( The list April 15-21 )

( Little blue linen tunic )

( One more gratuitous nibling picture... )
Oh! And while social practice was sort of made of fail thanks to the "open mike" night, I got cake! Mmmmm... Cake! Thanks, world_rim_walke!

As promised, here is the first installment of the April Thing-a-Days, collected and behind the cut to save your friends list.

( Things 1-7 )

The annual Thing-a-Day challenge does great things for my productivity level but at the end of February I realized I still had a pile of projects to complete. Therefore, I have decided that April will be a Thing-a-Day month too. However, I'll not be limiting it to purely crafty projects and will be including more fix-it and practical things too. I'll also only be posting the projects once a week or so so as to be less cluttering in your friends list. 

I am also going to home *gasp* next weekend, so I am thinking about hosting a low-key project day on Saturday afternoon. I'm thinking chatting and sewing and maybe dinner out. I'll provide comfy couches, tea and light snacks. Anyone interested?

Yay! 28 things done!



This was an existing linen gown (handsewn with silk thread) to which I added linen embroidery along all of the seams. Now that is not so perfectly plain, I won't be ashamed for Miss goldfrog  to wear it at War. :)

I have generally tried to keep my Things to tangible, crafty Things, but between torturing children and going to a play in CAM, the day slipped away and my one product was my letter for the March Skein. Being as it was a letter with which I took some care, I am counting it and will be posting it after general meeting on Sunday.

Viking baby bonnet

Line hat, handsewn with linen embroidery and whipcorded ties.



Baby clothes, whether made or purchased, are coated in crack and estrogen. Even fencingkitty  had the "Awwww..." response.

This and the tunic from yesterday's Thing go in the mail tomorrow as a tiny Viking outfit for a friend's spawn, expected next week.

Linen handsewn with linen thread, finished seams, and embellished with linen embroidery (running stitch, madder red) for a friend's soon-to-be newborn.

Nalbinding - sock

I know tomorrow I need to put in a lot of time on a tunic for a slightly bigger girl, so today I finished up a second item after midnight, but before bed. Never fear, there will be productivity tomorrow, it just may not appear here until Wednesday or so. :)



Blue wool worked with a bone needle in the naalbinding technique. It's a little lumpy and maybe a little big, but it can be felted down to the correct size, which will hide most of the defects. :P

The wool is Lite-Lopi color 419, which is a lovely blue, not the odd grey it appears

Another little linen tunic -



Lovely, cool heavy weight white linen handsewn with linen thread with whipcorded ties. This one is a little smaller than the black one.

A little linen gown for the Apprentice Spawn.



Black linen handsewn with silk thread, whipcording ties at the neckline. Copied from an exemplar from the mama, very similar to this one.

A Weaving Mavin's Kit

Two pairs of items to make weaving more comfortable - cushions for weaving stools and anti-skid pads to keep the loom from scooting away across the hardwood floors.



For the lovely and talented mightyjesse, of course.

Two little pin cushions for sewing on the go... with ties so they can be affixed to something and not end up under the car seat. :P



Wool exterior, handsewn silk thread construction, linen floss embellishment, linen whipcorded ties, stuffed with linen lint and flaxseeds, separated with a linen divider. the tight packed linen keeps the pins from stabbing through too easily, the flaxseed makes the pincushion a little heavy so it doesn't bounce off your knee so easily. 

Wooden toys - the last batch!

Little handwoven bags

If these look vaguely familiar, they should - these are little bags made from the remnants from yesterday's legwraps.



There was a few inches of inconsistent weaving that the beginning and end of each of the pieces (plus mightyjesse's warp was longer) so the defective bits and/or excess was trimmed and I used the fringy end bits to make cute little bags, suitable for hanging off the turtle brooches of a viking apron dress. The blanket stitches along the edges really nicely conceal the imperfections of the selvages. :)

The drawstrings are whipcorded from the leftover warp and weft of the wraps.

The bags are handsewn with silk thread or wool yarn, about 2.5" x 4" finished size, not counting the fringe.

Leg Wraps

Today's Thing is actually just the completion phase of this project - both mightyjesse and I had been working on these for awhile and were just able to do the reveal this past weekend since they were a Seekrit Projikt for a friend's birthday present. Once we were able to to have him try them on, I cut them to the right length and today finished the edges and added the hooks. She did the one on the left and I did the one on the right - my very first weaving project!





Handwoven legwraps
Purchased Scottish wool yarn - Isager Hojlandsgarn (Colors: Tobacco and Marlin)
Woven on a four harness loom (*want*)
Hooks purchased from Raymond's Quiet Press

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By the way - Raymond's has a new homepage! It's shiny! I hope he is able to similarly reorganize and update the rest... not that the bare-bones website kept me from purchasing tons of things from him as it was...

More wooden toys today...




And mightyjesse, yes, today it is an armadillo.

Wooden toys

I bought these little wooden toys awhile ago and, while I tried painting some of them, I was not happy with the results. I thought I'd try woodburning some of them, and I think I like the result better.


Before


After

There are some pieces too small for very small children, but I think they might be fun for kids old enough not to stick things into their mouths... or easily amused adults.

Done on time, but posted late, Thing 14 was presented at Court yesterday.



She was a present for the new Baron Grimmy. I told him that, knowing how hard it is to sit the Baronial Thrones alone, I made him a Baroness of his very own. She's muslin with a gold undertunic and blue overtunic (Anglo-Saxon, so she matches Grimmy), yarn hair, circlet, and belt, and with facial features by Count Hagan. Her "special" surprise, though, was that each limb included a voice box with a recorded piece of advice from each of the sitting Baronesses and the Queen. *grin* Some were serious, some were funny, but the doll as a whole seemed to be a hit. :)

Leather covered book

This is a "real" book - just lots of blank pages for y'all to fill at Margalit's vigil!