Valentines

Can't find the right words, so I'm giving up. Just smiling. Smiling is good :)

Summer ahead!

Today is the 13th of February and as it stands almost all of my weekends are already planned from now until October. Between SCA events, trips home & trips to visit out of town friends, I have barely a free Saturday until the passes all close. Last year was much the same and let me tell you, it was exhausting. As much as I love going and doing, I was so excited by the end of last season to just be staying at home for once.

So far, I have 8 SCA events scheduled and I hope to fit in a couple more local ones as the summer goes on. My camp gear is all cleaned and ready to go, I just have to finish my garb. I have 3 dresses that are just hems and closures away from completion, then I need to start on chemises to go under them, linen scarves to tie up my hair and if I'm really lucky, a wool hood to wear with my short cloak. I have a couple other dresses in the hopper as well, but one step at a time, right?

I camp every season with a girl friend and we're both chomping at the bit to get this summer rolling. We're working on clothes for the season, as well as the constant task of updating and upgrading gear. This can be a very expensive habit and as neither of us has a significant other that plays, we're holding off on switching to period pavilions and all wooden tables and chairs. Camping like that is amazing and we both hope to be there some day, but doing it just for the 2 of us is a bit much for now. So we content ourselves with accurate, kick-ass garb & accessories and look forward to someday.

So around all of that sewing, I also hope to make a pair of chairs for camp. I built a collapsible, round-topped table last year and need nifty seating to match. This is the fun of camp furniture, it needs to look like it walked out of a museum, and still be able to be broken down into basic planks so it can be packed safely and easily. This is not a simple task. My wood working skills are minimal, so the chairs scare me a tiny bit. Not that it's likely to stop me. I love the challenge of working out a new design and making all the pieces fit. Now if I can just figure out comfortable as well as period looking, I'll be golden.

Some where, between events, I get to go home, hug my parents, do some fishing with my dad and welcome home a friend from service overseas. This is going to be an awesome year! Now will it just get started, already? :)