Getting Organised

I had one of those wonderful moments tonight where the crafting supplies I needed for the crafting I intended to do were right where I left them. Organised, I am not. Not half as much as I'd like anyway.

That said, I've just decided to participate in the Historical Sew Fortnightly challenge. This is only a competition in the sense that everyone wins, because it's a sew along with the goal to increase your historically inspired wardrobe at the end of it. I had been avoiding the challenge previously, as I thought it'd add too much extra work into my already long sewing list, but a brief conversation with one of the organisers on their facebook page and I realised the idea was to manipulate my list into the challenges, not to cause myself extra grief!

I'm jumping in at challenge #7: Tops & Toes, though with only a week to go, I don't entirely expect to get this one finished by the deadline, but I do need a new hat, so it's good to get started. Getting started involed making wool felt this evening, because while I'm willing to cheat and buy my buckram stiffening, there's nothing quite like your own hand fulled felt to make a hat with.



And challenge #8: UFOs & PHDs, that's UnFinished Objects and Project Half Done, has me digging out my silk stockings to finish sewing them up, so this challenge has already been worth it... provided I get them finished of course.

Another week, another lack of progress. I could cite disappointments, such as realising I won't have my Italian gown finished in time to submit it to the A&S competition I was hoping for, but really, it's because I've hit a low mood. Low moods and productivity are not usually happy bedmates, and I don't believe in forcing myself to work on projects when there's no urgency to them, as there's a chance I'll only end up hating them.

But even without progress on my own projects, I've started putting together the kits for the basic felt making class I'll be giving at Yuletide University in a couple of weeks. When that weekend is over, I'll post a breakdown of the kit along with a tutorial for how it was done.

Today was a day of taking a slow tour of some of Dublin's bookshops. In the manner of all crafters I intended spending nothing, but came home with two bags of books. My haul included gems such as Punto Tagliato Lace by Nenia Lovesey, which calls into question what I've learned about 16th century lace making techniques thus far, and Pillow Lace by Elizabeth Mincoff and Margaret S. Marriage, a find which delights me not least because with a publishing date of 1907 the book is over 100 years old! Later on, thanks to the eagle eyes of my companions, The Great Italian Painters From the Gothic to the Renaissance from SCALA and a beautiful hardback of The Black Death by Philip Ziegler became mine. I forsee many happy nights of research ahead of me.
 

And now for a little bit of eye candy. I made up some felt a few weeks ago, attempting to make a pouch. It didn't quite work out, but I ended up with two A5 sized sheets of lovely soft felt. I finished sewing this up last night, finishing the edges with 4 strands of embroidery cotton and plaiting 9 stands to make a closure with a couple of pearlesent buttons. I'm not sure yet if I'll add any more embellishments to this, but it should at least serve its primary purpose, and stop the camera from turning itself on while in my bag.