Committed

I mailed in my entry for the Calais Horse Trials yesterday afternoon. I'm committed now, and I'm going to do it, even though the preliminary forecast is for rain that day. But there's still almost two weeks to go yet, so maybe that will change.

I've got my show clothes, and I finished the garment bag I decided to make, on a whim, last week.
It's even got my heraldry on it! I think I am going to make a small accessory bag to go with it, too, for all those little things I have to have, like hair stuff and a stock pin and my choker for my show shirt. I'm trying to decide if I want that bag to be a flat type of bag with a zipper on top, or do I want the bag more three dimensional, like a box. Still thinking. Maybe something like this. Or even bigger (better?), this one. I'm kind of a container/bag/box/tote junkie, though, so I may just make both. Heh. Anyway, here is the garment bag, all finished:

The bag came out pretty darn good, and I am pleased with it. It's heavy cotton duck canvas with a heavy sport zipper and an ID pocket underneath my badge. It's maybe an inch or so wider than it needs to be on each side, but that gives me more room for bulk inside. The inside is finished with my serger, which is fine, but I wish I'd lined it in regular cotton or something, just for the super-clean interior finish, not because it needs it. Next one, maybe. There's always that balance in a project where you want to make it the way you want, but you also want to make sure you don't run out of steam and actually FINISH the project. I was determined to get this finished, so no lining. ;)

Maybe the next one will be made of waterproof fabric or something.

My packing list is made. I think I have almost everything I need, except a dark green polo shirt, a belt, and some hairnets.

This is going to be fun! And I promised myself a big bottle of Dogfish Head Sah'Tea for AFTER the event.

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On the subject of making things, and so my non-equestrian friends aren't totally bored by my ramblings, here are some of the random ideas I've had and executed lately:

A halter tag for Champ (of course):

A copper bracelet for my wonderful daughter, to remember her dog:

A copper bracelet for me, so I remember one of the essentials of riding:

(it says 'ALWAYS get back on', with a stamped horseshoe on either side)

And a clown costume for Noah for his preschool's Clown and Circus Day (not so much made, as cobbled together):

And because I couldn't resist how cool she looked, here is a picture of the future graphic/digital artist at work with her drawing tablet:

I'm itching to get on the torch these days -- LOTS of ideas -- but today I have some appointments and day-job work, and I really need to get a run in. We'll see. Just like the trees start to reawaken after the winter, my creative fire is being stoked by the change in seasons. Let's hope that fire leads to my playing with fire SOON.