All that Glitters is GOLD

Glittering in the afternoon sun, we have all been dubbed Edward Cullen.  Yes we glitter gold but it is so much better because we EXTERMINATE emo vampires!  In short the Dalekette dresses are coming along wonderfully!  we have cut all of the playpen balls in half, pre-punctured them for easy sewing purposes and spray-painted them gold with an extra layer of crystal clear.  In short they are spectacular and shiny!

And we have sooooo many to put on our skirts!  Although due to sad :( logistics if we want to be able to sit down in class wearing our costumes we will not be able to put the bumps on the back as we had originally hoped.  Sadness and woe.  However that does mean we have to attach fewer balls to the skirts :D  So only about 150 in all... which doesn't seem to many now but in a few days it will be hell!  Also we need to get some interfacing to iron on little circles to the back of the skirts.  This way we won't make any pulls or run into any problems when we sew on the bumps.  Also with pre-ironed spots to center the bumps in, it will take a lot of the thinking out of the sewing, but then again all of that thinking and more will be needed to iron on the spots in the first place!  If you're wondering what 150+ spray-painted gold semi hemispheres looks like you're in luck!

No doubt you're amazed and disoriented by the incredible sparkle blinding you.  But through that haze of Edward Cullen Glare (AHHH MY EYES ARE BLEEDING) you may be musing over those black things stuck in the middle of the super protective sea of newspaper.  Those would be our super smart, lightweight, and cheep version of the Dalek's plunger... which isn't even a plunger in the show to begin with so why stick with the common stereotype?!  Anyway those black spray-painted margarita glasses don't look like much at this angle but when you have on in hand menacingly thrusting it at your dreaded enemy/friend, it looks pretty bad ass and reallllllly nerdy.  So here's a last close up from the super terrible angle...

Ironing and hand-sewing is on the schedule for the next couple of weeks and then it's party day!!!

Crazy, So Crazy For Crocheting You

So for the last couple of weeks I've had Setsucon on my mind (it's the anime convention around here).  So I have been obsessively compulsively crocheting these cute little change purses.  ADORABLE!!!!  I've finished off two Pokéballs and am working on Mr. and Mrs. Packman purses.  I've also been informed there are such things in the Pokémon universe called Great Balls, Master Balls, and Ultra Balls, which should also be crocheted in copious amounts!   :)  One of my friends feels obligated to crochet little Pokémon to go inside the balls so when we sell them off we can charge more and the Cuteness Factor breaks the meter!  So anyhow the Pokéballs are about 3inches across... very rough guess-to-mate.  I'm also thinking about selling the pattern, since I made it up myself but that's still to be decided.  Anyhow here are the pics of the Pokéball that I have done!

and here it is opened and being all changepurse-y

Busy, Busy, Busy

Wow, I guess I've neglected my blog quite a bit but things around here have picked up their pace and I am once again an overworked English major!  That being said everyone needs time to relax and zone-out on some lovely sci-fi (not syfy) while crocheting like a mad lady... yes, everyone does this *nod*  So mainly I've been working on my super secret afghan project thing.  And hopefully my brother won't find my blog like my sister did... I mean really why would you search for my blog?  Oh yeah, I'm amazing!  ^_^  Anyhow I have all the ocean pieces for around my main island done and I'm working on single crocheting them together.  Actually now that I'm thinking about it maybe I should just chain stitch them together... if it works there would be a less visible joining and it would put more emphasis on the raised roads.

However, I might have to take a break from my afghan for a while since I'm going to go to my first craft swap on Friday and I need something to trade!  I'm thinking Pokemon balls will be pretty easy to make and in high demand among my friends, lets see what kind of time I have for them!

EXCITING NEWS:  Last weekend I went on a Quilter's Getaway with just about every female in my immediate family.  Lets just say there were two sisters from three generations of my family there!  But we pulled together and whipped up 10 Dalekette skirts that are adorable!  I still have a bunch of work left on them though; we need to iron them, top stitch around the bottom hem (optional), put in the elastic, sew the casing closed, get some interfacing, iron panels of interfacing to the skirts, cut the playpen balls in half, poke holes in them, spray-paint the semi-hemispheres, and attach them to the skirts.  Luckily Eri has an iron and we know people with sewing machines.  I also need to straighten out the cummerbund situation at home, cut and sew the headbands, attach the lights to the headbands, collect money, and hope it will all look good once it comes together.  Oh FYI we added another member so now the entire officer board of the Doctor Who Fan Club will be Dalekettes for Halloween!  YAY!  So super exciting things are in the works but now I have to go do homework and not take pictures of fun, crafty things!  :(

The 'stache

I finally completed the mustache, beard, hat thing for my friend! And yes I was finishing it when I was driving to his house (I swear I wasn't crocheting and driving at the same time!)  Anyway I am super proud of the mustache because it turned out so amazing for a pattern I just made up!  So straight to the pictures which is the best part of this entry!

And the completed piece (plus a few loose threads)

The only thing I would do a little differently is the beard. I made the face hole a little long so really it hangs past your chin (bad etiquette and a little disturbing).  Also the hat part was a little tight but that's very easy to fix.  I guess I could have made the beard a little fuller to balance out the awesomeness of the top but whatever I like it!

The Invasion of Catan!

YAY!  I put together my main island for my Settlers of Catan Afghan today!  It's about 2 feet across due to the J-hook I'm using.  Also I decided to deviate from the pattern a little bit.  Instead of sewing them together with an invisible mattress stitch or something of that kind I went for the blatantly obvious joining method.  I sandwiched 2 blocks together and then just single crocheted around an edge until the entire island was put together.  It was incredibly easy and non stressful... usually I have a billion blocks sitting around for ages waiting to be put together.  Not this time!  I'm too excited AND I want to get it done by Christmas so there's no stopping me... except I have to stop when my brother's around since it is a SECRET PRESENT!The reason why I hose to add the tan single crochet sashing is because if you look at the Settlers of Catan tiles they each have a little tan border as if a little dirt road circled the pasture, forest, quarry, etc.  So I made my own little dirt road too!  The real question is do I like the front (which shows the single crochet) or the back (which is sleeker and easier to play on) more?  I'm not sure.  But since I like them both so much that means I need to embroider the little sheep on both sides of the afghan so it is truly reversible.  They better be worth the added effort!

Top of the Island with tan Single Crochet visible on top... and the close-up!

As I said before I also like the back and am considering making the back the front... just a little extra embroidery and it would look pretty good too!  It's already significantly less bumpy but the tan "road" surface isn't as pronounced... its more like a railroad or something idk.  Anyhow here's a look at the back and its close up too! (below)

Arts and Crafts Time!

A few weeks ago I went to the Great Lakes Medieval Renn Faire and of curse I had to get dressed up.  Unfortunately it was HOT so I didn't feel like wearing my full length medieval dress which is also fairly heavy and gets muddy.  This meant I had to get inventive... What Would I Wear?  I found my new blue party dress and my sister's fairy wings.  Things were looking pretty good!  For footwear I needed something sparkly so what's easier than spray painting a pair of old white flats silver?  Not much unless you don't have silver spray paint that is!  I have to say that after all of my old HS art projects I'm not bad at spray painting odd things.  Now I just need a spray can of Crystal Clear and time to spray on a waterproof coating.  Unfortunately the spray paint does wear off in the mud and the rain but usually only the bottom of the sides of the shoe but that's what another coating of spray paint is for!

Since you have to get all sides of the shoe you have to stick your hand inside to hold it... and of course it also happens to be a lot of fun to walk around with a silver hand!

I swore I already posted a picture of my fun cocktail dress but apparently not. So here it is!  Just imagine it with massive full size wings and the silver shoes... PRESTO!  That's my fairy costume!

One Picture Says it All

So I was so Excited after doing the detail work on this block that I had to snap a picture and post it as soon as I was done!

The sheep was more of a challenge that it looked but I have some really nice fuzzy white yarn that I just finished washing, drying, and balling which made great wool.  At first the plan was to simply embroider a cloud shape then stick some legs and a head on it.  Then the plan progressed to French Knots which would have given great texture but proved to be too small for this project (they did make a great tail and eye though!)  After that I needed some inspiration and my mother pulled out her old book, Crewel Embroidery by Erica Wilson so we could look at different types of stitches!  The Bullion Knots worked fantastically giving the woolly sheep an appearance of fuzzy tangles!    Last minute, I added a fuzzy River just for kicks, with some scrap yarn.