Work In Progress

Weekend Happenings

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Wow, that weekend flew by.  And I mean flew.

A little work in the yard & garden was accomplished….but very little.

Mostly, I was inside, sewing up a special Easter treat for one of my nieces!

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I used Simplicity 1900 (find the pattern here: http://www.simplicity.com/p-7473-doll-and-clothes.aspx) , and it went together pretty easily–the legs and arms made me want to scream out in frustration, but only because they’re so teeny and fiddly–ugh!

The fabric for the dress is a Japanese print that I bought before I even HAD nieces.  But I bought such small yardages of it (it was crazy expensive), I had never found a project small enough to use it in.  Until now.  🙂  I couldn’t be happier with it–so pretty, and perfect for an Easter dress.

Another one is in the works for the other niece.

The garden is growing.  Slowly.  (I’m an impatient gardener)

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The sage bloomed.  I know I should cut the flowers, to keep the sage growing, but I hate to cut them–the bees love them.

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Speaking of bees–after many, many, many attempts–I managed to capture (in a photo) one of my bumble bee buddies!  They hover around me the whole time I’m outside, yet when I try to snap a picture, suddenly they have an urgent meeting to attend.

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The roses are exploding!

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And, I did the taxes.  I always wait until pretty much the last minute.

Hope your weekend was lovely and felt longer than mine!

Work In Progress

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The Wicked Witch replica dress is still in the works.  *this close* to being done.

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I only have the dress photographed (and poorly at that) so far.  Note the dress form she’s on is slightly too small….

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Can’t wait to get better pictures and the whole costume together!  Hopefully this weekend will allow me some time to do so.

It’s definitely been a longer process than anticipated.  Cobbling together the pattern and making it all work together proved to be more intensive than I had imagined.  But, it’s looking beautiful, and will soon be offered on a made-to-order basis in my shops.  🙂

Busy, Busy

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Things are rather busy around here, with ready-made orders and made-to-measure orders.  I’m busily re-stocking my dwindling fabric supply (well, just a few of the regulars are dwindling, the rest is still VERY MUCH there), re-ordering shipping supplies (new stickers, address labels, thank you cards, etc), cutting new orders out, sewing them together, and getting things packaged and shipped.  I’m happy for the business, and enjoying the go-go-go.

These all shipped out today for various spots around the country and globe:

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We also bought a new treadmill, so that’s been playing a big part of my morning routine.  😉

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I finished up “The Tale of Halcyon Crane” by Wendy Webb on audiobook yesterday.  I pretty much listen to audiobooks the entire day long–at least, when I’m in my studio.  So, I go through a LOT of them.  I was so pleasantly surprised by my parish library’s selection, both online and in-house.  I enjoyed “The Tale of Halcyon Crane”–it has most of the things I look for in a book, really–ghosts, mystery, history & a huge old fully furnished inherited Victorian home.  Put those in a book and I’m there. Though I get a wee bit jealous over the house inheritance.  I’ve always wanted to inherit a beautiful old home full of history, secret passageways and lots of STUFF.

You can find the book here:  http://www.amazon.com/Tale-Halcyon-Crane-Novel/dp/0805091408

This Week

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Cutting, Sewing, Book-Keeping.

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It’s cold.  Again.

Overcast.  Again.

Makes me want to snuggle on the couch with the kitties and play Skyrim.

Instead, I will cut out the latest orders and listen to some audio books.

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Stay warm, folks.  Looks like a lot of the country is in for some more beautiful winter weather.  Ugh.

In Progress

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I’ve been working on a custom full costume order.

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I actually *gasp* made a mock-up for this one.  I’m combining a few existing (highly altered) patterns, and draping a few of my own pieces for this, so a practice garment really just HAD to be made.

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Plus, I can use it as the final pattern moving forward, as I do plan to offer the costume in my shop.

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There are a few tweaks to make for the customer before I start on the real fabric.  The sleeves need to have less puff, the corset needs to be a wee bit shorter.  Nothing too substantial.

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So, it’s back to the studio with me, armed with a cup (or 2, or 3) of hot tea.

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I can’t wait for this to be done, so I can post images of the final!

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Over the Weekend

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The weekend meant finishing up (or almost finishing up–the capelet needs more chain) the capelet:

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And the hat:

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As well as some candle-making:

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There was knitting, too, but I didn’t get a picture.

Don’t get TOO jealous at my crazy, wild life, okay?

I’m off to finish up the bits for TOMORROW’S editorial shoot!  Can’t wait!

This Week

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This week has flown by, and I haven’t accomplished 80% of the things I wanted to accomplish.  I guess weeks like this happen every once in awhile, right?

This week, I’ve been:

Finishing up work in the photography/shipping studio (still more to do):

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Working on new patterns that will be used in an editorial shoot scheduled for next week (!!!), and that will be offered in the shop after that.  I first made them in a heavy ticking, as that’s what I had on hand, and I didn’t want to cut into the nice (and expensive) wool I have that will be what the final results are made of:

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I love both the hat AND the capelet.  *swoon*

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Working on a pair of knit boot toppers that may or may not be part of the same shoot:

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I really need to learn to crochet.  It goes so much faster.

I’ve also been working on a new costume, which means combining 3 different existing patterns into one, and changing them rather extensively along the way.  But, in the end, I’m hopeful that I’ll have a new full costume to offer on a made-to-order basis:

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All this in the midst of a few orders and an intense desire to cook big dinners with lots and lots of veggies.

I always mean to snap pictures of my cooking, and prep, and final results.  But my pictures never come out as lovely as food bloggers’, and my kitchen isn’t NEARLY as lovely.  I really need to get on the kitchen re-do that I’ve had scheduled in my head since we moved in.  FIVE YEARS AGO.

In the Studio

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I’ll be shooting my winter knits session this weekend–extremely excited for that.  While I had to scale down my original intention for the set, I’m happy with the current ideas bouncing around my head.  I need to find a few crucial set pieces, which is today’s project.

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Unraveled

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This sweater.  This sweater was never as cute on as it should have been.  Maybe it was the kangaroo pouch, maybe it was the too-high-v-neck.  Maybe it was just me.  It’s been in my closet for about 3 or 4 years.  I would put it on, possibly wear it for a little while, and then realize it looked terrible and rip it off, tossing it back into the closet in disgust.

When I did that this year, it suddenly occurred to me:  I have never liked this sweater.  I will continue to not like this sweater.  The closet is not working any magic on this sweater year after year.  I should get rid of this sweater.

Why it took me so long to come to this rather obvious conclusion, I don’t know.

Instead of donating it so that someone else could have the same experience, I decided to unravel it and re-use the yarn.  I love the colors, and it’s a nice wool-cotton blend that is washable.  Also:  I love tedious projects that I can become obsessed with.

I started with the sweater, of course.  I completely forgot to snap a photo of the complete sweater ahead of time, in my all-consuming desire to kill the sweater and make it into something pretty.  So, just imagine a top-stitched kangaroo pouch on the lower front:

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I then broke the sweater down into it’s pieces.  This is the most tedious part of the project–squinting at the seams in the brightest light available, and trying to snip just the yarn that is holding the pieces together, rather than the yarn that is part of the sweater itself.

Here it is after that process:

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Then you just sit back, grab a snuggly blanket, pop on your favorite movies or season of a show (my choice: the final season of “The Office”), grab some wine and start unraveling.

This took me a few evenings (and a few glasses of wine).

In the end, I have a bunch of new balls of yarn to play with–which I’ll most likely make into a few scarves.

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No sweater is safe in my house right now.  I’m already eye-ing them all and wondering……wouldn’t that sweater be a lot more fun unraveled?

I did this process once before and made 2 scarves from the result.  One has sold, but one remains up in my shop:

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You can find that scarf here:  https://www.etsy.com/listing/110604988/sale-knit-scarf-long-scarf-ribbed-scarf?ref=shop_home_active

And, because I have to share the joy of a song on a continuous loop in my head–this (of course) has been playing pretty much non-stop in my brain-region since I started the process: 

This Week

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Happy 4th of July!

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I’m celebrating by working. 😉  Gotta grab the time when you can.

I’m cutting out a pretty cool costume, actually.  I have the awesome task of making this costume:

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Into a women’s version!  So cool!

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Blueberries were out this week at my grandfathers–yum!  I froze these babies, and have been nibbling on them periodically, savoring and saving them as long as possible.

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Some leggings went out early this week.

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Over the past weekend I got the urge to paint–I do this every once in awhile.

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I’m never as happy with the outcome as I want to be, but I love the process.

I have a whole haunted theme going, and a few paintings to complete.  Two are in various stages of completion right now, none are completely done.

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I reorganized my pens/pencils/markers.  I’m a little too pleased by it.

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Hope you’re enjoying a lovely day off.  If only a BBQ were in my future….sadly, the husband was called out to a job yesterday and will most likely be gone through the weekend.  And the kitties don’t grill.