Marching On

Oh man. I just came back from the bathroom to find Kizzy perched on the sofa arm, nose in my half-drunk cup of tea. That would be his British heritage, I'm guessing. Aaargh...

I'm feeling quite proud of myself today, because yesterday I finished my Fife & Drum coat. The corps got all new coats back in June, before they went off to exotic Switzerland to compete in a tattoo there, and now we're getting some new coats in as people join or leave. Most of the coats are being done by contractors, but I begged, pleaded and cried a little to get assigned one. I know that it was probably a calculated gamble on the part of my bosses, since I've never built anything from scratch before, but it was nice to have a challenge.

I got a bag full of cut out pieces--heavy red and blue wool, with a lighter tweedy wool for the inside facings. The historical fife and drums were in red coats so that the enemy would know they were young kids and not to aim for them...not exactly sure how that prevented the Continentals from taking potshots at their own boys, but whatever. There were no instructions, no neatly numbered steps to follow, so I pretty much made it up as I went along. I did have an already constructed coat I could pull apart to check out inside construction, but it was sort of exhilarating, figuring stuff out. The most interesting part was attaching the sleeves: I put the body of the coat on the form, tacked the sleeves up, made a mark with a pin where they would match the seam, and then took it all down, pinned and stitched. It was quite a challenge, especially by the end where everything was together and suddenly I was struggling with twenty pounds of red wool coat. I know all you stitchers out there are probably going "yes, and?" but I had a good time. Especially the part where I pretended I was making a coat for my beau who was going off to fight and who might get shot in the coat I was making for him. Sigh. Little tear.

The reason I'm telling all y'all this is because you'll get a chance to see this coat if you tune into the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade in NYC...the guy who's getting "my" coat is one of the drum majors, so he'll be easy to spot. Thanksgiving Day! Watch it!

You should also tune into the "Today" show THIS WEDNESDAY, September 24th, from seven to nine eastern time. They're broadcasting live from CW as a part of their whistle-stop, cross-America tour...I'm not sure if I'll go down there and wave at the cameras like an idiot yet, but if I do, you won't want to miss it!!!