It did rain, A LOT, but we all had a great time.
We arrived Saturday afternoon and unpacking I realized I had left ALL the cheese for the Lasagna at home. Thank goodness we live less than an hour away.

My daugher was able to make it early on Wednesday and I kept her busy in the kitchen preparing for our Give Away Thursday night. The Lasagna Camp Feed was a big hit.

With rain threatening, the crowd was sparse on Friday. My husband was honored to particpate in Grand Entry as a flag bearer. We did manage to have a short Trade Blanket in between downpours after the dancing. Back in April I participated in my first Trade Blanket and my husband was quite perplexed with what I brought home. After security patrol, he returned to our camp to find a large elk antler, among other things.

I think he was a little worried about again being on security patrol while I was at the Trade Blanket. But I had some good trades and ended up with a few Christmas presents. Did some trading with vendors too and got the last two hides for my leather dress.

When my daughter wasn't helping in the kitchen, she was busy with her leather regalia. She finished sewing and fringing her cape. It's black with dark green fringe and looked stunning as she danced Saturday. The skirt is almost completed and will be ready soon.

As usual, I was tied up helping with other things, and one was a great honor. So I can't complain about getting only a little shawl work done. My old red/white/blue one came in real handy Saturday. It's large, very warm, and somehow remained dry in my trade blanket bag when the sky opened up right after Grand Entry Saturday night. It poured!

We had a great time at the Midnight Auction. One of the auctioneers brought out a rain gauge, of all things, and the sky opened up again! But it was a quickie and the auction resumed. I wasn't quite so thrifty that night, and needed help carrying all my winning bids back to camp. We did return home with BOTH gallon jugs of Chief Martin's delicious chili and it's already in the freezer. There wasn't any left over for the auction back in April. When they brought out 2 jars I out bid my own husband. That's OK, he bid $15 for a kiss!

Admission and Parking are free at the Cherokee of Georgia Pow-Wows, and the auction is one way to support them. We returned home with very few "frogskins" in our wallets, but with some great memories.

Where in GA was it? I will be moving to Kingsland (bout 20 min from Jax Fl) in the next few weeks (Navy).

OH I CAN'T WAIT to meet you and your husband!!!
If you like small towns, you'll be right at home. As small as the submariner community is, you'll already know quite a few people here too. The Cherokee of Georgia Tribal Grounds in St. George are only 45 miles away, and they welcome People of all nations, and everyone in the military.

You'll be here for the Spring Pow-Wow in April, and the Diversity Fair on Base in May. Please send me a PM with the date you are arriving. If you need any help getting settled, we'll be here for you.

When we spend time at the Tribal Grounds, something unusual usually happens. This past week of Pow-Wow was no exception.
We had just arrived and were carrying food to the cook house. There was a weird smell making everyone cough. It was somewhat like plastic smoldering and we were checking lights, ceiling fans, plugs, the coffee pots, etc. After about an hour, a friend noticed smoke seeping out of the cabinet next to the sink.

This floor cabinet has three drawers, one for flatware, one for serving pieces and the bottom deep drawer stores all the dish cloths. It's next to the sink and not close to any electrical components, not even a plug. My husband rushed over, opened the drawer, and smoke billowed out. The dish cloths had been washed and dried, folded on a pic-nic table outside and placed in the drawer several hours earlier. Now they were very hot and smoldering, almost to the point of igniting.

My husband grabbed the pile and ran to the water hose. About eight were blackened and disintegrating. A cigarette butt was not found and there was no one smoking in the kitchen. How these dish cloths almost caught fire remains a mystery.

I told my friend I would make an offering to the Little People that night, just in case. They do like chocolate chip granola bars, and I came prepared. However, buying supplies for a week on the Tribal Grounds I was a bit frugal and got the store brand granola bars instead of the brand name. Apparently the Little People prefer the expensive ones!

The next morning the pieces remained in the bowl, but one had a quite distinctive bite. It was circular, like a human bite, and no bugs were in the bowl. I considered, with so many people around, they might be a little shy, and moved it closer to the woods. The second morning, to everyone's relief, my offering was accepted. The bowl was empty and once again there were no bugs in or around it.

Here's a photo of my daughter's cape. It looks a little plain right now, but we'll be adding the beading and pieces of wampum shell this year. That will really dress it up.

She decided to cut wide fringe, knowing she tends to be rough on clothing and the Head Lady Dancer assured her that was a good decision. However, she may be re-thinking this after seeing the thinner fringe on other dresses.

Underneath the fringe and attached to the cape are four panels of black leather to form a shirt with ties on each side. The skirt is made of two long black leather pieces. The bottom edge of each is scalloped to match the cape, and green fringe will be added to each layer.

She had a pattern for a standard plains dress, but used it only as a guide. This is truly her own design. When complete, it will be stunning, but a little hot here in the South. Oh well, I did bring that up when we were selecting hides

I hope to be there bout November...if not early December.

I have no answer about the dish towels...was there a fire nearby as they were being folded? Perhaps some flying ash?

Being that it is dark colored, make sure she always has lots of water with her. I like the wider fringe, the width never really matters any how. Though I have seen people take finer fringe and stretch, then twist it...and it holds the twist, a unique look for sure.

Her top reminds me of northern dress to be sure, and while wampum is 'correct' for the east coast, I often see that style top with elk teeth. The lady I see all the time has cowrie shells all over hers, they are about the size of dimes. Just know that if she decorates the back as well her hair, if it's long, I cannot tell, may well get caught in whatever she attaches to it, especially if it is curly.

Her hair is about shoulder length so she'll have no issues with it getting tangled. The pieces of wampum we have a small wedges of the shells and they will be attached intermittently along the fringe, but that may change.

I've seen the twisted fringe and it is lovely with a very nice sway. I have a friend in OK who knows that tecnique well. It's something I'd love to learn.

The upper part of the cape will be beaded with a white base and an oak tree to match her bandolier bag. I tried to win the bandolier bag raffle. We bought quite a few tickets with hopes I could get the one that was damaged. That one wasn't selected by the winner so maybe I'll have better luck in April. I made sure to tell the committee not to get rid of it. As lucky as my husband is with raffles, the chances are good.

That is a lovely cape. I like the fringe on it. A twisted fringe is very nice and gives a much different look, very pretty. I bet Beetle would know how to do it. I think he once posted here that the fringe is rubbed on one's leg continually in one direction till the leather twists and folds back on itself. It was quite awhile ago we were all discussing that here in your forum.

The beading you describe for the cape sounds like it will be beautiful and very stunning.

The dish cloths could have been put away while still warm from the sun. Being warm and closed up for so long in the drawer, it is possible they just kept heating up till spontaneous combustion occurred. When the drawer was opened and air got in there that fueled the fire. It is so fortunate you and your husband caught it in time.

I went searching... Almost a year ago 10/22/10, we were discussing the fringe on my gourd stitch key fobs and Jane's idea of "Dark Side of the Moon", in the Winter Beading Projects topic. Here's what I passed in forum #637904: (doesn't appear the hyperlinks came with the copy/paste)

Wow. Just did a google search for twisted fringe. Noc Bay has a detailed instruction sheet that involves twisting a long strip of leather & letting it relax upon itself creating a rope look. These are usually done to add individual laces onto fans. Twisted Fan Fringe

But it seems we are all looking toward fringe that is cut from the assembled material. Here there's some tricks...

Powwows.com has a thread that discribes getting the leather wet & a method using a clothespin & electric screwdriver Powwows.com Twisted Fringe

Another site suggested wetting the leather with 50-50 alcohol/water <rubbing alcohol - not fire water> that 'opens' the leather and allows it to stretch. Alcohol Suggestion

Ahhh! I remember that discussion now. I will have to check into these site suggestions for twisted fringe. I think that will look nice on my pipe bag.

Jane, if you decide on twisted fringe for the cape, I think that would be lovely with the beadwork you describe. It will give the Oak Tree more of an impact -- the branches of old oaks are often formed into twisted shapes, which gives it so much character.