more halloween goodness!

before i move on to catching up on craftyness, i wannted to post a few more pictures from saturday night.

there were shrines set up all through the parade route, but since we didn't follow that, i missed them. however, i DID get to see the shrines to lost things in the park! sadly, there was a ledge right in front of them that people kept sitting on, and i hadn't quite figured out my new camera, so the pics aren't all that great. but you can still get the idea of how awesome they were!






this one was set up in the children's water play area in the park, where the ground is all rolly, (i just made up a word!), which was perfect for the skeleton swans!













as you can see, some were better than others, but the thought behind all of them was fabulous! there was also a shrine to lost languages, and unfortunately i missed that one.

they also had chloroplast bird silhouettes in all the trees. i loved that!


there was also a lot of projection art onto big sheets throughout the park, and fire dancers performing, but i missed most of that. i think if i go next year, i'd like to go earlier to see the shrines and stuff before the crowds get too huge, because it was kind of overwhelming!

i did get to see some really fabulous costumes though!

the yipyips! i spent way too much time on monday morning watching old sesame street clips on youtube thanks to this costume!


there were lots of robots wandering around!


this cupcake costume was AMAZING!


and this one was just ridiculously cute! i was so sad that i didn't get a clear picture!

happy halloween!!

dearest blog,

i know, i know, i've been neglecting you TERRIBLY! i can't seem to master the art of crafting AND blogging, and the last few weeks have been full of crafting, to the point of ridiculousness. i have so much to catch up, atcs sent and received, altoid tins sent and received, and a jar of whimsies sent and received.

but first i'll show you what was occupying all my waking hours the last week or so....




i made a halloween costume! as much as i love halloween, i haven't done anything for it the last couple of years, i just wasn't up to it, and i haven't made a halloween costume in even longer. i'm quite proud of myself!












i made everything except the shoes (which are from no sweat)! the hoodie, the skirt, the pinafore, the crinoline, the bloomers, and the tights. the hoodie and skirt are fleece, made out of a queen sized fleece blanket that i purchased for $20 (SO MUCH cheaper than fabric by the yard), the pinafore was made out of exactly 1 metre of fleece (i have two teensy strips left) that i purchased after searching my stash for anything purple and coming up empty handed, the crinoline is made out of a pink sheer from my stash, and purple lacey curtain fabric i found at the thrift store on thursday, the bloomers are 1 yard of flannelette that i bought to make baby bibs out of, and the tights are a 4way stretch cotton/spandex blend that i bought for this purpose. the big goals of this costume were that it had to be WARM, since i was wearing it to the Parade of Lost Souls, which is an outside event, and that i really really didn't want to go into vancouver to get any of the supplies! and it had to be pink and purple - i made the wig several years ago, and i think i've worn it once, so i needed another excuse!

the hoodie is based on my basic hoodie pattern, with the sleeves altered, the skirt is an almost circle skirt, made using this awesome skirt pattern calculator, the pinafore and crinoline were made up as i went along, and the tights are my basic tight pattern that i developed several years ago, but apparently i've never posted pics of my tights before!

i did the gathering on the hoodie and the skirt by hand, and then decided that it was totally ridiculous, i needed to use a ruffler foot, especially considering that i was running out of time to get the costume finished, and the crinoline would need A LOT of ruffling! i knew i had one that a coworker had passed on to me, so i hauled it out, only to discover that it was for a high shank machine. ugh. so into the crawlspace i went (did i mention this was at 1 am?), and checked all of the machines i have stored under there, and found ONE high shank machine. i have 9 or 10 sewing machines, and only ONE of them is high shank. so i hauled it into the studio, cleaned it off, opened up the bobbin case.... and realized it takes some strange shaped bobbin, very low and wide, which i didn't have. argh! i sent my sister a frantic e-mail asking her to call me the next morning. at 7:15 the next morning my phone rang, yes, she had a low shank ruffler foot, it was 60 or 70 years old, an accessory for her singer featherweight, but it should work. so i hauled my butt over to her apartment at 8am, right in the middle of morning rushhour.

i came home, and huraay, it fit! i gathered up the ruffle for the pinafore, and it was great. and then i started on the crinoline. urgh. my needle kept breaking, it was making bad sounds... so i called around, and it was determined that i really should have been using an actual brother brand ruffler foot, and that continuing to use the singer foot, even if i could get the needle to stop breaking, might throw my machine out of alignment, which i definitely didn't want! so off i went to the brother dealer, and came home with less room on my visa card, and a new ruffler foot. damn, this thing is so cool! there are a few tricks to using it, and i'll post about them later, but overall, very damn cool!

i finished the pinafore, crinoline and tights on friday, and cut out the purse and the bloomers. saturday morning i slept, then got up and finished the bloomers and the purse, and decided to add pockets to the pinafore to hold my camera and stuff, so did those as well. i finished the costume, including hand sewing the buttons on, by about 2:30, and i didn't even have to leave the house until 5! i was quite impressed with myself, actually.

and it worked wonderfully. it was a really great night, just a little bit brisk, my face was a little cool, but the rest of me was cozy warm! and i love the sensation of being warm while my face is cool - it reminds me of being a little kid!

things i love thursday

it's thursday, and i remembered this time!

last week i remembered on tuesday, and then again on sunday. oops.

so! things i love thursday! on time!

* embossing powder. once i post the halloween atcs i made, you'll see how obsessed i've been! it's just so frigging cool! it's like magic!

* having a cutting table again! i think i mentioned the leak in my storage shed in august? all of the wet boxes got hauled inside and dumped on a tarp in the middle of our dining room, and my sister and i (mostly i, since it was mostly my stuff) sorted through everything and put it all into rubbermaid tubs. however, since i can't carry anything, the tubs have been sitting in the dining room ever since, waiting for someone else to carry them back out, and the table was covered in treasures we found while sorting. monday was thanksgiving, and i was determined that we should sit at a table like a family, so i busted my butt pushing the tubs around, and made enough space to pull the table out and clear it. wahoo, i have a table!!

* thanksgiving dinner!! mmm, stuffing. i LOVE stuffing, and none of that fancy shit stuffing. bread, spices, an egg to help hold it together, celery. it's the food of gods!

* having time to craft what i want! i finally finished up and sent for the altoid tin swap, for the jar of whimsies swap, and for the halloween atc swap, and it feels so good! i was really excited about the swaps, and honestly i still am, but EVERYTHING i worked on for the last few weeks has been an epic saga! the two big ones have been received, so i'll post pics soon, and you'll see what i mean.

* on the same note, time to blog again! i didn't realize how behind i was until i started catching up! it'll take me a little while i think.

* llamas. yes, llamas! i drive by a field at least 4 times a week that has sheep and 4 llamas in it (3 adults and 1 baby now. i remember when it was 2 adults and 1 baby, but it grew!) they're the funniest looking animals, their butts make me giggle every time, they look like they're wearing jodhpurs!

* kitties. we've got 5, which is about 1 too many, but we love them to pieces anyways. i have two that spend their days in my part of the house, the non-outside cats (my sofie baby, and my sister's cat, who we recently adopted), and then at night we close the cat door and let mine out to fight with the other three. i adore cats, and i don't really trust people who don't... i say that jokingly, but honestly, i realized the last two people i dated were dog lovers, which might be a sign! i can't imagine not having cats.

* crosstitch. i don't know where this obsession came from, but lately i've been REALLY into crosstitch! it's incredibly time consuming, and i'm surprised i like it, considering the amount of counting required, but i do!

* my mom. my mom's a really amazing person, but lately i've been even more proud of her than i usually am. she's a writer, though she hasn't done much writing just for herself in recent years, and during the summer she finally wrote down one of the ideas in her head, and came up with a one act play. one of the theatre groups she's involved with decided to put it on, and last friday they performed it. it was incredible, and i'm so proud of her. this weekend they're taking it to be performed at a provincial one act festival!

halloween ridiculousness!

obviously my goal to post daily, or even more regularly, was pretty much shot last week. it was a pretty ridiculous week, honestly. a whole bunch of family stuff, a whole bunch of my own paperwork and stuff, and what little crafting i managed was all for swaps, so secret, and none of it worked out anyway! (i'll post pics of my attempts once the package is received!) i had very little blog time, and i'm all behind on following blogs as well, so i couldn't even post fun links!

but i thought i'd post very vaguely about what i've been working with. halloween goodies!! i'm doing the trick or treat altoid tin swap, and the jar of whimsies swap, which isn't necessarily halloween, but since my partner is kittykill, of course it is somewhat! and signups ended for the halloween atc swap, so i need to get those finished and sent out.

i wanted to gather up all my halloween supplies and put them all in one place to help inspire me for these swaps. it turned out to be scarier than i was expecting!



this picture is pretty small, so click on it to see it bigger. this is my halloween stash. pretty ridiculous, huh? paper, chipboard, stickers, transfers, stamps, ribbons, brads, more and more stamps, buttons, wooden things, acetate, more paper... and i know i'm missing stuff... i vividly remember buying brads and charms last year that aren't in this pile, and there's probably more.

the paper alone is scary enough...

my stack of halloween paper. um, wow.

now that i've got it all in one place, i think i'm done buying halloween supplies!

things i love...... saturday!

okay, so i'm late, i know!. i was wanting to start doing a things i love thursday post, but this week was just ridiculous, and i didn't manage to get a post done. thursday was filled with errands and cleaning, and by the time i got home thursday night, i fell asleep on the couch, and friday was more of the same.

so! things i love...... saturday!

* flocking. mmm, i LOVE flocking. it's the most amazing thing, the ability to make anything you want soft! i love flocking on purchased items (i can't stop buying scrapbook paper with flocking, and i'll never give up my vintage my little ponies that are flocked), but i also love any opportunity to flock things myself. one day i'm going to suck it up and buy an actual flocking applicator, but for now, my uhu glue stick and my fingers seem to work for the things i want flocked! flocking is like glitter (which i also love), but FUZZY! how could anything be more awesome than that?

* halloween! i imagine this will be on my list all month! halloween is my favourite holiday for gothy crafting (x-mas is my favourite holiday for vintage crafting, fyi), and i love all the STUFF available! we don't have as awesome stuff in canada (super jealous of target), but it's still pretty damn awesome. i love wandering the halloween aisles... and the CRAFT SUPPLIES available! oh, halloween.

* the sound of train whistles. oh, how i love the sound of trains. i always have, as long as i can remember. when i was in grade 5, we lived in a house that was about 2 and a half blocks from the train tracks, the perfect distance - you could hear them, but you didn't have to HEAR them constantly! i used to lie in bed and listen to them. as a teenager, i could hear the ferry whistles from my bedroom, which wasn't really the same, but when the wind conditions were just right, i'd hear train whistles too. when i was 18, i lived in ontario for about a month immediately after living in the yukon for 3 months, and i was starting to get a bit homesick by that point, but i could hear the whistles at night, and that made me feel better. now i live about 8 or 9 blocks from tracks that really only have trains in the middle of the night (which is much handier for daytime driving!). i can lie in bed and hear them throughout the night, and it's so lovely and comforting. i love that sound.

* dressew! though they're a pain to get to, they're SO worth the trip! i've been trying to get in there since the spring, and just never needed anything bad enough to make the effort. the other day i had some time to kill downtown, so off i went! i was in a bit of a rush, so i didn't even let myself look at fabrics, and as a result, i think i spent the least i've ever spent there before! (good for my new budgeting resolution!)

* my bed. another thing that will show up on this list regularly! i LOOOOVE my bed. my parents bought it for me when i first started getting sick, wanting me to have more support for my back. it has support, but it also has a thick pillowtop, and i've added a memory foam pad to it. the frame is one i had bought myself a few years before, my very first "grown up" furniture purchase where i went to an actual store, not a thrift store, and bought something without intending to make it over! it's silver metal, and sturdy as all hell. i took a friend with me to help me load it, though i learned a lesson - taking a guy furniture shopping with you is like an instant session of heterosexist frustration! the salesperson kept talking over my head, and it was terrible. but anyway. i have multiple pillows, including a memory foam one, and a big duvet (with a cover made of flocked fabric, incidentally) and a comforter on top. my bed is like a soft cushy cloud! a soft cushy cloud full of cat hair! sofie and i have a nightime cuddle routine (it's the only time she lets me cuddle her), and she often sleeps at my feet once the cuddling is over. a few months ago i "adopted" my sister's cat, who is about twice sofie's size, and loves to sit on top of me. he sheds like the dickens, and prefers to sleep right sprawled smack dab in the middle of the bed. he and sofie are like siblings now, ripping and tearing (literally - the little brats have ripped my sheets with their claws!) around the room, usually in the middle of the night, and then settling down to sleep about a foot apart on the bed. though they're both black, their hair shows up grey on my black sheets and duvet. i resorted to vacuuming my sheets the other day, honestly!

* dylon! oh, i so love dylon! i love dyeing shit, and will at the slightest provocation. dylon hot has served me well for years now, and i have a plastic container full of a ridiculous amount of little dye tins to prove my love. i mostly dye trims, laces and stuff, though i've also dyed about a million slips over the years, rubber duckies, and yesterday, baby trees! i save all my dye in large glass jars, and reuse it. it's very handy for small things, i don't even have to dig out one of my dye pots, i just plop the bit of lace or whatever in the open jar and stick the whole thing in the microwave. easy peesy.