Well, all of that sewing paid off. I spent over 35 hours stitching up that outfit- the bloomers, skirt, chemise (blouse-y thing), bodice. I even sat up between 2am and 3am Saturday morning (I finished the last piece of garb at 2am) weaving black and red ribbons through my headband.

I fell asleep around 4:30 am, and woke up about 11am- got dressed and headed out. Before I even entered the gates I received my first compliment as the ticket girl took my ticket. She loved my chemise (sheer black with metallic red spiderwebs).

Throughout the day I was complimented over, and over again on the skirt (thank goodness- it took two days!), the chemise, and even my head band with the ribbons. I was complimented on my bodice, though not because of its appearance, just because people were impressed that I made it. It was extremely plain after all.

I got to hang out with a good friend from way back when, and finally met his fiancee (they met the year I stopped going to faire)- who is beautiful and lovely. I hung out with my brother in law, his girlfriend, her daughter, and some of their friends (which was very satisfying since she was the most impressed with my needle skill). For the first time ever, I watched the entire joust (bad acting, but lots of fire- so it was cool), and for the first time in three years, I got to see finale. They’ve added fireworks, which are technically period- just not the way we had them! I love fireworks though, so I’m not going to be picky over that.

One of the Black Friars (the character actors that just lend atmosphere rather than participate in the actual story line) stood next to me as they were singing Canaan’s Land, and she had an amazing voice. I’m hoping she gets a bigger part next year.

I heard from a lot of people that this year’s Queen Elizabeth was bad. I don’t think so. She didn’t look the part at all- she looked too young, wrong shape face, etc, but her voice was perfect. Deep, musical, good accent, but she consistently sounded as though she was merely discussing what she had for dinner with a good friend. Her body language and tone failed to draw the audience in. But I could have listened to her speak all day.

Many of my old friends were not seen, and one now has her own shop and is therefore far too busy to sit and gossip as we once did. But she does amazing work (mostly corsets- of her own design) and always makes time for a good hug and a little chatting as she works. And I was lucky enough to run into some others who (whom?) I had not expected to see. Lots of big hugs.

Unfortunately, some of those hugs may be why I hurt so bad! I feel like I broke ribs, and my back hurts just as bad. But it was a good day. I’ve missed my friends, I’ve missed my garb, and I’ve missed the place.

I met some new people at dinner afterward (there’s a diner up the road that’s used to people showing up in funny clothes over the summer), and next year should be great.

Pictures will be up soon- I have to hook up my printer to get the pictures off the camera.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 28th, 2007 at 2:34 pm and is filed under off topic, personal, stuff, updates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.