Crafting in 2010! - Project #1

I'm still working on determining my new year's resolutions. I don't believe in starting them right off anyway...best to wait until the 3rd or 4th of January, right?
One that I do know is that I want to do more crafting. I've gotten rather busy, and that's the first hobby to be set aside. Another resolution is to make use of my stuff...or get rid of it. This is going to include my monster craft stash as well as my shelf full of crafting books. I figure it's best to combine these intentions into one larger resolution - to use my craft books to inspire more crafty-goodness and de-saturate my stash. With that, I'm going to attempt to do (at least) one new craft project each week, from at least one of my many many books.



I just wrapped up Project #1: a quilted bag for my netbook. I've had this on my to-do list for a while, as I need a bag that lets me carry the battery separately - leaving the battery attached to the computer drains it, even when not powered on. I used the Ladylike Laptop Tote pattern from Jenny Ryan's Sew Darn Cute, but left out the ladylike part. This project helped me de-stash a bit too, using a red t-shirt and gray sweatpants from my refashioning box (ok, boxes).


The photo is of the Nebraska Cornhusker mascot Lil' Red, taken at a pre-game party in Lincoln this fall. I was messing around with GIMPshop - took the color out, "posterized" the photo, and printed it on fabric paper (also an in-stash find). I embroidered the outlines of the major photo elements to add back some color. The photo fabric was reverse appliqued onto the red t-shirt fabric prior to assembling the bag.

Update on those '09 resolutions

Just over halfway through Month 2 of 2009, how am I doing? 

• Half-mar trailing - this has been a challenge.  I've been faithfully doing the "long" runs on Saturdays (OK, they're not that long yet), but my jogging has been sporadic durin ghe week and I've developed some sort of hip issue that keeps me from moving very much after I run.  It's weird, scary, painful, and probably my own fault. 
• New camera - just hit "Place my order" on a new camera.  We'll see.  I did some research, tried a few out.  In the end, went with new, cheap-ish, and well-reviewed.
• Donate clothes - I dropped off over $300 in clothes during January at My Closet, so I'm off to a good start. 
  
• Belly dance - I've done a few dvds.  Not enough, but it's a start.  Definitely not dancing every day.  This is partially due to the aforementioned hip issue, and also to just be so freaking busy that I don't have time, but I do need to make this more of a priority. 
  
• Try new techniques - craft-wise, that is.  I made my own Valentines this year for all the Divas and for some other friends and family.  I'm not good with glue, so it was an adventure.  The cards were well-received, so I think I may have a future in paper.
• Quality time with the DH.  I'd definitely say this was going well.  We had an awesome Valentine's weekend, amongst many other awesome weekends together so far this year.
• MALS - as I posted earlier this week, I submitted my application to Mizzou's M.A. in Library Science program.  Cross your fingers! :)  If all goes well this semester, I'll have 6 hours under my belt by May 5, and if I get accepted to the program, can figure out my upcoming jaw surgery schedule, and get approval to take summer classes, I'll have another 6 knocked out by the end of June.  That's a lot of ifs.

So, yeah, there you have it.  Not bad for the first 47 days of the year, huh?

Happy 2009...now let's get down to business...

Here's to a happy little new year...  In the spirit of always filling my plate and having eyes far bigger than my stomach (or calendar), here are (some) of my New Year's Resolutions for 2009.  I'm trying to be specific, because apparently those types of goals are easier to achieve.

• Smile even when I don't feel like it
• Train for Lincoln half-marathon w/ ML
• Limit myself to one pop (or less) per week
• Save enough cash for a new camera
• Donate or sell 25% of my clothing/fabric/shoes/etc
• Knit pedicure socks
• Crochet or knit 5 scarves and hats to donate to Salvation Army or other charity
• Choreograph 3 new solos and perfect 3 current solos
• Work dancing into my everyday routine
• Try out every single belly dance video that I own
• Spend more quality time with the DH
• Buy less crap
• Of the things I make, keep only those that are beautiful or useful
• Try new techniques and designs, with the goal of the above in mind
• Study for and obtain my CISSP certificate
• Apply and be accepted in the Masters of Arts in Library Sciences program at MU.
  
• Earn at least 12 credit hours toward my MALS
• Learn to prioritize more and procrastinate less so that all of the above becomes feasible!

Not too much, right? :)  Well, so far, so good anyway...  I ran a few miles today, and will run with the group tomorrow.  I have done 2 of my belly dance dvds so far this week - new ones, too!  I put my Christmas cash aside for the new camera.  I'm signed up for 6 hours in the MALS program at the University of Missouri, to start in the next few weeks.  I am slowly learning to knit, starting by reworking the scarf I did (horribly) last year - and I can purl now too!  Go me!  And I'm smiling right now, so that's good... ;) 

Happy New Year!  I hope this motivation lasts at least through February!

Some good new, for a change

According to the NTY, the recession has actually been good for something – increasing the making and buying of handmade gifts.  I’m giving several handmade gifts this Christmas, although I’m not sure how much money I’ve saved in the process. J  It’s been fun though – cutting, sewing, embroidering, taping, stuffing, etc.  And I’m sure I’ll be done with all of it by Christmas (crossing fingers)! J

 

 

Cutesies

I was browsing the Emsies website today; she sells customized onesies and other baby items.  If you remember this story in the news, Emily Wentz’s daughter, Lauren, was seriously injured by her babysitter and has a long developmental recovery ahead of her.  A very tragic start for such a cute little girl. L 

Since Emily now stays home with Lauren, she started Emsies as a creative outlet.  These little shirts would make the cutest baby gifts!  Now I just need to convince someone else to procreate so I can buy one…

 

If it's Good 4 Girls, it's Good 4 ALL OF US!

A while back, Crunchy Chicken got the awesome idea of rounding up reusable sanitary napkins to send to girls in developing nations, such as Kenya and Uganda. Well, her awesome idea has blossomed into Good 4 Girls, and is getting a LOT of attention...so much in fact that she can't keep up with the demand.

Crunchy needs help! If you think this is as great of a cause as I do, please consider making a donation. It can be monetary, or in the form of a homemade or purchased pad. There are a number of online stores from which to buy.
If you are in the Omaha area and want to join me for a pad-making party, or just go in on shipping out a package, let me know! No girl's education should suffer for lack of a rag.
I'll put my money where my mouth is - I'm donating $10 right now...
(20 seconds later)
See, that was easy and painless. The hardest part was remembering my PayPal password!

Real Men Knit (?)

So I’m browsing Amazon the other day, as I’m wont to do over the lunch hour, and I’m noticing a surprisingly large number of knitting books geared toward male knitters.  Now, I do NOT have a problem with men knitting.  Or crocheting for that matter – there is a very industrious group of guys in Cali that started a non-profit to teach women in developing countries how to crochet – very cool.  What I do find funny though is the titles of some of these books.  If you were a man (or if you ARE a man, whatever) which of these books would you feel most comfortable toting around?  (Assuming you are man enough to knit, that is)

 

·          Son of Stitch ‘n Bitch: 45 projects to knit and crochet for men

·          Knitting With Balls: a hands-on guide to knitting for the modern man

·          The Knitting Man(ual): 20+ projects for guys

·          Men Who Knit & the Dogs Who Love Them: 30 great-looking designs for man & his best friend

 

You picked the dog one, didn’t you?  Admit it… J

I'm knitting!

I found the best method for learning to knit.  I bought a book...then handed said book over to my mother, who was visiting for the weekend.  She learned to knit from the book and then taught me. :)  Easy!  OK, so far I've only made a couple of little squares, each one not-so-square in shape and composed entirely of the garter stitch (no purling yet), but still! It's progress.  Thanks Mom!

Knit-wit

Last night after dance class, I attempted to teach myself to knit.  I can’t say that it was a fabulous experience.  My mother gifted me with a Knitter’s Encyclopedia for Christmas, and I picked up a copy of Debbie Stoller’s Stitch n’ Bitch, so I had great instructions.  (I love Stoller’s writing style – I also have her Happy Hooker Crochet book).  This attempt did go much better than the last time I tried to learn – that try lasted about 4 minutes.  This time I managed to double-cast on and stitch a whole row, but I flubbed up when trying to turn and start the second row – the loops were so tight I couldn’t get my needle though… grrrr…

 

Granted, I am just starting to learn.  And I must say that I was warned – knitting is not easy to learn – it takes practice.  I should know from experience – when I picked up crocheting again this year, my first scarf started out as a tantrum in the kitchen with my yarn and hook flung across the room.  But once I got it, I really got it.  It’s not hard to crochet.  Of course, I’m still making hats and scarves…I’m still a newbie in the crochet world, so I shouldn’t expect to knit a sweater on my first time out.  Still, it’s frustrating to learn new things…

 

Why am I trying to knit, you may ask?  Isn’t that an antiquated craft, something our grandmother’s did?  Why, yes.  Yes it is.  It is a time-honored art, perfected by women though out the ages.  And while maybe people turn up their noses at “things women used to do”, I agree with Debbie Stoller’s assessment that those people are anti-feminist.  Just because it’s “women’s work” doesn’t make it bad – we should be proud that our gender developed and honed such an art.  No one makes fun of traditional male activities, like hunting or fishing – in fact, most people are impressed when women pick those up.   So I’m proud and excited to learn a skilled craft that has been passed down through generations of women – and hopefully I’ll soon have some sweaters to show off… Of course, by the time I finish one, it’ll be July, but I’ll be all set for NEXT winter!

In High Refashion

ML and I stopped into the new Urban Outfitters Wednesday night after seeing “For the Bible Tells Me So” at Film Streams.  (I won’t dole out my immense praise of this film, but ML wrote some awesome commentary about the movie - check it out).  Anyways, while perusing the merchandise at UO, it occurred to me that I am sewing and refashioning clothing that looks an awful lot like what they are selling there.  Conclusion:  I must be cool! J  They do have some terrific clothing at that store, but even if I didn’t have 3 months left on my current Wardrobe Refashion pledge, I wouldn’t be spending that kind of money on clothes anymore – though I’d be sorely tempted. J  However, knowing that I can make most of that stuff buoys my spirits…which have been in the mud since I broke a thread on my new serger and haven’t been able to use it after the first t-shirt.  I’m actually wearing that t-shirt right now – and I’ve been able to wear my “own” clothing all week, which is a great feeling.  Oh, this?  I made it.

 

Happy Holidays

I hope you had a very Merry Christmas.  I know I did!  Not only in the “stuff I got” department, but also because I got to see my family and everyone got along.  Of course, Christmas gifts are always fun and I am incredibly happy with my haul this year.  I must have been pretty specific when I was asked what I wanted from Santa, because I can’t think of one “WTF were YOU thinking?” gift…  J  I received several books from my Amazon wish list, mainly sewing and crafting books, but also the Farmer John seasonal cookbook!  Yea!  I also got enough Christmas cash to combine with a Hancock giftcard from the DH to buy a serger last night!  Whoo-hoo!  Merry Christmas to me! 

Giving gifts is always fun too, of course.   I wrapped up 4 calculators for the dog to give to the DH.  Our last calculator finally died, so I picked up a bunch of replacements…it’s fun to watch someone upwrap the same gift over and over and over…  For my mom, in addition to a massage gift certificate, we gave her an ornament from the Statue of Liberty while I was in NYC for the marathon…  It took her a moment of closer inspection to realize where it came from and then her face just lit up – perfect!  My nephew seemed to like the sock monkey I made him…not as much as the paper and ribbons from all his other gifts, but he’s only 8 months old, so what’d’ya do?  I tried to convince my sister’s fiance that the golf course gift certificate we gave him expired at the end of January, but he caught on…eventually. J 

We didn’t give anyone too much – 1 or 2 gifts apiece – but I think we put a lot of thought into each one and that made them more than enough.  For an entirely mall-free Christmas expirience, I think we did quite well…

 

But Christmas has come and gone and it’s now time to focus on the New Year.  Are you making resolutions?  After cleaning out our pantry last night, and trashing about ¾ of my spice rack, I’m going to focus on being less wasteful with food!  I can’t believe how much I threw away…it was quite disgusting…  From now on, I’m not buying it if I don’t have a plan to eat it within the coming two weeks...which should have been my MO this entire time, I know… J

I’m also going to throw myself back into the the workout world – I’ve been slacking and it’s starting to show!  No sense in outgrowing all the clothes I’ve made lately.  I’m also going to push myself to dance everyday.  This was one of my Best Year Yet goals and I did well for about a week…  I love to belly dance, but practicing has never been something I can make a habit of… this is the year that changes!

Since my braces are going on in just under 2 weeks, my other new habit will be brushing and flossing multiple times a day… 

Happy New Year everyone!

 

crunch crunch crunch

I’m eating the BEST apple right now.  It’s a Haralson, a variety I’d never heard of before, but is apparently a great sweet-tart dessert (eating) and pie (baking) apple that grows well in the Midwest.  It’s amazing what you can learn about apples on Wikipedia. J  I got a hankerin’ for fruit last night while at the grocery store, and happened upon a display of apples that said “Midwestern-grow”.  Hmmmm…that’s kind of local…better than Washington…far better than Argentina…  I figured being relatively-local, they probably wouldn’t taste all that great, but I was pleasantly surprised!  I plan to eat all the apples I can handle over the next month – braces will probably remove this particular food from my diet for a while… Mmmm… maybe I’ll make some apple crisp…oops, I’m drooling.

Of course, I’m eating this apple with complete disregard for all the produce-washing directions I learned yesterday in my food safety course.  I took half a day off of work to drive down to Lincoln for this free food safety course that the coop wants all its volunteers to take.  As boring as that sounds, it was absolutely fascinating.  I learned how to kill my family with botulism (feed them garlic-and-oil dressing left out of the fridge for a few days), how not to store raw fish (lower than other raw meats in your fridge – you don’t cook the fish long enough to kill off everything that could drip from other meat), and how much we don’t get off our hansd when we wash them (even thoroughly – eeewww).

The class didn’t take the entire afternoon, but driving back to work seemed like a waste of time – driving there would take longer than I would spend at my desk – so I headed home to finish painting my Reuse Me bags and hang out with the dog…  I also whipped out the “artsy clutch” bag from Amy Karol’s “Bend the Rules Sewing” book – I thought I’d better try one out before attempting perfected version to give my younger cousins as gifts.  It turned out pretty cute – I used the leg of a pair of jeans I cut up for a skirt last week and lined it with the crazy-print I used for a dress over the weekend.  I just need to find a button…and take a photo!

Last night, I met up with ML to see a play.  She suggested “Meet Me in St. Louis”, and because I loved loved loved that movie, I agreed and booked a reservation.  Uh, mistake.  It was not good.  It was at a new theatre for both of us, and as we sat down I got the feeling that we were about 50 years too early for this show.  It must have been Senior Night.  And man, those older folks don’t seem to get the concept of not talking out loud during the entire play.  Not that they could have ruined the show with their old-folk banter – the storey and acting took care of that by itself.  It was a comedy adapted from the musical, sans music and any possible comedic leanings.  As ML said, “So THIS is why people are afraid of community theatre!”  We are just extremely spoiled I guess – this was really the first bad theatre experience I’ve had – the quality of writing and acting at the Shelterbelt, Blue Barn and the other local theatres we frequent sets a pretty high standard…

Tonight should make up for last night’s show – the DH and I are making our annual trek to the Orpheum for The Nutcracker. This time they’re performing the Imperial Nutcracker, a version I haven’t seen before.  I can’t wait!

Looonnggg weekend

I love “observed” holidays. J  Usually because I get the day off of work.  Ah, the 3-day weekend, who doesn’t love that?

Like most of my weekends, this was a busy one.  The DH and I enjoyed the rare occasion of spending the entire time together, and surprisingly he doesn’t seem sick of me…yet.

We started off Friday night by seeing “American Gangster”, an excellent film about Frank Lucas, the man that used American military planes to smuggle heroin into the US during the Vietnam War.  Plenty of action and drama, but like most action and crime movies, it was a little too sexist for me.  There were 3 female roles – the trophy wife, the mother, and the no-speaking-lines woman that ran the drug shop.  But if you don’t focus on that part, it was a good movie! J

Saturday we went to the Nebraska-Kansas State football game.  Wow, it’s a lot more fun to watch football when your team is winning!  J  We stuck around until the Husker had scored 73 points, then headed home to meet the in-laws for dinner and catch the Kurt Cobain documentary “About A Son”.  This film was OK; not spectacular, but I thought it was interesting.  A lot of the people we went with seemed very disappointed, but I thought the way the filmmaker put it together was cool – it was basically just a recording of phone interviews with Kurt Cobain collected over a period of a couple of years before he died, set against a visual backdrop of scenes and video footage of towns in Washington state.  No real action or story, just Kurt talking about his childhood, early adult life, and influences.  He was a sad, strange child who turned into a sad, angry, and pretty damn lazy adult.  Dying was probably the best thing that could have happened to him, at least artistically – his music might not have gotten nearly the recognition and praise if he’d lived.  

After the movie, we headed next door to Slowdown for the Nirvana tribute show – a bunch of local bands performing Nirvana covers.  It was…kinda sucky.  For one thing, each band played one song, and then the next band took 15-20 minutes to set up.  So we really didn’t hear all that much music.  For another thing, it sounded like either none of the bands were very good or they had just never bothered practicing the song they chose.  I’m hoping for the latter, ‘cause most of the bands have decent followings around town and I’d hate to think that many people would support bands with no musical ability.  There were a couple of exceptions, but quality covers were not the rule at this show.

Sunday morning the DH and I drove back downtown to a brunch for Jun Kaneko.  A collection of his work from 2004-07 was on display, so we checked that out while munching on lobster quiche and crème puffs.  Mmm…crème puffs…

After watching football (DH), sewing (me), band rehearsal (DH) and dance practice (me), we met back up and headed to the Waiting Room to see the Meat Puppets.  Now, I only know like 2 Meat Puppets songs, so I wasn’t sure what to expect.  Well, we didn’t hear either of those two songs…and neither of us was too impressed with the songs we didn’t know, so that kinda sucked.  However, the opening band, Ha Ha Tonka, was AMAZING.  Enough so that I picked up their CD, a rare thing for me to do.  The last time I bought a CD at a concert was for Devotcha, whom I still love like no other band.  So, yeah, Ha Ha Tonka was that good!  I can’t wait for them to come back around – we’ll definitely be there for the full set.

Yesterday was a government holiday, so I celebrated by finishing up my BurdaStyle Marie skirt, getting a flu shot, and going for a consultation with my oral-maxillofacial surgeon, Dr. Deva.  Dr. D explained the surgery to me, including the possibility that my insurance will pick up part of the tab.  Cross your fingers!  He said I should be in braces for 9-12 months (probably closer to 12), then have the surgery, then stay in braces for a while longer for “fine-tuning”.  The braces will correct the alignment of my teeth within my arch, and the surgery will match up my bite.  I will need both lower and upper jaw surgery for the best possible results.  I will spend the night in the hospital and then be off of work for 10-14 days…I guess I better start banking my vacation hours now!  But if I get my braces put on in the next month, I could be looking at surgery by next Christmas!  Whoo-hoo!  I want to do this, but I really just want it to be over already! (and I haven’t even started yet…)

So, how’s that for a jam-packed 3-day weekend?  Not bad, not bad at all…

more, more, more

Yes, I am a little bloggin' fiend today, but I skipped the last couple o' days and am now shaking a bit. :) Plus I finally took some pics of my scarf pumpkins and wanted to share. My what? Well, a few days ago, a girl on Wardrobe Refashion shared these little stuffed pumpkins she made from some old shirts and sweater. I thought, hey! I can do that! I took these scarves, purchased years ago at a thrift store...

...and some leftover green velvet, sewed 'em up, and stuffed them with batting from an old comforter the washing machine destroyed, and voila! Pumpkins. Kind of. I've only done these two, 'cause I get easily distracted, but I've still got plenty of fabric and a ton of stuffing, so a few more will appear when I get a spare moment...

I did forget to snap a pic of these awesome army men earrings I bought from the co-op this week. They are so cute! Recycled little green army men toys, made into earrings. Probably not work-appropriate. :) Last night I helped out at the co-op pickup again. Being my second time, I am now a "pro" and got to handle the cash box as well as run orders. I didn't order nearly as much as the first time, but this is a special order period in between the normal monthly orders - I'll buy a lot more in November I'm sure (we're hosting Thanksgiving). I stuck with mainly produce this time - beets, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, mesclan salad mix, and a few summer squash. Ooh, and eggs! I got blue and green Araucana chicken eggs. :)

After the co-op, I met up with ML at an "evils of factory farms" lecture hosted by the Sierra Club and Raven's Haven. A very very informative talk was presented by some very passionate local organic farmers and anti-CAFO activists, and we got to watch this cute little video. I felt a little ill afterwards...I think I am pretty much done with conventially-raised meat, at least at home. We shall see - I didn't do so well with the chocolate...

Nerd or old lady?

I was flipping through the paper and in the Living Section some lady said the “hot new item” this year at the craft fairs would be “pocket scarves”.  Ooh, I though to my self, what’s a pocket scarf???  A quick Google tells me that it’s a knitted or crocheted scarf wrapped loosely around the neck with pockets at the end to keep your hands warm.  My first reaction?  Cool, I can do that!  Second reaction?  How old am I that I’m excited about crochet patterns???

Oh, well, however geeky or old-lady-like it is, scarves are the one thing I can crochet with ease at this point, and this sounds like a quick little project suited for my Saturday road trip to the Husker game. J

 

Crocheting...again

I picked up a copy of Stitch ’N Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker at the library and have been attempting to re-teach myself how to crochet. I used to know how…kind of. My mother showed me how to do a single-stitch well enough to make a bunch of big fluffy scarves. (I gave my now-MIL one for the first Christmas the DH and I were together and she still wears it. I’m not sure if she really loves it or is just that polite…) Anyhow, this time it wasn’t going so well. First I tried the big fluffy yarn that I had in my stash, but I couldn’t discern the individual stitches and therefore couldn’t move past the initial chain. Then I bought some thinner yarn, but it was cheap crap that untwisted itself. Still couldn’t get past that damn chain! After witnessing a *little* tantrum this weekend, my visiting mother grabbed the hook and yarn away from me and finished the first row for me. From there I just practiced some stitches until I was comfortable with them – single, half-double, double, triple, etc. It worked! After my folks left, I unraveled the whole thing and tried, tried again until I mastered the chain-first row process. Then I moved on to some patterns. I got tired of unraveling each piece, so I just started chaining off each one when I wanted to move on to a new pattern. Clockwise from top left: a slightly mussed-up fishnet pattern, a mesh pattern, a combo of puffy stitches, a shell pattern, and a V pattern. Once I’ve done a few more, I think I’ll be ready to move on to something I might actually be able to wear… Thanks for your patience, Mom!

Puffy the Pirate - Arrrrgghhh!

I made my nephew Preston his first Halloween costume last night – he’s going to be “Puffy the Pirate”. (My sister calls him “Puffy Pants”). I think it turn out really cute! Black velvet pants, an eye patch, and a red vest with skull-and-crossbones embroidery. I just hope it fits…

One of THOSE weekends

Exhausted on Monday, as usual.  It was a busy weekend, mostly good, some definitely bad.  My poor baby-dog was still sick on Friday afternoon when I got home.  To add insult to injury, the DH and decided to finish the dog’s haircut (it’s starting to become a two-day project – he squirms and whines too much) then give him a bath.  Then he threw up again.  It quickly became a low-key stay-at-home kind of night, watching movies on the couch and following Ryker around with a towel in case he yacked on anything else.  

My parents showed up later that night and we all woke bright and early to head to a charity fun-run.  Yes, we are one of those silly families that goes to road races for fun! J  This one wasn’t bad – it was the 2-year anniversary of the first race my now-husband/then-new-fiancé had ever done.  Plus my sister and nephew joined us and we got to check out the Lincoln Farmer’s Market.  Wow, what a selection!  Heirloom tomatoes and a rainbow of peppers like you wouldn’t believe; the Old Market FM doesn’t carry this much variety.  It was hard to comparison shop, but I got a great deal on multiple pounds of peaches and nectarines, plus some peppers, onions, an odd cucumber, raspberries, and some ground lamb.  We sampled salsas, fruit butters, fish, root beer, and ostrich meat.  

Saturday night started off good, as we headed out for ML’s birthday party, but ended poorly – the DH and I got into an argument at the bar, effectively ruining any fun I’d been having.  I won’t go into details, but neither of us was happy until the next day…we’ve made up.  As usual, we tried to find the positive aspects of this fight – what things we could use to make our relationship stronger, as well as what NOT to do during a fight!  Oh, well – all’s well that ends well, and hopefully ML is not too grumpy with us for staging the whole thing during her bar crawl… J

Sunday was a bit more relaxed.  I did yard work, finished Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (I highly recommend it!), and worked on a new Wardrobe Refashion project while waiting for ML to come over.  We went out for sushi to celebrate her actual birthday as well as the fact that she passed her Roller Derby skills assessment!  Woo-hoo- way to go! 

 

 

Wardrobe Refashion 2007

Tomorrow begins my 2 month commitment to Wardrobe Refashion 2007, a pledge not to buy any new clothes, but only to refashion “previously loved” items or make clothing myself.  Here is my pledge:

 

The Pledge

I, Ananda Devika, pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 2 / 4 / 6 months. I pledge that i shall refashion, renovate, and recycle preloved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract. I pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovated, recycled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that thy thriftiness brings!

 

Since I’ve been doing this for a little while, this shouldn’t be too much of a challenge – perhaps more of a motivational tactic…

New "Old" Costume

This is my latest finished costume creation. I took it for a test drive at the hafla this week, along with my new solo (which could have used more than 30 minutes of rehearsal!). I was going for an "antique" look, with the lace and pearls. The pink fabric just struck me as being very '20s-'30s. I made a triangle bra top, some ruffles "bloomers" and an apron overskirt. There is also a lace choker, but apparently it decided to get lost in the small room I call my belly dance costume closet (aka the guest room). I'd like to add some pearl details to the coin belt. This is the one time that I'm happy my belt and other gold coin accessories are so tarnished! They fit right in!