dotsandlines | Entries tagged with sewing

Heyyyyy, I've been talking about writing and depression too much. My life is not all made up of those things, I swear.

I'm excited about a sewing project for our own house, so let me rave about that for a bit.

( spaaaaaa~ you probably know the rest ~aaaaaaace )

OK, the Gathering of Many People went well. I think one key is picking a seat toward the end of a group rather than in the middle. I always assume that being in the middle = being included, but what it generally means to me is that I will be surrounded by 2-3 conversations that I can't follow. So.

Off to work on a LOT of Hellsing bears. We got a request for two sets of Alucard & Seras, to be picked up at the convention (as well as a Kyoya from OHSHC). This is the first time we've done more than one pre-con order, so I am curious to see how this will pan out. If it works out, we'll have to start canvassing for pre-orders a few months before the next con.

Juuuust tore through Cold Days in three days. I do not recommend this. The plot has thickened enough that you start gnashing your teeth at the thought of the wait between volumes, even though the author is quite speedy (and I do respect that).

Plus, at the end of day two, my brain started to slosh around like a fishtank full of Jello.

A few of my forecasts are coming true, btw. Not all of them, but some. (Also, none of my fanmix songs have been expressly disproven, though one is now REALLY unequal to the task.)

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We just got two requests for commissions back to back for Link bears. We've already done about 6 Link commissions and 9-10 overall; he has taken the lead from Ryuk from Death Note. We were on a fun "quest" to make one of every version of the character, but this constant trickle of commission requests is a little wearying. We appreciate the business, and it's great to see that the fandom is still active, but variety and individuality is what makes us not a sweatshop. That's not the fault of any of the commission requesters...I just have to express some mild exasperation. Any other fandom? Please?

But that's one reason that I keep trying new things and making projects from different fandoms for our table. People often don't even think that something is possible until it's right in front of them, because they just aren't used to coming up with weird ideas like this. Plus, it's fun.

I'm part of the problem, y'know, not posting and all. So here we go:

- Working my way through the ebook set; two more to go. I bailed on one of Kelly Link's short story collections because it was just too grim/grotesque for what I wanted to read at the moment. I feel like a jerk, but I will probably come back later.

- TMBG phase continues. They're coming back to Pittsburgh on March 30, woot! Start looking for a parking space now.

- Sis and I met to hash out our plans for Tekkoshocon, which, if all goes well, will be our next Artist Alleying convention. I have 19 bears and 11-12 other projects on the lineup. That's, um... ambitious. But if I even do 2/3 of this lineup, it will be pretty dang awesome.

Favorite ideas of mine: Nick Fury from the Avengers movie (eyepatch!), PSY (poseable endoskeleton!), Slenderman (aaaaaaghhhhh!). Out of 19 ideas, two are anime/video game related, which is partly my bias (none of my favorites are remotely popular), and partly a reflection of the weird Western-focused state of anime fandom these days.

- Not watching any anime currently, apart from occasionally re-watching an episode of Spice & Wolf. Hubs & I just finished season 1 of Sealab 2021, which he found at a used bookstore. Yeesh flashback.

Those two shows simply do not belong in the same paragraph. Am I tempted to make a crossover mini-AMV? Just a tiny bit.

- This weekend we are planning to rally everyone we can guilt, and weed the brushy, overgrown section of our yard. And by "weeding" I mean the type that involves small power tools. Though I just really love pulling out invasive stuff. Order from chaos, all of that.

Also, that leads me to come up with ambitious dreams involving patios, berry bushes, and new staircases. It's fun to think about, even if implementing these plans completely would involve a lot of time and effort (and in some cases, money).

It has been a looooong day.

Hubs and I planned to knock out as much of our costume shopping today as we could, planning out a route of two thrift stores, an outlet mall, and a big shopping sprawl area, in that order. We had 4 costumes to piece together, two for each of us. However, at our second stop, I found a piece that worked awfully well for another one that we'd only joked about... so by the end of the day we had put together bits of six costumes.

( Notes about costs, etc. )

In the last ten days, I have finished six Minecraft-themed plushies for the next Alley table (all blocks, nothing dimensional), played in a Dresden session, got a shiny new copy of the shiny new Utena remaster, aaaand finished that quilt commission. Oh, and came up with another demented cosplay idea. And, somehow, still slacked off a lot.

Back to the Kadaj commission, once my hand stops hurting like hell and I work up the courage to wrangle that much vinyl.

Current Music: Bad Lip Reading - Dirty Spaceman

Tried the Minecraft demo on the 360. Yeah, I could play that far too much. I tend not to play games on my PC, but I might consider it for this one.

Meanwhile~, continuing on some bear commissions - trying to keep the communication lines open, and moving ahead with the current one. Also just about ready to quilt the T-shirt quilt commission. I'll need more specialty quilting thread, but I may as well go through what I have right now.

What else. Oh, I've added some mini flower beds to the yard - pushed back the rock, cut out the landscaping cloth under it and planted some annuals. Just about 2x2' each. They're mulched as of today, and I am quite pleased with them. The rest of the yard is still rock. Baby steps.

It's very good news to me that I don't mind putting in a lot of work outside. I haven't had that much space to work with before, and while I'd put a lot of work into my containers/window boxes/etc., it didn't translate into too many hours hauling things around in the sun by brute force. (Just at the beginning and end of the season.) So I feel as though I've been tested a little bit. It would have been a problem if I'd liked the idea of having a fabulous garden, but couldn't hack all the work that goes into it. But I can, and I enjoy it. So that's good.

Sunblock, though. Sunblock.

Google Image Searches of the day:

lady gaga meat dress
deep space nine sisko
deep space nine garak

I love the off-season.

The plush came in for the Kadaj commission - it's really more like white with black roots - so I hope that works out. We'll see. I have more problems with gray/silver than any other color, in any fabric. Weird.

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Of course, after I said I was backsliding in the story, I started getting ambitious. It's now at 119,193 (+2,876, including notes). About 8% of that was finding out that another infamous fanfic loon is now a bestselling author. I don't intend to ever get published, but that kind of thing lights a fire under me anyway.

Saturday: added a felt/fleece decoration to hubs' kitchen apron, a design he made up involving a sports team's mascot, a chef's hat, and a spatula.

Also hacked up and re-sewed a shirt I'd gotten several months ago that had never fit right. I liked the design, but it was an American Apparel XL, which are made for tiny, tiny hipsters. I knew this; I bought the shirt from a tiny, tiny hipster who was rather pissed at me for doing so. But I liked the design, and I am perverse, so making people feel like they're violating their principles for taking my money has a certain charm.

Anyway, the damn shirt didn't fit, of course. I wore it a couple of times, and it was not comfortable. I foggily recalled a tutorial I'd seen some years ago - I think - maybe - and this book, which I'd flipped through again recently. The shirt was meant for tiny, tiny hipsters; that was its reason for being. It was not made for doughy nerds. And knowing this, nay, glorying in this, I defaced it. I cut it up and cut up another shirt in a contrasting/coordinating color and sewed them back together.

I like how it turned out. And it was fun.

I'm dangerous now. Mwahahahahaha.

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Then we had a Dresden Files session in which I didn't do too much of anything except have my character drive around, make a couple of bad decisions, and say inopportune things (which I haven't done enough lately). Not too bad.

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I think it's just not the time for video editing right now. I put down a few clips on a GOT video, but I'm just not feeling it. I think I want to try another drama video - I've only made 1 drama video in the last 5 years, half of my years in editing, and I apologized and made a giant case out of it all the way through the process. Tch. I made a giant cheese ball, and it was delicious. That is all.

Anyway, it's not quite the right time yet. That's OK. I made a list, because I am ... special, and I have averaged three months between videos. Plenty of time. ;)

Our late "Christmas" Amazon order came in, i.e. "let's buy some things that we both want, in some proportion, because we didn't actually buy anything for one another for Christmas." The box includes, among other things, Game of Thrones season 1 and Princess Jellyfish. I've been thinking about editing with both of these things.

Decisions, decisions! Both? Maybe! I don't know. Let's rewatch both and apply the brakes, here. But then, if I weren't apt to run off with wacky ideas, I wouldn't have had half as much fun with editing over the years.

I also got my bulk order of teddy bear supplies, earlier this week. Bags of disembodied eyes and noses and plastic joints. Cute and macabre. Eeeeexcellent.

Fabric description on Joann.com:

It has a high thread count giving it a thick meaty hand.

...thick...
...meaty...

...no.

As an aside, deviantArt is quite fun despite the messy interface. Though, geez, Facebook has a messy interface and it rules the universe. Anyway, it's easier than plugging things into plain old HTML by hand, which is why the dA page is updated and our own site is not. Go fig.

Edit: Oh, and! MLP:FIM is now on Netflix Watch Instantly. I am glad to have a more convenient way to watch the show that also means the creators get paid (at least a little bit). Already watched up to "Winter Wrap-Up" on YouTube, soooo here we go with the rest.