Space Jammies

We've had a bit of a cool snap again, so it's good that I finished up FuzzyHusband's new flannel pjs!

There was a bit of an issue with shrinkage when I pre-washed the flannel. The space fabric wasn't wide enough for the the pant pattern. The solution: tuxedo stripes!

He's quite fond of them and is looking forward to wearing them when it's cooler again in the late fall. I need to get back to some more sewing and a few boring chores before rehearsal tonight. See you next weekend!

Snow Daze

Report from the doc's office says I need an ultrasound to rule out an abdominal tear that would get bigger by doing things like: laundry, walking a 100 pound dog, and carrying bins of holiday decorations up and down the stairs. So until this coming Thursday I have lifting restrictions on top of the "ice/heat/take it easy" orders. Ordinarily that would be frustrating as heck, but a random act of viral infection, complete with a fever of over 100F made it easier to not care. Kitten cuddles made it bearable.

Before the fever set in I got started in heavily planning a costume for one of our dancers. It's rather... hmmm.... we shall say "geared for a specific audience" and "very adult themed." My portion of the costume work will be styled around the riding gowns worn during the Victorian period. FuzzyHusband, our resident leather worker, will be constructing the portion of the costume that gets revealed once the Victorian gown bits are stripped away. It's a tag team effort to say the least.

Speaking of costume pieces being flung around, I was supposed to be in a car driving home from a burlesque festival in Kentucky this weekend. But between the fever that wouldn't die and this yesterday:

... the trip was cancelled. The other ladies were still panning to go until this storm actually hit with the forces predicted. If you look closely in that photo you'll see two white tailed deer slowly making their way up the ravine.

This storm wasn't a total bummer though. Himself and two of his bestest friends took advantage of the chance to practice with their snowshoes and sleds before their trip north next weekend.

There used to be a large golf course about 3 miles from our home. It's been turned into a park and the pro shop building is now a restaurant, bar, and bakery. So they spent yesterday playing in the snow and then got to warm up with grown up treats. FH did bring me some cookies when he finally got home. Obviously I didn't go with.

The snow stopped falling sometime in the middle of the night. There's about a foot to remove from the driveway. Someone's going to regret forgetting to have the snow thrower serviced this summer.... but it won't be me!

My fever has officially broken now, but I've still got the lifting restrictions to work around. We're tag-teaming the laundry and some other chores today. I'd like to get the house tidied up before he's gone for a week. Especially if the ultrasound shows a muscle tear.

I'm off to oversee the sorting of laundry and whatnot. See you next weekend!

Good Intentions As Paving Stones

I'd planned on doing an early blog post last week to commemorate FuzzyHusband's and my 10th wedding anniversary, but things were just too busy. I was too busy trying to finish this piece and neither of us wanted to deal with holiday crowds, so we've opted to wait until after the holidays to have a nice dinner out somewhere.

I did get the vest done and delivered on Saturday. Kinda bummed that I'm still too sick to see it being worn on New Year's Eve.

FH bought me some beautiful jewelry, which is a rare and wonderful treat reserved for special occasions.

He also picked flowers that were the same type he used to buy me when we were poor college students and just starting to date. So sentimental! <3 p="">

Saturday was busy right up until I passed out from exhaustion. I had a cake to bake, a wreath to finish, bags to pack, critters to prep... all kinds of things needed doing. The last wreath of the season got done whilst waiting on the cake layers to cool. I designed it for my mother-in-law specially because she loves nutcrackers.

Then I wanted to make a post for Christmas Eve/Day, but again life was filled with wonderful things that were more important.

Tuesday morning I woke up with a fever and very little voice. When we finally got home that afternoon, Ellie Bean was injured and we had to rush to the vet. She'd somehow injured her lip, and the vet (not our regular one) wasn't sure how so he gave us antibiotics and sent us home.

I slept through most of Wednesday and Thursday as the lurgy symptoms got worse. Thankfully all signs point to it being a nasty cold and not an infection.

We went back to the vet Friday, in a snowstorm, because her lip looked worse. FH was home around 2:30 after swinging by the grocery store and passing 5 wrecks in 3 miles. The roads were heinous. It took us a while to get there and I'm glad we left way early for the appointment.

 This time we saw our regular vet and she's seen this type of injury before. Apparently Ellie likely failed to stick a landing after jumping down from something, landed on her faced, and skidded. The vet was impressed that her lip didn't tear away from her face. Confident that we weren't dealing with a potential abscess next to her jaw, Ellie and I headed home in the storm.

It was still coming down late yesterday evening. I haven't even gone near the door today as I woke up coughing and have no voice. Himself has been taking care of me all day. I've slept through most of it, as rest and fluids are about all one can do for a virus.

I figured I'm likely to sleep through most of tomorrow too, but since I was awake now I'd go ahead and update the blog. So Happy New Year to all. May 2018 be kinder to the world than 2017 has been.

A Veritable Flood of Yarn

Lots of fiber related things have been happening this week!

First off are my Icy Owl Warmers. I bought the pattern on Ravelry. It's called "Country Owl Wrist Warmers" for anyone interested.

Then since FuzzyHusband asked oh so nicely, I made him a new hat because Real Men Respect Pink. (That's the clever title I gave the project on Ravelry.) This was a free Ravelry download called "Pussy Hat Project." 

Then I made myself a little something fun. I'm going to work this pattern up again at some point as I really enjoyed it. This is my Mammoth Cave Infinity Scarf. Mammoth Cave is the name of the yarn color. The pattern is free on Ravelry and is called the Savannah Infinity Scarf.

Now I'm almost finished with a new project! This is a free pattern on Lion Brand's website and is called Twisted Wave Cowl.  It's currently the length called for in the pattern, but for it to lay correctly on myself it needs to be a bit longer. So I'm going to see what another 6 inches looks like on it.

Now I bought myself a bit of a treat Saturday.

The caveat is I can't play with it until I finish the cowl from above, a hat/ear warmer thing that I've queued up, AND figured out what this mess is and fished what's in the bag.

I really only have a couple of guesses as to what's in that bag. It's been kicking around for a couple of years now. Here's hoping I get it figured out and everything finished so I can get my reward!

Now for a little something different. My niece (her mom is my "sister from another mister") had a painting party for her Sweet 16. I didn't feel much like painting a tree, so I did a kelp forest instead.

So that's all for now, I need to get this house tidied up, laundry done, some sewing worked on, and the back to the crochet. I might be late in posting next weekend. We'll be traveling for another family birthday. Just an FYI. Take care, everyone!

Baby, It's Cold Outside

The thermometer tells me it's -2F (-18 C) and this does not make me happy. I did managed to get money together to feed the birds this year, unlike last year with lots of doctor appointments and inevitable co-pays.

I took some pictures yesterday because a melanistic squirrel had come to dine. He's on the left and a regular grey squirrel is on the right.

There was also the tiniest goldfinch I'd ever seen on the finch feeder.

Today there's a dusting of snow covering the ice from yesterday afternoon, and steam is rising from my heated birdbath.

These days FuzzyHusband is much less fuzzy, at least when it comes to his head. I happened to pick up a crochet magazine whilst getting supplies before the ice hit on Friday and found a handsome hat pattern that called for a yarn I had stashed. And more luck, I already owned the correct hook size!

So I came home, put all the groceries away, filled bird feeders, and bided my time until I had to pick himself up from work. What I should've done was triple check that the hook was where it belonged. You can see where this is going, can't you?

Himself gets a ride home from a coworker who was coming into town to see a movie. He makes eggnog and I decide a jot of rum in my chai would be nice and warming. THEN I decide to look for my hook. And its missing.

So before he could enjoy his freshly made drink, FH puts shoes back on and drives me to buy a new hook. What we didn't know is the ice storm had started. He almost turned us around. But he's happy that he didn't.

Now I must brave the weather and the streets to go check on a friend's bunny. I'd been watching him all week and couldn't go over yesterday. I did give him lot of extra food on Friday just in case I was trapped yesterday. Happily a neighbor (who is unfamiliar with rabbit car) checked on him yesterday and he was fine. Don't let the cute face fool you. He's gnawing on my boot in this picture!

Once I'm home there is a long list of chores that needs doing. That's what I get for doing nothing yesterday but dishes and crochet. See you next week and stay warm!

Bonus picture of Pixel because she was just too cute not to share!

Wallpaper and Cabinetry

Firstly, I did manage to get the wall straightened. It took the better part of an hour to remove 7 staples and get the orientation fixed. Many words not fit for polite company were said. I'm glad I didn't stream that!

The wallpaper went on pretty easily. It was fiddly getting the border sections to line up, but not heart-wrenchingly so. The left hand corner lined up better than the right hand corner. 

The strategic placement of a hanging plant will help hide the misaligned border in the corner and I will happily move along.

I need to order some 7/16" crown molding to hide the exposed wood around the top. I should have plenty of baseboard, but I need to check my supply.

I did start in on the pile of kits this week. Currently this is as far as I've gotten.

I need to sand everything before I get further along with some of the larger pieces. Also the dishwasher front needs to be painted before it's glued down. I'm kit-bashing one of the 3" base cabinet kits to create a more modern sink. FuzzyHusband has designed a sink in a 3D modeling program that we can print out and it will fit the kit dimensions. The sink will set between the cabinet with 4 drawer and the dishwasher.

To have the layout I want, I need three 2 inch upper cabinets and two 2 inch base cabinets, I'm on the look out for more of these kits, or something like them. 

The dining room side is on hold until the coordinating wallpaper arrives. I do have most of the furniture for the room already: table, four chairs, and a side board. I'm hoping to find a China cabinet that will match the existing furniture's finish.

So that's all for this week. Hopefully I'll find some additional kits and the other wallpaper will get here soon. Otherwise I'll have to get as much done with this project as I can and then switch to a different one for a bit.

I hope everyone has a great week! See you next time!

Inspiration, Crooked Walls, and Kit Chaos

A few weeks ago, I commissioned several tiny copper baking molds from my jeweler friend, Tony. In addition to making awesome stitch markers, he uses a copper-smithing technique called chase and repousse to shape copper sheets into fun designs. I'd watched him make a few things and asked how small he could work. Happily, he'd been quietly interested in miniatures for a while. You can see where this could get both of us into all kinds of fun trouble!

Originally I wanted 6 little copper molds in different shapes. If these were life-sized they'd be called mini molds and be the right size for the individual cakes that have become en vogue in the last few years. Small also means i get more variety. We weren't sure what shapes would work and which would fail utterly. So Tony sketched up several. Most of them worked! The apple did become an acorn, but I'm cool with that.

I'm really happy with these pans. They're his first attempts at working so small with that technique. We both figured out changes he can make for more improvement in the future. But I love them! :-)  Oh and check out the copper scimitar that he made too! I may have to create a doll to wield it.

In the original batch of molds, Tony tried out a tiny pan. It's small and would either work in a 1:24 scale scene or be the size of my real-life, smallest skillet scaled down to 1:12. He asked if I wanted him to try larger pans and bowls. Of course I said yes! He even made the absolute best miniature colander I've seen that is affordable by mere mortals such as myself!

All of these kitchen minis reminded me that I had a roombox that I'd planned on dividing into a kitchen and dining room. I'd inherited it from a friend in mini club and it needed some overhauling.

I removed the cat, wallpaper, and trims. There was a debacle with the original wall section I'd cut out. It got lost. I found the leftover wood from cutting the first wall and decided I could use it. Of course I found the original wall section the day I was trimming up the second piece to fit. I decided to keep going with the new section. The old section needed more work done to it.

And then I installed the wall in the middle of the box. That was Tuesday. Today as I was prepping to take pictures and then wallpaper, I discovered the wall was crooked! So when I'm done here, I get to remove staples and make adjustments.

Incidentally, this is the wallpaper for the kitchen. I ordered it a while back for the Big Dollhouse that has once again had it's interior plan altered. I've ordered coordinated paper for the dining room and hopefully it will arrive next week sometime.

And now the the "chaos" I mentioned. This is a pile of kits from Shenandoah Designs. As you can see, some of the kits were already in various states of assembly. Some of them are actually missing parts, which is aggravating. But for a pile of kits that I was gifted, I'm not going to complain too loudly. 

FuuzyHusband has recently taken up 3D modeling objects to either be lasercut or 3D printed. He's designed a modern sink basin that will fit the standard base cabinet kit in this pile so I can kitbash a nice looking sink for my scene. It also fixes the issue of some of the missing parts. Some. Not all. The refrigerator is the other partially assembled unit that is missing pieces. I will have to make a few replacement parts. 

I've already pulled quite a few things from my stash for the dining room. Lots of food items as well. I'll show them off next weekend, if I remember. For now I'm going to go pry out some staples and hopefully get the kitchen wallpapered before it gets too dark.

See you next weekend!

Various bits and assorted baubles

I'm cheating a bit this weekend and posting on a Saturday night. I'm starting to feel sick and have a feeling if I don't post now, I won't until I feel better.

The cleaning, purging, and rearranging continued off and on all week. I'm hoping to bring the new work desk in next weekend. I had to sacrifice one of my old console TV's to have room for the new desk. I figure if I haven't started the scene I was going to put into it by now, I can safety trade it for a new desk.

The paint night at the bar on Tuesday was a lot of fun. FH went along too and all three of us (my best friend/sister of my heart) had a wonderful time. We've starting talking about doing a family paint night here so the happy-goth teen can join in the fun too. She's only 15 and all the paint nights are held in bars... must be 21 to attend.

I've hung my painting in the hallway. It may not stay there permanently, but for now it works.

FH is debating hanging his in his workroom/man cave or taking it to work.

The postman brought me a treasure this morning. The tiny vase I commissioned from one of my favorite glassblowers arrived and I love it! I was able to commission it live, discuss details with him, and then watch him make the piece in real time. It was awesome!

The colored tubing he used is one he made himself earlier in the week. I actually got to watch that too. I love everything about this piece.

I'm putting hydrangeas in the arrangement, but maybe not these exact flowers. Might be making new ones. I will also be making some pussy willow branches and hyacinths. Not sure when I'll get started on those, but it won't be until I get the studio usable.

That's all for now. I'm going to go veg out and rest. Hopefully I won't be sick for too long. See you next week!

Benedict Arnold Buttonhole Function

So apparently the buttonhole function on my sewing machine decided to ingest mind altering substances.  Or something.  Happily I figured this out on a test piece of fabric as opposed to my project.  Currently my machine in in the custody of the local repair place for a general overhaul and some diagnostics.

Because the brocade project should've been completed by now, I figure I should go ahead and show where it is for the moment.  I think that I should mention that we're going to a Steampunk-themed wedding in October.  This will explain many of the next sewing projects...and pique the interest of certain big and mini people.

So without further ado:

A new waistcoat for FH!  The lining and one more card of buttons are absent in this picture.

 Love, love, love the way this fabric shimmers in the light.

 It's always interesting to watch waistcoats and vests beings turned right side out after sewing.

Showing off the functional welt pockets.

 The pins are marking where the buttonholes will eventually be.

Oh and that gold thing around the hanger...

 A gentleman cannot be properly dressed without his cravat.

 Crawliest fabric I've worked with to date.  Ugh.  But the effect is gorgeous.

Next up (once the machine is back) is his linen shirt and then my clothes.  If I have time when my things are done I'll make his frock coat. 

I've also got plans for a simple linen dress to wear with the green jacket to my niece's wedding and six friends are having babies between now and February.  Expect nothing but things for the weddings and the babies for a few weeks. ;-)