A couple quick pics of the finished costumes. Fun was had, which should be obvious in the pictures. Fun will be had soon, as well, since we are off to another faire and this time, dressed as fairies...complete with wings.

Every year, my mom gets me to make stuff for her coworkers. Some years it's little goody bags, other years its flower pens. This year, it's afghans.

This first afghan is a lovely ripple made out of Hobby Lobby's "I Love this yarn". I really do like this yarn, it's thick and soft and just all around snuggly. I used a huge hook - J - for this and a very loose stitch, making an already soft yarn that much softer.



This second afghan I made twice, for a pair of friends. It is even brighter in real life. The red and green yarn have gold metallic thread wrapped around it for that extra sparkle. It's really a huge granny square with alternating rows. I cheated a bit. I didn't want to constantly be starting and stopping the yarn, so I changed yarn at every other corner, leaving a long ball to deal with, but better - to my mind - than constantly stopping and starting and leaving hard knots at every row. I rolled the skeins into balls and kept the balls in bowls so they wouldn't get loose and run around the floor. My cats would have enjoyed that, but I didn't want to deal with the chaos.



This is this pattern: Square Motif shawl except yellow obviously. :) I'm a sucker for shawls and this motif is similar to a quilt block, which is just up my alley.



Speaking of quilt blocks, one of my all-time favorite patterns is the Log Cabin, partly because of the variety of designs but mostly, I think, because of the simplicity of the square that can create such a complexity of design. This is my first attempt at a log cabin pattern using granny squares. It's not quite 'right' but it's close and with a couple more tries, I'm sure I can get it figured out.



And finally, a shawl based on this design: spring has sprung. It's a beautiful pattern and easy to make. I used double strand Aunt Lydia's and I had a lot of fun with the fringe. :) I like fringe. Unlike the yellow shawl, this one is more for looks than warmth, but come spring it will be nice for evenings when it's a nit chilly but not chilly enough for a jacket.

Finished costumes

Well, not entirely finished. I still have to hem the chemise and fix a couple goofs on my bodice and trim all the loose threads and add those last touches, but for all intents of purposes, three weeks ahead of schedule (because usually I leave this up until the last day) I have finished these costumes. :) Go Me. (okay, except for my friend's snoods, but those barely take an afternoon, so golly, I'm not real worried.)

After seeing the dark blue dress on my friend, it was very clear that while the sleeves fit my friend to a T, the dark color did not, so I sacrificed this fabric to the cause. :) I've had it for a couple years and was searching for the perfect pattern and well...this was the perfect pattern. Literally. I had like half a yard left.

I shortened both the dress itself and the sleeves so my friend won't be tripping/struggling with it so much, but those sleeves are still long enough to use as weapons, which my friend is likely to do if she gets bored. Since eyelets are anathema (hate them with a virulent passion bordering on mania) I went with cabone rings sewn on the inside of the fabric. Not period, but much nicer looking than eyelets and more secure than hooks and eyes. The sleeves are tied on, which is a look I like.



This is the second bodice and it's even busier in person. This photo actually tones it down a bit, which is a pity. I will be wearing harem trousers under this bodice, just like the first, because when you get right down to it, I want to be as comfortable as possible and it doesn't get much more comfortable than this.

I tried to line this bodice, but finally gave up after the lining (the same as the pants and shirt) slithered out of my grasp for the ump-teenth time. I'm only wearing it for a day, I don't think anyone will stone me because I didn't line it. I did get a bit creative with the binding, however. I took the scraps from the petals (the skirt) and made the binding myself, then sewed it around the edges. I think it gives it a nice look. Also, if I had to do it again, I would not use quite so many petals on this bodice. I about cried before finally getting them on there.




And finally, the chemise I am making for my friend. She sent me the measurements, but one of us is obviously confused because, while my friend is nearly a head taller than me and I am easily 100+ pounds heavier than her, this chemise is still entirely too big. I love the sleeves though, you could hide a small dog in them.

The fabric is great. It's a very very lightweight brushed suede, nearly as light and soft as cotton, with a gorgeous flower motif. Thankfully, I have enough left over to make something for myself. :)

Texas Renaissance Fest

Two friends and I are going to Texas Renaissance Fest this October, something I have wanted to do for several years now. Of course, it's not really a Ren Fair unless you go in costume. (It's also not a real Ren Fair if your costume is accurate. The point is to have fun, after all, otherwise we would all have to go in dirt and bad teeth and religious intolerance.)



Yes, this is me, I hate having my picture taken, but I'm very pleased with this costume so I compromised. The bodice is boned - which is more comfortable than I had thought it would be - and the ruffle is from the same pattern as the bodice. They are not real visible, but I am wearing loose harem trousers under the bodice and as soon as I finish, a flop hat over my hair. Not real big on 'female' garb, lol. I am also making a second costume with this same pattern in purple and gold.

And this is a side view. My ego demands I try not to advertise the size of my butt but I prefer pants and try to avoid skirts, so attaching the petals to the bodice is a compromise. :)







One of my friends and doesn't she look happy? She likes bright colors and she says that we will not have any problem keeping track of her in this outfit. The bodice and skirt are from the same pattern as my costume, but I obviously stuck closer to the instructions for hers. I did change one thing - I took off one layer of the 'petals' because whoever wrote this pattern had to be close to 6'. My friend and are I both a little over 5' and with only two rows of 'petals', the skirt is too long and I had to reduce the length of the skirt by about a third.



My friend in her second costume. Not clear from this photo, but the sleeves are incredible, the best part of the entire costume. This one isn't quite finished, I need to add some trim down the front and around the sleeves. They are so long I am going to have to put some loops on the chemise underneath to keep the sleeves from falling constantly over my friend's hands.



This is another costume made for a much taller woman. When I wore it I had to pin the front panels up a bit to keep from stepping on them - I can't say how thankful I am to be living in the early 21st century - and it dragged on the ground behind me. Since we are going to be at a Ren Fair, my friend decided she didn't want it any sort of train, so I will be cutting nearly a foot of fabric off the bottom of the dress.

My eyes, my eyes!

Back with some new quilts and I seem to have OD'd on the bright colors this time. The pictures do not do some of these colors justice, let me tell you!

First, an afghan I call "Paths". I took a trad quilt block and...moved it around a bit. The green and purple really pop against the bright pink and though it's not real obvious, a bit of varigated red.





This second one is also a quilt block I rearranged a bit, taking this and that and coming up with this little beauty. I call it Spring Flowers after the lovely wildflowers we get here in North Central Texas every spring.



This one is for the daughter of a friend. She is turning 2 in a couple weeks and needs a 'grown-up' blanket. I made her a little baby blanket when she was born and she has just about outgrown it. This is a very simple, but pretty, combination of two similar quilt blocks. So, for my friend's daughter, this is called Skylar.



I love sampler quilts, but I think I might have gone too far with this one. It's a bit...busy. :) That's okay, I'll keep it for myself. I'm also working on another sampler, but it's a lot 'calmer' than this one.




And, because I can do stuff other than crochet afghans, some beaded necklaces. School will be starting soon and I always like having new school supplies. I can't claim any great ingenuity for these, I bought strings of already strung beads and simply put them on new strings, added focal points and clasps. I think they came out nicely, though. :)

Beading with a purse tossed in for measure

This is my second attempt at bead-looming a large piece and I am ticked pink about it. This was based on a cross stitch pattern of a celtic knot, 60 beads wide by 60 beads long, using 'frosted' beads as opposed to clear or 'light' beads. I think the frosted nature of the beads adds to the mystique of the celtic knot and the colors just rock out.



A couple necklaces I beaded. The cameo on the right came about because I broke the chain it came with. Oops.



This necklace (used with beads I had left over from the head pieces, see below, is based on the pattern found at the Anti-Craft website. They call it the Henry VIII necklace, I call it my Mardi Gras necklace because of the colors: gold, purple and green.

Henry VIII necklace



Ah, the headpieces. I went round and round with these fool things, but finally came up with designs that I really like. I'm giving them to my friends as gifts for Mid-summer. The pieces are based on a story I am writing about them, where they appear as elves.



My friend - the elf who is getting the green head piece - emailed me a while back asking for a small purse, one big enough to carry the essentials - cell phone, wallet - and could be worn across her chest. She has a thing for frogs, hence the charm on the flap.

It's been a while

So many things have happened in the last few months, it's almost overwhelming. I did a lot of crafting over the winter months, mostly because crafts were about the only stable thing in a world gone strange and I needed something to hold on to, just as we all did. Now, fingers crossed, maybe things can start getting better. Here's hoping.

These are only the most recent of my finished projects, there are several that have already gone on to their respective homes.



Tea Roses is still one of my favorite quilt blocks and this version: black, bright green, bright blue and bright pink, is just nifty. I'm really pleased with the way this one came out and the way the colors just pop against the black. Definitely need to find another pattern to use this color combination on.



My first attempt at a bargello quilt and I'm really pleased. The cutting, sewing and quilting were the easy part - though all three were a bit tedious. It as the picking of the fabric that scared me. I tend to go with 'oh pretty!' and while that works for most things, when it comes to bargello quilts, the fabric has to 'blend' and I rarely have the patience for that.

One day I realized there was never going to be a 'good' day, so I just needed to do it. The clerks thought I was a bit odd because I would pick out three or four fabrics, get them cut, then come back later with a handful more until I had as many as I needed. However, I knew full well that I needed to 'take the plunge' and get to a point where I couldn't get frustrated and back out. Once that first piece had been cut, I was committed.



This necklace went through several versions before I finally figured out how to make it. I started with the pearl circles, the pendant and the seed beads (the silvery bits between the pearl circles). My original idea didn't work, so I tried something else. That didn't look so good, so I went scrubbing through my stash to find something - anything - to go with what I already had and came up with the obsidian chips (inside the pearl cirlces) and pearls (the dangles). It still took a couple tries before I found the right combo, but finally, I found a happy medium between what I could make and what I could imagine.



This is going to be part of my 'pirate' costume for an upcoming Ren Faire. It's simple, but there is something appealing about the simplicity. All I did was thread wooden beads onto hemp cord and tie knots to keep them from sliding together.



I found this really cool bead loom on Ebay. It's over a foot wide, a couple feet long, can be set at an incline and once it is threaded, the base thread stays nice and firm, making beading an absolute joy. Now, if I had only ordered enough beads the first time around....

My friends don't know it yet, but they are all getting beaded sun catchers for Midsummer and beaded wall-hangings for Winter Solstice.