Renaissance Fairs are back! Two weekends ago on a rainy day, my husband and I made our dog Tovi a Robinhood costume so that this past weekend we could enter her into the pet costume contest at the Robinhood Faire. Our poor sweet dog is very patient with all the… Read More »Robinhood, but it’s my dog.
Those of you that follow this blog regularly may have noticed that I’ve been taking a break from posting. I’m taking some time to reconnect with myself while the pandemic slowly loosens its grip (on the US anyway), and society prepares for a monumental shift. I’ve mostly been spending my… Read More »Late Spring Check-in, 2021
We all have that drawer in the kitchen that gets a little nuts. A catch-all space to organize annually. I was itching to sew something fast and easy, without any events on the horizon to look forward to (a sad place to be), so I decided to make a little… Read More »Junk Organizer with Pockets
We got a small tease of spring before plunging back into below-freezing highs, prompting me to paint another wish for warmer weather. This tiny watercolor was supposed to be less of a burden to finish in it’s diminutive format; a relaxing way to pass time with my hands I won’t… Read More »Sunset Sail
The snowpack was late this year, but once it arrived, it grew quickly. Still trying to get outside as much as possible, there were a few days when extreme cold kept me confined to the house to an even greater degree than the rest of the pandemic has. Embracing my… Read More »Heavy Snowfall, A Winter Landscape in Watercolor
Thank you for rejoining me in 2021 after my short New Year’s hiatus from blogging. After posting every single week of 2020, I thought I deserved a little time off to recharge and set some new goals. I’m heading into 2021 with loads of painting goals, but gentle ones. To… Read More »Endurance, a Winter Landscape
In the past my workplace has hosted departmental gingerbread house decorating contests around the holidays, but this year, no one has been in the office in several months. So instead they sent the gingerbread kits home to us. The rules stipulate that anyone in our households could help, but only… Read More »Gingerbread Cottage
My dog seriously loves pillows. We let her use the human couch pillows, but she is very aware of what things are specifically hers and which things are shared. She loves her beds and pillows and looks so cute using them. After sewing Tovi a new Christmas coat from fleece, I… Read More »Christmas Quilted Bone Pillow
I made Tovi a new winter coat for the holidays and she is being very dramatic about trying it on for the first time; how dare I make her something long and warm, especially with a high collar to keep the wind off her neck! I’m still working my way… Read More »Christmas Coat for the Dog
Surprise, we got married! In a terrible year of pain and loss, we took back space for a joyful event and made our commitment official. Unlike other couples who saw their wedding dreams dashed by covid, our wedding happened as it did because of covid. When Jake proposed over Labor… Read More »Eloping in 2020
I have conquered quarantine level: make your own alcohol. My home-brew mead turned out fantastic; way tastier than the cough-syrup served at commercial renaissance fairs. For months of backstory, you can read all these posts: A Mead-Making Journey Home-Brew Mead Round 2 Even More Mead! With Maple! Otherwise, we’re going to jump… Read More »Home-brew Mead Recipe and Results
It’s here! It’s here! The post on Family Plague Fair 2020. I know you’ve all been waiting anxiously for weeks for the inside scoop on this pandemic renaissance festival. As many of you who follow this blog already know, devastated by the cancellation of the 2020 renaissance fair season, my… Read More »FAMILY PLAGUE FAIR 2020
Even before the engagement, I decided that Jake and I needed our own house standard for Plague Fair. Being a very crafty covid-cohort, several houses in attendance would be carrying them. A standard or war banner is a flag depicting a house-identifier such as a sigil, pattern, symbol or color… Read More »House Allen Banner
Look at this handsome guy. Plague masks are all the rage this year, but they don’t exactly accommodate long beards, at least, not in the traditional raven shape. Good thing we’re not wedded to tradition in this house. A pelican instead! That ballooning neck, a throat like fire, should be… Read More »Jake’s Beard-Bird Plague Doctor Mask
Plague Faire is soon upon us after a solitary Samhain (sow-win). Taking every precaution, the plague can be leveraged for levity this spooky season. To get myself into the Holiday spirit, I’ve finally decided to tackle the obvious; a plague-doctor covid mask. The beak came out bigger than I expected… Read More »Soft Plague Doctor Mask: Covid Edit
I made Jake a formal beard mask to exactly match a suit for a very special occasion. How did I match it exactly? The suit came unhemmed so I had to chop about 5 inches off the bottom of each pant leg for him. This left barely enough fabric to make… Read More »Formal Beard Mask
Remember that eggpron I made for a friend with chickens? I had just a little bit of leftover fabric from that project, so I’m surprising her and her partner with matching chicken masks. I also made Jake and myself some, because there was enough for four masks, and my generosity… Read More »Chicken Masks
With much good fortune I scored a limited-edition black Khadija set from Moresca’s Labor Day Sale. Fair season, and therefore most vendors’ income, has been cancelled this year, leading some vendors to hold never-before-seen online sales. I’ve been waiting for a Khadija belt and cuffs for a few years, but… Read More »Black Moresca Khadija Set
One month ago, Jake and I got engaged (huzzah!). I’ve sewn myself a special mask to signify my new status: white with lace, very bridal. It’s certainly the most polished mask I’ve made; no surged edges here! I was aiming for something that felt formal. While I was at it,… Read More »A Mask of Some Importance and Her Spookie Sister
When we last left off, I had just put down my darkest values and finished the sky and mountains. Continuing to work primarily back-to-foreground, top-to-bottom, I’ve begun building up the tower and filling in the grasses with many overlapping short strokes. It took a long time to build up the… Read More »Commissioned Landscape in Progress, Complete
I’ve had to keep this one under wraps until I know the gift has been given. Today, I’d like to show you some in-progress shots of this commissioned landscape. We’ll talk about process, and next week I’ll reveal the finished painting, long since delivered to its intended recipient. The process… Read More »Work in Progress Commissioned Landscape
The mead is bubbling away in its kitchen hideout. I’m mostly in the mead-making phase of ‘don’t touch it for a long time,’ but before I got there, I started one last batch (for now) of maple-syrup mead! This concoction will hopefully be extra sweet. My other three batches I… Read More »Even More Mead! With Maple!
Happy Labor Day, everyone! Today’s post is very on-theme, with a garment about labor. Recently my oldest friend bought a house that came with many chickens and a very fancy coupe. Apparently, it’s rather difficult to carry more than like four eggs at a time, especially if you need to… Read More »Eggpron
Mead-making round 2 is going great. My first batch has been “racked” over to a new jar for further fermenting and I’ve assembled two more half-gallon ferments. This time, we’re making a second batch of blueberry mead, but with cranberries for tannin instead of lime pith, and a mint, cranberry,… Read More »Home-Brew Mead Round 2
Back with more sewing for the highly anticipated Plague Fair 2020. I’ve finished four generic banners and hung them on dowel and twine. Jake notched the dowels for me so that the string has a nice channel to sit in. I’ve also completed another set of duel-sided flag garland; this… Read More »Prepping for Plague Faire Part 2
Who needs another hobby? Not me. But here we are. I’m micro-brewing mead. Blueberry mead, to be specific. You can make mead at home with just water (distilled), honey, and yeast (which naturally occurs in raw honey). It’s one of the oldest alcohols invented, and apparently, hopefully, it’s very difficult to mess… Read More »A Mead-Making Journey
With faire season 2020 cancelled, my social cadre and I are planning our own socially distanced, hygienically responsible backyard fair for the future if our local numbers continue to improve. It will be black-death-themed, of course; our own little plague party, except not in a crowded palace. Time to get… Read More »Prepping for Plague Faire
Our country is a dumpster fire, but I’m still trying to make things, paint, and occasionally recognize each moment as a transient reality independent of cyberspace’s hellscape. The ideas, emotions, and socioeconomic motivators behind the unfolding political revolution (or collapse) is interesting and important, but it is also only a… Read More »Green Canyon
A really simple drawing exercise, continuous line drawing, involves making a doodle or a masterpiece without lifting the pencil or pen. Drawing with only one line forces the artist to pay attention to what edges are most important to an image, and to think ahead about where they will fall.… Read More »Continuous Line Plants
The hardscaping theme continues with another one of Jake’s creations! After building the garage a beautiful garden walkway, we couldn’t simply store our trash barrels in front of it like we used to. A stylish path requires stylish trash. To dress up our disposables, Jake built us a fancy trash shed.… Read More »Summer Hardscaping: Trash Shed
Another of Jake’s hardscaping project on the books, which I will post for the benefit of this blog because I did help a lot. Before we bought the house there was once an asphalt path that wound around the garage. Somewhere in the construction of the new house, that path was… Read More »Summer Hardscaping: Garden Path
The brevity of this post diminishes the enormity of the physical labor involved in this project. While Jake has been on furlough this summer he is going all out with the home-improvement. Several of the projects on his list have involved hardscaping for the yard, and this post features our… Read More »Summer Hardscaping: Rain Rock Garden
I’m spending a lot of time outside this season, what with no where else to be. The choices are after all, inside my own house or outside: in the yard, on the trail, at the drive-in, on the water now a bit. But with the sunshine comes radiation, and sunburns… Read More »Tie-Shirt and Vintage Skirt
Everyone is still wearing their masks, correct? Just because Americans are getting fidgety and bored of the corona virus, doesn’t mean the virus is gone. So as you throw caution to the wind and venture out on summer escapes to public places, wear a damn mask. That being said, not… Read More »Mask for Big Beards with Pattern
Another skirt in time for the hot weather and revolution! A circle midi-skirt with free pattern. This skirt is very full, with lots of movement thanks to the lightweight cotton fabric. The length is youthful and flirty, but still mobile and comfortable. I’ve chosen forest green because it’s practical: a… Read More »Circle Midi Skirt with Free Sewing Pattern and A Wish for Social Justice
Today we’re time-traveling. Back 101 years to the last global pandemic and a world torn apart by disease and war. Why go back to such a tumultuous time to sew a garment when we have plenty of troubles here in our own time? Because it is some comfort to me… Read More »1919 Tea Length Skirt with Pattern
After months deciding what color we wanted the front door to be forever, we settled on the best, safest, darkest choice: black. I ordered myself a jar of Art Deco exterior metal door paint and waited for a dry 65 degree day when we would be home all day (oh,… Read More »Finally Painted The Front Door
Furthering my exploration of neutrals for spring, and practical sewing for the home, I’ve made a cloth storage basket. Because we have a dog, we are frequently in and out of the front door. Because that dog needs various leashes and collars to go out, we tend to leave that… Read More »Cloth Storage Basket
I’m in denial over the cancellation of much of my Renaissance Fair season. This consolatory accessory is a custom bottle holster to re-purpose glass kombucha bottles into faire-bound drink containers. Sewn from a thin and soft faux-leather, this was my second attempt at making such a holster. My first attempt… Read More »Pirate’s Bottle Holster
Happy Friday, everyone! There’s a gorgeous weekend ahead, but many of us still have a lot of time on our hands. Maybe some of you would like to sew now that you’re spending so much time at home. Want to make a headband? It’s really easy. Perfect for beginners who… Read More »How to Sew a Five Minute Twist Headband
Making every effort to romanticize quarantine into a more bearable purgatory, I’ve sewn another apron. This one is a hallmark-style floral apron to go over the homesteading skirts that I am not wearing. Made from yet another remnant of vintage cotton that I scored at a thrift store long ago,… Read More »Floral Homestead Apron
While losing my mind over every activity involving being at home, it felt like a good time to be motivated to make some at-home clothing. Preferably something more sophisticated than sweat pants, but that would not require the removal of said sweat pants to enjoy. Here we find the apron.… Read More »Linen Apron
Oh, I want to leave my house this Beltane! As the weather gets nicer, the event cancellations get more and more disappointing. I miss dressing up, celebrating, and even shopping…Can’t even browse a market for fun anymore. In my mourning, I’ve latched onto the aesthetic of picnics as a hopeful… Read More »Happy Beltane! Shoulder Shopper Bag.
Last bustle in this fabric, I promise!! I was going to be all done, but then I had leftover fabric, and everyone had a bustle to wear over their big skirts or pants except for me. So I just had to whip myself up a very simple bustle out of… Read More »Mini Tartan Bustle
Right now it’s very difficult to look past the day-to-day. Long-term goals are hard to focus on in the stressful short term. As a form of relaxation I’ve returned to a very basic comfort by sketching what I’m thinking about: by sketching a food diary of all the calories helping… Read More »Colorful Food Diary
Easter may have been cancelled this year, but these are eggs I dyed for Ostara, or the first day of Spring. You could dye eggs as well, especially if you’re stuck in quarantine. No children required, though they’d probably enjoy it. You’ll need white eggs, white vinegar, any kind of… Read More »Watercolor Eggs
Posts are out-of-date as soon as they’re published these days….Though still healthy at the time of this writing, I haven’t had much capacity to be creative in all this change and madness. I’m too busy bouncing from one news update to the next, and trying to stay distracted when the… Read More »Washable Cloth Face Masks
Wow, I really love the way that this commission turned out, and I was able to photograph it pretty well considering it is a plus-sized piece on my tiny dress form. What a blast this bustle was to design, pattern, and sew. This is another piece commissioned by the Whip… Read More »Celtic Fae Bustle
Another lower-half accessory crafted for the troupe’s use in our performance at a Celtic Belly-dance Fusion show earlier this month. Part kilt, part high-slit bella skirt, this apron brings Egypt to Ireland in a way that feels very punk-rock apocalypse to me. The design is a simple two-13-inch-wide-pleated-panels secured together… Read More »Celtic Fusion Apron, Punk Rock Apocalypse.
Happy Ostara, or Spring equinox to all readers of the Northern Hemisphere! And a belated Happy Saint Patrick’s Day to all those still recovering. St Patrick’s day falls close to Ostara; closer than usual this year, so it is fitting that I have photos to share from a Celtic-themed dance… Read More »Bonus Post: Ostara 2020 and Celtic Belly Dance Show Photos