Hope Easter Bunnies visited you !

Current Mood : Hmpft. 

In retrospect, it may have been a bad idea to give Dearest Son’s Friend H so many gifts so early.

This afternoon, while fussing with yet another sewing project – I really was trying to shape it, but it came out as more of a struggle again – I kept hearing odd sounds over my MP3 player. Beloved Hubby was enveloped in a paper due tomorrow, Dearest was in his room…was one of the cats yowling and chasing crane flies in our bedroom or something ?

I was really surprised to see several little girls in there, grabbing dolls off the shelves and saying which ones they wanted me to give them, what they already had, on and on. Um…why are they here ? Dearest wasn’t with them, and I didn’t even know two of ‘em.

Turned out, since we had the front door open for the delightful Easter breeze, they’d invited themselves in and beelined it straight for our bedroom and the dolls inside. I hustled everyone out, making sure no one had ‘borrowed’ a doll on the way to the door, but still hearing ‘Can I have ?’ over and over – from kids I’d never seen before ! Friend H had the grace to look a little embarrassed, but she was the one who told them where she’d gotten everything from, and clearly she had led them in.

So I’m pretty ticked. Dearest had no idea his friend was here, so it wasn’t his fault. I know they’re kids, but it kinda bugs me that they just walked right in, then let themselves in a closed room door and started grabbing things that weren’t theirs. I know I’ve taught Dearest that you don’t do what you don’t want done to you – has anyone been teaching this gaggle of girls ? Well, Friend H will no longer be allowed in our rooms, and Dearest will have to play with her outside. I don’t feel I can trust her anymore. Hope she enjoys what she got, ‘cause she sure as all heck ain’t getting anything else from me.

I kinda had attitude all day as a consequence. I ended up working some leftover hand-sewing, since I was already ticked off, and I did some of the best, straightest stitches ever. Go figure. Maybe sewing angrily works better for me when I’m hand sewing.

Joined a FaceBook group urging Mattel to consider improved distribution of Monster High male dolls – Please Improve Availability of Male Monster High Dolls, Mattel . It’s nice to know so many others love the guys, too. It’s widely believed that Gil Webber is already out of distribution, which is bad to hear even as a rumor. He’s an awesome doll ! Yeah, I know these little campaigns hardly ever amount to anything, but even doing a little is vastly better than doing nothing. Besides, I still hate FaceBook, so don’t expect me over there much.

Hope your Easter was a little less invasive ! 

Ghoulia sends her complements !

Current Mood : Loved. 

Hope you had a nice Valentine's Day ! After yesterday, Beloved Hubby was off the hook, I never expect him to do anything for Valentine's. Our anniversary is more important, and I don't need that much chocolate. That's funny. As a teen, I couldn't get enough chocolate, and now I'm nearly indifferent to it. It's a very rare day I get a sudden yearning for it. I'm really into exotic crackers these days. Aldi's has spoiled me rotten. Heck, I'd pay $3. right now for a small box of water crackers. Or a big bag of Goldfish crackers !

Anyway...quiet day today, which I sort of needed. There's a billing problem stemming from my medical issues last September, and today was the first I'd heard of them. So I get to run around and figure out what went wrong, 'cause we don't even have that kinda cash. If we did, we certainly wouldn't be living here ! (grin)

Started reading Thinking Small : The Long, Strange Trip of the VW Beetle that I snagged from the library. Dearest Son still loves VW 'Bugs', and I thought maybe we could read it together. Um, nope. It's very interesting, and I'm enjoying reading how Ferdinand Porsche (yes, that Porsche)  was involved in it's initial design, but I'm really getting tired of reading about Hitler and pre-war Germany. I know they're eternally entwined, but that doesn't mean I really wanna read about how much Adolf loved his mamma. Over several chapters.

I hope your day was fun ! 

Decisions, decisions...

Current Mood : Joyful !

Isn't she *wicked awesome* ?!!1! Beloved Hubby finished her today, on our 14th wedding anniversary. And I fell in love with her all over again. Just like I do with Beloved at least once a day ! She still needs a bit of varnish, but I'm gonna give her a few days to thoroughly dry. Squeeee !

I actually tried to do it m'self. I did OK, but nowhere near as deliciously as Beloved. I could NOT get those darn 'points' on her upper lip to come out even. Guess that's why artists have to slave away for decades, enhancing and practicing their craft. I have no art in me at all !

Well, I have decided. I do want an Operetta doll. In a way, it's Cupid's fault. When I grew to like her permanent lace, Operetta's facial scarring and tattoo sleeve didn't seem to matter as much. Which is rather hilarious, if you know Beloved Hubby. He's a tattoo artist, and is pretty much covered in 'em. I never had a problem with it, although my mother did (or it was a convenient excuse to be hateful, that's a definite possibility). Tattoos or other body ornamentation don't much change what's inside. However, having horns surgically added and thinking splitting a tongue is a good fashion statement probably means some folks will still give you a wide berth anyway. But it's an independent choice, and when ya do stuff you know won't get you acclaim and approval, you kinda choose to run the gauntlet. I just won't be in it. Even with my indolent life, I got other stuff ta do besides point and whisper. Guess I was too much on the receiving end of that to do it to someone else when I know what it feels like.

So. Operetta. Want one. But. I'm going to let this doll come to me. No wild hunts, no eBay trawling, no shipping, nada. If I get one, I will find her on a shelf, and I'll buy her if I have the money. I'm done with the usual crazy stalking time. Besides, there's at least two more Operettas coming out, and you all know I'm buying all four Roller Maze girls ! Not such a big deal, don't care much about the pet or diary on the Basic doll, although I may buy her shoes on eBay. Just ranks when the shoes from a $20. doll cost $10. with nothing else included.

Oh, Beloved's folks got us a cake ! How sweet ! Between my favorite restaurant, Cupid, and cake, I'm half-convinced it's my birthday or something ! 

Happy Martin Luther King Day !

Current Mood : Wondering if there's any more potatoes left...

Song You Forgot : Jacob's Ladder, Huey Lewis & The News

Not gonna lie to ya, I spent most of today asleep. I'd just begun to sew a bit this  morning - more later - when it hit me. Another tummy twister. Slagged through what I was doing, ate some buttered rice with ice water, and went back to bed. Woke a couple hours later and felt better, but it didn't last. Had another scoop of buttered rice, mostly choking it down because if I don't eat when I take certain prescriptions, a 'poor me' tummy ache is gonna be the *least* of my problems, and crashed again.

That was pretty much my day - eat a little, take meds, go back to sleep, wake up to take care of m'self, eat a bit, go back to sleep, several times. I was hoping to hit the library today, but I forgot that it was closed for MLK day. It's not like I was awake much anyway.

But as evening vectored in on final approach, I was awake and feeling back to normal, so I ate some of the potatoes DFIL made for dinner, and didn't pay for it, so I also enjoyed most of the very juicy pork chop. That helped.

Today was another of those 'tired of shuffling this out of the way, let's get it done' days. Earlier, I'd gone rooting through my miniature sewing box - the one I keep in the bedroom for hand-sewing and on the go sewing - and cursed the 'song' skirt and so-80s Barbie jumpsuit I keep in there. You might remember the black 'short in front, long in back = song' effort from last year. Clawdeen modeled it with that strapless Barbie rose print dress I modified. I wasn't happy with how the back closure looked or worked, so it was in the sewing box, and the jumpsuit was slightly damaged. Hmmm...

My back closures have been looking better since I started following NG Creations' pattern directions, so I wondered - I made this skirt half a year before buying those patterns, would her directions work as well on something not of her design ? Had to take out the back seam, but I had good light for it, and a few minutes later, I was bearing it off to KJ, still loaded with that black spool of thread. And the answer is - yes ! I had to tough out sewing the back seam again, since I was getting sicker, but I am now happy with my 'song' skirt. It's no longer in the box.

And when I felt better, I was ready to try it on a doll...but who ? Sad to admit it, but Clawdeen's still wearing the rose-print dress, yet I didn't want to put it on her again. Instead, I reached for Dead Tired DracuLaura, who was wearing the 'Sweet 1600' dress that came with Clawd. You'll be surprised at how good it looks together...tomorrow.

Once I had that done, I wanted to get those markdown Frankie Stein Fearleader outfits I bought me for Christmas 'de-stitchified'. For whatever reason, Mattel loves to make Monster High clothes very character-specific, and what should be a simple cheerleader dress unfortunately got a decal of large blue stitches running across the chest and over the belly. It's unfortunate, because I think they would have sold more if the stitches were gone - some folks I know online probably would have bought one for each MH doll, if not for the stitch decal. But it may have worked out anyway, because a lot of fans bought the three-doll Fearleader TRU exclusive set, mostly to get the no-stitch uniforms and recycle/resell/customize the dolls. 

And while there's several methods out there for ditching the stitches, most of them still leave the residue beneath behind. I darn near ruined the first Fearleader outfit I bought, because I rubbed and scritched the residue so hard, I snagged the nylon and transferred some of the bodice's black to the waist ribbon, because I wasn't paying attention. Still had no idea how to do it better, but I was gonna try one suggestion - rubbing alcohol.

We had a whole bottle of it, too. In storage, in the shed. I kept meaning to go get it, but always forgot. Well, not today. After going for a walk in the park with Dearest Son and Beloved Hubby - and playing at the castle-themed playground with other kids and parents enjoying a springlike January ( ?) - there was just enough evening light for me to get it. Out from under the four boxes that had tipped over and landed on top of it. However, it wasn't light enough for me to avoid a patch of backyard doggie surprise. (sigh) At least I didn't track it through the house.

Couldn't find the cotton balls, so I used fabric scraps, and shielded the MH decal and waist ribbon with masking tape. So the tape wouldn't pull up the decal by itself, I folded a bit of tape over itself, enough to cover the decal, then used more tape to hold it there. Same for the ribbon. Some gentle rubbing and a little scritching with the alcohol-soaked fabric scraps soon had most of the decal and residue off. Gonna let 'em sit overnight, and touch up tomorrow, then add them to the rest of the clothes Wednesday evening.

Glad I gave one of my three to Dearest Son for his Toralei doll at Christmas. I was pretty bored by the time the second one was done ! Tossed out some packages, got some props and new stuff put away, and got the library books together. In case there's time tomorrow !

Tightening up the last loose tails of 2011...

Current Mood : Relaxed

Current Image Notes : Here are the 'Wild Girlz', a set of knockoff MH ghouls from Germany. You'll get an image of one out-of-box tomorrow. Kind of a 'Monster Junior High'-Bratz mashup. 

We had a lovely New Year's Day - hope yours was fun, too ! I wasn't sure if the Deadpool .gif was gonna work, so it was great to learn that it did. I may do that every so often, when I find a fun one !

Did you make any resolutions ? Mine are pretty bad - I promised to start keeping the food diary I should have been doing since November, and to try at least one new thing a week. I've already discovered that, when I hafta write it down, I actually measure food, and eat less of it, and that I can post .gifs. We brought in the new year, all three of us, watching Cars 2  on our bed, snacking and talking. I was also doing a bit of sewing, as I planned. Here's hoping I do a lot more sewing in 2012 !

Oh, and I forgot to tell you. You may remember that TRU was running a promotion - ten percent back on any purchase between November and Christmas eve. I was kind of excited, since we made early holiday purchases for Dearest Son and me, and had ten bucks coming back. Got 'em today. (sigh) And TRU wonders, between their jacked-up prices and ploys like this, why they're having trouble keeping customers. You ready ? Yeah, I got my ten bucks...in the form of a $5. off coupon good 'til Jan 13th, and another good from the 14th to the 28th. What's even more fun is that those 'TRU Bucks' represent purchases made from November to Dec. 12th. Purchases made from the 12th to the 24th will be sent on Jan. 13th...even though the Terms and Conditions I saw didn't mention a split of days like that. So chintzy. So my ten bucks will probably go down the hole, but I should be grateful that they 'gave' me anything. At least that's what someone always says when I whine about anything.

Kinda makes me glad there's not much in the upcoming Monster High lines that I want. I'm curious about the 'guy' Create A Monster sets, but much depends on what they look like. Dearest wants DracuLaura's car, but I still think $31. is rather expensive for an only slightly hopped-up free-wheel Barbie car. Fans are finding the next wave of fashions for Frankie, Cleo, Toralei, and Spectra at Mal-Wart, but again, I'm not interested. I don't know why one of the designers seems to think flame red and turquoise are a great color pairing, they make my eyes hurt when they're close together. I'd probably get Frankie's outfit, but what isn't turquoise and red is black or white...and it makes the red and turquoise stand out more. And I think I finally have enough MH shoes to not wanna spend $8. on an outfit for footwear I'll have to spray-paint. I like Toralei's set, but it's quite a simple outfit to duplicate on my own, and I'm one of those folks who just don't see the sense in open-toed, fold-over ankle boots. Call me fashion backward.

Of the rumored dolls due out next - a basic Jackson Jekyll (with diary), Operetta, Robecca Steam, Rochelle Goyle, and Venus McFlyTrap - I'm beset with, at best,  only mild curiosity. As usual, that may change when the actual dolls hit stores and photos hit the usual channels, but until then, I'm not slavering and restless about it. I think that, by not buying Spectra, I broke the back of the 'Gotta Have 'Em All' compulsion, and it'll be easier to resist again. Plus the simple 'no money' thing will probably follow us for a couple years to come, especially with Beloved Hubby going back to school. I'm so proud of him !

In fact, he wrote this today, and it'll seem fairly familiar to you, if you'd like to read it -  http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/01/02/1050676/-A-Cat,-A-Nurse,-and-The-VA:-how-my-wife-survived-2011?detail=hide  .  You'll also know why I'm so happy he's pursuing his education, and how proud and happy he and Dearest Son make me, every day ! 

Happy 2012 ! Happy New Year !!!

Deadpool loves you !

Girl chat !

Current Mood : Hopeful and reminiscent

McRib Count : 10 (I think I forgot to list a few)

Had a really nice New Year's Eve. Had a nice, hot shower (Beloved Hubby had to fix the bathroom plumbing again), read for a while, played for a while, and finished up the Monster High storage solution. Freed up two 'My Scene' director's chairs I've been meaning to spray-paint to a less pink color, but heck. They look fine with DracuLaura and Ghoulia, so I may leave them as-is. I have the 'name' part of the back turned around, so I might replace the plastic seat and back later. When you put a plastic doll wearing synthetic fabric in a vinyl chair, the slide is almost Teflon-ish.

Found a Herrschner's catalog in the living room, and asked to borrow it. (sigh) I remember getting those in the mail when I was a kid. Once it entered my mother's bedroom, it was gone. Until the next new one came out, then I got the old one to dream over. I loved to dream over all the projects and kits - it was like Hobby Lobby in magazine form.  

I saw one a couple years ago, and sighed over it, too, thinking back to when I used to do all those crafts - hand embroidery, cross-stitch, latch hook. Back then, I was filled with regret that I didn't have time for those arts anymore. Today, I leafed through it, noting that Herrschner's is more into puzzles than gluing sequins to felt calendars, although that particular craft is still represented - but without regrets. Cross stitch and latch hook were fun...when I was a kid. Now, they're tedious, make my hand ache, and nobody knows what to do with the creation when it's complete ! I've given away almost everything I've ever done from those days - and it was kind of hard to justify a $10. kit and weeks of work to give to anyone who might want the thing. Thinking on it now, I'm glad I dropped 'em when I did. If I have endless hours in front of me again - and I hope 2012 is better for me, health-wise ! - then I might get bored enough for cross-stitch again. Thing is, do I have enough people to give stuff away to these days ? (grin)

We went out to dinner in a nearly silent town. We were too early for the partiers, and in the wrong section of town. Then we came back, watched Cars 2  from the RedBox, and relaxed the night away. I had a sewing project ready for a few minutes 'til midnight, for the old superstition 'What you're doing at midnight on New Year's, you'll do all year !'. Here's hoping I sew a lot of doll clothes this next year !

Speaking of superstitions, I can't wait for tomorrow. I get to take down the Christmas decorations ! If I had my way, they'd be down late on the 25th - I'm not big on cluttery holiday stuff - but I've had this dumb superstition as part of my spine from birth. Taking down Christmas decorations before Jan. 01 portends bad luck for the new year...and while I know in every fiber that makes bonus-sized me that it's a silly thing to believe, I am just not willing to take the chance !

Hope you have a really thoughtful and calm evening - see ya next year ! 

Hope yours was happy !

Current Image Notes : This adorable sketch is courtesy of Parareality, with permission. Isn't she cute ? She came with Sweet 1600 Clawd, and made my holidays ! 

I still watch this movie every so often...

Current Mood : Excited !

Turns out, I had my own holiday surprise - my friend mailed Sweet 1600 Clawd even before I had her PayPal address, so I had a package today ! Yippeee ! Thanks so much, Parareality ! Beloved Hubby's asked me to wait 'til Christmas, so I will - but I'm still thrilled !

We got the Lego Black Pearl into our closet successfully, and I still don't think Dearest Son knows. I'm really glad he doesn't read this ! It just occurred to me this morning that, when I was a kid, not only did other kids stay off your lawn, but there were no licensed Lego products. Just Lego brand blocks that didn't come in green (Lego corporate, based in Denmark, didn't want kids making tanks, or concluding that war is kids' play). A hundred bucks worth of Lego would have gotten a kid about ankle-deep in red, white, yellow, and blue bricks.

Seriously. I did the math. Based on the $12.99 for 1047 brick special (shown in the 1972 Sears Christmas catalog on WishbookWeb.com), a hundred bucks would snag you almost eight thousand, one hundred bricks, wheels, and windows - enough to keep the whole family hopping and cursing Lego products for decades. Of course, I'm not keeping the scales parallel - adjusted for inflation, I could probably get enough Lego to get a kid's room knee-deep in bricks, but it's just a bit of a thought exercise.

We did some grocery shopping, too - and the ham is ready for the oven Sunday. Mmmmm ! Hope your plans (and your shopping !) are humming along and have gone well, so you can rest tonight ! 

Avast, ye swabs ! Our son soon sails !

Current Mood : All giddy !

Squee ! So happy. Beloved Hubby got a bit of a holiday bonus, so we bought Dearest Son something he's wanted soo much, and he has no clue we got it. It was expensive, but I shopped around a bit and found it a little cheaper....I'm so excited ! I was worried about him having not much of a Christmas, but this big bombshell should thrill him big-time. It wasn't even on his wish list, but he's been talking about it for the last week and a half.

So he's getting...the Lego Pirates of the Caribbean "Black Pearl" ! He's been all, 'I don't want it, it's too expensive' ever since he saw it, and I have to say, when I saw TRU's price ($120.), I didn't tell him, "Hope anyway". Found it for twenny bucks less at Mal-Wart's website, and arranged an in-store pickup. He's gonna love it - it comes with six mini-figures, including a Captain Jack Sparrow !

And I'll be able to send fundage to my friend for Sweet 1600 Clawde Wolf anytime - yippee ! We even got something Beloved Hubby's been needing, so holidays are pretty much 'wrapped up' around here. I'm thinking of making everyone my silly slippers, just because. Even though we've agreed to no gift exchanges, I already have enough of everything to make slippers...long as no one minds that they're all the same color.

Speaking of Mal-Wart, somewhere in New Jersey...Wardah Ahmar found the Monster High "Cupid" doll in one. I wasn't much interested until I read her bio and saw the box art. (sigh) Darn you, Mattel ! (shakes fist at uncaring sky) The new owner did a very shaky video I couldn't watch, and also posted a photo of the box back and the usual 'Freaky Flaw', 'Monster Parent' and 'BFF' list that's been part of every MH doll. Nice how they dodged her not having a pet - the list says she can't pick just one !

One thing - if I decide to get Cupid, it probably won't be from TRU. Can you believe they upped the price on the Sweet 1600 dolls...again ?! This is not a repeat from last Friday, they raised the price once more. From $28. when they first posted 'em on the site - but didn't have 'em in stock for another month or so - to $35. today. Just two or three bucks at a time, and they seem to be the only store with any availability at all. Ended up at two Mal-Warts today, and at one, I got to see an upset mom pick through the MH section, telling whoever was on the other end of her phone that all they had were art sketch books, and it was nearly true. Under some dress-up sets and two wigs, I found DracuLaura's 'newspaper' club outfit ! I just kind of shrugged, but Beloved reached over my shoulder and snagged it. Guess what I'm getting for Christmas ? Wheee !

I'd show you what it looks like on a doll, but Beloved says I gotta wait 'til Christmas ! Grinch ! (grin)

When did TRU stand for 'Ticked Are You' ?

Current Mood : Retaining 'ticked off' from the other day.

Current Image Notes : This is the free e-card offerred by Dover Publications this week. They also have a free weekly 'sampler' of images from their books. At least once a month, I snag something good - you can sign up at http://www.doverpublications.com/ds014/index.html?s1=Dover-Yahoo%20Store&s2=Nav%20Bar%20Text%20Link&s5=sampler4 , too, if you're curious.

Wow. I may have to rein in my interest in Sweet 1600 Clawd Wolf - I just checked for inventory at TRU's website, and discovered he's now $32.99 ! And here I was, thinking $29.99 was ridiculous, and $27. had been a bit much, especially for just one doll. We're used to getting two at that price ! I'm either just gonna say 'forget this', or either find a cheaper one, at Mal-Wart (about $20., I've been told) or at Justice with their now-'til-Christmas-Eve '40% off the whole store' sale. All else fails, about mid-January, I get a $10. rebate from TRU, and might use it, if I can find him then.

Anyway...not a big exciting day. As promised, it was Laundry day, with all the excitement that normally comes with it. At least we now have clean socks and sheets ! Just have a little more to put away, and it's all done for another week or so.

I also reboiled Dead Tired DracuLaura's hair, since her bangs sprung back up sometime in the last few days. Might have been during all the handling while I was installing her new hand. Dearest Son said she looks very nice with two hands, and he hopes she isn't sad anymore. My getting-so-big sweetie... Anyway, I should have a new photo of her tomorrow. Don't wanna take off her rubber bands until her hair's completely dry this time.

Other than that, it was another quiet day. Beloved Hubby's nearly done with his client's doll beds, and they look great. They get delivered Monday. I have a couple of surveys to do - yaay ! Six bucks ! - so I'm happy.

Hope you had a happy Friday, too ! 

Darn cats !

Current Mood : Fat & Festive

Whew ! All caught up. And when there's a day I can do that, you can rest assured I didn't do much else. Sorry to run so late. I write, every day, but sometimes I simply don't have the energy or the light to take a good picture. And in a blink, a week has gone by. I'm sure ya'll know what I'm blathering on about.

So it was a sort of boring day, but I spent a ridiculous amount of time admiring that image of DracuLaura in the tree. It's nothing special, even I know that, but I was really happy with how well the image and the dress worked out. Dearest Son thought it was funny, a doll in a Christmas tree, so he posed his Toralei in the branches when I was done, and took pictures of his own. I started to remember all the fights through all the years involving cats and Christmas trees, so, today's image. I put up one without words on Flickr, if you're interested.

Speaking of the dress, I wrote Nancy (of NG Creations, the pattern designer) to tell her how much I loved sewing it and I hoped to see more Monster High designs from her soon. She already does patterns for most dolls out there, from Barbie to Crissy to Dora the Explorer. She wrote back - how kind ! - to tell me she's working on another set that should be out before Christmas. Also, she has a couple of guy models now, so I should keep my eyes open for upcoming patterns for the dudes as well. Her Grand-daughter is enamored of MH, and sketches what she wants, and Nancy makes the patterns from there. Isn't that adorable ? She wants a wedding set next...

Speaking of my guy, he got a gift from his Grand-dad today. He's been wanting a DVD player for his room, so he won't have to keep borrowing the living room one whenever he wants to see a library-borrowed Bakugan episode. DFIL had an older combo DVD/VCR device, that just needed a good cleaning - which he took care of today. So now, Dearest has his DVD player, and a working VHS player, too. Which is good, because Friday, his computer's video card went belly-up, and we haven't been able to fix it yet. (sigh)

I'm hoping to sew again tonight, probably a slight alteration to the dress I made yesterday, since I enjoyed it so much. I'm thinking of adding length, since short skirts and long sleeves always seem unbalanced to me, although DracuLaura's looks fine. Ya'll know me, I'm not happy unless I'm altering things to suit my own twisted nature ! 

So. Much. Fun !!!!

Current Mood : Christmassy. 

Got to sew today ! It took me longer to get ready to sew than it did for me to actually sew something new - half my sewing resources were unreachable under an avalanche of family papers, assorted tools, old freebie newspapers, and recent purchase debris. And I needed to scan my latest pattern acquisition, a set from the talented Nancy, of NG Creations, for the Monster High ghouls.

I tell ya, I love non-commercial patterns. Took me less than a half hour to scan the whole thing, including a freebie dress pattern you're already seeing more of ! Didn't have to iron or erase stray marks, it was scan a page, then scan the next page. So easy...

The dress pattern was easy, too. You can make it lined or unlined, and I went for unlined. I wanted something simple but fun, a design I could complete in one sitting. And this was it ! I'm looking forward to trying the rest of the patterns, and of course, you'll see 'em here. Directions were clear, diagrams explained any fine points that might escape a new sewist, patterns were simple to cut out, especially with a rotary cutter. I confess, though, that I traced the tiny neckline with a pen on the reverse side, and cut it out with scissors. Slow and easy, and the neckline was done, and it was the hardest part. Took maybe a half hour, start to finish. Not counting the cleaning.

If you'd like to see what I got, or want a set for yourself, look for seller "lovespaints" on eBay, or "NG Creations" on Google. Either will take you to the pattern creator's available auctions - and she's having a 15% off sale for the next few days.

Of course, I'd barely started sewing when Beloved Hubby came in from cleaning out the Diesel-truck, bearing a familiar shape. Yup, minutes after breaking in my new cutting surface, Beloved found my old one. It was muddy and slightly curling from its inexplicable time in the bed of the truck. I have no idea how it got back there, unless it slid out from a box during the move. It's been cleaned and placed between our mattress and box springs, where I hope it'll flatten back out soon. Even though I have a brand-new one, I still want my old one !

I also want to play with the simple dress design. Ya'll know me, if I can make it successfully, I'll then alter the neckline, futz with the sleeves, change the hemline, attempt darts, consider elastic, add trim...I could easily make one of these dresses for each MH ghoul character - or even each doll ! - and not have two alike. Shoot, I could do that just with fabrics ! Even though I'm simply not a huge 'Christmas' person, I've managed to accrue dozens of holiday fabrics.

I've been in a Christmas kinda mood all day today, as you can tell from DracuLaura's new dress. It's been really cold, with almost a hint of snow in the wind, the kind of weather that makes coffee smell extra-appealing. I also got tired of shifting our three-foot fiber optic Christmas tree out of the way, and realized I had no idea if it still worked or not. We'd gotten it super-cheap, then found another in a house we rented. Gave one away after a while, and never used ours. Had to break seals to get to the power cord. Works perfectly ! Dearest Son is entranced.

So I ended up finding a place for it - it helps that it's small - and arranging the branches so they weren't all squashed together anymore. It really is cute. Dearest is all happy, since we've never put a tree up this early before. Even though there's not much to go under it, and probably won't be much more when the 25th rolls around, it's still a pretty, shiny thing, and I think we needed one.

Happy Halloween, Everybody !

Current Mood : Happily exhausted

Whew, what a day. I'm glad it went so well, but I'm also kinda glad Halloween's over. I was really bad and put off Dearest Son's costume off until today, and as usual, drove m'self crazy with it.

One of the gifts of autism - and Asperger's Syndrome, which he has - is an unwavering devotion to one often obscure-to-the-rest-of-your-age-group thing. And the devotion is absolute...until something else catches his eye. Sometimes we've been lucky, and it's been a timely, mainstream thing, like Cars or Thomas the Tank Engine. Most of the time, though, it's been stuff like Hammy the Hamster - popular, but still not widely known. Lately, he's been devoted to Tom and Jerry, the classic cartoon cat-and-mouse series. Not that obscure, but try finding a Tom costume from Tom and Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes at Mal-Wart ! Can't be done. But that's one of the great things about mammas who sew and daddies that paint. We can create almost anything !

Still, a 'Tom' cat in a tuxedo was a bit of a challenge. Started out, as usual, with a good, new pair of sweats - pants and shirt - in a good-enough version of Tom grey. We lucked out yesterday, and found a black karate 'gi' jacket at the thrift store, perfect size. It'd make a great tuxedo coat. I'd decided to sew two red hemmed 'vest' shapes to a white t-shirt for a waistcoat, and find a big gold button from my hoard. He already had a bow tie, but it would have been easy to make.

The cat ears were a bit of a challenge, since I couldn't find my pipe cleaners. I'd planned on those supporting the grey t-shirt scavenged ear triangles from within. Luckily, I had a tube of stiff (darn near hard !) pellon interfacing from sewing projects and embroidery efforts, and I knew where that was. Right under my feet in the Sewing / Computer arena ! Swapped the t-shirt fabric for some shiny grey fabric, and sewed it to the pellon triangles, then sewed the triangles to elastic for a headband. A simple white-capped tube of the same fabric - no interfacing - made a decent Tom tail, tacked to the gi jacket. He loved it ! And that's all that mattered. Beloved Hubby was happy to take him on the rounds, I had to stay home, since I couldn't walk as far as my guys could, and I didn't want to reign in the fun too early.

I'm glad I stayed - he proudly fetched a big bag of candy home ! It was a colander-filling haul ! He's limiting himself to just a few pieces tonight, saying he wants it to last a long time. He was so happy, and so was Beloved. That made my night !

Although going for a shorter walk with Beloved an hour later was nice ! Two houses a block away were awesomely decorated, and after hearing my guys both talk about them, I wanted to see. So we got the air tank ready, and off we went ! Whoever howls about Halloween being a money-grab didn't see our neighborhood, that's fer sure. Numerous houses were festive, without being bank-breaking. One house had a big TV aimed to the porch, detailing a UFO landing. The homeowners would jump out of the hedges, dressed as aliens, for a neat scare ! Of course, that house was so popular, they didn't spent much time in the greenery - and it was fun for the kids to get candy from aliens. They kept the theme with weird candy, too.

So I had a nice Halloween. Hope yours was thrilling, without being scary !