Mistress of Disguise

Friday

Dickens weekend started early Friday morning. I had been so tired on Thursday night, that I had decided to just head to bed early and get up at my normal 6:30 wake up time and get the remaining house chores done then. So, I squeezed in doing the dishes and fully cleaning the cat closet before M got up. I had to leave the house no later than 10 in order to make it to Galveston by my 3pm check-in at the b-n-b, so we spent a little bit of time together, I snuggled the baby, and then I was on my way.

The drive down was nice, if somewhat plagued by construction. Once I was finally out of the metroplex, though, it was nothing but trees and fields and I felt myself finally physically relax. Then I hit Houston, and it took over an hour to crawl my way through that stupid city because it's a nightmare.

But, I only made it into Galveston a half-hour later than expected, and since it's a contact-less check-in, I didn't have anyone waiting on my arrival.

I had originally booked for Friday-Sunday, then decided to add an additional day, which would have required me to switch rooms for my final night. I'd been okay with this, but I got an email before I left telling me they'd upgraded me to the big suite for my entire stay, hooray! The room was enormous, with a king-sized four post bed, a private balcony, and a bathroom larger than my kitchen.


I left immediately for Walmart, which is naturally on the other side of the island, where I picked up the stuff I needed to finish my undersleeves and fichu, as well as some hair stuff and some stockings.

I headed back and stitched up the last of the items that needed it, added elastic to the undersleeves, added the ribbon tie to the fichu, and then immediately had to start dressing for the Dickens Soiree, which started at 6:30. I made it out the door at 6:15. I wasn't sure where the place was in relation to where I was staying, so I ended up driving, but seeing it later in daylight I realized that I was literally only a few blocks from it and could have walked. Will remember that for next time!


I have to say, even though the Soiree was one of the highlights last time we went, I was pretty disappointed with it this year. The food was subpar, and for unknown reasons they were serving the cold food inside the warm house, and the hot food outside in the freezing cold, which meant that all the hot food was sort of soggy and cold. The one good item was the stuff mushroom caps, I should have just eaten a ton of those.

Ollie Dickens (grandson of Charles) read from A Christmas Carol, which is always enjoyable. The circus act was loud and a bit underwhelming. The carolers were lovely. There was a lone violinist in the music room, who was always inevitably drowned out by the din of the absolutely enormous crowd in the house.


I cut out of the Soiree a little early and drove over to the 1859 St. Joseph's Church. The concert made up for the disappointments of the earlier event, it was really extremely enjoyable. The music was so nice, and the choir director was very engaging and knowledgeable. The concert was an hour long, and I enjoyed it very much.


Saturday

Saturday morning I got up and got dressed, planning to go to the tea on the tall ship Elissa, which I'd bought a ticket for, and to see the festival itself. Unfortunately, as I walked outside it started to rain. Since the festival was only a few blocks from where I was staying, I started walking over, hoping it would stay at a light sprinkle, but after half a block I was already soaked, so I headed back. I sat on the porch for a bit hoping it would lighten up, but I started to get a chill, so I headed inside, where other guests were also waiting out the weather. We chatted for a while (they were Civil War reenactors visiting from Houma, LA) and once 11 hit (the start time of the tea) and the weather was only getting worse, I decided to throw in the towel and go get some lunch. I changed back into civvies and drove over to the seawall side of the island, where I got lunch at a well-reviewed seafood place called Miller's. It was fine, but not something I'd recommend.

It had finally stopped raining by the time I was back at the house, so I walked with the reenactors over to the festival. The festival itself is not anything that spectacular, it's really just a small Renaissance faire with a Victorian veneer over it. Most of the vendors had some variation of handmade soap/scents or jewelry, and the acts are the same you'll see at Faire - a falconry show, some musical acts, etc. I attempted to find a reticule, since I didn't have one with me, but didn't find anything I liked. The few clothing vendors were selling ren faire garb and pirate clothes, and the only handbags were made of heavy upholstery material.

I did stop into a very cool nautical antique store, where I resisted the urge to buy a scrimshawed pastry cutter.

Gave up on the festival, but got my hand stamped so I could get back into the area for the Ball without having to pay again. Walked back to the hotel and got back into kit, then headed over to the Lasker Inn, where most of the Houston costumers were staying. They were all getting ready for the ball that evening, so since I was already dressed, I helped those who needed it. A couple of the DFW costumers were there, so I hung out with them. I dressed Christine's hair and helped her get into her wardrobe, then helped Lee, and since we were all three finished dressing before the rest of the crew, I offered to drive us all over since my car was right there.


The ball was in the upstairs event space at an Italian restaurant on the Strand. It's a historic building, so it worked for us. There were hors d'oeuvres in the corner and a cash bar, and we mingled a bit as people trickled in.


Eventually they let us all into the dining area where we sat for dinner. It was billed as a multi-course meal, but apparently the hors d'oeuvres were considered the first course, and they ended up bringing out the next two courses on our menus all on the same plate, so everything ended up being a tiny portion, which is a shame because the salad was really delicious and there were about three bites of it on my plate. Christine raved about the lasagna and said the sauce tasted just like her Sicilian grandmother's long lost recipe, and the owner offered to take her down to talk to the chef, which I thought was really nice! Ollie Dickens arrived at the end of dinner and made his way around the table to chat with the guests. He was really nice and down to earth, and I enjoyed chatting with him.


They cleared us out to have dessert in the other room while they flipped the dining area to become the dance floor. Dessert was also not what was on the menu? It was supposed to be cheesecake and tirimisu, but neither of those things were anywhere to be found. Instead there was a dessert table in the corner with some cookies and truffles, and they were...fine. I just really wanted the cheesecake and tirimisu.

The dancing started pretty late into the evening around 8:30, and the caller was terrible. I think he must have actually been a ballroom dance instructor, because he seemed pretty unfamiliar with the set dances (he kept calling the Virginia Reel the Victorian Reel), and he treated the entire thing like a big continuous dance lesson. The dude just would not stop talking during all the dances, talking about variations and footwork, and dude, just let people dance!


They had a DJ doing the music, and he was fine for the most part, but I found it a bit baffling that he was playing royalty-free music from Epidemic Sound (the same service I used when choosing music for YT, so I recognized it all) instead of choosing some actual classical pieces. It's a Christmas ball, how hard is it to play some of the walzes from The Nutcracker? And why on earth are you playing Frank Sinatra?

Christine and I were feeling very done by around 9:30, which was about the time that they took a break in the dancing, so we rounded up Lee, who was also ready to go, and we headed out. Despite all my complaints, I did have a pretty good time. I was a little bummed that I didn't get to dance at all, but the caller really put me off. I'm trying to give the event some grace, though, because it was their first year, and from what I understand it was the first time this group organized anything this big.

Ended the evening with the best shower I've ever had. Just amazing water pressure. So good.

Sunday

Sunday was Cheryl's tea at the Lasker, so I dressed again and headed over.


I mingled a bit before we were all let into the dining room, where I sat again with Christine and Lee, and Tiffany, who is also from DFW. The others at our table were from the Houston group, and included the pastry chef who'd made all the desserts for the tea. We had a good group at our table, and the conversation was lively and engaging. The one gent at our table was the pastry chef's father, and he'd made the sous vide roast beef for the tea sandwiches, and all the specialty mustards. He was a Food Guy and loved to talk about his pickles and cured salmon.


The tea was seven courses, each paired with a specific tea. There was a fantastic pumpkin carrot soup that I'm going to bother Cheryl for the recipe for. The theme this year was "Queen Victoria's Favorites" and all the menu items were taken from her menus at Windsor, except for the dessert course, which consisted of macarons and a gorgeous chocolate mint Christmas tea.

While chatting with Tiffany, she told me that I'd dodged a bullet with the tall ship tea. She had gone last year and it was a huge disappointment - the tea was served on the dock beside the ship, the food consisted of brownie bites and cookies from Sam's Club, and the tea was just a small selection of Bigelow teas served with lukewarm water. The highlight is getting access to the ship, but that can be done much cheaper by just purchasing a tour ticket. So, lesson learned, don't bother getting tickets for that next time!

Cheryl's tea was definitely the best event of the weekend. She's well-practiced in hosting elaborate events (she owns a wedding venue near Houston), so anything she puts together is always amazing.

Left the tea around 2 or 3, then headed back to the hotel. All the other guests had checked out that morning and headed home, so since I had the run of the place, I took the opportunity to take some photos of my dress in the gorgeous downstairs of the house.

After that I changed back into civvies and packed up all my stuff, and then walked over to a place I'd passed the day before that looked promising, The Gumbo Bar, where I had the best jambalaya I've ever eaten in my life. I spent the rest of the night lounging in bed and staying up too late watching YT videos, but I figured it was my last night of vacation and I could sleep in a bit before I headed back on Monday.

Wrong, because the new people in the neighboring room decided at 6AM to do a REALLY LOUD exercise video for an hour, so I was awake whether I wanted to be or not. So, I packed up the car and started the 5 hour trek back home. Turns out it was good that I got an early start, because the others who left later on Monday reported a 5-car pileup in Houston that brought northbound traffic to a stand still.

It was really fun to do a big weekend of events again after so many years out of the game. I was really happy with how the dress turned out, and with all the accessories finished I actually felt really put together and polished. I received many compliments, even on my hair, which is a big deal for me because I suck at period hairstyles! Around the middle of Saturday I really started wishing I had more than one outfit to wear, so hopefully next time I head down I'll have finished a few more dresses that I can change into when the mood strikes.

Had a glorious four-day weekend. Very relaxed, very productive.

The overlords let us go home early-ish (3pm) on Wednesday, and once I was home M headed out to pick up meal fixings. He came home with an insane amount of freshly made sausages from Central Market, not the beef tenderloin he'd talked about before. He decided the tenderloin was too expensive and that we'd save that for our first holiday in a house.

Thursday was mostly a quiet day until the late afternoon. M had set up the PS5 in the living room so he could still play video games while the baby was asleep, so he spent most of the day doing that. I sewed as much as I could before starting on dinner, which was sausages, mashed potatoes, roasted sweet potatoes, rolls, and pecan pie. Chance came over around 5, so it was three adults and a baby at Thanksgiving dinner. Since Chance had come over so early, he left directly after dinner, and M and I hung out in the living room until around 11. The baby was full of energy and having a fabulous time, and refused to admit she was tired until I actually put her in her crib and she realized how worn out she was.

Friday was a chill at-home day. I sewed, the baby slept a lot, M gamed some more, and we ate leftovers all day.

Saturday was a lost day because the baby was really clingy, so I didn't get much done, but Sunday she was in fine spirits and I managed to finish the bodice! It closes down the front with hooks and eyes (well, thread bars, because I didn't have any metal bars and I couldn't figure out how to make eyes look not terrible) and the fit is good, and the sleeves are nicely eased and the armhole is piped, and it's done! There is slight gappage across the bust, but I'm going to whip up a little fischu out of the black taffeta and it'll be fine. Still have to make the undersleeves, but those should be quick, and I cheated on the collar and ordered a white detachable collar on Amazon, which should be here tomorrow.

I'm going to do an insane thing and attempt to whip up an evening bodice over the next four days, so keep your fingers crossed. 

Baby went to bed at a reasonable time last night, and since we had the last of the spaghetti to polish off and I didn't have to cook, I was able to finish the blasted skirt! Seeing it all put together was very initially very satisfying, but I do think that the top tier is a bit too short. Of course, I'm not going to change it now, and it's probably just something that will bother me and that no one else will ever notice.

But anyway, a finished skirt means that this weekend I can focus on the day bodice. I have the mockup pinned together, so now I just need to stitch it up and make the needed adjustments. I'm hoping that I can work on it long enough tomorrow to get the fashion fabrics cut out and to do the initial assembly on Sunday. 

Discovered that I had ordered my winter clothes one size too small, ruh-roh. I emailed customer service, so fingers crossed that I noticed in time. Their FAQs say that as long as the order isn't shipped, they happily make changes, so here's hoping.

M requested London Broil for dinner, ugh, so I defrosted it overnight and did a haphazard marinade this morning that was missing half the ingredients called for, and I just realized that I didn't season the marinade at all. Good job, me. I'm heading home for lunch again today, so I will throw some spices in there so it consists of something more than just soy sauce and garlic.

Once the baby is asleep tonight I'll put together a beef stew for the weekend. It's supposed to be rainy and bit cool, which is perfect stew weather. Plus, I won't have to cook and can use my meager free moments to work on the day bodice. I have so little time left to sew before Dickens that I can feel myself approaching panic mode. I really need a good historical wardrobe again.

Tuesday night I did a grocery pickup, came home, made soup. Baby went to bed fairly easily, and I had enough time to get the back seam of the skirt sewn shut and lower tier finished completely in the back. Made a pan of roasted carrots to feed the baby the next day. 

I watched election coverage for a bit but found it too nerve racking, and since I had been up at 5:30 that morning and was totally exhausted, I collapsed into bed. Slept terribly and woke up to the news that Trump had won. Disturbing. Put me off for the entire day.

Work day was slow, but short. The sheriff celebrated his reelection by letting all the admin staff go home early, so I was home by 3:30 yesterday. Finished the other two tiers, but discovered that I was out of interfacing and so couldn't finish the placket and waistband. I will try to remember to pick some up after work today so I can finish up the skirt.

Baby fell asleep on my lap, and after getting her into bed I took a shower and went to bed myself. 

Georgian Picnic is this weekend, and I'm definitely going to skip it. Too much still to do for Dickens.

I'm having trouble envisioning the purple ballgown for Navasota, and it's becoming very frustrating. I only have a vague idea what I want the dress to be, and I keep waffling on the design. On the other hand, the black and gold gown is clear as day in my head, and I'm seriously considering switching gears and making the black dress instead. The vision is so clear that I feel like I could make it in my sleep.

Found on my browsing adventures, mushroom lace!

Discovered the "relaxation room" at work on Friday, where they've installed two high-end massage chairs. I had myself a 10-minute deep tissue massage, and it was glorious.

Picked up chili ingredients on the way home, and made us a big pot to take us through the weekend. It took me all evening, but at least I didn't have to cook again. 

Saturday I managed to get a good amount of sewing done. The baby was in an excellent mood, so I managed to attach the last ruffle, cut out the upper portion of the last tier, get all that assembled, gathered, and sewn to the skirt base. Then I pinned it onto the mannequin and...it was awful. Again, it was too full. I managed to take the top tier off of the skirt base before bed.

Sunday, the baby's good mood had evaporated, and she was screaming all day. I intended to finish sewing the skirt once she went down for a nap, but M was home and awake, and we ended up chatting for her entire nap time, so no sewing. He left to go help Chance with car repairs, and the baby woke up as he was leaving. Once she was up she was completely impossible, so I put in my earplugs to save my ears and washed the dishes. She continued to shout at me from her playpen for a while before she finally gave up and figured out how to entertain herself.

Dishes took forever, but the kitchen is now clean. I made dinner for the baby and reheated the last of the chili for myself. I managed to pin the top tier back onto the skirt, this time without any gathering at all. Hopefully once it's sewn on, it will look okay, otherwise I'm going to have to figure out something else. 

Heading home on lunch today because M has another meeting. Hopefully no pee explosions to deal with today and we can both actually eat something.

Soup went together super fast last night thanks to all of the pre-chopping of vegetables done the night before, so  we actually had dinner ready before 7! Huzzah! The baby went to bed at a normal hour, too, so I had a good couple of hours of sewing time before bed. Hooray!

One ruffle is now attached. I severely underestimated how long attaching a ruffle would take, and it ate up the entire 2.5 hours I was working. Having all the ruffles attached by tonight is definitely not going to happen, but I still feel pretty confident that I can get the skirt finished before the weekend. 

Slept like the dead and got up a bit late this morning, so I didn't have time to pack up supplies to do the bodice mockup while at work today, so that will happen tomorrow instead. I'm itchy to be done with this dress, it feels so close!

Spent more of Friday at home than at work. I had to take a 2 hour lunch because of the car towing situation; I stayed home with the baby while M and Chance went to get the car together. I headed back to work to find that the captain had already left for the day, and had said to leave early myself, so I was out at 3:30 and back home. Finally ended up getting some of the dishes done, then dove into making an enormous baked ziti, which ended up feeding us for the rest of the weekend. 

Was up early-ish on Saturday to head to Dallas before it became too warm. Made a quick stop at Dutch Bros for a large chai. Arrived at the warehouses not long after they opened, and managed to hit every one of them before lunch. Restocked on my cheap black taffeta, found a lovely silvery-white taffeta for Navasota projects, and the perfect purple for the Navasota dinner dress. Didn't manage to find the right color of lavender for the Navasota ballgown, but I still have time. Also discovered that Best Fabrics had sold out of the fabric I'd planned to make the Kent State dress out of, but they still had plenty of the darker gold color, so I picked up 15 yards of that, which should be enough for both day and night options. 

Lunch at Kuby's for German food. It was absolutely packed, both in the restaurant and the grocery, so I simply ate lunch and didn't buy any food stuffs to take home. Had the worst piece of black forest cake I've ever encountered, that will not be a repeat. 

Made a stop at Half Priced Books on the way home. It was nice to browse a bookstore again, and it bubbled up a lot of nostalgia since it's the same location that I spent a good chunk of time in when I was in my teens and 20s, looking for bargain manga and second-hand Star Trek novels before the chain bookstores caught on and started keeping those in stock. Quick stop at the grocery store for beverages before heading home, where I relaxed for the rest of the afternoon and finished my Gilmore Girls rewatch.

Sunday was a sewing day! The baby was super cooperative, and I managed to get a ton of work done. The remaining ruffles for the skirt are now all cut out, assembled, hemmed, and have the gathering stitches in. I think I can finish the entire skirt this week! I'll try and get the bodice mocked up during the work week, and then maybe finished this coming weekend, she says optimistically. I'd be elated to finish this dress this early in November, though it will probably require a minor miracle. 

Anyway, the baby fought her bedtime last night, otherwise I might have done more sewing. Instead, I tried to rock her to sleep on the couch, which did not work. So I put her in her crib, turned on a YT analysis of The Thing, and let her tire herself out, which took another hour. M came home with armfuls of different ice creams - mint chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches, Mexican fruit popsicles, and a limited edition Tillamook of Oranges n' Cream, which we proceeded to pig out on. M loves The Thing, so he insisted we watch the rest of the video, even though it was super late. After the video, a shower, and more baby shushing, it was 1AM, so I am dragging today.

Soup for dinner tonight, which will feed us for a few days and free up the next couple of evenings for sewing time. I'm aiming to finish the last skirt tier by Wednesday and to get the waistband on before Friday, leaving the weekend for making the day bodice.

50 giant green spiders today!

Having yesterday off was much needed, even if it did cut into my PTO. 

I let my alarm go off at its normal time, then rolled around in bed relaxing while I slowly woke up. M was up before his alarm, too, so we actually got to spend the morning together for once, which almost never happens. He eventually got dressed and headed out to work, and I got the baby up for breakfast. 

The baby had a very chill day, and actually let me do some sewing while she was awake. She napped for several hours in the afternoon, which gave me enough time to attach the second tier to the skirt, which took much longer than it should have because I kept mathing wrong. But, it's on now, so mission accomplished. After that, I managed to sew together the strips for the first ruffle of the last tier, but that was as much as I managed before the baby was up again. 

M brought home pizza for dinner, and we had a nice evening watching tv and working on projects together after the baby went to bed. He didn't end up getting a new laptop yesterday, because as he'd predicted, they didn't have one on-site. They told him to just order one via mail and keep using this one until it arrives. 

I didn't get a chance to make ziti yesterday because my one onion turned out to be rotten, so another grocery pickup will happen after work to restock. There's still leftover pizza, so ziti will happen tomorrow. 

I think I can finish assembling and hemming the ruffle strip tonight, and probably get it attached to the base before the weekend, which will be good timing since at that point I would need more fabric to continue. The finish line for this skirt is in sight, which is exciting! I ordered a copy of TV440, their 1850s pagoda sleeve pattern, since I didn't want to bother with drafting out something myself. I'll print that out and assemble it today so I can mock it up next week. Another couple of weeks, and this dress will finally be done, which means I might actually have time to make dress #2!

47 giant green spiders today!

Got a call from M while at work yesterday that the baby had broken a dish and had cut herself. So I left work and went home. M was in a very worried state, but the baby's cuts were microscopic and we were able to find all the ceramic pieces from the bowl to confirm that she didn't swallow anything. We did a thorough vacuuming and combing through of all the stuff in the playpen, and declared that all was well. 

Since I had left work in mid-afternoon, I had plenty of time after things had settled to make dinner - cajun chicken pasta for the adults and a grilled cheese for the baby. The baby actually went to sleep at a decent hour, so I had enough time to get some sewing in! 

I finished the last of the construction on the second dress tier and managed to assemble and hem everything, so now all that's left is to gather it and sew it on. I had hoped to do that this evening, BUT, I had pinned the tier to the skirt last night, and when I saw it this morning something about it bothered me. I had had to recut the top ruffle because I screwed it up the first time, and since I was trying to save fabric I had ended up cutting the new one on the straight grain instead of the cross grain like the others, and it behaves noticeably different. Even after pressing, it's sticking out like crazy and not laying down like the others. It looks terrible. So, I think I'm going to bite the bullet, recut the top ruffle, and replace it. I know that if I don't do it, that it will bother me forever, and when things bother me like this I tend to not rewear the outfit, which after all this effort would be so stupid, so I HAVE to redo it!

So, that is going to set me back a bit, but I'm hoping that I'll be able to replace that ruffle this evening and have the weekend to work on getting the whole assemblage attached and moving on to the last tier. Because of the flub, I'll probably have to make a trip tomorrow morning to the fabric warehouses and pick up some more black taffeta, but I'm going to measure what I have left before I commit to trekking all the way to Dallas.

Paid the balance for the AirB&B in Galveston, so Dickens is completely paid for now. Hooray!

40 giant green spiders this morning!

Came home Friday to a highly stressed M as he was finishing up his last Sequel class online. It took him a couple of hours for his anxiety to dissipate. He was still stressed as he started cooking the spaghetti sauce, but once he got into it and I helped him chop, it started to level him out. By the time dinner was finished cooking, he was in a much better mood. 

We sat the baby down with her own bowl of spaghetti and let her at it. By the end she was covered in noodles and sauce and the requisite pics had been taken. A very scrubby bath then commenced, after which she passed out easily and slept through the night. M and I finished the McMahon documentary and then headed to bed.

Saturday I unpacked all the pieces of the ruffle monster dress and got it all set up to work on again. The baby wanted to nap on me all day long, so I didn't get as much work done as I'd hoped, but I did get all the strips for the ruffles assembled and hemmed, so that was something at least. We had leftover spaghetti to eat, so neither of us had to cook, and the evening was easy. M went out to see about a car a friend had told him was for sale for cheap, and came home enthusiastic about purchasing it. It's a 1997 Honda Civic with 200k miles on it, but it runs well and seems in decent shape, and after all the title fees and registration and whatnot it would still be under $1000. He's fairly certain he is going to go and pick it up today.

Sunday was a quiet day at home for all of us. M played the new Silent Hill remake, I worked on ruffles, and all was well. I managed to get one ruffle fully sewn on, and another one pinned on halfway. I had to recut the top ruffle, so that backtracking took up a bit of time, but I'm still fairly happy with the progress I made. Ended the day with a cup of chai and a piece of cake, and it was all very cozy and comfortable.

The weather over the weekend was absolute ass, so I'm glad we got to stay inside. We hit 101 on Sunday, which is stupid. We have one more 90-degree day predicted for tomorrow, after which the heat is finally going to break. Wednesday will be in the low 70s for a high! Finally!

Either 36 or 37 spiders today! There are so many now that I lose track as I count!