ROOOOOOOOMAN

There's been a lot of impromptu SCA sewing since this summer, and I have forgotten to document all of it >.>

This week was Aethelmeark Coronation, for which we wanted to dress in Roman in support of Anna Leigh's ascent.  I found three yards of purple linen in my stash and some sari trim Dani had given me and put them together into an under dress. I also used a sari from my stash to wear as an over dress (toga) with veil.  Even when I'm "quickly throwing something together out of my stash", I still take 8 hours to meticulously hand sew the trim on.

I also found myself as part of the slave labor crash team putting together Sven and Sioban's step-down clothes. 12 more hours of meticulously sewing on bias tape and trim!  Other people did the embroidery and tablet weaving and construction, and it was GORGEOUS. And that wooooool...

And the last thing I haven't documented is the doublet I made this summer to wear under my armor.  I loved it so much that I also made pants to wear with it (and, of course, a codpiece).  I wore them as a set once at the beginning of Pennsic, then strapped my arms onto the doublet and haven't pulled it out since -_-  The pants have been getting some regular wear though, so I want to make another doublet that is better fit now that I understand the pattern.  I've also been commissioned by Gary to make a Juan Sanchez Villalobos Ramirez outfit once the linen comes in.

Best thing about this weekend was freaking out people with my dick cheese.  It was beyond amazing.

Pepper and Peach Jam

What do you do with a BA in English?  No clue, I don't have one of those.  But I did have a dozen peaches in the freezer that I bought a couple of months ago for a couple of bucks from the clearance rack!  Add that to my friend Sean's Big Bag o' Peppers and a curiosity to try something new and now I have a baker's dozen little jars of jam!

BASE RECIPE FROM PECTIN BOX:

Use EXACT measurements for proper jelling.

4.5 cups finely chopped peaches

3 cups sugar

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 box Sure-Jell Premium Fruit Pectin For Less or No Sugar Recipes

- Heat up peaches and lemon with 1/4 C sugar and packet of pectin and bring to a rolling boil.

- Add remaining sugar and bring to a rolling boil again.

- Boil for EXACTLY ONE MINUTE, pull off heat.

- Pour into jars, clean off lips, and can as usual.

ACTUAL RECIPE

4 cups finely chopped peaches
0.5 cups chopped peppers
2 clementines, zested and juiced
3 cups sugar

1 box Sure-Jell Premium Fruit Pectin For Less or No Sugar Recipes

1 cup water

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

- Heat up peaches, peppers, and clementines with 1/4 C sugar and packet of pectin and bring ot a rolling boil.

- Add water, vinegar, and remaining sugar and bring to a rolling boil again.

- Boil for EXACTLY ONE MINUTE, pull off heat.

- Panic while you try to get the jars open and you pour molten jam into your hand.

- Clean lips and close and cross fingers that enough of a vacuum is produced.

  

We got 12 of the 4oz jars and had probably another 5oz leftover that I mixed with equal parts of the leftover pulp from the krupnik.  Which I just realized I haven't posted about yet >.> But yeah.  These peppers were pretty spicey and we maced ourselves every time we tried to wash anything with hot water.  But the recipe is jelling quite nicely and I am very excited to make more ^_^

Happy 2 Year Housiversary!

In true form, I have been over committing myself all year to do a bunch of stuff I barely had time to do, including derby, SCA, the house, and maybe even my job.  Over Winter Break, we tore down the wall between the middle room and the upstairs hall and put up drywall and five power outlets and painted it Shark Fin and Dark Currant. We also installed the same floor as in the back room, and it has been quite pleasant as Dave's office.  And, because why not, we found live knob and tube in the floorboards that ran the fans downstairs.

We spent New Years with friends, only to come home to a frozen water meter.  This prompted the next project: replumbing the house.  Over Spring Break we bought a new water heater and Dave replumbed everything with PEX.  It is quite nice to have an all inclusive manifold that can turn off every individual output in the house.

Over the summer, I am supposed to rewrite the book for EMCH 316.  Hopefully I can also finish off the hall-side of that wall >.> and the rest of the flooring upstairs.  The only things that will be missing then will be putting in useful shelves in the bathroom and a couple of lights that were disconnected from the knob-and-tube.

Oh! I'm supposed to be getting a new roof in four weeks, if the contractor gets his shit together.

Productivity

It's amazing how much work you get done on a friday before a week long vacation!  Well, I still need to come to work on monday  -_-

But I figured I'd show you guys a super accurate and life like picture of my gear bag!  Yes, I fit everything (and then many somes) into a regular $25 Jansport backpack.  The front pocket is also very spacious and I carry allen wrenches (imperial and metric sets) three socket wrenches (the Y, a straight one, and a ratchet), and that Reidell skate key that comes with the R3s for random toestops.  Oh, and random toestops.

Digging up the walkway

A couple of weeks ago, we finally took advantage of the weather not sucking and got back to fixing up the walkway.  Dave rented some tractor thing, and then the neighbor was nice enough to jump in for a bit.

The ground was pretty even with the neighbor's grass, held in with the red bricks.

Dave plowed all the way to the back yard and evened out the terrain.

Then came a lot of gravel that had been collected from last year.

I was asked to dig a trench for rain collection where the house ended, so of course I hit a 4" rusted pipe as soon as Dave left to pick up the grate from Home Depot.  Luckily it was only 1' long and the rest of it was terracotta that I was able to dig out.

We used some of the grey stones that were retaining the herb garden (now the ramp to the back yard) to retain the neighbor's yard and my staircase.  They have a lip on the back, which is why they aren't making a clean corner, but I should be able to resolve that soon if we decide to leave this permanent.

All in all, Dave only drove into the house twice.