Current Mood : Dishpan-handed, but happy !
Realized today that I went two months in a row without buying any new embroidery designs ! It's not as hard as I make it out to be, there's been very few temptations at all this year. But the year I first got Brody, and the year following, I barely went a week without buying several singles or at least a set or three. Wonder if I can go 'til the end of April, make it a quarter of a year ! Then, maybe a half ! Then...
But today was 'salvage the house' day - got half the dishes done and three loads of laundry. Should be able to finish up both tomorrow, then give the bathroom some much needed attention Wednesday. By then, I'll miss sewing so much, I won't mind cleaning up first, and after lunch, I'll get to enjoy a new Creative Thursday. By then, I hope the ever-patient Tabitha - yup, she's my swap partner - will have her package. Beloved Hubby mailed it off early this morning.
If you're not a big Monster High fan - in which case, I'm amazed you're here, that's all I talk about in between complaints ! - you may not have seen Me Love Gangrel's work on the Flickr boards, but let me tell you, she creates lush, lovely dresses, gorgeous fantasy gowns, and stunning casual separates. If you are a MH fan with a Flickr account, then you know for whom I'm sewing, and you can see the challenge !
What really ranks is, back in December, we did a swap with a fun group, and I got those gorgeous Catzilerella works - remember those ? That didn't rank, but Tabitha's partner never sent anything, and I know darn well she sent a generous package full of goodies that any doll fan would cherish and reach grabby hands for. I was on the 'Justice Team', just in case that happened, but kind, sweet Tabitha just shrugged and said that's her usual luck with swaps. So she and I organized our own. And here I am, a month-plus late. Arrgh !
Anyway, if this box gets lost in the mail (knocking wood with crossed fingers), I will simply re-sew everything, but better the next time. And I'll overnight it with every tracking system known to current science. I may be late, but I will make (expletive deleted) sure she gets what I want to make for her. Bank on it !
And this is gonna sound weird, but... I wanna make another kimono. You'd think I'd be sick of them by now, but I really think they're a fun challenge. And one day, either on my own or with Tabitha's help, I'll get those sleeves right. I got the collar right on the last one - first time, too ! - and my obi, while simple, looked pretty good. So practice can only improve my skills, and if I can amass a pile of good ones, who knows, I may do some sales and giveaways !
Plus, I honestly don't like that pink one pictured on Ghoulia. Not sure if it's because that color's not good on her, or I simply don't like that color. Let's face it, that bit of fabric was a scrap from the misc. box that I wanted to use up, I've had it forever. May try it on some other dolls - it might look better on Clawdeen - but if not, it's first up for a contest prize. After I make a better obi, of course.
Not a lot else going on. Dearest Son is still fully enamored of Cats Don't Dance, which is a relief. Spaceballs : The Animated Series was too salacious for kids, too stupid and badly animated for adults. He got bored of it before the end of the first...I hesitate to call that an episode. More like a disaster. If you thought that the animated Clerks was a colossal waste, avoid the even worse animation of Spaceballs.
I'm still watching Fruits Basket, an anime I abandoned because the endless 'boy or girl ?' drama just got silly after a while. Plus, the love triangle was solved in the worst possible way, in my book. But, hey, at least no twelve year old girls were sashaying around in lingerie (coughTrueBlueLovehack) in the middle of the first story arc. I only watch three episodes a day, so I have time to think about the plotline, even though I know how it ends already. What can I say, I'm one of those weirdos who can enjoy some things when I don't get 'em all at once.
I also started a new series, Drop Dead Diva, which is riddled with clichés and stereotypes, but I really like lead character Jayne. Hard to believe it's from perpetual 'woman in peril' channel Lifetime. Basic premise pretty much is a cliché - fluffbunny model wipes out on the way to a Price is Right audition, while an overweight genius attorney gets shot trying to talk down a gunman objecting to another attorney's attentions to his wife - she trips on a co-worker's counterfeit purse. Model decides her life is too important to leave behind, so she engineers her return to the living - but gets put back in the attorney's body.
There's a lot to sneer at here - evidently fluffbunny had no idea where her boyfriend's job interviews that day were, so she's stunned when they end up employed at the same law firm. She also just knows boyfriend will *never* be attracted to a brunette genius housed in a Lane Bryant body, so she just wistfully sighs at him a lot. Sad - she doesn't seem to know what he does for a living, or that he might not be as shallow as she is. But, if he can be attracted to brains without her beauty, that doesn't say much about fluffbunny's physical charms either, which would probably hurt, since that seems to be all she had.
True, the newly merged Jayne has it all - a diva model's attitude with an amazingly sharp mind - but the whole 'she's fat so she's nothing' is pervasive even here. I just like seeing a larger-than-usual woman who isn't apologetic for anything. I know sooner or later, she'll be a size two and vapid, but I'm gonna enjoy it 'til then.
I think that, between Fruits Basket and Drop Dead Diva, the living room's gonna be clean for some time !
