3 more sleeps!

Ladies and Gentlemen, the countdown is in it's final days! We are three sleeps away from departing for Mississinewa! Things could not be more hectic!

Big D is on the road and fighting some sort of cold/flu bug as he tries to make his way home. It breaks my heart that I can't help him when he's away other than google things for him to try to get some relief. Hopefully he is home tomorrow night and can get some rest.

There is no rest for JM, Mr E and Mrs C. We set up the giant marquee today just to make sure we had all the parts. Big D's dad and step mom came to give us a hand with the setup and loading of the vehicles. Mr E and Mrs C are leaving a day before us to take a more leisurely trip.

JM and I have been madly prepping last minute items. Big D's shirts are done and his waistcoat is halfway there. 

We've also tried our hand at a historic vermicelli egg noodle recipe to add to soup. We found a video from Jas Townsend & Son on YouTube that gives a step by step of the recipe from "The Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy" by Hannah Glasse, first published in 1747. I can't wait to try out these recipes on site and make amazing campfire meals.

That's all for now. I probably won't get a chance to post again until after Mississinewa. Get ready for some picture heavy posts my friends!

Quilt-A-Long block 2

Big D and I went to visit my parents tonight.  I hadn't seen them since I left for my trip to Mississinewa.  I had to return their GPS "dirty Gertie" to them, tell them all the stories about my trip and I wanted to see about washing my dress.  The machine here at our apartment building has been known to eat clothes and my 1810 day dress was the last thing I wanted to find chewed in the laundry.  I put some spray and wash on it and we ran two cycles through my mom's machine with every fancy dancy wash mode possible and this is what I ended up with

Oh wait...that wasn't the dirty part.  Lets check the bottom of the dress.

Okay, so it was a fail.  Honestly though, I'm not too heart broken.  The dress is a little too long and people are forever stepping on it causing me to have to repair it almost every time I wear it.  I think if I hem it up, not only will I get rid of most of the dirt stains but I'll never have to worry about fixing it again.  Worse comes to worse, if I don't get the stains out with the re-hemming, then it will just be my muddy Mississinewa dress that I won't have to worry about when the hem gets dirty.  My mom said I should think about making a new dress anyway.  I love how she feeds my costuming addictions!!

While I was away, Mom picked up my fabric for the second block of our block of the month quilt.  It's more half square triangles, which kind of scare me, but not as much as they did for the first block.  I'm still going to make a test block.  It can't hurt to practice plus I get two quilts for the price of one!! Who doesn't love extra quilting right?

My Mom and Dad also got me a fancy little Christmas ornament.  I have a love for shoes, the higher the better.  After the two falls I took this summer I've been in flats and hesitant about wearing some of the bigger shoes I own.  That, and Big D and I are hoping to own a house before we turn 90 so indulging in shoes has been at the bottom of my priority list.  None the less, this will make a wonderful addition to the tree once Christmas throws up all over the apartment again.  Big D thinks it will just end up another toy for the babies. He's probably not wrong!

In addition to the ornament, a friend of my Mom's gave her more purses.  I managed to get a like new purse before that's Chinese Laundry.  I was shocked to find out the value of the purse, so when Mom said she had more purses for me to look through, I couldn't say no.  Here's what I got!

Yes, that is real Gucci!!  I now own a Gucci purse.  It's just a flimsy little bag, but the label on it is all I care about!  Big D just rolled his eyes and said "like you need any more purses".  I told him I would throw some out to make room for the new ones so I had better get on that tomorrow!

I'm off to bed now.  I have an early day tomorrow lugging all my stuff to the new office.  I'm so excited to have my own desk again and not to have to share with a whole bunch of other people.  That, and I'll get to use one of my new purses tomorrow.

**UPDATE** After my dress dried, the stain faded and if significantly less noticeable.  I wore it to work today for Halloween and you wouldn't be able to tell it had been muddy unless you were looking for it .

Mississinewa 1812 (part 1)

Well folks, I'm back!!  What an amazing trip it was and boy oh boy do I have stories for you.  Let me tell you the story of our trip, probably in a few posts.

Thursday morning, bright and early before Big D woke up, JM and I left town for our trip. Destination: Mississinewa 1812

We packed the night before, had all of our documents and cash in order and had composed the most EPIC road trip playlist ever in existence.  We made it through the border without incident and we were officially out of our country and on vacation!

Our first stop was Cabela's in Grand Forks.  Big D is, well, big.  At 6'7" tall, he is ridiculously hard to clothe.  Most stores, including our Cabela's, don't stock his size all that often if ever.  We managed to find him a winter jacket that was half price AND in his size.  He was so happy about it, that last night after I got home and gave it to him, he had to try it on with the rest of his hunting gear to see how he looked.

We stopped for lunch in Fargo, and then headed on out to Minneapolis.  What awaited us there was amazing!!

Neither of us had ever been to a Jo-Ann's Fabric before and boy were we pleased with what we found.  I spent quite a bit of cash, but came out with at least three times the fabric I would have at any fabric store up here!!  My favourite find was this bird fabric.

I was in love with it for one reason only.  Last Christmas, I went to the Manitoba Museum with my family.  In one gallery, called The Nonsuch, there was this little painting.  I've been going to this museum my entire life but somehow managed to miss it until that trip.

Since then, I have been taken with the idea on how to draw from this for a quilt. I had done a sketch for an applique to make a small wall hanging.  I think it will now be incorporated into a full sized quilt using all these wonderful fabrics.

(the top right and bottom left fabrics are more gold than the peachy colour they appear to be in this picture)

I still need to find some green fabric to pull in all the colours from the painting, but I think I'm off to a good start.

After Jo-Ann's Fabric, we gassed up and headed to JM's sister's place for dinner and a quick visit.  It was so lovely of them to let us dine and dash and it really made a huge difference.  It was the perfect break needed during a long road trip.  Wisconsin was quiet and we talked and listened to music.  We were getting more and more excited as we neared Illinois realizing we were almost in the home stretch of our trip there....when we hit Chicago.

I live in a fairly large city, not the biggest in Canada but large enough.  We don't have freeways like some Canadian cities, but I'm no stranger to highway and interstate driving.  This was beyond anything I could have prepared for.  Despite having the GPS, JM ready with toll money and him being the calming voice in the car as I lost it trying to navigate this twisty turning multi-level high way system, we came up with one way to sum up that portion of the trip.

After our heart rates returned to normal and we managed to calm ourselves down, the rest of the ride was uneventful.  It was beautiful as we approached Marion, Indiana and the site of the Battle of Mississinewa, the sun came up over the hilly countryside.  It was absolutely breathtaking!

Day one of our trip was over, but we had finally reached our destination.  We likely would have made it a lot sooner, but it was nice to stop along the way to shop and visit.

I hope to have a second post up soon with the events and sights of Mississinewa, but it's WAY too much to have as one post.  There is so much crafty historical goodness!!!

Fall time has arrived!! Bring on the crafting!

WOW! What a long summer this was!  I was quite busy working a lot as Big D and I both changed jobs in May.  It did cause some strain, but we made it through and everything is wonderful now.  I didn't get a chance to do a whole lot of crafting because of that, but in the last couple weeks, thing have slowed down and I'm back at it yet again.

In early September, we celebrated the 200th anniversary of the arrival of Lord Selkirk's settlers to the Red River Valley in 1812.  The Manitoba Living History Society took part in the "Arrival Ceremony" to reenact the events that took place on that day.  It was very interesting and the current Lord Selkirk himself came for the week of festivities.  While I was there, I did manage to finish one of the two moccasins I'm making for Big D now that mine are done.

The Sunday following the arrival ceremony, there was a church service with Lord Selkirk at the first Cathedral built after the settlers arrived.  My mom, JM and I went to the service, mom in her modern clothes and us in our costumes.  A few others from our group showed up which was really neat.

 Lord Selkirk is on the far right

Mom and I have been doing a lot more together now that she has graduated from university.  Our current project is a block a month quilt.  Some of her friends and their daughters are working on it too.  It's $24 to start and provided you finish and turn in your block each month, you don't have to pay again.  I won't be able to turn in my block this time because JM and I will be away in the states for a rendez-vous in Indiana.  If you miss, it's $5 to get your next pattern and material.  I'm not worried about having to pay this one time.  Mom did a test block as she hasn't done any quilting in quite a while and triangles can be tricky any time.  I followed suit and did a test block.  I have my actual block cut out, marked, pinned and ready to go.  Hopefully I will be able to sew it up quick tonight between cleaning, laundry and baking.  Tomorrow is going to be a VERY busy day at work with the iPhone 5 launch.

Mom's test block

Mom's block from her fabric she chose for the actual quilt

 My test block

Other than that, things have been fairly quiet.  Big D likes his new job, I love mine, bit of sewing here and there and time with Big D and my family.  Only 14 days until JM and I leave for our trip which should be an awesome time!  There will be lots of pictures from that.  Big D can't get the time off work and isn't too ken on being in costume, but he has given me a loooong list of items to bring back from the states!  :D

"Tanka"

Well folks, here's the big post you've been waiting for since my long overdue return.  Mind you, this post isn't nearly as big as the subject...

My friend from work, DW, is into all things hunting.  He is always looking for the next big adventure, and he found it this spring at a bison farm a few hours from the city.  I asked him if he would inquire on the price of the hides.  When the owner of the farm found out what my use for the hide would be, not only did he donate it, but he also provided me with an Elk hide for the same great deal!  I was ecstatic!  I was going to have my very own bison robe!  The excitement didn't last long when DW showed up at my apartment.  The back of his teeny tiny car weighed down almost to the point of snapping his poor old thing right in half.  It took the three of us, DW, Big D and myself, to get it moved into the basement of the apartment building.  I was now beginning to panic.

Given that this beast weighed at least 400lbs and was much more stinky and dirty than I had ever imagined, I was thinking I had bitten off more than I can chew.  I inquired with the only taxidermist in down that deals with hair on hides for a price.  He quoted me $20 a square foot which sounded cheap enough until the calculations of a 40 square foot hide had me rethinking the whole idea and very quickly.  Unless this hide was going to unfold into a small 1 bedroom apartment for me, there was no way I could justify a month and half worth of rent on it.

Plan B, and quick because this beast is starting to stink up the building!!  Big D called his wonderful "grandparents", Mr E and C, who know just about everything there is to know on any skill you want to acquire.  They agreed to help us clean, scrape, tan and stretch the hide.  In the end, there were six of us working on this beast who we ended up naming Tanka.  Mr E told us that it is the Plains Cree word for Bison and we figured it was fitting, despite Big D's request to name him Hulk.

So, in order to keep things interesting, I'm going to post pictures and give you a brief description of the process we were going through.  That should give you kiddies something to keep your attention.

After soaking the hide to soften it, we had to wash Tanka to get the majority of the dirt and salt out of it.  It was a very VERY disgusting process.  It wasn't touching him that was the bad part, it was the smell.  Something along the lines of dead wet dog on a hot summer day.

Tanka all washed and pretty, we even used Mane and Tail shampoo on him!

Here's Mr E working hard on building the 7.5' square frame!

After washing Tanka, and stopping for lunch, we got him on a tarp to make him easier to transport.

End of day one, we have the frame built and Tanka washed and ready to go!

Day two of the process.  Now I know he looks very dirty right now, that is the membrane that needs to be scraped off.  We started by punching holes to put the S hooks in for stretching.

Here we have myself, Mr E and R working hard to get Tanka stretched up in his frame.  Tiny T is supervising and what a great job she is doing!!

Even as big as this frame is, Tanka is MUCH easier to transport this way.  If you don't believe me on the size of the frame, Big D in the brown shirt is 6'7" and you can see how much of an angle the frame is on.  Tiny T and C are next to him, Mr E and R on the other side.

And so begins the scraping process.  While everyone managed to get good sized chunks going, we decided Mr E must have been an aboriginal woman in a past life, look at him go!!

After a full day of scraping, sharpening knives, and trying to keep the flies off of him, Tanka has been scraped down to hide.

Time to get a round of tanning solution on him before the day is done.  Instead of the traditional brain tanning process, we chose to use Ivory soap  and Neets Foot oil.  It gives the same colouring as brain tanned leather but smells way better!

The soapy mixture ready to go.

Mr E, Big D and I working in the solution with paddles.  Even after a hard day of work, Big D still manages to find time to be silly

Two days later, after the tanning solution had soaked in.

We scraped down the hide again and did another round of tanning solution.  We did this three times.

By the time the fall gather rolled around, Tanka was ready to begin the stretching process.  I started myself with a piece of wood.  I ended up having to stand on him and noticed that my feed were doing a better job of it.  The children noticed this and had a great afternoon "skating" on Tanka.  Even some of the adults got involved.  It was a very fun activity for all.  I cannot guarantee its historical accuracy though.

So that is where Tanka sits right now.  I have to re-hydrate him some and stretch him some more before we can smoke it over the fire.  That final process will seal him and prevent little buggies from making Tanka their home.  I'm not sure if that will be accomplished before spring as we just got our first snowfall and it seems to be staying.  We shall see.  If we get a warm weekend I may have to get out there quick and finish Tanka.  After all, I'm sure Mr E and C would like use of their garage again!

Preparation for the Selkirk Settler Parade

It seems that the impossible task I set out for myself has been accomplished, aside from some minor hemming.  Yesterday afternoon I ventured out to visit the head of the historical society to go fabric shopping in her basement.  This woman quite literally has a fabric store in her basement stocked with every possible historically accurate fabric anyone in the society could ever want!  All you need to do is pick a colour.  While K seems to be sticking with neutral tones, I am always more expressive in the colours I wear.  (Some readers may even remember my completely lime green phase when I was 12.)  That is part of the reason I reenact Métis, because the variety of colours I can wear is so great.  I picked out the most beautiful orange material with a red leaf pattern on it for my bed jacket.  

A black twin bed sheet from a local thrift store for a skirt and some cream muslin material from my Mom for the apron and my fichu, and some scraps from a white bed sheet for a day cap and I was all set to begin my project.

After I got home yesterday I cut out the bed jacket and got it entirely assembled and hemmed, except for the bottom.  It was quite late when I finally finished that and decided to tackle the rest of the costume today.  A good friend of mine from University, who is also in the society, JM offered his services to help me complete my costume.  He does a lot of historical costuming and is amazing when it comes to sewing.  He dropped by this afternoon and we quickly got to work.

We cut out the fichu, apron and measured where to put the casing for the drawstring on the skirt.  He even managed to get an action shot of me making the skirt.  Once it was finished, it was time to try on the outfit so far to get an idea of where things were headed.  Here is a lovely front and back shot of the costume

It was now time to get the apron done so that I would have a waist line again and to complete the costume.  JM quickly began cutting and ironing strips of muslin cloth.  He showed me a very interesting technique for not only creating the ties on the apron, but for making the pleats as well.  On K's skirt and apron we made knife pleats, but JM showed me an easier and more professional way using cartridge pleats.  Definitely something I will have to try again when K needs something new.

It was a very enjoyable afternoon and evening and I now have a complete Selkirk Settler costume for the Parade on Saturday.  I hope I will have some good pictures of it.  I am going to be a flag bearer which should prove to be interesting.  And now, what you have all been waiting for...the final project!

The pattern for this outfit can be purchased through our historical society.  You can contact them through the website at www.manitobalivinghistory.com. 

Now I'm off to attach the strings to my day cap and finish up the last little bit of hemming.  Have a good night everyone!

No introduction needed

I don't feel like an introductory post is accurate because for me this is the middle of everything.  I suppose the nutshell version is the best way to bring everyone up to speed.

I am a nerd, always have been and always will be.  I am the typical computer nerd who is the go to person for all family members when something mysteriously breaks and the recluse in her basement apartment playing World of Warcraft.  I am the history nerd who studied interesting topics in her own time.  It led to majoring in history for my arts degree and finally has required me to join the local historical reenactment society just to get my fix of history.  I am the craft nerd who watched her mother sew and her grandmother knit and desperately needed to learn how to do both.  These are some of the things that make up me and my life.  These things are what I intend to blog about.  The projects I'm working on, the events I go to, and the life in general of the crafting crazy history nut.

So, on to bigger and better (and hopefully more interesting) things.  After having made four dresses, a skirt, two bed jackets, a pair of leggings, an apron, a chemise, a purse, a pair of curtains, a quilted table topper and a secret Christmas gift for one of my two best girlfriends, I decided that I was not done sewing for the year!  While I have a full Scottish settler outfit planned for myself, which I hope I can have done by the 11th, I needed a modern sewing project as well.  Having made only one full size quilt before in my life, and cheating at that because it ended up a tied quilt, that seemed like the best project for the fall.  Winters here are very long and bitterly cold.  The best way to make it through is to have something nice to cozy up in, be it an over sized sweater, a bulky scarf or your favorite blanket.  I wanted something interesting to look at but easy to construct so I will have it done in time for the winter.  It was just the other week I stumbled upon this wonderful design.  That day it was off to the fabric store to use my gift certificate I received from two very dear friends for my birthday back in April.  Lo and behold they were having a sale on fat quarters!  I quickly picked up 9 of them, and a meter of the cutest material with kittens on it.

I've already begun cutting out the pieces and I hope to start constructing it this weekend.  I'm not sure if I will be successful as I do have an entire outfit that needs to be done in a week and a half.  My friend K and I are part of a society that does historical interpretation in costume.  Everyone makes their own and with my hectic schedule of crafting and cats and K's schedule with her daughter, we usually end up making everything last minute.  With a week and a half of notice, I should be just fine!

That should be enough for tonight.  I'm going to watch a half hour of mindless television and do a little mindless knitting before bed.  Tomorrow is a full day of babysitting my younger cousins, and it will be an interesting day with two very active boys stuck in the house due to the weather!  Wish me luck!