Life goes on...

It has been a LONG time since I sat down and updated this thing. I haven't been as busy doing needlework as I would have liked though. After my last posting, I successfully pulled off an event I was in charge of. Michaelmas is our one SCA event a year where we focus on a particular time and place and then arrange a period feast around it. This year's theme was the middle east of the Crusade time period. We traveled from Persia on up into Andalusia and covered about 100 years of time. It was a lot of work, a lot of cooking, but BOY was it yummy! However, within a few days of that event, I got hit by the dreaded flu. I am not sure whether it was the H1N1 or not (my doctor didn't bother to test it as he felt that the flu was the flu) but it hit me and my 16yr old son, Hard!
I recovered in just enough time to fly down to Salt Lake City to see my eldest son. We had a good couple of days visiting with each other and with our friends who had just been moved to Hill AFB. I did get to enjoy the novelty of attending one of the local SCA group's Arts and Sciences nights. They were teaching shuttle tatting, and after many mistakes and having to completely restart, I did manage to complete one small pattern. I haven't really looked into just how likely tatting existed pre 1600's, but even still I may just stick to needle tatting as the shuttle ties my fingers in thread!
When I got back from my trip, I promptly had a full relapse of the flu. I was out of it for another full week, and then it seemed to take at least another week or two to get back to full speed. Looking back on it now, I realize that I essentially lost a month! It is rather frustrating when you get to spend so much time trying to catch up from an illness like that.
Mind you, I did get a few things done.
I put together a class for our modern needlework guild. I usually teach a plastic canvas ornament class each October, but this year I wanted to do something different. This year I decided to do a little blackwork ornament. Sticking to the Christmas theme, I designed a little holly and ivy piece.

While getting that class ready, I also set up a basic Hardanger class for our local SCA Arachne's Web Lacemaking Guild. While Hardanger is considered "post-period" for the SCA Needleworker's Guild, it is an accepted form of lacemaking for the Arachne's Web. I think it is also a wonderful way to introduce needleworkers to the world of lacemaking. It isn't as daunting as bobbin lace or Punto in Aria needle lace, and it uses basic stitches that most needleworkers know quite well. I will also admit that getting this class ready allowed me to "kill two birds with one stone". I had volunteered to provide a needlebook to the West Kingdom Needleworker's Guild for their 2010 project. Even though it is a "lace" not a "needlework", I made the book to match the bookmark I designed for the class and then sent both items in. Fortunately for me, they we wonderful and took pictures since I forgot to do so...yet again.

About the time I had mostly finished these items, I received the fabric for two sets of collars and cuffs that I had agreed to blackwork. The fabric got to me by the 5th of December, and my goal was to get it into the return mail by the 2nd of January. That seemed to give me lots of time...silly me! I forgot to figure in all the time for dealing with the holidays and all their myriad of activities, as well as getting two kids through the end bits of their semesters with school and scouting. Somehow, I made it! I am still not too sure how I pulled it off. The designs ended up being far simpler than I had originally planned, but that actually worked out for the best. When I got to see pictures of the finished outfits, more ornate embroidery could have thrown the whole look off. Once again, I didn't get any pictures before I sent them off. I have one picture that Duchess Megan took of Eilis in her finished outfit with the blackwork showing, however, there aren't any of Titus. Hopefully I can get some sent to me. Anyway, here she is :)

So, now I am set to take a deep breath and then try and get some more projects squared away. We will see where the next month takes me :)