Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Gaming and Lace

I found this website last week but forgot to mention it. If you are vulnerable to cute puppies and dogs, proceed with caution.

And the source of that edging turned bracelet is The Craft of Tatting by Bessie M. Attenborough. The one on page 29.
It's not a good picture, but you can see the key points

On Wednesday, I worked in the Community Garden. I did some harvesting (spinach mostly), photographing volunteers, etc, and some weeding. I was so sore and frankly, a bit sweaty. Then I got onto the wrong bus. Luckily, I realized before the next stop and I got off the bus to catch the correct one.

Thursday, I was still sore so I skipped yoga. Went to the Deadlands game, though. Traffic was horrendous and I got there late. We spent a lot of time and care to 'kill' some standing skeletons before they attacked us. Turns out they were just normal skeletons that had been articulated. We amused the GM (DR) at least.

Sunday was the next game of Shadows of the Century. After last session of pregens and fight, the players decided they wanted to try a full session, complete with pitch. Part of the game is creating the setting as well as characters.

The pregens from the last game were all  fight-y or spy types and mostly they had a fight. It was a sort of running gun battle down the streets of LA at 3 am, climaxing with a rocket launcher.

This time they decided they wanted to play a fairly low weirdness level (same as 1st game) and the main plot was an invasion in a small town, a la Twilight Zone or X-Files. The subplot, and reason they're there, is that their car broke down. They tossed around ideas about a tour bus, etc and finally decided they were a loan-out act from Cirque du Soleil. They had done a show on the East Coast and were driving back to Vegas. One character is the bus driver/manager and another one is the special effects 'enthusiast'/artist. The other two are performers; knife thrower and underwater ballet dancer. The gear of the special effects enthusiast is the reason they're driving; some stuff just isn't permitted on planes.

Three of them had some kind of secret. The bus driver/manager was on the run for (possibly, she says she didn't) committing some crime, the knife thrower is an undercover Interpol agent (is the bus driver the wanted person? She's so nice, maybe it's the special effects guy, they're both tall and blond), and the dancer claims to be from the Bolshoi ballet (but really he's ex-KGB).

They got clued in by all the people whose names started with 'j' and who all had black hair, brown eyes, and olive skin. Except the leader, who had bleached his hair and wore color contacts. Since they were in Arkansas, with the preponderance of Latino and Native Americans that coloring would not look out of place (if they had been in Nebraska, the invaders would have been blond).

They used their smarts, their stunts, and their aspects to get out of trouble (like finding the planted drugs before their bags got searched), find the clues (like only the lines in the sheriff's office working to reach out of town), distract the sheriff and other interested parties (boom, goes the gear), one punch the only person between them and escape, get on their bus and get out of town, with evidence of something hinky going on. I need to type up my reports and submit them to the publisher.


And since we're going to Ravencon this upcoming weekend, I also spent time making sure all my Pathfinder characters were updated. And apparently, I'm missing a character notebook. 

We're trying to eat up our groceries and it looks like Wednesday will be leftover night.

Dad called and Yvonne and her mother will be having a layover in Raleigh a Sunday in May. He thought giving them each a lace cross would be nice. I do hope I get to see them. I've only met Yvonne once, when she came with Bill Toledo to North Carolina for the big Marine Corps Reserve gathering in Greensboro, and I've never met her mother. Dad and K stopped by to see them the last time they went to Colorado.

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Lots of Lace(making)

Not that I got any pictures of any of the lace or lacemaking. Last weekend I went to visit Mom. We visited Hancocks (they're going out of business) and we picked up a few things. She also gave me a picture from her nursing school days. I was going to visit her next weekend but she got sick so she needed some help earlier.

CK took some great pictures of the tatting display in the library. It will be on display the rest of the month and then to another library next month. The purple-ish dragon from last post is there, as it my blue-ribbon wrap, a couple bracelets, and my bun cover. I also loaned her some shuttles for the display. 

I took a mental health day on Wednesday. I managed to get a few things done although not as much as I wanted.

The Shadows of the Century game on the 3rd went well. It culminated with a car chase/running shoot out on the streets of LA at 3 am involving a rental car, a rented limo, and a cab. The rocket launcher did draw a little attention. We played about 3 hours or so and next weekend we plan a longer game, starting with a pitch (aka planning the game and creating characters). 

Saturday was North Carolina Regional Lacemakers' day. I didn't take any classes but I got some interesting ideas and they had a display of lace jewelry. I set out a few things, too. I made a turtle to be a pendant to go with my turtle earrings.

After that, I drove to RW's house and we finished playing Wardens of the Reborn Forge. CD made burgers; including buns he baked himself. He also brought scones. We made it through all four fights, although it got a little close a couple times.

Sunday was Triangle Tatters meeting. I made good progress on the bracelet I started on Saturday. It's hand-dyed thread (HDT) in shades of purple with 'oil slick' sort of purple beads. I also started a ring, in Caribbean with the same beads. The ring pattern is from my Japanese tatting book. There were 3 new or newish tatters at the meeting. Anitra had some Mexicana thread for them to use. It's so much easier to use when learning.




Monday, I worked on an edging. I'm looking at edging some napkins I picked up at the thrift shop. They're a good, heavy cotton. Anyway, I'm not sure about using it, but it should make a nice bracelet. It's Red Heart thread.



Okay, the plants are from the Thursday yoga in the park classes. So many things are blooming and I had to take a few pictures.