As promised ... pictures

The covered bra is coming along ... after some talking with a friend, I realized that as usual, I'm agonizing over details that won't really matter. This is my normal M.O. to agonize over tiny details at the beginning of a project so that everything is "perfect" only to get sick of the project and then just whip it together sloppily at the end. So many things are ruined that way, as I lose patience. So this time, I'm trying really hard to have an eye for the details that matter, and work carefully without giving up at the end.

And, here's another project that Nitro's been working on the past couple weekends: he made a headache rack for my truck! Now, he NEVER has a problem with losing patience. He's probably the opposite of me in this respect. He can maintain a level of perfection throughout an entire project, and always works slowly and carefully until a thing is done, and it's always done well. I wish I could take some of that for myself. Ah well, I'll just take advantage of it by using the finished projects.

Dress forms and bras.

The other day I saw an ad on Craigslist for a dress form for $70 which sounded like a steal. The last one I saw was $80, and someone had told me that I should have bought it, no questions asked. But I hesitated and it was gone. So this time I didn't hesitate ... only it was gone by the time I called as well. Which is probably for the best since I really don't have $70 right now.
In the meantime I've been trying to make my own beaded bra for bellydancing, and it's been a huge challenge without having any sort of form to use while covering a store-bought bra. At first, I tried just stretching it over a chair back, but the cups wouldn't hold their shape. So I put some melons in the cups and my husband proceeded to tell me that I should "dream on." I gave up, basically.
But then I got motivated again and really made some progress and figured I could borrow a dress form from a friend. That's when I found out that she sold hers for $35 at a garage sale the previous weekend! That is JUST my luck. So typical. She said, "Well, I know you're broke and not looking to buy anything right now so I didn't even think of asking you if you wanted it." Whatever. She did have another one I could borrow, and it's now in my living room, wearing a bra.
And I'm still frustrated.
Getting the fabric to lay flat, to line up the stripes, to just pin the stuff on there is driving me nuts. I am starting to think that maybe I have ZERO hand-eye coordination, since I am finding this process excruciating.
On the other hand, I'm finding that the results are very nice, I'm happy with what has been accomplished thus far. There have been some mistakes that I think are covered up nicely, at least nicely enough that a casual viewer probably won't notice. And there have been some successes that mean NEXT TIME will go better.
Pics to come soon, I am sure.

I'm in trouble now.

It's not like I've been project free for the past forever long that I haven't updated. It's more like I haven't been motivated much to update. Partly because of "real" work... you know the kind that pays? But partly also because it's just sorta always been a hassle to update, since we were on DIALUP-speed internet and adding photos took like basically all day. No joke.
But then, to be honest, yesterday I had projectitis in the worst way, the sort I haven't had in a long time. The sort where I worked concurrently on three different projects because every time I looked at something new my attention would shift, or while I was working on one thing I'd get an idea for something else. It was terrible. I mean, terrible only if you're the person who has to clean up after me. It was fun for me. At the time. As for the person who cleans up after me? Oh yeah, that's me too. But me at a later time, so I wasn't thinking of her.

See it all started with a trip to the 99cent fabric store. Oh yes, such a place exists. It's in Solvang, and sure, the fabric may not be quality, and you may never know what's going to be there. But for a person like me, who just wanted to make a cute little trapeze dress out of some cotton/lycra knit? Perfect! There were so many colors and patterns to choose from, but the decision was actually pretty easy for me when I saw these. The one on the left is actually not a cotton knit, but it's a shiny stuff that I'm going to make a the same dress out of, only it will be "round 2" which will hopefully be just like the first one, only better because I'll have figured out what went wrong! And the stuff on the right is going to be a pair of dance pants!

Anyway, I got cracking on it immediately, sketching out a pattern on butcher paper. But then had to wait until yesterday to start cutting and sewing. Partly because I have a huge block about *cutting* fabric. Especially fabric that I'll never get any more of, like silk from Thailand that great grandma bought when she took a cruise at the turn of the century. Gah! How does anyone do it! I know I'll screw it up and be sorry. But this ... this stuff I feel okay about slicing up, because it was an investment of $3, and it won't kill me if it's screwed up. I think.

Anyway, I started by tracing a tank top that I already have and wear a lot. Then, I decided to do something interesting with the straps starting out as 3 separate straps then coming together as a braid along the neckline. I'm getting a bit confused as to how to re-attach them on the back side, and really wish I had a dressform right now so I could also get the length right. I tried to reach over my back and attach the strap with a pin, but it was uncertain at best. I hate trying to do this sort of thing. Having the right tools for the job sure would make these projects easier.

I DID invest in an awesome tool that I don't know how people live without, though. It's a long piece of metal with a hook at the end... when you're making these little straps out of fabric, and you have the sewn tube, inside out?? You know how it's such a pain to make it right-side-out? Well, this doohickey saves the day.

Okay, so I spent too long talking about the one project. I also made a rack for all my headpieces for bellydancing. It's awesome, and solves a problem I'd been struggling with for a while now (because some of the headpieces have flowers & feathers on them, you can't just stuff 'em in a box or stack them on top of each other).

And, I made this heart-shaped piece of wood. Mostly, I wanted to try out the band saw on something besides just cutting little dowels of wood for the hat rack. I wanted to see how close I could come to the shape I drew. I did okay, but I think I could do better with some practice. There were a couple "lumpy spots." But I do plan to finally use that chalkboard paint I got, and turn this sucker into a little chalkboard, maybe to hang outside the greenhouse.

But yeah, I never did sit still long enough to actually finish any of these things. When Jerad got home, he mounted the hat rack, so the only finished thing is the one he finished for me. Because I just couldn't focus long enough ... I kept flitting back and forth. And to be honest, I was supposed to be cleaning and packing for our camping trip. Sigh. And this is as far as I got. Beer, water, dutch oven, and (inside the dutch oven) potatoes. Well, I guess I better get cracking on the packing today.

Summer!

The projectitis has mellowed these days, as the sun is shining and the days are longer, I find myself playing outdoors much more than in the past months. Not that I've stopped the creative pursuits altogether. I did make a lovely collar for my dog -- we got the standard black collar, and I've embellished it with a pretty brocade trim, sequins and beads. Maybe there will be a pic later.

I've been making more cards out of my hand-carved stamps, but there haven't been any new stamps lately.

The cool thing on the stamp front is that I was interviewed in our local entertainment weekly paper about my favorite hobby of letterboxing, and about stamp carving. Here is the article.

The other cool thing was that our dance troupe had our annual big extravaganza evening of dance & music (and yummy cookies) and it went off really well, and the costumes that we worked so hard on looked fabulous and it's such a relief for it to be over now, too. We had fun, and the audience had fun, and it was worth all the trouble and time and expense.

So yeah, I've been busy, just not busy making cool projects to share here. I'm sure there will be more very soon!