grateful.

23 January 2007

Bummed

I'm bummed. I had my first embroidery night on tonight and only had one person show up. I wouldn't have minded so much but lots of people said they were definately coming. Normally, I try and run something like this I set pretty low expectations, but I had such firm commitments this time. Ah well, I had a very nice chat with the person who did show up and she has a good idea of the project she wants to work on.

21 January 2007

Fencing

We certainly picked a good day to start proper fencing practice. It was only 42 degrees Celsius!! I showed up to Sunday gathering with an Ezky (cooler for our American cousins) full of ice and bottled water. I figured anyone who showed up in that heat deserved a cool drink!

Anyway, Rurik and I had a brief footwork session, just so we could say we did training!! I really need to get a face mask and gorget so we can do proper training. Gettting the mask is proving somewhat difficult, since I have no idea what to ask for.

18 January 2007

Textiles From The Cloisters

I found this link on one of my email groups. Some nice close-ups of some of the textiles at The Cloisters, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

http://www.silverdragon.org/SABINE/cloistext.html

17 January 2007

Vogart - Sunday Rooster


Vogart - Sunday Rooster, originally uploaded by laren_oz.

Finally. Got the last of the Rooster set done for my sister. I will be putting it in the post asap. Now I can do the rest of my sewing guilt free. This thing has been quietly sitting there, staring accusingly at me.

16 January 2007

Copyright Authority Ltd

I got a letter and application form from the Copyright Authority asking if I wanted to join because I might have payments due. I am trying to figure out who might have copied something and declared it to CAL. The only academic thing it could be would be my honours thesis, In The Shadow of BHP: Newbold General Refractories. Everything else is SCA related and very unlikely to be declared. I am tempted to join just to see what it might be. But I am going to check with my sister first, because she used to work there so she might have a better idea of what is going on.

15 January 2007

Green Coat

Had a pretty laid back Sunday. Went to Baronial gathering. Took my Green Elizabethan gown/coat so that I could get some help marking the pockets on the side. I am going to outline the pocket slit as per the various images available. Then this coat will be officially done. I also took my newest Persian along to get some help evening up the hem.

Lots of people showed up, which was nice. Rurik brought his rapier stuff. I think I am still very keen to give this a go. Need to track down a mask and get a gorget made. Everything else I can do myself. So I will be doing a few things this week so I can get into the rapier seen.

14 January 2007

Sea of Ingenuity



Block Three, originally uploaded by laren_oz.
Each of the blocks are named after on the Seas on the Moon. But I can't remember what this one is!!

I didn't get this block all done in one day. This is a project I haven't worked on for a few years. I really loved this quilt when I started working on it. I still like it now, but not sure if I'd use it much. But I'm sick of it being half done. Even if I just get the top finished, that will be better.

So one weekend, and two quilts from opposite sides of the colour spectrum!

13 January 2007

Yellow and Oranges Blocks


Yellow and Oranges Blocks, originally uploaded by laren_oz.

Spent most of today sewing. Did a bit of house work, but really felt like sewing. I am working on two UFO's - Old Fashioned Charm (which I really want to get done so I can use it on my bed) and Moonglow (which I just want to get to top finished stage, I might even get it machine quilted).

12 January 2007

Zotero

Just got an email about a new Firefox extension - http://www.zotero.org/

Zotero is a free, easy-to-use research tool that helps you gather and organize resources (whether bibliography or the full text of articles), and then lets you to annotate, organize, and share the results of your research. It includes the best parts of older reference manager software (like EndNote)—the ability to store full reference information in author, title, and publication fields and to export that as formatted references—and the best parts of modern software such as del.icio.us or iTunes, like the ability to sort, tag, and search in advanced ways. Using its unique ability to sense when you are viewing a book, article, or other resource on the web, Zotero will—on many major research sites—find and automatically save the full reference information for you in the correct fields.
I've only just downloaded it, so I can't give a review, but it looks interesting. I like the look of it, but data is stored on specific machines. I would find this more useful if the data was stored on the web, where I could access it from any location.

11 January 2007

New Blog - 16th Century Clothing Images From Flickr

I've developed a new blog. I've been finding lots of cool 16th Century English Clothing images on Flickr but there hasn't been a way to easily share them with people. So I've developed this blog:

16th Century English Clothing - http://plainattyre.blogspot.com/

Come and visit. Or let me know about other images I can post there.

10 January 2007

Old Fashioned Charm Blocks


Old Fashioned Charm Blocks, originally uploaded by laren_oz.

A few blocks from the Old Fashioned Charm quilt I am making. I don't normally use quilt kits but I really liked the pattern on this one. The blocks are about 4" square, cotton using 1930's repro fabrics. The are hand stitched, constructed the old fashioned way with templates.

8 January 2007

Christmas Lights with Flash, 2006


Christmas Lights, 2006, originally uploaded by laren_oz.

Christmas lights with flash.

7 January 2007

Christmas Lights, 2006


Christmas Lights, 2006, originally uploaded by laren_oz.

These are my Christmas lights, taken without a flash.

6 January 2007

12th Night Coronation

Had a road trip down to Sydney for 12th Night Coronation. Got a lift with Luce. We found it with only a small detour. Luce dropped me off because I had to see if I was in time to make court to present the cuffs to Asa. Luckily, SCA time held and even though we were an hour and half late, I still made it in time for the presentation.

But it was literally a case of getting out of the car and walking straight into Court!! Zanobia was also their to present her cushion to Draco. Rowan and Mathilde were also part of the group. I think they liked their pressies!

I had to chat to Asa a bit later in the day to explain that the cuffs might need a bit of a blocking to get rid of the last of the bunching. She told me to check out Draco's outfit, as she'd used my handout to make the embroidery on his outfit. I was very chuffed.

Had a great day of just lounging around and chatting to people. Having a picnic makes much more sense when the weather is so hot.


Final Court of King Draco of Jorvik and Queen Asa Beiskalda - Alfar Kneels for Coronation


5 January 2007

Woolwork Viking Cuffs


Did these today. Had them for a couple of weeks but as usual left it to the last minute. They will be presented tomorrow at 12th Night Coronation in Rowany.

These cuffs are based on the Mammen finds. They were made as a stepping down gift for Her Majesty Queen Asa Beiskalda, Queen of Lochac. The ground fabric is wool, the embroidery is done using Paterna wool. The outline was worked by Lady Constance de Coligny and the filling by me, Lady Jane Stockton. The work was done on behalf of the Worshipful Company of Broiderers of Lochac and presented at 12th Night Coronation, 2007.



Woolwork Viking Cuffs
Originally uploaded by jane_stockton.

3 January 2007

Finally Finished Bedroom

Finally! The bedroom is back together. Got all the draws back into cupboards, and put Bubba's shelf back. I think I'm forgiven, she really missed that shelf. I'm glad it's done. Not 100% happy with the colour but it's alot better than it was before. Even managed to get rid of a few things as well.

2 January 2007

Last Coat on Walls

Did the third coat on the walls this morning. Thankfully, that was enough. I really couldn't have faced a fourth coat. But it does look alot better. I moved most of the furniture back into the room. Also did some running repairs as well - nailed the backs back onto cupboards, put extra support onto the wardrobe hanging rail, strengthened one end of the bed, was a bit loose.

1 January 2007

Redecorating Hell

Well, started doing the bedroom today. Washed the walls down (they were alot dustier than I expected, especially behind the furniture), and got the first two coats of paint on. Seems like a lot harder work than when I did the spare room. I think it must be because it's hotter. These things really do seem like a better idea in the planning stages.