Jan 27, 2014

Powerpuffs save the day!

So I've taken a short break from my quilt to work on a simple dress. A powerpuff girl dress. Yes. I will be dressing as Buttercup. For Radcon. I really wish I had a black corset, because I just feel so unbelievably fat in this dress. Losing 7 pounds this month has not had any visual effect whatsoever. I can only hope in the next 2-3 weeks I will lose more! Haha. I am doing it for a friend though! We started watching Powerpuff Girls on Netflix and they're just really simple. Instead of doing a simple black band around the middle, we sewed the sash to the front and left the back long so that we can tie them into bows. The front of the dress is "modest", trust me it really bothers us to have such a high neckline! I seriously can't stand shirts touching me above the collar bone.

My friend is Blossom and made this amazing and giant hair bow. She just made it out of leftover dress fabric so it's pink instead of red, but it is still simply amazing. I love it and I want one. She said it turned out a lot better than she thought it would.

I'm going to add darts in the front and back of my dress because the sleeves are basically hanging on my shoulders and I'd like them to be closer together. There's definitely room in my dress to be smaller! Although it's not a stretch fabric at all so I shouldn't make it too huggy.

Speaking of losing weight, I believe I'm being more and more better (don't even try to correct that sentence) about food. At the moment I am making beef soup bone broth, using a slow cooker for the first time, and I am also cooking beans. Not canned beans, dried beans! They're really annoying with all the overnight soaking and now cooking for hours, but this is what a good woman does, right? Pre-plan meals? I also made rice, and plan on cooking up some ground beef and also making guacamole, so we can have burritos/tacos probably for lunch/dinner. We don't really eat at regular times, and I try to eat smaller portions while my boyfriend will eat until everything is gone. When I make enchilada's, I make 6 so there's 2 for each of us here. When he decides to eat 2 enchiladas I bitch constantly because he knows he shouldn't eat so much (I stuff them unbelievably full, it's like enchiladas you get at a mexican restaurant) but it's there and he WANTS it even though he already had one! He keeps saying that he's lost weight, and I don't really believe him because he keeps talking about when he's skinny and looks good he wants me to make him all of his clothes but he never bothers working out, he tries to get me to hand him things that are just out of arm's reach from him, but nooo he's losing a pound once in a while so why should he try harder? I'm pretty sure he is losing weight because of my trying harder to make us better food.

Sorry for the rant, but it's starting to get on my nerves! This is something that NEEDS to change and soon, because when I don't think and hand him something that required me to move more than he would have if he got it, that's just ridiculous and sad and pathetic. Sometimes when I say no I won't give him something he will explode saying how his hip will hurt like the old man he is in his early 20s, and that I can't expect him to do it and from now on I'm not going to listen to that bull.

Stop ranting. Stop it. I really needed it, though! I feel loads better. I'm just done being a maid!

Jan 20, 2014

Quilt Update!

So I spent 12 hours both today and yesterday, plus some time before that, and I'm still just barely done with half the quilt top! It's crazy, but seeing all the blocks I've made, especially after I've ironed them, is just so awesome. Looking at those crisp, clean lines... It's worth it! My hands and back don't even hurt at all. They were a bit cramped earlier, but I just shook them around a bit and that worked like a charm.

Here's a few pictures, this one is of the fabric choices:

Batik's, a few tie dies, and white. 

This below is the block I'm making. The pattern is called "Bento Box", where you make the same block but can put it in several different patterns for the finished top. Since I have so many colors, I might do one of the more random looking patterns, instead of the more organized ones. My friend is making the same block and her quilt is much more colorful. She is further along than I, and has already started sewing the top together. It's looking AMAZING! I can't wait until mine is finished! 

Bento Box Block

The colors look a bit washed out, I'll have to remember to bring my nice camera to take pictures soon. I love batiks and just can't wait to see what it'll look like all put together! 

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Jan 15, 2014

Quilting!

So I mentioned my "big project" on Facebook and forgot to give any details. I asked a few friends if they were interested in starting quilts this year. One is more experienced and has been helping us start ours, and it's proving to be much easier than I thought it would be... Probably because the ironing board is right next to us instead of downstairs, encouraging me to actually iron the fabric!

I choose to go with batiks for my quilt. We're doing a pattern called "Bento Box" that shows you how to make a block that can be arranged into many different patterns. Some don't look like anything to me, and other ones look really cool.

I also am going to start knitting a TON of these Trumpet Flowers for my sisters wedding! They're really pretty, and small. It shouldn't take to long to churn out a bunch, but I've got the time anyways, it seems. I'll need to grab up some needles that size, and matching yarn for the theme, but it shouldn't cost too much except time, which I've got plenty of!

So there's my 2 big projects this year. Yes, a lap sized quilt is a big project for me! I really want it to turn out beautiful. We are zipping through, honestly. I only got most of my fabric today, and I know that I'll end up need more anyways. Especially of the white. When I sew up a few blocks, I'll post a couple of pictures of the blocks so you can see my color scheme. It's mostly batiks, with a couple of tie-dies thrown in that sort of match the batiks.

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Jan 14, 2014

Homemade Xmas Gifts

Anyways, so here's some of the things I made for this past xmas. I didn't get a picture of the scarf I made, I liked how it turned out though... Oh well. I knit a lot, and made a few clay things... I wanted to make more clay stuff, but I just ran out of time. 




Here's a headband I made to match a hat that I didn't get a picture of. You can't really see the pattern, but it has rib knit along the edges and in the middle it's broken rib. I think if I make another one, I'll make sure the rib and broken rib don't line up. 


Dice bag! I love the stripes. The white yarn is fuzzy and the green yarn wasn't... But, whatever. We were supposed to fill it with all kinds of dice, but we never got the chance too. 


Back scrubber! This was like knitting a scarf with the smallest needles I've used. Ugh. Took forever. 


This is what took the longest out of the clay projects. I took the box apart in order to stain it all, and I also used sandpaper to make some worn areas. I was planning on adding more clay features, but the clay wouldn't stick to the wood. So, I painted it instead. After I made the dragon! It's the biggest dragon I've made. You can't really see but one eye is open and looking up. I think he turned out adorable! 


This was for my boyfriend's new friend at school. She mentioned how she really liked the unicorns that also had wings (alicorns), so he came home and asked me what they're called so he could tell her their name. Then asked me to make her one for xmas. The last pony I made was butt ugly, so I'm happy this one came out cute! 


Peacock! This is an ornament I made for a friend. I worked really hard to make it more color-accurate, but the beak ended up become much too long and I didn't want to try to make the wings. They'd be really complicated! 


A lizard! This was actually a request, and I had planned on making more desert themed animals but ran out of time. 


Rags. I actually haven't given these to their recipients yet but they know what they are getting anyways. 


Just a hand warmer. I stuffed some jewelry into it as well. 


These were fun! Corset shaped bags! I put hand soap, sewing kits, and jewelry in these. I wanted to put more, but again I ran out of time. 



Here are the sewing kits. Thread, thread cutter, pins, needles, a zipper in one and I think some velcro in the other. They're good to keep in cars for emergencies! 

Jan 13, 2014

2014 Goals

So I'm reading lots of posts on blogs and on facebook about people's goals and I have been thinking about my own. I only really have one big, long term goal that I want to get too: A self sufficient farm. There's a lot of smaller goals that go along with that goal, such as learning about raising and then raising all sorts of livestock, as well as gardening, and using the products from the garden and livestock. I'm in the process of learning a LOT right now, but the farm is a long way into my future right now, and I need to focus on smaller, short term goals that will get me to my future farm.

One of the more obvious goals is to get a job. However, I'm letting the job be interchangable with an education. If I can get financial aid this year and go to school, that will allow me to feel like I have a purpose to my life and that I'm being productive. I suffer from depression, and I think it's because I currently don't have anything to do all day. I AM productive, when doing crafts, but as I've said before I am living in a place where most of my crafting supplies don't have the room to be at. That last sentence could have been worded better, but that brings me to my next thing: Without school, or any stimulation, I can literally feel intelligence leaking out of my ears. I have been having trouble spelling, and a lot of trouble figuring out simple math in my head. Addition? Subtraction? I suddenly seem to be amazing at remembering random multiplication facts, but I can just forget about division. I literally missed learning it in school, anyways. So, I would prefer getting into school instead of getting a job, but again, money would be AWESOME.

I also would REALLY like to get a group of my friends to make enough things so by next February we could be a vendor at Radcon. With all of us together, we can make jewelry, knit items, chainmaille items, dice, carbon fiber boxes, plus lots more, so if we all pitch in I think we could make a profit.

I've also been thinking about getting German Angora rabbits. You have to shear them every 90 days, and you can use their fur to make yarn! Plus, they are also good for meat. So, it'd be jumping into the livestock that I'd like, if I started breeding them at least. I have to learn about rabbits still, plus this ties in to the fact that a job would be helping me move into a place where I could keep rabbits. I'm really excited about the idea of the rabbits, so here's what I've decided my goals this year is:


  1. Get a job AND into school.
  2. Move after accomplishing first goal! 
  3. Focus on sell-able crafts. 
  4. Get German Angora Rabbits. After moving. 
I honestly think that my life will be vastly improved by the first goal. I'd be doing something. So, that's the one I'll be working on the hardest. 

And of course, I'm an overweight woman, so I'll need to also lose weight for my New Years goal. I've already lost 3 pounds! What are your goals/resolutions this year? Do you think you'll accomplish them?