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2019: Another Year in Review

It’s that time of the year, the time for review and the time for goals!

Okay, let’s start with the review. I posted 20 times in 2019, and ranged from sharing my history of mandalas (as well as how I make them by hand and digitally), to some knitting projects, my absolute new favorite pair of Flint trousers, and then a long hiatus.

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There’s many things that happened this year to cause that hiatus, and for a short description of that I’ll direct you to my previous post. But if you’re missing me on a more regular basis, feel free to follow me on Instagram where I post marginally more. Marginally.

Okay, now onto the goals from last year. Did I make it, did I not?

This time I got four out of five!

  1. Make another pair of Flint trousers. They’re the most comfortable things I’ve worn in awhile. Oh yeah I did! And they’re just as comfy!
  2. Determine what to actually sell on Etsy. As in, what I make that can sell. I’m still working on producing them, but I’m working on a few beginner sewing patterns!
  3. Finally dye, make, and embroider the fabric I bought to make more Onyx tees. Maybe change up patterns if I feel like it; after all I have 10 yards to work with… (Yep, still working on this. Two yards were used for the green Flints, and I think I’m making the SOI Teadress and Onyx’s with the rest. Just need to do it.)
  4. Share more of my art on the blog. I’ve been sharing a lot on Instagram, but I’d like to post about it here too. Here’s my three mandala posts, a fabric design post, and my watercolor set in blue.
  5. Loosen up and breathe. I’m looking for a job right now, so I’m super anxious, which is no way to start off a new chapter in my life. Taking this time to breathe and open up to new experiences is what I hope will help bridge the gap. I alternated between breathing and being anxious, but in the end I was successful.

So I’m calling that a total win!

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My top 5 hits:

  1. Green Flints. Best Thing Ever.
  2.  My two Jasika blazers! They’re purdy.
  3. Miss Frizzle! I’m excited to show you the costume, and Liz!
  4. Hawkeye and my Nano Gauntlet. While I have much to redo, I’m proud of what I created.
  5. My recent knits. I’ve made a sweater, a shawl, a pair of gloves, and a hat in the past two and a half months. I’ll be warm this winter!

Top 3 misses, since I only have three it seems!

  1. Jean jackets aren’t my thing. I tried it though, and I’m proud of that.
  2. I made an Ogden cami dress and the straps broke because they were delicate and it is heavy… Once I fix that, I doubt it’ll be a miss at that point. But it’s been a few months and I haven’t followed through.
  3. I made a warm hat that doesn’t fit on my head… I should tink the ribbing and redo it. Maybe that’ll be a January thing.

Next up, goals for 2020:

  1. Get the blog current, and choose what that means. Do I need to feel bad if I don’t post stuff, or is it alright to skip some things?
  2. Make one or two new costumes. I really want to make the Iron Man couture gown by ToughTink on Instagram, and I have a few other ideas bouncing around. Plus I’d like to redo/update Hawkeye.
  3. Revisit the trousers I’ve made. My most worn jeans (both pairs from this post) were made in October 2016 (gasp!) and they are dying after three years of heavy use. They’ve got holes in the thighs that I’ve been badly mending for the past five months or so, so there’s a great need for a new pair of jeans or two, and I’d like to make yet another pair of Flints. Still super comfortable!
  4. Write at least 200 words a day. I’ve been working on a novel, am about to start on a fictional online journal project, and I am so bad at keeping up with the blog. That’s three different things that require putting virtual pen to paper, so I’m hoping to make it a daily habit (finally) this year.
  5. Finish and debut the sewing patterns I’ve been drafting and workshopping in 2019.

I’m hoping to post at least once a month this year, not including this one, and will see how these goals go!

This is also the best time to thank you for following me through my adventures through the last decade (college, since I started this blog in the last year and a half of that adventure, grad school, post grad employment woes, and the personal growth in sewing and crafting that I’ve been working on throughout!) and here’s to another ten years!

Happy New Year to all!

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Hello there!

It’s been awhile, hasn’t it?

I can’t say I’m surprised, and those of you who have been around for some time know that I’m always popping in for a few months, and then out for the same time or longer. Some times with warning, and sometimes it’ll just pop out without realizing it.

But oh boy have the past few months been crazy for me.

I rarely talk about my personal life on the blog. Maybe I’ll mention it in passing, or I’ll make an offhand comment. And I’m going to keep it that way, but while I don’t want it to sound like an excuse, I think updating you on some of my life things will help set the stage for my next couple months of posts.

I always run a few months (and sometimes years) behind on posting my makes, but that also assumes that I’m doing a lot of making. And I have, but it’s been a bit more sporadic. Long stretches of rest, and then short frenzies of progress.

When I last posted, in June, I was still frantically applying to jobs, doing interviews, and working on side hustle ventures. (Embroidery patterns, flower photography, sewing pattern development, new journals, oh my!)

Then I had a whirlwind late summer.

I took a job at Spoonflower, which is a print on demand fabric company that is headquartered (in the States) in Durham, NC. I loved the experience, and the job was unique and enlightening, and the creativity that passed through my hands was endless. I also now have a lot more fabric. A lot. So a post soon should talk about what I’ve made/want to make with quite a bit of it.

During August, I frantically (and I do mean frantically) worked to make two and a half new costumes for DragonCon. I worked with foam. I stunk up my townhouse with contact cement. It was a whole thing. These posts will be upcoming and hopefully detailed. While looking back I wish I had done X, Y, and Z, I’ll try to post about it as it happened.

My time at Spoonflower was brief because just before Labor Day Weekend I got an offer from a college in New England, and accepted it, and moved up to New Hampshire a few weeks later, then started the job the Monday after the week I moved.

Since the move, I’ve been focused on making warmer clothing. Because of the long distance move I almost completely missed that “early fall” period that I love temperature-wise and am trying to make suitable long sleeved gear for the winter that I’m currently living in. After I reach a good stock, maybe I’ll redo some costume pieces from DragonCon or another costume. We’ll have to see how the next year goes!

My job up here is very rewarding, but it is all about digital media, so I’ve been trying to take the opportunity to focus on the not-digital stuff when I’m not at work. I don’t know how much of a difference it’ll show on the blog, but it’s a welcome change for me and I’m enjoying it so far.

I’m going to wrap it up with saying that I’m going to try to post once a month at minimum, more when I have the time, but if I disappear again, you can follow me on Instagram, where I post a bit more regularly than I do here on the blogosphere!

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And I’m back!

That wasn’t so long, was it? Okay maybe a little.

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It was nice to step back, let a bit of life and perspective pass by before getting back into the swing of blog things.

The pictures in this post were taken a couple weeks back at Duke Gardens in Durham NC, and a friend and I just took all the pictures we could of each other, dogs, and flowers. Unfortunately none of my dog photos came out… Practice, right?

I’ve been slowly updating the links along the menu above, so that it better reflects my interests, and also putting up some of the costumes that I finished years ago that haven’t gotten their due page.

Tune in the next couple weeks for one of my longer knitting projects, one of my shortest knitting projects, and some costume related updates!

In the mean time, enjoy the flowers!

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Taking a Short Break

A week or two ago I realized that I couldn’t find my camera battery charger… This was right after returning from a nature walk with my camera that was fun, slightly wet, cold, and also used up every little bit of my returning camera battery.

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I moved a little over a month ago, and there are a couple things that I can’t find, which means they’re likely in my storage unit, which has also confounded me a few times. (I lost an entire tote of kitchen supplies for a half hour because I put it behind something else. And of course that tote had the items I was desperately searching for.)

So when I was missing my camera battery charger, I decided to take a little break from social media. It was delightful, and it freed me up mentally to create some stuff that isn’t photographable. Like a story I’ve been writing off and on for about a year, or the app that I posted about a few weeks ago.

So when I realized last Tuesday (and yesterday for that matter) that I didn’t have a post ready, I decided that it was time to take a small break here too. Can we call it blogger’s block?

I’m still making stuff. This week I finished knitting a shawl, and I’m making a miniature version of a prop. But things like clothing are not supremely necessary for me to make right now. I’ve got plenty of clothes that fit at the moment, and though I could probably use another pair of jeans/trousers, I don’t need any, so I’m not feeling desperate to make anything.

My goals for the next couple months in the making field are to take it slow, and experiment a bit. I’d like to make a blazer for interviews, a pair of trousers in a nice green linen. Maybe a 30s or 40s dress? I’m planning on making a couple sculptures, perhaps to make a mold out of for a costume project. Oh yeah, and maybe a costume or two.

I’ve been posting weekly for about five months, and I think that I need a bit of a recharge. So when will I be back? Could be next week, could be next month…

Regardless of when I’ll next post again, I want to thank you for being around! I’ve been writing for my blog for six years now, according to WordPress’s notification on Sunday, and I’ve been at this site for a bit over six months now, and I’m happy to have you all here!

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See you back in a bit!

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My Week in Pictures – 2

I made a pen roll and a flour pouf this week out of scrap fabric, and the pouf is even filled with scrap!

This week I’ve doubled  down on packing up my apartment in for a move in a week,  and I’ve found fun things,, like  one of the fingerless gloves I made in high school, and taken steps to  destash others, like the millions of knitting needles I’ve collected over  the years!

Here’s some mandalas I’ve made this week!

And here’s  some other things I’ve drawn! The castle on the left is actually a castle for ducks in Portugal in Pena Park. I didnn’t know it while I was drawing iit, butt investigating the image further led me to this very cool fact!

Have  a nice weekend!

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My Week in Pictures

I’ve been working on my watercolor and sketching skills, so I posted this version of a wooden flower I bought a number of years ago.

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Working on my photo styling… Is this trendy enough?

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I figured out how to photograph my latest knitted socks while I’m wearing them, finally, thanks to a remote for my camera!

Recently, I got a new camera that has video capabilities, so I’m dabbling in Youtube videos.

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And finally, I made this tiny jawa from a Star Wars crochet kit, and he’s just so cute! He’s hoping you have an excellent weekend!

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A Random Sunday in My Life

Today I thought I’d share some of what I do when I have a completely plan free day… Which is a strong way to say I’ll show you how I procrastinate. On projects. With other projects. All day long.

Let’s start by explaining the project I started out wanting to do on the Sunday in question (for context, it’s the one after Thanksgiving).

When I’m itching to start a project, I try to pause, and go through a couple questions:

  1. What do I need to make?
  2. Do I really need it, or do I just want it? (Not a dealbreaker, just a consideration)
  3. Do I already have the materials?
  4. Do I have the time to complete it before/around other obligations?

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In this case, I needed some long sleeve tees. I’d donated a bunch last year in my move since I wore them so infrequently, but now that it’s winter again, I realized it was time to make some long sleeve versions. So I really needed to make one. And I already had the material, a soft warm plum colored rayon jersey, with a little spandex if I remember correctly. Finally, I had all day to complete the project. (Which made it the perfect project, but also didn’t work out terribly well).

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When I picked up the fabric from my shelf, though, I remembered that I had wanted to make a nightgown out of this cool blue stretchy not-lace fabric, so I pulled that out.

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After I decided on my plans for the day, it was time to make some tea. This is some Harney and Sons tea that my brother gifted me a few years ago.

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With tea in hand, it was time to get to work!

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I pulled out my Nettie hack for T-shirts from my traced patterns, when I realized that the front was still marked in pencil, so I needed to stop and write out the name in some marker.

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In pulling out that pattern, though, I saw the tap pants pattern, and remembered that I needed a pair for #sewfrosting challenge. I pulled out some appropriate fabric at this point.  I did realize at that point that I wasn’t getting to the not-lace, so I put that away again.

Then I remembered that I needed to draw my third watercolor insect for my self-guided monochromatic watercolor fantasy insect challenge. So I did.

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Next I cut out my tap pants, then the t-shirt pieces.

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Let’s pretend I put a filter on it… That’s totally why it’s grainy.

And stopped for a cookie break.

 

For the #sewfrosting challenge, I also was sewing up a tulle skirt (you saw it in my 2018 misses post), but I needed a waistband for that, and I’ve learned that straight waistbands don’t cut it for me, so I started drafting a curvier waistband for my Belladone pattern, and traced the rest of the pattern while I was at it. I’m converting to tissue paper versions of my patterns, so this was in line with that endeavor. And then I cut those waistband alts out of some stone colored fake linen.

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Yeah, totally a filter. Not because a dark object in front of a light window and an inexperienced DSLR user.

Another cookie break!

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With all the pieces for three projects cut, I then got distracted again, this time by the silk cotton Ogden cami I had just made earlier that weekend, which I have yet to properly blog. I had big plans of embroidering the neckline, which were later dashed, but I hooped it up just in case.

This was when I realized, over lunch, that I had planned to do Gift Guides, but had no pictures yet. And while I was at it, I could take some extra pictures of my old pattern storage, and my new pattern storage (since the transition was still in progress). And if I cleaned up the room I could take pictures of the craft room for a post. And if I took a shower I could take pictures of my Suki Kimonos for a post. And while the sun was good I could take better photos of my embroidered clothing.

This batching of pictures is something I do a lot, since it’s hard to count on the sun behaving enough in winter to be out the next weekend.

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So that’s when I decided to put my cut pieces of fabric for  my shirt and tap pants away in my vintage suitcase, and leaned into the photography.

Sometime during the afternoon I decided to bake bread, and right after it was fully dark outside, the bread came out of the oven. I enjoyed a small pretzel loaf, not much bigger than a roll.

Finally, I spent the evening doodling and watching tv.

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Just in case you thought I hadn’t finished the projects, I did in fact finish the tee, about two weeks later at work, while I was watching the floor. It allowed me to serge all the seams, so that one is not breaking anytime soon. The tap pants were completed later in the week, in order to finish the frosting challenge on time.

I am capable of following a list, but if I don’t have a list prepared, this is pretty typical!

So, now that you’ve got a play by play on my distractional tendencies, I gotta ask: do distractions enrich and shape your life as well?

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Top 5 Goals for 2019!

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For me, a post about goals starts with a review of the previous set… But last year I didn’t make any, so I’ll just review some stats and facts!

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I posted 34 times in 2018, and ran two series: a Gift Guide series in late November, and a series about my Alanna the Lioness costume.

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In August I purchased my own domain, and moved my previous blog here, and built up the website as you see it! I imagine it’ll be under constant revision, but I like where I’ve ended up.

For 2019, my goals are going to be a little more specific than in years past.

  1. Make another pair of Flint trousers. They’re the most comfortable things I’ve worn in awhile.
  2. Determine what to actually sell on Etsy. As in, what I make that can sell.
  3. Finally dye, make, and embroider the fabric I bought to make more Onyx tees. Maybe change up patterns if I feel like it; after all I have 10 yards to work with…
  4. Share more of my art on the blog. I’ve been sharing a lot on Instagram, but I’d like to post about it here too.
  5. Loosen up and breathe. I’m looking for a job right now, so I’m super anxious, which is no way to start off a new chapter in my life. Taking this time to breathe and open up to new experiences is what I hope will help bridge the gap.

And that’s where I’m at!

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Hope you all had a great New Year’s and I’ll see you later tomorrow for regularly scheduled programming!

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Top 5 Highlights of 2018

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Hi there!

I hope you all had a lovely week, and happy holidays if you were celebrating! It’s almost the new year, and the perfect time for my non-sewing highlights of 2018.

  1. Started my Etsy Shop

August was a crazy month for me, as I prepped for DragonCon, the fall semester, and created my new website! But during this time I also decided to open up an Etsy shop to sell some of my designs in coloring page form. I’m still trying to work out what I’m going to sell, but I’m proud of what’s up there already!

2. Working (pretty much) full time at a makerspace

This year I was employed by my makerspace for six months full time, and it was an amazing experience, and solidified my goals for my future (at least in the near term).

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3. Visited Austin TX in January

I got the opportunity to visit Austin, and I loved it! Also, I got yarn and made this awesome shawl!

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4. Dedicated craft room

This might not happen again in the near future, so I documented it for me and you!

5. Got all excited over art again!

Sketching and drawing casually has been a thing I’ve done since I could hold a pencil, but just the past couple months I picked up watercolors and alcohol markers, and it’s been invigorating having some more ways to express my artistic side! Right now the best place to see this work is my instagram!

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Top 5 Misses of 2018

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Hey there! Without further ado, here’s my top 5 sewing/crafting misses of 2018!

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  1. Tulle Frosting Skirt

This thing is itchy. I made it for the #sewfrosting challenge, and though I was wearing a pair of long slip shorts underneath, the fabric itched through my tights everytime I sit. It may get a new life as a petticoat, but first I need to fix the itch…

2. Lunchbags

I typically bring my lunch to work every day, and I’ve been using bento boxes for the past four years or so, which means I need some kind of bag to carry them. My current one is great, but the two or three iterations I made previously were not great for the purpose.

3. Ashildr’s Cardigan

I made a cardigan super last minute for a DragonCon costume that was just terrible. I realized that my fabric was a rib knit way too late, and that the right and wrong side were different colors, and it was just a mess. I didn’t even get pictures of it, I was that discouraged. I’ll be using the fabric that is still in cardigan form at the moment exclusively for cuffs and other authorized rib knit uses from now on.

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4. Lathe Work

I’ve been learning how to use a small wood lathe for the past few months, and I’ve been making pens… What I’m finding, though, is that I break about twice as many pens as I can complete. If not more… I’ve finally hit my groove, but the picture above is my carnage… At some point I’ll show you the successes!

5. Wasting the first half of the year

Between August 2017 and June 2018, I had a tiny tiny bedroom in a house, and didn’t have room for some of my bigger crafts, but I didn’t spend that time working on smaller things, like calligraphy and knitting, and I regret that a bit. I was feeling a bit rundown and overall had some burnout, and I think some of that small craftwork would’ve helped me feel a bit less overwhelmed.

So those are my sewing/crafting misses… Tune in next Friday for the highlights and reflections!