do good - project update

So, I've been meaning to update you on what I've been doing every day but I've just been making progress on the many projects I've started due to this do good challenge. I was hoping to show pictures of the finished projects, but I just can't get them finished! So, I just wanted to give you a list of what I'm working on and then when I actually DO post about them when I get them finished, you will know that I was doing good. :)

Here is what I'm working on:

1.Annie's blessing dress. This project is so close to being done. She is getting blessed on Oct 13, but I want to finish it by Oct 8th so I can show it off to the ladies in my Needleworker's Guild. It will be a push but will get done. What is finished is soooooo beautiful, I can't wait to share!

2. Pam's gala dress. Pam is a good friend of mine who needs a fancy dress for a gala she is attending on Wednesday. Yes that is only four days away. She found an amazing dress but it needs sleeves. I'll be working on said sleeves either tomorrow or Monday evening, I'm not sure which yet.

3. Award of Arms scroll. I was asked to do another AoA scroll. Yay! I have it all planned and just need to sit down and do it. It will be awarded on Saturday (fingers crossed) and I will post a picture when it is completed. I am hoping to finish it tomorrow.

4. Thread covered buttons. Mistress Bianca is making some amazing (as in insanely amazing) tabards for our royalty. She decided to make them with thread-covered buttons. She needs something like 200 buttons to finish the tabards. I grabbed a bunch and am now working on them when I have a few minutes here and there. It takes me between 15-20 minutes to finish a button. I have all the stuffs to do 45 buttons. You do the math. :)

5. Days for Girls. Thanks to Leann Olsen, I found this group that has one of THE best charities I've seen! http://www.daysforgirls.org/. I hate menstruating (and seriously who doesn't). I have problems with all the advantages I have and can't imagine how difficult it is for some of these girls. This group is trying to put together something like 200 kits and need 500 more liners. I contacted them and said I would do 100 liners for them. I might end up doing more but am somewhat limited on time right now. If I can find a good day with many extra hours, I will get more done.

And those are my five BIG projects I'm working on. I will upload pictures for them all when I am done. I plan to be done with all of them by the middle of October so you don't have to wait very long. I promise!

And now you know why I haven't updated a specific project. :)

do good - day twenty three

My good deeds for the day center around good conversations with great people. And the doing of good definitely went both ways. Some days should just last longer.

do good - day twenty two

Today was a good day to do good. The lady who leads the music in Relief Society had asked me to cover for her as she was going to be out of town today. I was happy to do it! Then, after Relief Society I had a great chat with another lady in the ward. Although I didn't do anything good for her this minute (although our chat was great for both of us), I did offer my laundry facilities for her to use any time she needs to. 

On top of all of that, our Sunday School lesson was all about rescuing the handcart companies and how we can rescue people today. The discussion, of course, led to a discussion about service and how we can be more aware of people around us and their needs. It was an interesting discussion and very relevant to me in light of my month of do good. It has been a good day. 

do good - day twenty one

Today was a different day. I was so exhausted after my many days on the road that I didn't want to leave my house. I didn't really do any good unless you count going to support Mountain Crest Marching Band at their local competition. I sat next to a couple of my girls from when I chaperoned. It was fun to see them all, but that is literally all that I did. I meant to work on Annie's dress but didn't even do that.

The following pic was taken during a lunch break while in Belize. I felt this way again today.

do good - days 16-20

This week was spent in a whirlwind of conference activities: teaching classes, setting up/taking down the FACT booth, working it :), and enjoying the company of great friends I only see occasionally at these conferences. I made copies for people, carried stuff for them, and helped in any way possible.

It was such a whirlwind that it was hard to pinpoint exact moments of goodness. Please trust me that it happened. I'll be better about writing every day for the last 10 days of this month.

saving the harvest

This post is a break from the regularly schedule do good posts of the month but I just have to talk about Harvest War 2013. It was amazing! This was actually the first time I went to this event. Since I've only been playing in the SCA for just over a year and Mom and Dad had their farewell this weekend last year, I had never been. I love how intimate this event is. I love how it is the end of the camping season and how laid back it is. We still have all the stuff: classes, heavy fighting, rapier fighting, archery tournaments, thrown weapons tournaments, and youth activities. It is crazy to think of everything we pack into a single day. I was completely exhausted by the time it was finished. I was disappointed when the rain canceled some of the activities but was thankful we were able to do as much as we did considering it was supposed to rain even more.

I'll post pictures as soon as I find a camera cord. Until then, here are a few I stole from someone else. :)

Archery. We had luck in the morning with the Bandit Tournament but only one practice round of the Zombie Tournament before the downpour hit and we had to call it. Here are some pics...And I'm even in them!

Heavy Fighting. Yup, that is full metal armor. They use rattan swords for safety but everything else is very true to medieval times.

do good - days 12, 13, 14, 15

Yup, I've been offline for a bit. But don't think I was just sitting on the beach relaxing. Seriously, I was busy!

Day 12: was getting ready for Harvest War and helping set up the site. There was so, so, so much to do! We were setting up all the fields and the "buildings" we would use throughout the week.

Day 13: More war. Today was my big day to get the archery range set up. It rained all morning and didn't quit until it was almost time for the actual tournament so getting it ready was a bit hectic. We had a great tournament and I lost by TWO points. I actually had an arrow that hit a line but didn't break it. If it had broken the line, I would have added five points to my score and the outcome would have been totally different. I love how competitive it was. I hate tournaments where someone is so much better it isn't fun to shoot. I then went to the Thrown Weapons range and helped Azir set it up and then ran the tourney to show I could run the line. I'm trying to get my TW Marshal. At court on this day, I had two scrolls presented for the Shire Archery Champion and the Shire Thrown Weapons Champion.

Day 14: More war and more archery. I was supposed to run two tournaments this day. The morning one was based on bandits. There were four of us that shot it. And then we got all set up to shoot zombies in the afternoon with about 15 people and the rain came again. I had to call it and we all ran back to camp. I then sat under a shade making thread covered buttons hoping I would dry out. When that didn't happen, I finally changed clothes and got ready for court. I have to admit. I'm a court junky. I really am. And, I knew Kaitlyn was going to get her Award of Arms at court. I also had another scroll that was going to be presented. After it was presented (and I loved his reaction), I thought I would just sit back and relax but low and behold, I was called to court! The Barony of Gryphon's Lair gave me a service award. It was awesome. Then, as I was getting up to leave court, Their Majesties told me to scoot over. So I kneeled down in front of them and they gave me an Award of Arms! I was pleasantly surprised. Here I am getting my A and my belt (which means I can now bear arms in the presence of royalty).

Then, as I was getting up to leave court, the Queen took me by the elbow and just moved me to the side and they called up Kaitlyn so she could get her AoA. Now, the fun part of this is that I did her scroll (pic coming soon! I don't have my camera cord with me right now!). I added a family joke to the text and when it got to that part, she just lost it. She was just laughing so hard!! It totally made my entire weekend. The good I did for someone else was returned 1000 fold in that one single moment. Seriously, I will look at these pictures and just smile for the rest of my life. It was such an amazing moment. Here is her reaction.

Such a great picture of her unbridled laughter in that moment. Love this girl! 

Day 15: I spent the morning helping to pack up the shire stuff. It took all morning but was all put away by noon, which meant that everyone could leave in a timely manner and it wasn't just 1-2 people doing it all for the rest of the day.