My Life So Far
What I'm Listening To
- Boccherini's Quintetto In Do Maggiore la Musica Notturna Delle Strade Di Madrid Op. 30, No. 6 (G. 324): Il Rosario - Largo Assai - Allegro - Largo Come Prima - this recording is a Jordi Savall project, but I first heard this piece on the soundtrack to Master and Commander and so for me it's very evocative not only of that movie but also of my time in Victoria.
- KT Tunstall, Black Horse and the Cherry Tree
- my iPod on random, producing Tainted Love followed immediately by Rihanna's S.O.S.
What I'm Playing
- Francois Couperin, Les Folies Francaises, ou les Dominos, a set of theme and variations with each variation named after an aspect of love, such as "La Virginite" and "Les Coucous Benevoles". Am considering attaching the name of a Doctor Who character to each one: "La Coqueterie" - Jack Harkness; "La Jalousie Taciturne" - Ninth Doctor.
- Polyphonia - this week my favorite herd of cats managed a pretty good rendition of the Agincourt Carol, and didn't quite butcher Amor Potest - Ad Amorem, despite its use of hocket.
- Rock Band. Rage Against The Sewing Machine takes the stage again!!!
What I'm Reading/Watching
- Wading my way through the Metropolitan Museum of Art's online catalogue, which has led me to some new portraits from the late fifteenth century, a few "no image available", and many irrelevant yet very interesting other things.
- Oh Stargate SG1, how I love you.
- Far too many facebook updates letting me know every milestone other people reach in Farmville and clones. If anyone knows how to blanket turn off updates from new games that people start playing, PLEASE let me know.
What I'm Making
- New shift is done. Handsewn from start to finish, mostly using linen thread. Liked using the linen thread, but discovered it is not very well suited to backstitch. Attempted to do some basic blackwork around the neck edge based on the pattern seen in this portrait, but since the neckline was not cut on the straight grain I was not able to get a satisfactorily even and symmetrical pattern.
- Some time ago, the House was gifted a large quantity of brocade in an indescribable colour. To gaze on it directly is to invite madness, but if you squint just right, it looks like a sort of blasphemous imitation of the brocade worn by two different women in Ghirlandaio's Tornabuoni chapel. Lacking a sufficient colour name with which to refer to this fabric, we decided to call it "Dead Spaniard", which I knew to be a renaissance name for some colour. Apparently "Dead Spaniard" is actually a pale greyish tan. That is not this colour.
Cut out pieces for "Dead Spaniard" giornea, then sewed together long seams by machine in the interests of time. Currently staystitching edges by hand using running stitch. Had an interesting discussion with rectangularcat about whether colour could/would have been produced in period using natural dyes, and whether colour should have been produced at all in modern times (answer to all: probably not). Well, if it's too offensively bright, I'll just save it for some morning when everyone's hung over but me.
- Boccherini's Quintetto In Do Maggiore la Musica Notturna Delle Strade Di Madrid Op. 30, No. 6 (G. 324): Il Rosario - Largo Assai - Allegro - Largo Come Prima - this recording is a Jordi Savall project, but I first heard this piece on the soundtrack to Master and Commander and so for me it's very evocative not only of that movie but also of my time in Victoria.
- KT Tunstall, Black Horse and the Cherry Tree
- my iPod on random, producing Tainted Love followed immediately by Rihanna's S.O.S.
What I'm Playing
- Francois Couperin, Les Folies Francaises, ou les Dominos, a set of theme and variations with each variation named after an aspect of love, such as "La Virginite" and "Les Coucous Benevoles". Am considering attaching the name of a Doctor Who character to each one: "La Coqueterie" - Jack Harkness; "La Jalousie Taciturne" - Ninth Doctor.
- Polyphonia - this week my favorite herd of cats managed a pretty good rendition of the Agincourt Carol, and didn't quite butcher Amor Potest - Ad Amorem, despite its use of hocket.
- Rock Band. Rage Against The Sewing Machine takes the stage again!!!
What I'm Reading/Watching
- Wading my way through the Metropolitan Museum of Art's online catalogue, which has led me to some new portraits from the late fifteenth century, a few "no image available", and many irrelevant yet very interesting other things.
- Oh Stargate SG1, how I love you.
- Far too many facebook updates letting me know every milestone other people reach in Farmville and clones. If anyone knows how to blanket turn off updates from new games that people start playing, PLEASE let me know.
What I'm Making
- New shift is done. Handsewn from start to finish, mostly using linen thread. Liked using the linen thread, but discovered it is not very well suited to backstitch. Attempted to do some basic blackwork around the neck edge based on the pattern seen in this portrait, but since the neckline was not cut on the straight grain I was not able to get a satisfactorily even and symmetrical pattern.
- Some time ago, the House was gifted a large quantity of brocade in an indescribable colour. To gaze on it directly is to invite madness, but if you squint just right, it looks like a sort of blasphemous imitation of the brocade worn by two different women in Ghirlandaio's Tornabuoni chapel. Lacking a sufficient colour name with which to refer to this fabric, we decided to call it "Dead Spaniard", which I knew to be a renaissance name for some colour. Apparently "Dead Spaniard" is actually a pale greyish tan. That is not this colour.
Cut out pieces for "Dead Spaniard" giornea, then sewed together long seams by machine in the interests of time. Currently staystitching edges by hand using running stitch. Had an interesting discussion with rectangularcat about whether colour could/would have been produced in period using natural dyes, and whether colour should have been produced at all in modern times (answer to all: probably not). Well, if it's too offensively bright, I'll just save it for some morning when everyone's hung over but me.