September is here already! Didn't do much over the Labor Day weekend but work on some projects. The weather was supposed to be rainy just about all weekend so I didn't plan too much outdoor stuff. I did meet up with the family on Sunday for a really nice visit at Horsetail Lake on 123rd Street. I just don't see them that much anymore so it was a very nice visit.
The other thing I worked on was some holsters for my Star Wars costumes. After finding that I fit into my Imperial Officer costume again, I wanted to make a black holster for that costume and also wanted to replace the really lame holster I have for most of my Rebel costumes. Since I could not decide on a more squared vs more rounded holster for the Rebel DH-17 - I decided to do both. 
I completed the black holster in pretty good time but I just need to figure out how I want to attach it to the belt...with loops or two slices in the backing to loop the belt through. The Rebel holsters are a little more complicated because of the dye. I am trying to match my old belt and I only have a couple of dyes to choose from so I am trying to layer a more red brown and a medium brown to try to match the color. As always, am finding I am not a huge fan of the water based dyes, they just don't seem to cover well and I am getting mixed results. After 2 coats of dye I feel I am making progress so I did cement the seams to be hand stitched and that is drying. I am trying to be more patient with the dying process and leave things dry really well between coats.
I did do a few more Star Wars events recently. One of the events was a Library waaaay up on the north side. I had taken that on as event coordinator because the library said they really wanted a female Jedi so that women/girls were represented. I took that event because of the request, but as always I was completely ignored by patrons because we had Darth Vader, Boba Fett, and several other more desirable characters. Thank goodness I am already used to that...lol. I really knew that would happen but kudos to the Library for thinking of girls. Traffic was brutal and it was really hot that day so the commute to this event was not fun. The library did have a lot of interesting things for the kids to do and they really did a nice job of this event.
I also did a wedding last Saturday. One of the members of the Midwest Garrison got married and had a bunch of us at the entrance to the reception. Since I mainly went to help others get dressed and get photos, I didn't wear either one of my bucketed Imperial costumes but instead tried on my Imperial Officer costume. The last time I wore that costume was 2010 and it was way tight...I really didn't fit into it anymore. I was delighted and surprised that when I tried on the Officer costume it fit again. I guess there is something to be said for all of the problems I have been having with my teeth. I really can't chew much anymore and have had so much pain that eating is not on my priority list. And, really, I have been cutting back and trying to be more wise in my food decisions the last couple months. Obviously, I still have a lot of weight to lose, but after 50 years of dieting, I will take what I can get.
Yesterday I took a "day off" and took the Metra downtown to the Civic Opera House. The Lyric Opera was conducting a sale of their old costumes. I got down there just about when the doors opened and was meeting Kathy VanBeuningen down there. I was NOT prepared for how long the line was. I found Kathy about 3 blocks away in line and joined her. We had a really nice, lively discussion on all sorts of things and were joined in line by a young man who works as a makeup artist for the Opera and is a drag queen by night. He was so interesting to talk to. I am really disciplined on my time and knew that I needed to get back to the train station to catch the 12:30 train back to Mokena. We stood in line for over 3 hours and still were about a block away from the entrance when I had to leave to get home. A few people that got inside and made purchases wore their purchases out and got a huge round of applause from the hopefuls in line. I went home without ever even getting in the front door. Sad...but..I needed to stick to my time schedule and who is to say I would actually find anything to buy. With all of the people that had made it in to the sale and all the bags I saw leaving, I really wasn't sure there would be anything left anyway. They did say that they were bringing out new costume pieces throughout the day.
