Well, I'm still working on the quilt. I've quilted about 7 squares out of 36. So far, so good. I didn't do any Christmas Eve or day, or really over the weekend. We were busy with holiday plans and other stuff. We saw Sherlock Holmes on Saturday, and had Game Day on Sunday. I quilted three squares last night while we watched Star Trek.

I think I'm about to start on a gown. No, today, I'm going to do it. I'm going to cut out the pattern pieces, and maybe even start cutting. There, now I can't back out. Really, I just need to sew the big skirt panels and the bodice on the machine. I suck at pleating skirts to bodices and attaching them by machine. In the Tudor Tailor, I found a hand technique that should work better. I'm going to pleat it by hand, whip-stitch the pleats together at the top, then whip-stitch it to the bodice. That's the plan. We'll see how it goes. First, I need to re-wash the white linen for the bodice lining, to see if the blue dye that bled from the fabric I washed it with will come out, then, I cut.

The quilt is finally put together, and I have started quilting it. Yea! A lot of the holdup was being busy, but most of it was that my sewing machine needed to be cleaned, badly, and I didn't realize that was the reason I was having to fight it so much. It is much better now, although I don't think the bobbin tension is quite right, still, but it works. So Wednesday, I sewed the outer border to the top of the quilt, pieced the back together, put all of the layers together and basted it with safety pins. I didn't quite get the yardage right on the backing, so a long time ago, I bought a yard of a print. That yard, intact, is the center of the back of the quilt, and I sewed a wide border of the navy fabric to the edges of it. At some point, there will be pictures.

I've been holding onto fabric for garb for a while. I want to make a late-fifteenth century Florentine-style gown. My favorite that I've seen is the Ghirlandaio portrait of Giovanna Tournabuoni. http://www.abcgallery.com/G/ghirlandao/ghirlandaio26.html This is only a partial view, the portrait is from a fresco in the family chapel. If I remember correctly, it's one of the frescos that shows a biblical scene with the family of the patron, in the latest contemporary fashions, as witnesses. The style is for a slightly high-waisted gown with an overgown that is open down the sides and front, usually clasped in front, somehow. I've got 5 yards of lavender linen for the under dress, and a couple of yards of heavier white linen to line the bodice, and 4 yards of navy blue wool for the over gown. I'm kind of thinking of doing an overgown/cloak. It wouldn't be period to take the over gown off when I came inside in a public place, but I'll be honest, I suck at making cloaks. I don't know why, but I do. This tabard, I have a pattern for, it looks simple and straight-forward, I think I can manage it. I'm hoping I have enough left to try a jerkin for Neale, but we'll see. Anyway, I've been holding onto fabric, because we have been trying to start a family, and I'm about to get an ipod touch, and join my mom on the idiet. She's lost 20 pounds using a calorie-counter app, and I really want to try it. I have no idea what size I'll be six months from now, so I haven't seen the point in making a lot of new stuff, but this kind of gown, I figure I'll have some wiggle room. It doesn't necessarily have to lace closed in front, I've seen plenty of portraits that show a small gap. I can sew lacing rings onto another strip of fabric, and move that piece if I need to. If I make it side-lacing, I'll have even more latitude in altering the bodice, because it won't be as visible. So, now that the machine-sewing on the quilt is done, I think this dress is going to be my next project.

The older I get, the more I realize I just don't like Christmas programs. First of all, what are you going to do? There's music, or a play/pageant of some kind. There's a lot of great Christmas music out there (and some dross, but a lot of that is people trying to put their own spin on classics and screwing them up. Mary J. Blige and Andrea Bocelli singing "What Child Is This," anyone?). So if the group in question is a band, choir, or orchestra, your project makes sense, and has a clear purpose, go ahead.

What is the point of a Christmas play? If it's an established drama group, like a high school club, or college theater department, that's ok. Same principle as the band, the group exists, has a purpose, if they want to explore holiday-themed material, go for it. If it's a church group, that's fine, too. After all, Christmas has been a religious holiday for over 1,000 years.

Otherwise? No. Just, no. The act of celebrating Christmas is, in itself, a time-consuming undertaking. There are gifts to buy, there is cooking to be done, and it's always nice to spend time with family and friends. Don't make the holidays harder by filling the time with extraneous stuff.