Potions, Brews, and Spells progress

Hi, again :) It's been a while since I posted on my Friday Frolicking on my Potions, Brews, and Spells pattern. I wanted to have a few Friday's worth of stitching before I posted about it again. So here is my progress since the last time :)

I ended up with my initials and date after last week's frolicking. There is a few more cross stitch bits below this section, but a majority of it is backstitching, specialty stitches, and cross stitching over one. After I get the regular cross stitching done in this section, I plan on moving back up and leaving the bottom section until last.

I was able to get a close up photograph of the thread color. Isn't it pretty? I love the variegated purples. It has been a while since I've worked with colored silks and I don't think I've ever worked with a variegated one before. I love how it stitches up.

I wish I could afford to do it more often, but the threads are pricey. I splurged on this project and bought the required fabric and threads because I am stitching this for myself and hope to frame it after it is done :)

Maybe some day I'll be able to get a photograph of the fabric that shows its true color. My cell phone camera does whatever it wants with this fabric depending on the time of day and lighting......ugh!

Until next time ^____^

Alabama Medieval Fantasy Festival 2017

Hi, everyone! My family and I attended the Alabama Medieval Fantasy Festival the Saturday before last. It is located in Greenville, AL, which is a little bit of a drive, but at least it isn't as far away as New Orleans.

The festival has music, falconry, jousting, and drama plays. We were able to see the falconry show and the jousting event.

The falconry show was interesting. They had several types of birds that they showed off including a buzzard, Russian owl, and a falcon. I think everyone's favorite was the owl. She was beautiful!

The 'king and queen' of the festival along with the royal court made their way through the festival. According to a friend of my sister's, the king and queen are the couple who hold the event. They purchased the land and have been building on it ever since.

Since the festival is 'fantasy' themed, any type of costume could be worn. My sister and I saw ladies in steampunk attire and a teenager dressed up as the character from Assassin's Creed. It was a bizarre mix of costumes.

I think the best costumes were the king and queen who dressed in period costume. The king wore 'King Henry VIII' style dress complete with stockings! It was impressive especially since he was a burly red haired/bearded man.

After viewing the vendors for a bit, we went back to check out the jousting event. I missed a bit of that part of the event as I was stuck waiting for food. By the time I got back to the jousting, there were a lot of people in front......being short, I wasn't able to see much of the jousting. You couldn't help hearing it though. One of knights hit the other so hard, he fell off his horse. I'm sure there was a sizeable dent in his armor.

On our way out of the festival, we stopped by a tea vendor's table. My mother and I ended up both buying some tea. I got a orange cinnamon spice blend and my mother bought a bag of dragon's blood tea, which is full of fruit and spices. The vendor was called The Copper Kettle Tea Bar and they have a shop in Foley, AL.

I might have to make a trip out there to see the shop/cafe. It looks adorable and the food looks delicious :)

I would love to see the fair better organized with all the living history tables, etc. in one area, all the vendors in another (you could make an interesting medieval market with all the vendors in one area), and the jousting/falconry area separated from the rest of the fair with more seating. And the drama plays need to be throughout the day. We weren't able to attend because they were at 3:30 and we had to drive make to Mobile. 

All in all, I'm not sure if we will attend the medieval fair next year.....it just depends. For its second year of existence, it isn't too bad. It was worth seeing my mother's face. Total skepticism. I had to remind her that when she was younger she played Dungeons and Dragons so a live medieval reenactment fair wasn't that far of a stretch. LOL

Until next time ^_____^ 

Saturday Antiquing - Milton, FL

My sister and I drove over to Milton, FL for an antique show. The first thing we saw were these adorable baby goats. Aren't they so cute? Makes you want to take one home, right? But then you remember that they grow up. Lol

The show wasn't large, but it did have a variety of vendors selling Civil War materials, Depression glass, ceramics, books, and jewelry.

We were hoping to find some Old Colony or Dogwood depression glass for our mother and aunt, but there were only a few examples and several of them were either pieces our mother and aunt already had or they were buy 'as is' which means something is wrong with the piece.

While walking around I took a few pictures of items that interested me.

I saw this beautiful turn of the 20th century vase by Royal Dux. This is first time I have seen an art nouveau style vase in the wild; usually I see them in museums.

This vendor had an amazing selection of several (5 sets) vanity sets from the 1920s. She was asking for about $200 for each piece in the set?!?! O_o"

She had a lovely perfume casket from the Victorian period. (The red velvet object in the picture.) It opens up to house two glass bottles of perfume. My sister and I thought it was amusing that the vendor stopped to tell us that she would lower the price to $200 if we were interested. Lol

Another vendor had a bunch of vintage knick knacks and kitchen gadgets. My favorites were these adorable chocolate molds for bunnies and lambs. Just one of the smallest ones was $45!!! Sigh.....

I took this picture for my mother as she is interested in spinning and weaving. A vintage yarn spinner. Not sure how old it is.....it still spins. My sister couldn't resist pushing the foot pedal. I'm just glad it didn't fall apart when she pushed it!!!

The woman I buy brooches from was there. I bought three brooches from her, two Spanish damascene brooches and a floral circular brooch.

I always assumed that the damascene brooches were 1920s or so because of the trombone backing, but after some research yesterday I found out that they are probably 1950s-60s and were made most likely in Toledo, Spain.

Damascene is the art of inlaying various metals onto oxidized steel. It is still practiced in Spain and Japan today. I have two other damascene brooches in my collection, but I hadn't realized what they were called until yesterday ;)

Maybe one day I'll come across some Japanese damascene brooches. You can't mistake them for the Spanish style as their designs are purely oriental themed.

The things you learn as you collect.

Until next time >___<