I'm a mean, selfish old witch, and my already narrow philanthopy well is dry right now !

 

Current Mood : Bitter. And nursing it. 

Current Image Notes : The front of Dearest's Wall-e shirt. Ya get the back tomorrow - yaaay. 

 

So tired. For whatever reason, I didn't sleep well last night, so was draggin' all day. Had to pre-register Dearest Son for school, and I promised his friend's grandmother I'd pick them up for that, too - she's legally blind and can't drive. It wasn't until I got there that I realized I'd have to fill out the forms for both Dearest's friend and his sibling, for her - she couldn't read them. By the time I got to Dearest's forms, she'd already turned both hers in and was tapping the table a bit impatiently. (sigh) I also had to take them to a fast food restaurant on the way back to their place (no playdate today, sorry Dearest) even though we were going home for lunch. So I'm in a bit of a witchy mood, sorry. I'm glad I got to help someone today, but it took a quarter tank of gas in a car with no air conditioning in 101 degree weather, so I'm still in a mood.

 

But I got two more of his back-to-school shirts embroidered - one late Monday night, one this afternoon. Three down, two to go. I'm learning that bright colored shirts make for brighter embroidery, too. I'm getting better and faster at hooping them, and that's the point of the August Challenge. Just gotta find the ‘happy'. Tomorrow I do the very cute ‘racing in mud' car design, so that's fun to look forward to.

 

Oh, and check your Target, especially if you like the dress fabric used for the ‘Generations of Dreams' Barbie, but don't want the doll or her price tag. Target.com is showing it out of stock, but maybe it's in your store - an umbrella with the same ‘patchwork' print ! I'm hoping to hit ours this weekend, since I'll be in the area. Barbiecollector.com also shows it as a silk scarf, for $29. At 10" by 60", you could design your own ‘Dreams' Barbie dress !

 

There's also pink silhouette rain boots for $24. on the Target.com site. I'd include links, but they're darn near endless. Those never cut/paste well, and I'm too lazy for TinyUrl.com right now.

 

At least tomorrow, I just have housework and embroidery. No volunteer work. At least, not until Thursday, when I have to drive Beloved Hubby's friend to work again. (sigh) I'm just glad I get to rest a day first !

I love Kitty in Paris !

Current Mood : Okay. 

Spent on fabric remnants : $1.64

 

Finally got the grocery shopping done - on time and under budget. Dearest Son found that the Lego Star Wars set he's been pining for is on markdown at Mal-Wart, and he's hoping even harder now. Can't say I blame him, he gets that sales-hunt gene from me, after all. It's just funny to me that he may have trouble making change, but he understands a $17. price reduction means it takes fewer weeks to ‘save' up for it !

 

I found two great remnants - a purple star print and a tiny ‘vine' one in a sort of mulberry pink. And I had to restrain m'self from buying the very large $5. Hello Kitty coloring book. It was nearly two inches thick ! Mostly wanted it for embroidery design experiments, but I can find plenty online for free, really. I sometimes, though, just like coloring books...

 

School supply lists were finally out. All he needs now are new shoes, a new backpack (last two years' are barely serviceable for trips to his grandparents'), and those blasted Prang watercolors. Last year, I peeked ahead and saw that they didn't need ‘em in third grade, and I was so happy... oh, well. Maybe next year. And it's an excuse to go to Hobby Lobby, there's even a 40% off coupon this week. I just have no idea why the teachers keep requesting Prang when all the ‘regular' stores (Mal-Wart, Target, etc.) never have that brand. I'm still half-convinced it's some sort of ‘whose parent's gonna bust butt to find this obscure thing' test from the teachers...

 

It was kinda late when I finally got to sew. I'd been thinking earlier today (and the universe trembled in fear) that Dearest has no end of blank t-shirts. I'd pulled the larger ones from his closet for embroidery, so they wouldn't be outgrown a week or three after I sewed ‘em, but... I could use the practice. Hooping shirts, especially smaller ones, is a skill that's still a pain for me. So, what if, just for giggles, I embroidered a t-shirt a day for Dearest, from Aug. 01 ‘til school starts on the 20^th ? Since it'd be mostly for practice, it wouldn't matter if he outgrew ‘em quickly, and it's far better than stitching scraps and rags for the experience.

 

And going on from there, why not embroider something every day in August ? If I could keep the " ‘til school starts " challenge, it'd only be a few more days. And by the end of the month, I'd be darn near adept at embroidery on t-shirts. Or cards, or wood, or anything. I'd use some of the thousands of designs I've stored and backed up numerous times, and develop the skill ‘til I could do it with my eyes closed, almost.

 

Only one problem. It's already August 3^rd. Well, if I counted the Wall-e shirt as Saturday's, and the first remote control car shirt as Sunday's, I'd be up to date once I sewed today's. Yes ! So, here's the August Challenge - embroider a t-shirt a day for Dearest Son, starting on Aug 01 and ending Aug 20^th, and then finish out the month with ‘anything goes embroidery', something new stitched out every day. This is gonna be fun ! According to my design printouts, I tend to sew something every three days or so.

 

I know me, though. By the end of August, I'm gonna be dyin' to sew some bags, some clothes, some doll clothes - anything but embroidery for a while !

I'm #1 ! Really, Mattel said so.

 

Current Mood : weary.

Just a quick interruption in the photo of the day - I'm a #1 Barbie ! Yes, there's a silly little seven-question quiz, and you can easily slant it any way you like. I mean, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that if you choose ‘bronzer', ‘bonfire', and ‘dune buggy', you'll probably get the "Malibu" result. This one, though, I actually gave accurate answers for, and got the #1 banner. Cute !

 

Here's the quiz - http://www.barbiecollector.com/collecting/games/personality/ Love to hear what doll you are !

 

Did laundry today, four loads of it. It's all sorted, but not yet put away. All the new and embroidered shirts are washed, ready for what comes next - stitching, stitch shield, photos. Gonna try to sew tomorrow, since Dearest Son's school pre-registration is this week. They go back on the 20^th. I'm torn between a twinge of sad that my solo time with Dearest and the summer's nearly over already, and a big chunk of Glory, Halleluiah !

 

Wrote up the review for Stitch Era Universal for the SiCK site today. Took me over an hour to write it, and I included two photos of actual stitch-outs done with its auto-digitizer, next to the original image. Fifty views. Four responses. (sigh) And the first one is from that person who evidently relishes disagreeing with whatever I post. She voiced her dissatisfaction with the program's online ads subsidy - for about the third time since I stupidly started this whole business. I'm still ignoring her, but oh, how I'd love to let her have it !

 

Got most of the last bits of the weekend's craft and doll haul put away. We've done quite well with our budgeting this weekend - only went out for dinner once, and we didn't go grocery shopping last week. It's good to sometimes use down the supplies, get fresh stock in its place. Grocery shopping tomorrow, though - and I hope they have the school lists out this week.

 

Unfortunately, we never got to Dearest's room muck-out, so I'm gonna hafta do it during the week, maybe for an hour or two a day. I've kept the kitchen up, and with the laundry mostly done, there's a good chunk of the week's work off my shoulders.

 

But I'd much rather sew - and write up the directions for that MP3 bag for the much-neglected craft site ! Maybe on Friday...

Recycling : Nature's way of telling you ya already spent all yer cash.

 

Current Mood : Tired of cleaning new-to-me stuff

Current Image Notes : There's the mp3 bag I made from the radio stitch-out on Dearest's torn khakis and Beloved Hubby's cut-off jeans. Not bad for a freebie ! 

Spent on crafts and craft organizarion : $10.

Spent on dolls : $5.

Spent on bootleg DPrincess junk : $1.

Spent on books : $2.

Forgetting yer troubles on a Saturday : Less than $20.

 

It was cool enough this morning to hit some yard sales - but there weren't many. But I managed to spend $18. between the two I found and the flea market ! $10. got me a three-drawer plastic cabinet, a shoe-sized pull-out plastic drawer, a bag of pencils, six pairs of shape-cut scissors, two bags of cardstock, a pencil sharpener, a mouse pad, five Las Vegas postcards, two frames, and a fairy-tale book.

 

At the flea market, $5. got me a blonde Barbie, a Christie or AA Barbie doll, a Teresa, a wrecked bendy-body Mattel Wonder Woman doll, a Ken, and a Barbie jacket and dress. Another buck got me a bootleg Disney Princess wallet - is it just me, or do bootlegs have a certain charm for anyone else ? - and two more got Dearest Son a 101 Dalmatians book called ‘The Lucky Puppy', Beloved Hubby a novelization of Buck Rogers in the 25^th Century, and me a nice copy of Fast Food Nation. I was pouring sweat by the time I headed for home, though.

 

Once there, I cleaned my new cabinets and moved my tossed-in-a-box craft supplies. Now I can get to - and see - all that junk much easier. The shoe-sized single drawer cabinet is on top of the three-drawer, and can catch any misc. until I find a better use for it. I'd been looking at those plastic cabinets for a while, and this one tends to run about $18. Getting it - and all the other goodies - for $10. seemed like a great deal.

 

Doll-wise, I found the bendy-body Wonder Woman fairly early while digging through the dollar toys seller's boxes, and began looking for a body donor even before I noticed her nearly-gone hands. A Teresa had nearly the same skin tone, and I liked the odd black dress she wore. Black thin nylon, with a fake shirtfront, including a hot-pink and black striped tie. Maybe it belongs to Ken ? Not sure, but it has a pink Genuine Barbie tag. Then I found the suit-dressed Ken and a generic blonde Barbie in the long blue Deluxe Quick Curl dress. Like the pink Sweet 16 one, I can't resist it. A lovely Christie wearing a sort of matching t-shirt and tulle tutu with rosebuds surfaced, and I brought her home, too.

 

After I got the cabinets cleaned, I turned my attention to the dolls. Turns out the Teresa has damaged hands, too. So I checked my few not-yet-donated dolls, and found an even better body donor - a Glitter Hair Barbie with wrecked hair I hadn't fixed yet. Long as I didn't mind ‘Diana' having bent arms, her body would be in great shape. She's missing a star-shaped red earring, though. The dress Diana came to Chez Insanity in was the purple ‘end credits' outfit from the movie-release Jasmine Aladdin doll. As usual, the net sleeves and overskirt are wrecked, but I think I can alter it. Diana cleaned up great, and so did the Christie/AA Barbie doll. Turns out her tutu is from Princess on Ice Belle, but I don't know where her yellow-thread hemmed t-shirt originated. She has a side part that has to remain so, else there's a strip of bare ‘skin' just behind her bangs. She has a slight chip to her lip paint, but otherwise, she's beautiful.

 

So, Christie, Ken, and Diana are staying. Teresa and the blonde Barbie are moving on soon. The doll jacket fits Skipper, and the slinky green-black star dress goes to Hollywood Nails Barbie - I already have one, but this is nearly new, and I've always liked it.

No good deed...(sigh) I learned my lesson, no more good deeds !

 

Current Mood : Somewhere between pizzed and resigned.

 

Well, the Stitch Era Universal thing blew up in my face. Next time I find something great dirt-cheap, I'll tell folks about it - here, a week late. (sigh)

 

So, yesterday, I reported what I knew about SEU to the SiCK forums. Lotta folks were curious, but none were willing to be the first to swim, so to speak. So I did. And one of my friends did, shortly thereafter. So when I go back saying "It's wonderful, and sooo worth $9. !", I was dismayed when a buncha  folks told me they went where I indicated - and shipping and handling were $15., not $9.

 

What in the world...? I went to the site. Yup. The person I bought mine from, we'll call her Gouge, the sole US distributor, upped her price to $15., after a few days of orders. One forum friend wrote to Gouge, saying she lived in the area, could she pick up a copy from her directly, and save herself $15. ? After all, it's stated on Sierra's site (that links to Gouge's site) that the software is free, only shipping and handling can be charged for it. Nope, Gouge wrote back, if she shows up at her doorstep, it'll still be $15. for a handling fee. WT...H ?

 

Now, I thought she was...well, gouging me when she charged me $9. to mail maybe $3. worth of ‘free' software. But $15. was getting ridiculous. When asked about the increase, she said that $9. was an introductory code she wasn't offering anymore. Um, there was no code. And my friend got hers for $9., using my link, as she didn't get the Sierra e-mail. She raised her prices because she could.

 

It's one thing to decide how much a program is worth to you. But charging that much for the bare minimum to ship a program that's supposed to be free is just bad. Bad service, bad company. And many forumites were upset. So they started asking that, since it was free software, why couldn't I share my copy ?

 

Well, I'm not a dealer. I spent two hours researching the EULA (End User Licensing Agreement) and Sierra site, and the only folks who can distribute SEU are dealer who've bought distribution rights from Sierra. And Sierra makes no rules about how much dealers can charge for distribution, just that they can't charge for the software, only shipping and handling fees. You can sell a design set for $20. and throw SEU in for free. You can sell a paper clip for $50. and toss in SEU. But you can't sell SEU. While Gouge's website doesn't make that very clear, it's pretty much known that most of the $9. or $15. is going into her pocket, and nowhere else.

 

The world spins a bit more, and Gouge has found the SiCK forums. Mostly because I told her I'd told my friends there about it. And she writes me a rambling, semi-incoherent e-mail saying she'd sue if I even thought about distributing SEU, and when she was done, she'd report me to Sierra as a software pirate. And if I was so stupid, I didn't read the whole EULA, here were choice bits of it in red text.

 

The next paragraph says we need to work together to promote SEU, so can't we get along ? Huh ? You've called me stupid and a pirate, and you want me to be your buddy ? I'd hate to see how you treat your social friends, if this is how you treat business associates. She also told me she'd had one heckuva day correcting everyone, so she was a bit frazzled. Poor Gouge. Having to actually answer questions about the product she's selling... oops, I mean, distributing. How grossly unfair of me to bring her so many problems instead of people blindly handing over their wallets for ‘free' software.

 

I had to dash everyone's hopes about me distributing it, and told them that while I didn't agree with the current business model, the software itself is exceptional, and is value far beyond what it's ‘selling' for. I used SEU's auto-digitizer on an image and had it ready for stitching in less than five minutes. Lot of the detail was gone, but it was still pretty astounding. I hope to do some sewing tomorrow.

 

Here's the secret : we wrote to Sierra, asking what it takes to be a dealer. For one, I'm curious, since Gouge seems to think we all need to pay back her investment, and  two, it'd be nice to have two distributors, not just one with a monopoly. If it's too expensive, no big whoop - but I would love to give Gouge some competition. I bet that she could suddenly find a way to ship cheaper if she had to do so.

H&ll is mail order...

 

Current Mood : Sick of people

 

Today was Dearest Son's big playdate. I wasn't exactly dreading it, but I wasn't much looking forward to several hours with a lady I barely knew... but as it turned out, I probably had a better time than he did ! After lunch - several hours at a play-place fast food joint - all his friend wanted to do was play video games. Dearest isn't that absorbed with them. I, however, talked for hours with his friend's gramma, who's raising him and a sibling. I enjoyed listening a lot more than talking for once !

 

Stitch Era Universal arrived today - I'd received a note yesterday, saying it'd been ‘missent' from the USPS, so I wasn't sure how long it'd be. It's here now, and I must say that the dealer's a bit... underwhelming. Sierra says dealers can't charge for the software, only shipping and handling. So why ‘shipping and handling' was $9. for two ounces of  installation directions (that were incorrect) and a bare, not even in a paper envelope CD, is beyond my understanding. Her ‘handling' must be substantial, because shipping's about $1.05 at the most. And she uses the ‘print postage at home' which even gives a discount on that.

 

But the program is, in a word, exceptional. I've worked the tutorials on lettering and editing stitches, and it was easy. All my True Type fonts imported in without me doing a single thing, and it was a blast to play with the Barbie font - and the Star Wars font - I've had forever. I even found a NASA-inspired ‘worm' font for free, and I've been trying to find one for purchase for weeks ! It imported that one too, easy peasy. If ya ask me, that's worth the $9. right there ! Embird, another machine embroidery software suite, offers the font program for $80. on top of the basic Embird ($120.), and that doesn't include the digitizing and other features.

 

As usual, though, that one forum denizen has to weigh in with her negative two cents. I've looked around, and she's not that negative to anyone else I've seen. Guess I've ticked her off somehow, but I'm still refusing to engage. If all she can do is snipe at me, if she's not woman enough to bring her grievances to me so we can work it out between us, it's not worth my time to worry about it, much less try to figure out what I might have done.

More family fun at Chez Insanity...already in progress.

 

Current Mood : Worn

 

Actually, Dearest Son got so upset last night about having to pick up his toys, he started crying and throwing things, saying he had a headache. Yet ten minutes later, he's flying his latest Lego creation down the hall, top speed. Yeah, we had a long talk last night. Not that I think he listened, but he can't say I didn't warn him about the junk pit our living room is becoming - and what Mommy'll do about it if he doesn't do anything.

 

He kept going, so I had to disengage. While Beloved Hubby had another talk with him, I retreated to the Lab and stitched. I had to do something engaging, or I'd say or do something regrettable. Sewing was something I could do to calm down, and I couldn't interrupt Dearest and Beloved's chat while it was going. Since I was not about to work on one of his shirts, I decided to work up the ‘Kitty in Paris' design on a nice piece of cardstock - I got a set of 20 ‘marble' edged cards that was just the right size. If I rotated the design 90 degrees ! Luckily, Brody can do that. And it stitched out great. Looks like you'll get to see that on Sunday. Like the other one, I left it for Beloved once Dearest was asleep. He hung it up next to the Japanese kitty. He may soon have a whole wall of ‘em. So much for my ‘I'm gonna need a weeklong break after the Wall-e shirt' thoughts !

 

We had a nice rainshower all night long, so Beloved was home today. Goofed off, ate chips, watched movies. After dinner and dishes - yaaay, they're already done and not piling up ! - the evening was mine, so I stitched out the first of the remote-control race car shirts. Turned out really nice. And y'know what ? I used the same stabilizers with this design that I used with the Wall-e ones. And this one didn't pucker or shift. I'm starting to think that, like with some sewing patterns, the fault isn't always mine.

 

Anyway, this one was actually fun, and only took about 45 minutes to stitch up. Luckily, I'd already applied the iron-on stabilizer and hooped the shirt earlier. And I did a great job - it's centered and looks superb. And now that I have the colors for this one, I have the colors for them all. Yaay ! Into the wash it goes. Now I have 24 days to do four more. I may do the next one tomorrow. I'm thinking of doing this one - the car is holding the remote - on the back, with maybe a small star on front. Not quite sure yet.

 

Laundry's getting kinda crowded. Forgot to say that I got to hit Dollar Tree yesterday and got Dearest four more shirts. These are all kinda big, so I can embroider them, too. Thinking of getting a few long-sleeved thermals for him this winter, for that layered look, and a replacement pair of sweatpants or three. That's about all he needs for school besides shoes and whatever the teachers want this year - the lists aren't out yet. I got something called ‘body butter', a sort of lotion, mostly because I liked the container. But it turns out, the lotion's quite nice, too. I hope to go back soon for the green one.

 

Also yesterday, I decided to go ahead and ditch those t-pins. They're too thick for my kind of sewing, and I already have hundreds that work better for me. So I taped up the box they're in and added ‘em to the Donations bin. It's getting full again. I also recycled part of the air conditioner's box as a pincushion for the ironing board. I have a bad habit of sticking pins on one end of it, then forgetting they're there until I stab m'self with one. So when I saw these soft foam strips in the a/c box, I snagged one. I'd thought to either glue it to the board or use elastic to attach it, but ended up hanging it from a hook in the door where the board is stored. Convenient, but out of the way. Hopefully, I won't stab myself with the strip anytime soon !

 

Whoop. Just saw lightning...yup, and there's thunder. Gotta go unplug Brody and get ready for bed. Looks like things'll be cooler for a few days. Or at least wetter.

Can you hear the tango...?

Current Mood : Indulged

Spent on embroidery designs : $5.00

 

Splurged a bit and bought five designs from Cute Embroidery that I've been wanting. One is a letter to a free alphabet series that I missed, two are tiny snowflakes, one is a pretty free-standing lace design, and the last is an appliqué I liked. I've voted for weeks on the alphabet and snowflakes - the winner is the freebie of the day - but it's been weeks and they never came up. The appliqué and the free-standing lace one aren't eligible for voting. I would have just skipped ‘em, they're nice but not wildly exceptional, but the minimum order was five bucks.

 

What's surprising me is how good a mood that's put me in. I don't have to worry about voting for ‘em every day anymore, and getting upset that the Latest and Newest has ensured that my old design won't ever ‘win'. The alphabet letter one especially. They frequently have alphabets up as freebies, one letter a day. But if you miss one, good luck getting it - because as soon as Flower Alphabet is done, Train Alphabet will start... and by the time Train is complete, Rose Alphabet is coming up - and there's a herd of folks still trying to get a couple letters from Train. Flower collectors can just forget it. Since the individual letters are only a buck each - or the whole alphabet's only $15. - you may as well just buy ‘em and get it over with. If most freebie hunters are like me, incomplete series are like a bruise - doesn't hurt, but it bugs you every time you see it. I can't really whine about getting a whole 26-letter series for a dollar, but it's still kind of annoying that you're never given a chance to get that one missing letter.

 

So this little splurge has been well worth it. Despite our usual end-of-month money tightness, I feel wealthy. Now, all my alphabets are complete, I got what I most wanted, and even got a couple bonus items. Luckily for me, that's all the site has that I want ! Most of the ‘votable' freebies come around frequently in the categories I most like, and I've downloaded one FSL ornament twice now.

 

Had a bit of time this afternoon, so I sewed up yet another drawstring bag - this one using the antique radio stitch-out I did months ago, on a piece of Dearest's trashed khakis. Got tired of picking up the remainders of the jeans Beloved Hubby cut off to make shorts, so I used one of those denim legs, too. Turned out pretty good, I think. Sort of a reverse appliqué effect. Took some photos while I was making it. Maybe I can finally put something on that never-used craft site this weekend !

 

Well, time for the daily fight with Dearest about putting all the crap he's dragged out during the day away. Hopefully tomorrow will go better - I get tired of the endless ‘no I don't see that pile of red and yellow Lego on a crap-brown carpet, I'm done cleaning' fights.

The Wall-e shirt... it is DONE !

 

Current Mood : Happily busy

Current Image Notes : Ya can stitch on cardstock, if the design's fairly simple ! 

 

Went domestic today - reduced the rancid kitchen to a-bit-messy kitchen by doing dishes and general cleaning in there for two hours. Got all the trash to the Dumpster, got the living room cleaned, and finally took care of the clutter in the Lab from this weekend - and finally got the Misc. Bag o' Stuff hanging on the doorknob put away. I have a small pile of still-usable stabilizer scraps to sort and store, but I can do that while waiting for stitch-outs to finish. The new-to-Chez Insanity dolls are getting acquainted, and I am happy.

 

It was with much joy that I finished the Wall-e shirt just before lunch today. Whew. The one design that didn't pucker was the freebie titular character, from a Russian site. But the shirt looks OK, especially if ya don't notice the puckers and wrinkles. Happily I deleted the designs from Brody's memory, and with a song in my heart, I made the final notes on the design sheets and filed them in the binder. Alllleluia ! The shirt's in the hamper for a wash to get rid of all the chalk marks and hoop rash, and maybe ease the designs out a bit. Once it's clean, I'll iron-on stitch shield to the back of the designs, so threads and stabilzer bits don't irritate our skin-sensitive Dearest Son. He's already said he wants to wear that shirt on his first day in third grade.

 

Man, those Wall-e designs have been in Brody's memory since... June ? Earlier ? Seems like forever I've skipped past them to get to another design. It occurred to me that, once his remote-control race car series of shirts are done, I don't really have any additional projects in mind. Well, there's plenty to do, I'm just not sure what I wanna do next. The Stitch Era Universal software I sent away for should be arriving soon, so that's probably the next big embroidery thing.

 

But I'm glad I got the Wall-e shirt done. It's always good to keep a promise, and I got a lot of good practice with hooping clothes in. It's kind of a fight to keep it all together. Once you iron on the knit stabilizer, ya gotta mark where it is on the shirt's front. Then, you gotta load up the bottom hoop with cutaway stabilizer, and get it on the inside of the shirt, aligned with the chalk marks. Without the stabilizer sliding everywhere, of course, and when you use recycled bits like I do, that's a challenge on its own ! Then it's time to slide the top hoop in, and make sure it's straight with the shirt's grain, the chalk marks, where ya want the design to be centered, and encompassing the bottom hoop stabilizer ! And getting it all on a child-sized shirt. Not a lot of room to work in, and often changing threads is a nightmare. But I managed to do it, and doing it four times on one shirt without getting anything inside out, upside down, or with the stitches sewing the front to the back - heck, what's a couple of puckers ? I've developed my own methods, and for now, they work. Thank Everything for masking tape !

 

Of course, now that it's all over. I'm looking forward to starting Dearest's next shirt. Maybe Wednesday or Thursday, depending. He has a play date Thursday, so we'll have to see how the days go. Beloved Hubby found a stash of old T-shirts from the company he used to work for, and I get to cut ‘em up for sewing and stitch-outs. Whoo-hoo !

Wall-e Stitchin' Sunday

 

 Current Mood : Sleepy

And we're back to random-photo days again. Here's the Barbie outfit I bought last week. Dawn (formerly Snow White) is wearing it now, fulfilling her destiny.

 

Was trying to help troubleshoot a problem design with a friend via e-mail late Friday night. We never did solve the problem, but at least we narrowed it down a bit. Having a spot of potential trouble over at the SiCK forums - one of the members has followed me for three threads now, disagreeing with whatever I post. I refuse to engage, because if I get all cheesed off, I'm the bad guy, over-reacting. Plus, I could be. It's just odd that, if I say, hey I found something neat, she says it's not her style. If I explain Brody's USB port to someone else, she says she wouldn't like that setup. Whatevs, dear. I swear, she's trying to pick a fight with me for some reason, but I just won't pick up the other end of her rope.

 

But anyway, the reason helping my friend is significant is because it made me realize how long those Wall-e designs have been in Brody's memory, waiting for me to make Dearest Son's shirt. Brody's available memory isn't much, so that stuff's gotta go, and soon. No time like last night to get crackin'. Beloved Hubby had Friend over, and Dearest was at his grandparents'. Since I'd already done test stitches of Wall-e and Eve, I figured I'd go right to the shirt with MO, put him on the back. Front's gonna have Wall-e, Eve, and the Wall-e logo, so it was already pretty crowded !

 

Only one problem. Ambassador saw the design as having sixteen stops, or thread changes. The specifications sheet that came with the design said there were eighteen. And I could barely tell which colors were going where, since Ambassador decided on its own color scheme that was radically different from specs. And the spec sheet gave colors not as ‘Madeira 1012' or ‘Sulky 0803', but as ‘Red : 094 Green : 104  Blue : 110'. That'd be fine if I were using PaintShopPro or Photoshop, but kinda hard to determine in thread.  Ended up scrolling through the stops Brody had (16 !) and writing down which stop covered which part of MO, then assigning colors based on the Treasure Chest and what else I had. Took over an hour, and I even mis-numbered the stops. But after that, I was finally ready. Too bad it was after 11pm !

 

But I still wanted to sew, because now I wanted to see how it worked out. And after all that, I figured I'd better do a test stitch-out instead, just in case. Turned out well, my color choices were pretty good, I think. I reduced it from ten colors to eight - I'm not sure why MO needed that many colors - or stops - in the first place. Seriously, you should be able to stitch him with maybe five colors. And while two stops have to have a thread change in the middle, I eliminated four other thread changes. It's a bit off registry in two places, but maybe it'll work out better on a t-shirt. The important thing is, I learned how to assign my own colors and how to solve discrepancies between spec and design, so next time, it won't take so much kvetching.

 

Unfortunately, the design puckered on Dearest's shirt when I stitched it out today. As did the Eve one, and the Wall-e logo. You may remember I had some problems with that earlier, but I thought it were solved. Guess not.

 

(sigh) I'm gonna put Wall-e himself on the shirt tomorrow, and I am done with it. It gets so frustrating to be so careful with every little step - and it still screws up. I was so tense that, when the bobbin cover came up missing, I nearly broke down and cried. Managed to maintain, but I've been on edge, watching failure after failure, that it's not been easy. Bust butt to get the hoop centered, straight, and on-grain, plus aligned with two different types of stabilizer, and on the right place on the shirt... and the design itself mucks up ! All three designs came from the same place, and maybe it's me, maybe it's the designs, but I'm about to toss the towel and turn off the lights. Once this shirt is finished, for good or bad, it'll probably be days - possibly even a week - before I go near Brody again. I'm just really, really tired of it all right now.

 

What's funny is that Saturday, I was determined to go to Hancock Fabrics, mostly because I haven't been there in weeks. But I got so involved with the new dolls and the Wall-e shirt, I forgot, and never went. Well, like I always say, get into what you got, and you won't be busy buying more !