sister_raphael | Reading

unicornduke

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Hello to all members, passers-by, curious onlookers, and shy lurkers, and welcome to our regular daily check-in post. Just leave a comment below to let us know how your current projects are progressing, or even if they're not.

Checking in is NOT compulsory, check in as often or as seldom as you want, this community isn't about pressure it's about encouragement, motivation, and support. Crafting is meant to be fun, and what's more fun than sharing achievements and seeing the wonderful things everyone else is creating?

There may also occasionally be questions, but again you don't have to answer them, they're just a way of getting to know each other a bit better.

This Week's Question: What kinds of organizers do you like to hold your arts and crafts supplies?

If anyone has any questions of their own about the community, or suggestions for tags, questions to be asked on the check-in posts, or if anyone is interested in playing check-in host for a week here on the community, which would entail putting up the daily check-in posts and responding to comments, go to the Questions & Suggestions post and leave a comment.

I now declare this Check-In OPEN!

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: my desk

badly_knitted posting in

get_knitted

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: my desk

smallhobbit

Following on from yesterday's

thefridayfive I'm now completing a meme

thatjustwontbreak posted at the end of April:

This week I'm reading: Agatha Christie: An Autobiography, Maigret's Mistake by Georges Simenon, The Truth by Terry Pratchett, and Marked for Death by R O Thorp

My favourite book of all time is: I still cannot decide

My current favourite book (read or re-read in the last 3 months) is: The Retired Assassin's Guide to Orchid Hunting by Naomi Kuttner

The last book I bought was: Stories for the Twelve Days of Christmas a pre-order from British Library Women Writers

The first book I bought with my own money was: Probably something from the St Clare's series by Enid Blyton

The first book I received as a gift was: No idea, but I frequently received books for birthdays and Christmas

The last book I received as a gift was: Cranky Ladies of History by Tansy Rayner Roberts

The last book I borrowed from the library was: Marked for Death by R O Thorp

The book physically closest to me right now is: The Life of Mammals by David Attenborough

This or that
Physical book or e-book: Physical
Used or new: Used, which includes library books, although occasionally I'm the first to borrow a book so it could be described as new
Fiction or non-fiction: Fiction
Read at a coffee shop or at the park: Home, in bed
Paperback or hardcover: Paperback generally, library books may be hardcover
Romance or Crime: Crime

Yes or no
Stream of consciousness? No
Poetry? No
Memoirs? Sometimes
Philosophy? No
Thrillers? Yes
Chronicles? Probably not
Travel logs? Maybe
Dialogue heavy? yes

m_findlow

Title: Washed up

Character: Ianto, Jack

Author: m_findlow

Rating: PG

Length: 200 words

Content notes: None

Author notes: Written for Challenge 920 - Wet at

torchwood100

Summary: Jack's night hasn't gone as planned. A double drabble.

( Read more... )

m_findlow

Title: Puzzling puddling

Character: Ianto, Jack, Owen

Author: m_findlow

Rating: PG

Length: 200 words

Content notes: None

Author notes: Written for Challenge 920 - Wet at

torchwood100

Summary: Ianto is on clean up duties and he's not happy about it. A double drabble.

( Read more... )

m_findlow

Title: Collateral damage

Character: Ianto, Jack, Owen

Author: m_findlow

Rating: PG

Length: 200 words

Content notes: None

Author notes: Written for Challenge 920 - Wet at

torchwood100

Summary: Ianto thought he'd just been winded. A double drabble.

( Read more... )

m_findlow

Title: Dampened spirits

Character: Torchwood Team

Author: m_findlow

Rating: PG

Length: 200 words

Content notes: None

Author notes: Written for Challenge 920 - Wet at

torchwood100

Summary: Owen is convinced nothing could be worse. A double drabble.

( Read more... )

yarnandglue

We've been watching a lot of baseball this year, even though the Cubs are doing absurdly badly. We had a bright patch right at the beginning of the year, but it has been garbage time ever since. I'm a masochist so I watch anyway, even when the Cubs were losing 16-1 yesterday. :P

badly_knitted posting in

get_knitted

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: my desk

smallhobbit

This week's

thefridayfive

1. Do you enjoy reading?
Yes, I generally have about 4 books on the go at once.

2. What is the first book you remember reading?
It was a long time ago...

3. Who is your favourite author?
Impossible to decide - I have a selection of authors I like to read, but it depends what I'm looking for. Maybe Vaseem Khan.

4. What is your favourite book?
If it was impossible to decide on my favourite author, how am I supposed to extend the search to one book. Latest favourite The Retired Assassin's Guide to Orchid Hunting by Naomi Kuttner

5. What is the last book you read and the first you'll read next?
The last book I finished was Cranky Ladies of History by Tansy Rayner Roberts. The next book I'll be starting is The Spring House by Cynthia Asquith, which is published next week as part of the British Library Women Writers collection.

m_findlow

Title: White lies

Fandom: Torchwood

Characters: Jack, Owen, Ianto

Author: m_findlow

Rating: PG

Length: 300 words

Content notes: Spoilers for Big Finish audioplay "The last beacon"

Author notes: Written for Challenge 503 - Bicker at

drabble_zone

Summary: For their own sakes, Owen and Ianto are going to have to work together. A triple drabble.

( Read more... )

badly_knitted posting in

get_knitted

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: my desk

badly_knitted posting in

get_knitted

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: my desk

smallhobbit

out_there posted this nearly three months ago...

1. Bagels or donuts?
Donuts.

2. Bar soap or body wash?
Body wash for the shower, bar soap when washing my hands

3. Being afraid or being embarrassed?
Embarrassed. The safer option

4. Big bash or intimate gathering?
Intimate gathering. Much better chance of getting to talk to those I like.

5. Board games or video games?
Puzzles on line

6. Bridgerton or The Crown?
Neither

7. Cardio or weights?
Cardio, if a brisk walk counts

8. Carpet or hardwood?
Hardwood downstairs, carpets upstairs

9. Clue/Cluedo or Monopoly?
neither

10. Cook or do the dishes?
I always do the dishes

11. Damp socks or a pebble in your shoe?
Pebble in the shoe, which I can stop and remove

12. Dragons or unicorns?
Dragons, every time

13. Family vacation or solo trip?
Family, specifically The Daughter

14. Fork or spoon?
Both

15. General admission or assigned seats?
Assigned seats, no need to arrive mega-early before someone spreads a coat across several seats to save them for 'friends coming in a bit'

16. Give or receive?
Both

17. Hot cocoa or hot cider?
Mulled cider is lovely in winter.

18. Iced tea or hot tea?
Hot tea, every day

19. Italian food or Mexican food?
Italian, one of my favourites

20. Long car ride or short plane trip?
Long coach ride

21. Mountains or beach?
Both

22. Movie candy or popcorn?
Neither

23. Musical theatre or concert?
Either

24. Nightlight or no light?
No light. But we have pale curtains, so the bedroom gets light with the dawn

25. Ninja attack or pirate attack?
Pirate attack. Then I can join them

26. Outer space or bottom of the ocean?
Outer space, it's fascinating

27. Painful truth or comforting lie?
Depends on the circumstances

28. Pancakes or waffles?
Pancakes.

29. Passion or friendship?
Friendship - lots more opportunity

30. Phone call or text?
Text.

31. Pizza or tacos?
Pizza.

32. Play or concert?
Play

33. Playlists or podcasts?
Podcasts, ideal for chores, driving and crafting

34. Puzzles or colouring books?
Puzzles.

35. Rain or snow?
Snow, since we get a lot less

36. Ramen or pho?
Ramen.

37. River or lake?
Either

38. Roller coaster or Ferris wheel?
Ferris wheel.

39. Roller skates or ice skates?
Neither

40. Salt or pepper?
Salt.

41. Singing in the shower or singing in the car?
In the shower

42. Skinny fries or thick cut?
Thick cut.

43. Sneezing or coughing?
Sneezing.

44. Snowboarding or skateboarding?
Neither

45. Snowmen or sandcastles?
Snowmen

46. Spicy or mild?
Mild.

47. Street food or fine dining?
Fine dining.

48. Subtitles or dubbed?
Subtitles

49. Wine or beer?
Wine

50. Zoo or aquarium?
Either

unicornduke

I read a lot this month given I also was inhaling Heated Rivalry fanfics including re-reading a bunch of the longer ones. I've really been enjoying the fics, and contemplating if there's a way to watch the series without having to experience the "wet mouth noises".

Read

The Rider, the Ride, the Rich Man's Wife by Premee Mohamed - what a cool story. Very fairy tale vibes. library e-book
Platform Decay by Martha Wells - Murderbot's no good terrible horrible very bad day. Such big feelings, I laughed so much at this book. I also re-read it immediately. I want to get an omnibus of all the books. Someday when I have more money. library ebook
The Butcher's Masquerade by Matt Dinnaman - these books are getting longer and more complicated. Thankfully, the author does explain things. library ebook
Felix Navidad by Nathan Burgoine - I got this out thinking it was a romance novella and it was at best, a short story. It was sad and queer and soft. library ebook
Real Queer America by Samantha Allen - loved this book. It was definitely aimed at not-queer people but the stories were very good. It was written in 2019 and sitting here in 2026, some of the discussions feel real horrible now. It took me a bit to listen to all of this honestly, sometimes I could only listen for a half hour at a time. But the author did a great job reading her own book and it was nice to think about her and her friend driving all over while I was driving the tractors and things. library audiobook
A Little Village Blend by Nathan Burgoine - another short story romance. basically the structure is meet cute setup, they decide to start dating, first kiss, small epilogue. Very queer so that was nice. But I'm not going to read more because such short stories don't really do it for me. library e-book
The Eye of the Bedlam Bride by Matt Dinniman - this one was particularly good. On one hand, I know the protag will survive. On the other, shit is going down and even if the protag survives, he might not want to. ~trauma!~ things are getting real epic and I'm really enjoying them. library ebook
A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters - ye olde murder mystery. enjoyed this a lot, a monk who had a wild adventurous youth starts solving murders. there's apparently a billion of them in the series, so I'll probably work through them.

DNF

The King Must Die by Kemi Ashing-Giwa - I think this book was not for me. Interesting premise, I found the protag vaguely annoying so decided it wasn't my jam. Maybe I'll come back to it someday. library ebook

ursulas_alcove

Rome wasn't built in a day. But, I have made progress. Sweet potatoes are planted. 18 fit in the bed. Was hoping for 36, but this is what I have space for. Perhaps next year, I'll do 2 beds worth. I'll have to find a couple more grow bags to put the rest of the slips into.

Upgrading the cinderblock bed took way longer than anticipated. Last year I had grid walls. The tomatoes did poorly. I put in a cover crop over winter. I added worm castings and coconut coir. Five Amish paste tomatoes got planted under the yellow fabric mesh. There are no clouds so protection is necessary. I also planted 2 kinds of carrots and will probably put in a 3rd when I find more boards. Basil went in next to the leeks. I have orange thyme on the edge. Now that the blocs are mostly level, I can add soil and pop in a few more flowers like alyssum or marigolds. That's the plan anyway.

The jungle of cleavers is being beaten back a little each day. Spinach still needs to be blanched and frozen. I finally got a bag of last year's tomatoes out of the freezer. YAY! Tomato jam is cooling in the kitchen. It goes great on grilled cheese sandwiches. It can be used as a meat marinade. So many uses!

Beets got transplanted from my soil blocks. Since the spinach was done and starting to bolt, a nice shady location opened up. Eight new beet plants to be harvested much later in the season.

If I hadn't been pressed for time, I would have done some eco-printing with the grape leaves from wild vines I pulled. But, I am running really late this year.

badly_knitted posting in

get_knitted

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: my desk

badly_knitted posting in

get_knitted

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: my desk

ripplestitch

UK Games Expo was enjoyable but exhausting. On top of my inevitable fatigue I unmasked to eat and drink (could have gone outside but it was too, too hot and my companions weren’t sure they could handle the heat and frankly, on the amount of meds I take that fuck my heat tolerance neither was I) and couldn’t find my hand sanitiser so may have picked up some kind of con crud one way or another because I feel a little iffy. It does seem to be mild but blegh.

I picked up a gift for a friend and some solo rpg zines and also! The physical starter set for the Pendragon RPG which I’ve been curious about for ages. I have a free pdf of the starter set (or part of it?) but found it very difficult to work with in that format.

The Beef and I played the intro tutorial game and I think I could possibly run a couple of sessions for him using the adventure in the box and the abbreviated rules. I have an interest in Arthuriana but my study is quite shallow so I’m glad his point of reference is half remembered films like Excalibur haha. I think he should pick up the vibe okay, though.

My real interest is the possibility of playing it Solo, however, as I’ve seen it done and have been inspired. As usual though I find myself tending away from the source material and I’m pondering how well I could reskin it to be an episodic game of adventures of a faery knight in the setting I’ve developed for my game of Apothecaria. I think the Faeries I created for that (pulling from various inspirations but particularly from the weirdness of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning and their rigid cycle of reenacting old fae legends that feel very Arthurian, over and over.

To share my context via the series of messages I sent a friend when they very kindly played sounding board for me:

In Apothecaria I decided that the faerie lore = the realm of Faerie has been in trouble for some time. Fae are getting sick and because they are supposed to live so long their natural fertility rate is pretty low. They have been having a population crisis. Hence nipping over to the mortal realm and kidnapping or charming humans away—they can interbreed, magic breeds true (with caveats) and humans do it Fast.

Eventually though a bunch of fae leave to try to make it in the mortal realm (in fictional not!Briton) and immediately run afoul of the natives who are Not happy with the sudden dramatic increase in fairy bullshit! Abducting people, fucking with them for the lols, hunting them down, all that jazz.

Human magic users are not as powerful as faeries. But there are a lot of them. And while fighting between fae courts is heavily codified because if they kill each other too much… they have these structured almost feudal court systems and a strict code of conduct almost like the ideals of chivalry (perhaps less benign) but the high fae knights are captured and ransomed, not killed. Cruel and unusual behaviour has strict rules about how it can be applied, etc. Debts and vows are binding. Those who break the rules certainly exist—nobody can exploit a loophole like a Faery—and coups and large scale invasions are semi regular (every hundred years, or so?) but they were unprepared for human armies.

The humans have their own sense of honour on the battlefield and off, but they are not the same. They’re spell sniping knights left and right! Their blades are made of an alloy containing deadly iron and they do not hesitate to use them with lethal force! That’s not how this works! Though very easily manipulated alone or in small groups, it turns out humans are terrifying in their own way en masse. But they do honour surrender.

So the Archfae agree to what will be known as The Truce. They can keep the land they currently inhabit, but no more abductions. No charming all the children from a village away to be eaten by hags or enslaved to make Faery shoes or made into pages to serve the wine that looks horribly like blood and fear catching the eye of a bored noble. No torturing artists by making them salve away at their canvases until they die feverishly clutching their painbrushes. Yes, fine, the mortals who are too daft to take precautions and listen to the tales are fair game. Seductions are also not the same as abductions. But we’re watching you, and we Will End You.

…Can the human sorcerers do that? Well. No. Even aside from the fae being formidable and continuing their reign of terror on the general populace while war rages, they are a bit like a fungus. You could wipe them out, but their magic has infiltrated the land and it will create more of them through means other than birth over time. They cannot be killed in any way that matters. Better to pin them down now with a binding while they still don’t really understand what lying is.

By the time Ivy is born a few centuries later, more and more iron and steel is in the cities. It’s more common for urban dwellers to not even know another person who has seen a fae of any kind, let alone seen one themselves. The new generation of sorcerers are getting complacent and not paying attention. In another couple of generations the Witches may be the last bastion keeping the fae in check.

The fae are watching these developments with interest.

Ivy happens to live on the outskirts a magical wood ruled by Duchess of the Glimmerwood, a vassal of the Spring Queen, who is pro-status quo. I think my game is going to take place not long after the Truce, and follow a Fae knight of the Spring Court who is struggling with the difficulties of their new restrictions while still doing his job (being heroic™ in the name of his beloved Spring Queen, protecting the Spring Court from various dangers, policing the local fae rabble who are not the ones who actually signed that contract about not terrorising humans, and doing his duty regarding furthering his bloodline).

I think it’ll be interesting to work with the honor and glory system and the I’m hoping this will help it translate relatively well to existing adventure modules where they do a lot of monster hunting and I think it’ll fit the vibe of the mechanics, with a bit of tweaking. It’ll also be useful to refine this lore (and plug in plot holes) as it was somewhat hastily thrown together via offhand comments by Ivy’s familiar Nutkin as I played the early games of Apothecaria and kept rolling interactions with what I decided were with fae (before I realised that they turn up canonically in a later expansion).

Recently there have been a trend of depicting the fae as big scary alpha males and I don’t love it, so I specifically set out to make them the losers in this scenario and my protagonist is probably going to be something of a himbo.

I’m excited, but I’ve got a lot of studying and possibly purchasing of rulebooks and scouring of subreddits to do first. I’ve been looking at the implementation of solo games using this system and fell in love with this playthrough of the system and setting as intended, featuring a squire who is a girl in disguise! https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/pendragon-gpc-mythic-annales-milites-de-sarisburiensis.560128/

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Rosalie's Medieval Woman

Author Things, Medieval Website & Sewing Tutorials

June 2026

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Rosalie Gilbert

Author & Medieval History Enthusiast

Reading

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Check-In Post - June 8th 2026

Check-In Post - June 7th 2026

Meme - Books

Challenge 920 - Washed up

Challenge 920 - Puzzling puddling

Challenge 920 - Collateral damage

Challenge 920 - Dampened spirits

Bays Bowl

Check-In Post - June 6th 2026

The Friday Five: Books!

Drabble_weekly Challenge 503 - White lies

Check-In Post - June 5th 2026

Check-In Post - June 4th 2026

Meme - 50 This or Thats

May book roundup

Work it baby!

Check-In Post - June 3rd 2026

Check-In Post - June 2nd 2026

New Solo Game? 👀

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June 2026

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