Making SCA Garb - 03

I went to my first SCA Coronation, it was held at the First Baptist Church in Worcester, MA. This church was the one my family attended in the mid-1970s when we lived in nearby Boylston, so it was a bit surreal to be there again.

The incoming Queen requested that attendees dress in a Byzantine style. I looked at various images and did not want to make an entirely new outfit in this style as I did not know when I would ever wear it again.

However ....

Many of the options at that time equated to an underdress and carefully draped material over it - similar to what was seen in some old Greek and Roman outfits.

So using an existing underdress and a lovely vintage sari I had purchased several years ago I practiced draping and securing. Then to accessorize I made a necklace with a glass heart.

I was very happy with how it came out - and love that I was the only person there wearing pink.

2018 Birka Garb Challenge

Each year the reigning Queen sets a theme for a garb challenge. This year it was to use the Kingdom colors of Gold/Yellow and Blue and incorporate our Rampant Tyger. This was my entry.

I stuck with the 11th - 12th century style I prefer, the sleeves were lined with some coordinating material.

Each point of lace had to be hand tacked down so that it did not flop over and look messing.

I made a coordinating necklace because - why not?

During my Christmas visit to Arkansas I embroidered a Tyger outline on one side of the veil then hand beaded the entire edge. 

And finally, I added bows to my shoes to match.

Making SCA Garb - 02

I do not remember why, or when, I actually made this next tunic. I do know I wore it in the Fall of 2017 at my very first Arts & Sciences display at Falling Leaves.

This one was a paler green and I am not happy how it looked - mostly because I did not have a belt I was happy with. But here are the pictures anyway.

Again - no pattern used, just "winging" it.

Here I am at my last Halloween event at Smith & Nephew with one of the animals they brought for the kids to interact with. The veil kept slipping backwards, something I need to work on.


I also realized that cotton is not as cool as I would like so I started either removing the sleeves from the undertunic or just wearing a skirt underneath the dress.

2017 SCA Falling Leaves A&S

This was my very first effort at any SCA Arts & Science display - and I actually did not realize it was a competition as well. However I have been canning and preserving for decades so I was fairly confident of that part of the project. It was getting my head around the various medieval aspects that opened up a new rabbit hole of research for me. 





I started with freshly picked peaches from a local farm's end of season - which meant they are not in perfect condition which does not bother me since the cooking and canning will collapse the fruit anyway. 

First batch started to be cooked down. I used honey for both batches since that would be much more readily available then processed sugar that we use today. For the peaches I used freshly grown cardamon seeds and ginger. 

I also did a batch of blackberries which were also available in the period I am looking at. These were flavored with honey, freshly ground nutmeg and cloves.

Fruits set to simmer and reduce some of the extra liquid - blackberries in the back, peaches in front. 













My exhibit set up for my first display/competition. I was pretty happy with the arrangement. And I had crackers and finished jams for tasting. 

Making SCA Garb - 01

Like many who grew up in the 1970s I was required to take several courses in Home Economics from 5th through 12th grades. I actually liked those classes for the most part. Maybe due to having learned how to cook at home from my mother and grandfather, and doing handwork such as crocheting, knitting and embroidery - so I was comfortable working with needle and thread.

This basic understanding of fabrics, how to read a pattern and being basically frugal enough to want to update and repair clothing rather than throwing it out, has been a good beginning base in the making of my own garb for SCA events and my persona.

The first over tunic I made was done sometime after 2001 for a market style event with classes that I attended somewhere near Medford (This is the best recollection I have as I have no paperwork from that event). I do remember seeing a wider variety of personas there than I do currently. Unfortunately the only picture I have of myself at that event is so blurry as to be unusable.

I had no pattern to work off of - just images from a book so this was all done free hand. This was worn at a Halloween event at work. I made the golden trim from left over material I had from another project.

At this time - 2015 - I had sewn two Regency style gowns with corset for use while volunteering at Gore Place in Waltham, MA as a tour guide. 

These were also part of a work Halloween event - ignore the hair... I was going for a wild look and it got out of hand!

300 Words About Quilting

What I did not realize when this piece was published was that it would appear in the last EVER issue of Quilters Newsletter Magazine

So my friend Gloria is coming for the weekend …

…and I am freaking out.

Now, it is important to say that my current stress is NOT Gloria’s fault in any way. She is probably the least non-judgmental person I have in my life. And I am confident she would not say anything to me, or anyone, simply to be hateful or self-righteous. I really admire her for that. I know I would be this anxious regardless of who the visitor was.

I am freaking out about my house, and the state it is currently in. One of the things people do not seem to realize about certain mental illnesses is that it affects more than just your mood. Other manifestations occur such as feeling so overwhelmed by daily tasks that you are simply unable to even start something. So it has been with me and housework over the past year or so.

I have never been the Queen of Housework. I am not the woman who scrubs and waxes her kitchen floor every Saturday morning. I rarely wash out my garbage cans, I thank the universe for frost-free freezers and I have been known to sleep on the other side of the bed to postpone changing the sheets. Something I can as I live alone.

On the other hand I am not a candidate for Hoarders and the Health Department would not shut me down or ban me from making anyone a sandwich (*fingers crossed*). The refrigerator is cleaned out often and the garbage makes it out for pickup. And I do have my super intense anal moments when the first thing I do on a Saturday morning is to dismantle the stove top and exhaust hood so I can wash every crevice. Once a year I take down the drapes and shake them out and wash the sheers as well as empty the china closets to dust everything.

After Mom died last June and I came home, washing windows or vacuuming did not feel like priorities. In fact things got to a point that just before Thanksgiving I hired a cleaning service to make my townhouse presentable for the guests that were coming. Something I had never done before – pay someone else to clean my home. And I felt bad about doing it, and needing to do it. As if I had failed in some fundamental way in the game of taking care of myself and being an adult.

When I had exchange students there was an unspoken social pressure to keep things up better, as well as the expectation to not gross out the kids. Since I now share my space with four cats and no other bi-pods I place “keeping up” lower and lower on my list of things I feel I must do.

As a result my home does not feel much like the refuge I want, and need, it to be. Each week seems to just add to the pressure and feeling of being overwhelmed by where to start.  So I struggle to even take baby steps, after all as long as the food comes on time and the water is changed regularly the cats have no interest in whether there is dust on the Dining Room table.

But now I have a guest arriving for the weekend. Which I am actually very happy about and anticipate we will have a good two days. Yet I feel that the latter will not happen unless my living space is pristine and perfect. That if it is less than that it will mean I am somehow lacking as a person, homeowner, or friend. A part of this may be ego for sure – that I am looking for validation because my home sparkles and smells like a field of wildflowers. Part may be my buying into media images of living spaces that never have clutter. The floors gleam, never is the sink filled with dishes, laundry is not piled up nor is there a ring in the tub. However if I was attacked in my home today and the forensics team hoped to find a stray fiber or hair to lead them to the assailant they would fail miserably.

When I am brutally honest with myself I know that most of my inertia and lack of action are based in anxiety and feelings of being adrift in life and society, while a small part of me still struggles to find purpose and relevance and relationships that are reciprocal. Intellectually I know that if my home was tidier I would most likely feel calmer. More grounded. But at the same time it all seems too overwhelming to even begin. And there is the cycle I am in at the moment.

I also have these old “tapes” playing in my head filled with comments from people who I should stop lending real estate in my consciousness. But for whatever reason their words found a bull’s eye in my insecurities and will not be dislodged. And the negatives that are flung at most of us through our life always seem to become permanent while the positives for me just slide off ass if I was Teflon coated. It is  a real mystery to me how people live with these things reversed.

 

While I ponder whether I am the only person I know who goes through this, at the same time fearing I am, I should start by clearing off the extra linens that got piled onto the guest room bed.