I thought last week would be easy. I was wrong. First of all, I was sick all last weekend. I thought it was allergies, but then Neale got it, so it was a cold. Tuesday and Wednesday were spent cleaning and packing my classroom. Thursday ended up being eaten up entirely be lawn care and errands. Friday was my one day off. I tried working on the lengha choli for Live Weapons. Choli is half done. It needs sleeves and finishing. I think I'm going to sew about three pairs of ties along the sides and tie it closed. If it gaps, people will see the band of my bra, big deal. It's an easy fix. If it doesn't work, the dance plan will go on hold until a later event. The skirt.....the sari fabric is awful, evil, and ravels like a son of a bitch. Fortunately, I have a blue skirt already. It's not a pretty, swirly skirt, but I can wear the royal blue skirt and hip scarf with the turquoise choli, and be monochromatic, if not matching. Unfortunately, the pretty silver jewelry set Neale ordered isn't going to be here in time for the event, which is just one more sign that maybe I should just give up on the plans for this event, and put them off for later.

I think I'm going to work on embroidering a handkerchief and possibly make parsley bread for the Standard Bearer competition. After all, why not go big my first time out? I could end up Baronial A&S champion for my first competition.....but not likely. For the handkerchief, I'm thinking oak trees in opposite corners, red roses with stems in the other two corners, a blue border, and maybe a blue peacock in the center. I need to get around to drawing my device, but I'm kind of thinking I'm going to do the silver oak tree, on a blue or blue and green field, with red roses across the top. I just think the peacock would be cool. I want to incorporate more blue into the design, and I want to have something in the center. Eventually, I think it would be cool to take some of the pictures I have of the pietra dura stonework from the Taj Mahal and embroider a hanging based on those designs. There's a really beautiful one with flowers in the center and an arabesque design around it. That's a project that would take ages, though.