We start off the year with our annual trip to Hermann Hill. What a great relaxing time with our friends Alex and Jill. The weekend was a bit windy, but it made it easy to stay inside and watch movies and have home grilled meals (when not soaking in the outdoor spa). (photo left - Hermann Hill Bed and Breakfast overlooks the town of Hermann, Right - basement of the Hermannhof winery)
We also finally got a chance to stop at the Illinois Military Museum on the way down. We talked with the curator for a long while and hope to go back again this summer for one of their special events.(photo right - Flag @ the IMM)
12th Night in Tree-Girt-See. There was a nice round table of Shire of Blackhawk members at the event and the day went well. It was nice not to have an event were I had to run around all day, but instead could sit and chat with people I sometime don't get to see a lot of.
The following weekend was the Historical Timekeepers meeting. My husband & I decided to join this reenacting group at the end of last year. This membership will be in addition to our longstanding ties to Company C (of which I'm still the administrator and Michael is still the Sergeant).
Then it was on to the Midwest Civilians Conference in Springfield. All I can say is good seminars, good folks to talk to, great originals to see on Saturday night and a brain completely on overload for the drive home. I had at least three seminars (by Nanci Gasiel, Andreas Allcock and Jim Ruley) that have caused me to revise my impressions and direction of research. (photo left - Original from Show & Tell Saturday Night).Soon after my best friend and sister, Danielle, came to say with her mom while Kris recovered from surgery. We had some great lunches and chats while she was in town and it was so nice to see her.
The week following that was Military History Fest. Beside having a booth, I also gave two lectures during the weekend. One on Friday called A Victorian Lady and Her Jewelry, focused what jewelry may have been available during the Victorian Era and how be on the look out for modern equivalents. The second talk Drawn that Way focused on fashion plates beginning with the late 18th Century and continuing to the early 20th Century. The talk ended up running short, so I filled in the extra time by give my 2010 MHF lecture A Brief History of Lace. (photo left - VL & HJ - Friday, photo by Erik Moan).Then we have a week off (we had planned to go to the SCA event St. Valentine's Day Massacre in Michigan but had to back out at the last minute due to....). then it was on to a wedding! My sister-and-law got married in Rockford the following week at the county courthouse. We had a fun time while she and her husband were in town and we ate a lot of great food.
And on the fourth weekend....It was time for No Man's Land and Regional A & S Fair. This was the first event "in" the Shire of Blackhawk since 2006. Not that the Shire hasn't been active; we have had a great many demos over the past few years and an open fighter 
practice called, Get Your Fight On, both which have been drawing people from outside the Shire. Anyway, the Shire came way with money in the bank at, least 5 people who can send their projects to Kingdom A&S in May, and a feeling of a job well done. My entry was a Paternoster and I scored a second place and a chance to work on expanding my documentation before we head to Crown for the finals. (photo left - A&S entry, right treaty signing @ Court).After that we had our annual 82nd Airborne Party. Normally this takes place in December but got pushed out to March. It was great to see everyone and chat about Winter finds and Spring events.
While all this has been going on, my husband has been working on
creating 3D models that can be printed on a prototyping machine. Back in November he opened up his Shapeways Store - Arctic Skunk ( http://www.shapeways.com/shops/arcticskunk ). Besides designing 25mm gaming vehicles and 1/300 scale aircraft, he also designed and Steampunk items for me! Here are prototype examples of what he drafted on the computer! The 
watchface is available now 
(unpainted but in 23 different materials), and the gears (in at least 4 sizes) will be available in the first week of April. The dirigibles (both in whole and halves) will soon follow. He's also been working on some Chatelaine prototypes to have cast in pewter! We hope to the Pewter Chatelaines in the eBay store sometime in the next few months.Well that's all for now, time to finish uploading new items (including pewterware & hatpins with clothing and fashion plates to follow) on to the eBay store (http://stores.ebay.com/antinasuniques) and feeding my Pinterest addiction - over 5,000 pins in just over 2 weeks. ( http://pinterest.com/antinasuniques/ )
