Royal Medieval Faire 2011

 Yesterday was the 13th Annual Royal Medieval Faire held in Waterloo, Ontario.

The Excelsior Fencing Club was once again invited to attend.  We fielded an information booth as well as conducted three demonstrations.  Club members fenced with all three blades: foil, epee and sabre.   The first three photos are foil.  Notice the small foil guard. Just large enough to shield the hand.

 It was hard to get some great action photos as these young guys are in constant motion.

The blade guard for the epee is much larger.  The hand is a target area for this blade, so more protection is required.

While roaming around the Faire grounds, I had to go into the armourers tent.  Silver Swords Armouries certainly does carry a blade for every swordsman's desires.   Additional information can be found at their alternate website.

These are real blades, not the decorative ones sold in stores in shopping malls.

Depending on the type of re-enactment you are doing, Rob, the Master at Arms, can answer your questions.  I was quite impressed with his depth of knowledge.



The ones in this final photo are what appeal to me.  Can't you just imagine me with my hands on that sword at the extreme right of the photo.

Needlework Tuesday - Bags for Fencing Equipment

Last week I received the fencing equipment that I needed  including my sous plastron (half jacket) and jacket.  Yippee.  The only item I'm missing is my lame (overjacket for electric scoring).  With all this gear to carry back and forth I needed a large bag.  Of course I could have bought one, but that wouldn't be satisfactory to a sewer.  I would search each seam and piece of fabric used to determine whether it was of any value. arg.  Better to make one myself.  Time was an issue, so I needed something quickly; I can always sew a second bag later at my leisure (okay, don't start laughing).  I chose a pattern by M'liss Rae Hawley from her book Fat Quarter Quilts.

It's called "The Fat Quarter Bag" and uses six fat quarters for the outside.  I happened to have a rather large piece of upholstery fabric and used the same fabric for both the outside and the lining.  Worked out well, nice sturdy fabric and I didn't have to buy anything.

After I finished the main bag I used the left overs to make some small one for accessory items.   Now for a bit of a fencing lesson.  For scoring one method is to use a sword with a plunger tip that uses a small electrical current.  When the tip is depressed, the circuit completes the a light goes 'on' on the score board.  This requires a wire from the sword to the score board.  It's called a 'body wire' as it runs from near the handle of the sword, under the jacket and out at the waist and connects with a coiled wire to the scoring equipment.  Not wanting to have this wire get tangled in the larger bag I made a small drawstring bag.  It actually has a divider in the middle as a fencer is required to have a spare wire at all time in the event of a problem with the first. 

For those familiar with fencing, you know that the clothing is all white.  Last think I want to do is throw my running shoes on top of my jacket, thus I made another bag for the shoes.  On the back of the bag I made a large pocket to accomodate a note book.

The small bag pattern is adapted from the Kit Bag pattern found on the Mennonite Central Committee website.

Hop on over to Lit and Laundry to see what's been "Finished for Friday".  Some great halloween crafts are on display.

The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas

Having started fencing in the past year, I decided that I needed to read some novels with fencing as a main theme. Where better to start than with the famous classic "The Three Musketeers". I downloaded and audio copy from my library and followed the many adventures of the four men.

This is such a well known novel that I'm going to assume you know the basic plot. The King of France, Louis Thirteen is on the throne, Anne of Austria is his wife, and Cardinal Richelieu is at the head of the church. The King's guards are headed by M. de Treville and the Cardinal has his own guards who ever seem to be in opposition to M. de Trevillle. D'Artagnan has travelled to Paris to seek out M. de Treville in order to petition to join the guards. If you want to know details of the plot and other than main character, please visit the Wikipedia site.

D'Artagnan seemed to me to embody all the good that one might hope to find in a young man. He was intelligent, generous, kind and chivalrous. I loved each of his companions, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis. The other character who most caught my attention was Lady de Winter. She was the most despicable character I have encountered in many a book. As I was listening to the audio, I would mutter to no one in particular, "Kill the Bitch, stab her through her black heart'. It was my daughter who pointed out to me that the author must have been a really good writer to have created such a character that I could hate her that much.

I did have some interesting discussions at fencing class. I wanted to know if a fencer could sustain multiple thrusts through his body and live to fight another day. My coach determined that it would depend on where the hit occurred. That many would indeed be survivable barring infection.

This was a very long book (over 20 hours audio), but definitely worth the read. Now on with my quest to find more fencing novels.

Needlework Tuesday

I am fresh from the sewing machine and ironing board with the latest block. Okay, its still missing its eye and feet, but I will get to them. Didn't want to keep you waiting.

This is the Oriole block. The kit came with a very red fabric for the main body of the bird and my friend Janet and her mother both said no way and they chose this lovely orange from my stash. They are right, a very good choice.

Joan's son Ian and his wife were here on the weekend and I was happy to show them the other 8 blocks. Now he can let Joan know that I really am working on the quilt. She doesn't have Internet access (as far as I know) so she hasn't seen my progress. Really must print off a pic for her and pop it in the mail.

Didn't get as much sewing done this past week as I would have liked. Finished reading a few books and wrote a review or two. On Saturday before Ian and another good friend, Patricia and hubby (who is a birder) arrived I spent the morning volunteering at 'Mayfest' a fencing tournament sponsored by the Excelsior Fencing Club, of which I am a member. I find it very encouraging to watch other more experienced fencers. I did purchase a left handed glove and a chest protector for myself. As with many sports, the equipment can get expensive, so I am buying it bit by bit.

As you might suspect, my thoughts keep straying to the making of a fencing quilt. I don't want to use t-shirts (since I only have one) but rather would like images of fencers in various stances. Anyone know of a pattern source?

By tomorrow I should have posted additional pictures of the new heart fabric blocks that I have received. Come back next Tuesday and see what I do with the 'Robin' block.

Thunderbird Falls by C.E. Murphy

A fantasy novel about police officer Joanne Walker (birth name Siobhan Walkingstick) who lives in Seattle. Her life went awry when she learned to her dismay that she is a shaman.

Something is not right in Seattle and its up to Joanne to set it straight.

Through out this book Joanne struggles against accepting her gift. She doesn't want it and she doesn't want the responsibility that comes with accepting it.

You can easily read this book without having read the first one, though there are a number of references back to previous events. It would have been interesting to know what had happened and how she came to realize that she is a shaman. You can check Ms. Murphy's website for her other novels that sound equally interesting.

As a side note, Joanne has taken up fencing as a means of dealing with the stress in her life after she was stabbed through with a sword in the previous novel in this series. Since I have started fencing I am compiling a list of fencing related novels.