I hope September is a major improvement...

Current Mood : Still worried.

               

I SEWED today ! It's crap, I screwed it up from stitch one, and nearly every line of sewing snarled up in some fashion, but it's so finished, it even has closures, and it looks decent from a distance, so amen and halleluiah, it's done. I'm gonna ditch that thread, I think it's cursed (well, it'd been roundly cursed by the time I was done with it !). I also altered a Dollar Tree Barbie knockoff skirt to go with it, so I can claim to have 'created' a whole new outfit. Awesome. 

The pattern, for a shirt and pants, is courtesy of Chryseis85. It came out on Aug 14th, on the MH LiveJournal group, with the pattern on MegaUpload and the directions on LJ on that date. Or you can hit 'download' in the 'Tags' field. I think the group is members only, but they're quite nice there - I've never had any issues that wasn't instantly solved by me thinking past my very centered self ! Here's the link to download - you'll probably have to wait for some BS 'our members don't have to wait to download everything in the Universe' crap, but hey, free pattern ! All the author asks is that you give credit and post any photos of completed items, which I'll do when I'm done here.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=QGYEPIB1

I think that, once you see the pieces, you'll be able to tell how the pattern goes together, it's fairly standard, or you could find similar garments for Barbie and substitute those directions. Haven't tried the pants, but the shirt was fairly easy - hem the sleeves, sew one end of the sleeve to the front, the opposite end to one of the back pieces, then repeat on the other side. Hem (I cheated and cut the pieces using the hem already present in the shirt I recycled) and sew the side seams from underarm to bottom hem, then clip curves, turn right-side out, and add your choice of closures. I cheated again and used recycled Velcro (tm). I also didn't hem the neckline, but I Fray-checked it, and need to apply it again. 

It took me over an hour, with all the ripping out and reworking - it probably would have taken less time and looked better if I'd hand-sewn it from the start. But the important thing was, I did it. It's been months since I made anything, and it took me all day to quit stalling and start already. Guess I had to wait until I was about to panic about my health issues again, and needed a distraction fast ! 

Hmm...wonder how this would work up in a non-stretchy knit...?

Roadside thrills !

Current Mood : Waiting for bedtime, although I doubt I'll sleep...

Wish me luck - I'm hoping the Dr's office will have an appointment available Thursday, Friday, or Monday. If they don't, I may have to find out if DFIL is available for transportation. I'm a little nervous about going - I hate going when I don't feel my best. But maybe that is for the best. I will say that all the water I'm drinking (still haven't gone back to soda) has improved my gravelly complexion. Doubt I'll ever lose the dark circles under my eyes - they may be hereditary - but the rest of my face is about as even-toned as it's ever been, and I'm not breaking out at all. Go figure.

Beloved Hubby also had an unusual event to report - down the street from the house he's working on, he spotted an older but quite intact Oreck upright vacuum in the trash. Now, Beloved has a fair aversion to trash picking, 'curb shopping', Dumpster Diving, urban recycling...it embarrassed him when I did it and he wasn't even in the same county. But our Hoover is once again fritzed, and the Shop Vacs aren't as easy to use...so he looped around and grabbed it.

Here's the funny thing - it works ! It's an older model, but it works just fine, it's not even noisy. Found the owner's manual on Oreck' s website and all. Even the 'headlights' operate ! It needs a new disposable dust bag, of course, and the zipper track on the 'overbag' (?) part is rough and without a pull, but that can be easily fixed. Heck, a girl can buy a whole new 'overbag' for $50. on Amazon.com.

But I'd prefer to imagine getting a whole new vacuum cleaner for free instead !

Other than that, today was a basic 'clean the living room, get everyone bathed' day. Wish me luck with the kitchen tomorrow, I'm gonna go for it as soon as I wake up ! 

Decisions, decisions...how long can I put them off ?

Current Mood : Crabby

Current Image Notes : Here's Crew 2, in the sewing arena, in the box TRU gave me. It's darn near perfect for what I ended up wanting. Love it !

In a bit of a crabster mood, but it's nothing major, and there's no real reason for it - but it did get me off my butt and into my sewing arena. Didn't sew, but  I cleared some space and reshuffled stuff. I finally found a purpose for that Monster High cardboard book display easel TRU gave me the other day...

But first. I cross-posted yesterday's image all over the place. I don't normally do that, but I admit, I'm kind of proud of it. Many of my alterations /customizations involve taking something apart, doing something or other, then putting it back together. Lotsa folks will comment that they like the new look, but it's too complicated for anyone else to mess with. The 'Forbitten Romance' changes involve scissors and a Sharpie, no sewing, no fuss. Anyone with reasonably steady hands could easily do this or something better, so I shared it around. Maybe I gave someone else a new idea - that's the real fun !

I'm always nervous about sharing my alterations, though. You're wide open to folks who aren't always gentle in their critiques, and I tend to be a bit edgy when I think someone's being negative about my efforts. Character flaw #532 ! I got good response, though, mostly to DracuLaura's outfit - most folks like Clawd's ragged collars and plan to keep them and that bandanna. Ain't it great when everyone can be happy ? Everyone was nice, and I appreciate the kind words.

About the same time, someone else was selling her Clawd. Like most of us, she likes the animated character, but feels the doll representation is lacking. I can understand that. We chatted a bit on LiveJournal, and it led me to today's gazing at the plentitude of MH dolls standing, sitting, leaning, propped up, all over my desk - with two more on their way from yesterday's living room photo shoot - and thinking that this wasn't what I wanted when I started out. Like the lovely and thoughtful soon-to-be former Clawd doll owner, I really don't have space for stuff I don't absolutely love.

Yet here I was, with 19 MH dolls - and as far as I could tell, I loved every one of them ! Now, I said when I started out with them, that I just wanted one doll of each character. But that hit the bricks when 'Dawn of the Dance' came out and I was desperate for doll shoes. I bought all three, mostly for new clothes, shoes, and props. What the heck, we had money and I had transportation then... The 'Gloom Beach' dolls followed, and they were cheep in comparison to the Basic and DotD ones - new shoes, too ! Some even had new hands, and I was smitten. Ended up with all five, even though only one was a new character. Just when there seemed to be a glut on the market, I scored a second Ghoulia to customize. No regrets...but did I really need two ? And that led merrily to this weekend, when I snagged a third DLaura to go along with my three Cleos, Clawdeens, and Frankies.

That lady on Hoarders last night, Phyllis with the massive doll and stuffed animal collection, ain't got nothin' on me ! Unless you count her Cabbage Patch dolls... Still, I now have four characters who each have three doll versions. And I'm looking at buying at least three more. (sigh) It's just so ridiculous ! What am I gonna do with four Frankies ?!

Thing is, I really do like each version. With variances in hair and hands and facial styling, each is unique, but...I'm starting to drown in a sea of MH. I'm really at a loss. I'd always intended to sell the new DLaura and any red-glasses Ghoulia I decide to pick up, plus the 'Classroom' three...but the real question is, can I really go through with it, and is anyone really gonna want tube-redressed, no-shoes, no-props dolls ?

It's been on my mind all day, and I still don't have a real solution. For now, though, I got all the MH dolls in one place, and started shuffling. All the first-issue dolls are on my desk. The four guys are lined up in back, the six girls are seated. They're easier to see when they're not lost in an ocean of more. The other girls were relocated to the sewing arena, which meant I'd need to do some quick moving around. Hmm. I could move the doll patterns from the open-air basket to a plastic 80s sewing tote that was holding felt under the desk...yes, that worked. The felt went into a fabric bin, and some other shuffles got more bits out of the way. Finally relocated some mat board - cutaway pieces from the custom framing department that Hobby Lobby sells cheap in baggies - to the photo backdrop drawer in the desk, something I'd been meaning to do.

Now the Gloom Beach and Dawn of the Dance dolls had a place. But I already had a semi-diorama on my desk, one I wanted to keep fluid. Didn't want another I'd never mess with on the sewing desk. So I grabbed the book holder, fitted it into the former pattern basket space, and arranged the dolls inside. Perfect. Now, when I sew for a MH doll, I have plenty of models ready to go. When she gets new clothes, she gets to hang out on my desk, with her 'sister' going into the sewing arena for her chance at new apparel. I think this is gonna work out just fine. I'll have 'new' dolls rotating around frequently - or at least, I will when I start sewing again ! - and I won't keep sewing for the same three dolls over and over.

(sigh) True, this doesn't help me 'cull the herds', so to speak, but it's a start. I'm sure I'll begin to realize which dolls I don't really like to sew for, or don't like the expression on, stuff like that, once I see them 'one on one' instead of a sea of repeating faces.

To cap off a pleasant day's 'labor', I grabbed the ultra-fine markers Beloved bought us a couple months back and touched up Basic DLaura's Fearleader costume. The one I darn near wrecked trying to get the 'stitches' decals off, the same one that made me swear to make my own blasted costumes next time. The waist ribbon is nearly totaled from being in the way of too much scrubbing and rubbing, but a bit of fresh hot-pink helped it look a bit better, and the trusty black Sharpie helped hide that blasted decal residue that never would come off completely. I've had really good luck with a Sharpie this week ! I wonder if they make a white Sharpie - and if it'd work on that ribbon at all. Anything'd be an improvement !

Well. Maybe with these new changes, I'll start to feel eager to begin again. I have plenty of new ideas...

There's always more...

Current Mood : Weirded out.

Kind of in a mood today. Just one of those things. Trying not to take things personal, but...(sigh) Twice in a week, when I've simply voiced my own stupid opinion that Mattel might possibly could handle things a bit better than they seem to be doing - I mean, crap, they're making the same mistakes everyone was screaming about last year all over again -  I've been told to be quiet and be grateful. Once on my own Flickr page, once on the LiveJournal one, and on the LJ, I chimed in my support of an idea presented twice before in the same message, and a few million times everywhere else, yet only my words got stomped on.

And look. I am grateful. After three weeks of insomnia so bad, I get circular lurid nightmares when I do sleep, I still found something positive in the whole mess. When I get down about being broke, I make stuff. I know how bad things can get, I've experienced them fairly recently, so I don't need a buncha people telling me I need to learn gratitude and patience. I wasn't the one buying a $40. toy for $70. so I could have it two weeks early, and I wasn't at TRU when it opened so I could glom on to everything after telling someone else to chill out and wait a while longer. I'm the one practicing all the stuff I get accused of not doing - by the very people who are impatient and impulsive. Yet I'm the one with the issues ?

It's gotten so I'm getting timid of my own opinions again, and that's not good. Since all I can ever do on Barbie boards is complement everyone else's recent buys and just-finished creations - and get ignored when I post - I soon lost interest in Barbie. I'm not sure where all these Mattel apologists are coming from. Is it time for another Consumer Advisory Board selection ? You may have heard of this useless crap - every year or so, Mattel asks for applications to its Barbie Collector Advisory panel, there's an application online and everything. Here's the link to this year's, although deadlines have passed - http://www.barbiecollector.com/news/join-2011-collector-advisory-panel . Non-cheerleaders need not apply. And make sure you can afford to hie yourself to El Segundo for a day. Well, they prefer three - the day of, and the days before and after, just to be on the safe side. Given the 'let your application reflect your passion for Barbie' guideline, do you think they wanna hear anything negative ? Given what keeps getting dished at me this week, evidently the fans can't handle mild criticism of Mattel, either.

(sigh) I can't help but think I've been through this crap before, and the end result was, I withdrew from everything public and let everyone else fight and scrap and be over-invested on their own time and sites. I refused - and still refuse - to let my fun and my dolls be tainted by negative people trying to tell me to be positive their way. Looks like I may have to do that again. What is it about dolls that brings out the posturing child in so many of us...?

Anyway. If yesterday's freebie tank top pattern for Ellowyne was exciting, hold on to your threads, 'cause there's more ! Sometimes, there's actual advantages to subscribing to newsletters - how else would I have found out there were two more Ellowyne patterns, brand-sparkin'-new today, and one of 'em is free, too ? The Trendy Tee on your left is available now, for freebies, and the neat baseball shirt is available for just four bucks. Not bad at all. I think I paid four bucks for each of the three baseball shirts I had like that in high school, except mine were pink or blue sleeved on a white shirt. Possibly worthy of your consideration ! This link will take you right to the Ello patterns, all three of 'em - http://libertyjanepatterns.com/category/ellowyne-patterns  . Two out of three free ain't bad.

I also did some research, and found that there are some differences in Ello and Tyler bodies. Mostly in the head, wow. Ello's got a big one ! I remember seeing a chart of various sixteen-inch doll measurements on eBay for $3. back in the day, which I thought was ridiculous, because I already knew about http://gerrybdesigns.homestead.com/Doll_Measurement_Chart.pdf , which had tons of those measurements, lined up and ready to go for free. Basically, Tyler's bust is about 3/4" bigger, and her waist and hips are a half inch smaller. With stretchy fabrics, and a little generosity in the cutting phase, I can probably still use these. I hope to find out soon !

And yes, I say 'these' because I've already downloaded the trendy t-shirt pattern. Heck, if these work out well, I may just buy that baseball shirt ! Wouldn't it look awesome with some embroidery ? I'm tingling with possibility...

That's something I haven't felt in far too long. Happy Sunday, ya'll.

Freebies ! That's about it.

Current Mood : Yawnnnn....

Kind of a 'blah' day today, too - Beloved Hubby had some morning work to finish up, but he was home before lunch. After that, we mostly sat around or napped. Only Dearest Son seems to not have a running sleep deficit, as Beloved crashed about six hours today, off and on. It's currently bedtime, and he's still asleep from his last nap ! Hope he sleeps all night long. I caught a delightful two hours about mid-afternoon, but I'm yawning hard now.

I'm not really surprised he's tired - we both woke up about 2am this morning, and neither of us could get back under. So we got up, split the remaining potato chips, and goofed around a while, chattering and reading. It was one of the few nice things about this whole business of me being sick. I got a little quiet, private time with my Beloved.

Seems it's just fine that we couldn't go Monster High hunting this weekend - many places still don't have any of the new stuff, and for what I want to see, it's TRU or nobody. With funds being snug, I'd rather wait a week and pay a couple bucks less at Target or Mal-Wart. While it's not like a few folks who now bemoan paying $70.+ for Lagoona's Hydration Station now that it's advertised for $40., it still bugs me to see the 'Dawn of the Dance' dolls at M-W for $20. when I know I paid $25. each at TRU. And, yes, I was happy to pay it, since I finally had them, no regrets, but no need to be stupid about it, either. I already know TRU is almost always the most expensive outlet, unless there's a sale.

Toured craft sites for the first time in weeks. Found a good one - for free images ! I like to have lots of good backgrounds for doll photos, but there's only so many scrapbook papers, calendar pages, small posters, and such you can keep and store, especially when they wrinkle so easily, and are soon damaged beyond reuse, from a single fold in the wrong place. Heck, I got pretty good at pulling up a large wallpaper on my computer monitor and taking a doll's photo next to it - no printouts, no storage issues. I also like to have pretty stuff for photos here, when it's been a month since I made anything. Problem is, most image sites, like iStock and Shutterstock charge by the image, or require subscriptions. Turns out, there's several sites that don't charge at all, and you can even donate your own images ! I may just do that, it'd be good for my withering ego. Check out http://morguefile.com/ when you have time - lots of good stuff, for free !

Also, if you sew for American Girl size dolls, you probably already know about Liberty Jane clothes - http://www.libertyjanepatterns.com - but if not, check 'em out. They have *tons* of free patterns available for download. Fashionable, fun stuff, for AG, BFC, Ink., and Karito Kids sizes. They've also just started Ellowyne pattern sizes - she's a 16-inch Tonner spinoff. Not sure how her size correlates to Tyler / Elphie's, but there's a free tank top pattern...worth a shot ! Knits are forgiving, and I'm sure Fiyero won't mind if it's a bit snug on her...

They also sell patterns, but they're only four bucks. Sure, Simplicity on sale is cheaper, but these look really nice. I got the Ellowyne one already, and it's highly detailed and photographed, much easier to follow than McCalls. Might be worth your time, and it's hard to beat 'free'.

Right now, though, it's hard for me to beat 'sleepy'. Hope your Saturday was what you needed !