A&S heraldry entry - St Monica's bottle bag.

The fieldtrip to Mt Gambier with the John Monash kids involved alot of travel and alot of sitting around in Uni car. As a result, I actually started, AND finished, a SCA project and my final item for the Twilight Tourney Series 7 heraldry competition. This 1.5L bottle bag was inspired by one completed by Bethany Gaitskell earlier in the competition. Made out of drill, I did the main part of the sewing (joined the blue and white fabric) before I left. During the ride I embroidered the St Mons device, completed some beading, sewed the thing shut and then finger-loop braided a cord. For the white section of the device I copied an early period embroidery stitch I saw Constanzia and the flying monkeys using on HRM Beatrices step up garb. I then attempted some chain stitch to outline the top of the device. While it was nice (for a first attempt) it wasn't blue enough. I ended up sewing the laurel wreath using the hand made blue beads Lucas and I had won in previous TT competitions. Once I was sure I had enough remaining I used them to outline the top of the device. Unfortunately, as they're hand made, they're not an even size nor are they square ended. Also, this is my first attempt at beading. As a result, when trying to outline straight lines, the beads tend to roll to either side when touched. As I completed this around sundown I decided not to take the beads off as I didn't have time.

I also didn't have time to enter it in the competition as I got back to Uni just as the event was wrapping up. Instead, I donated it as one of the prizes for the tourney series. Happily Lucas won it for being so awesome at fighting so I can still adapt it until I'm happy.