Surf and...Nerf ?

 

Current Mood : Hungry. My MSG levels are dangerously low...

 

Submitted an ‘I made this' photo and review to the youcanmakethis.com site where I bought the box pattern. The e-mail I got afterwards said they'd try to review my comments within two weeks, but an hour later, I went to double-check something, and it was already there. Darn, I'm good.

 

Unfortunately, about all else I got done today were some dishes and cutting out the fabric for Dearest Son's next crate slipcover. I'm using some black broadcloth and some thin cream-colored cotton that frays like anything. So I cheap-serged all the way around both fabrics. Should be able to get it sewn up tomorrow.

 

This one has a theme. I'm going to embroider the ‘Nerf' logo I digitized on the sides that don't have a seam running through them. The crate is the crappiest one in the house, and as-is, it's darn near useless. I got a set of ‘em in a yard sale for a quarter. It's not really a milk crate at all, but instead a hanging kids' closet organizer. There's several blue plastic ‘grids' and a buncha red plastic ‘s' shaped snap hooks, and you can arrange the pieces together in whatever shape you need. I used it for fabric storage before the big clean-out, and Dearest had the three leftover grids and hooks, since they could make a fun garage or maze.

 

The grids, each twelve by twelve inches, really can't contain much besides clothes or towels. Holes are huge ! So the two ‘crates' have been sitting around, nearly unused.

 

But with one of the Undercover Crate slipcovers, one'd make a great storage box for Nerf guns and the three types of bullets that they use. Lightweight, easy to tote and carry, and even the smallest projectile or piece can't slip out. I explained what I'd to do Dearest, who seemed interested, but probably doesn't quite get why Momma's so excited about a crate liner. I'm hoping he'll use it to keep all this junk off the floor !

 

Beloved Hubby's left it to me to decide where we're going for dinner. Wonder if I can talk him into that Chinese buffet place across town ? They have sushi...

I finished the box !

 

Current Mood : Happy and proud of me !

Current Image Notes : Here 'tis - I finally used the display stand I bought last year ! The little inset is from the original pattern. Didn't do too bad, did I ? 

 

Yaaay ! I did it ! Took an hour this afternoon to work on the box that's been bugging me since I bought the pattern last week - and next thing I knew, about three hours had passed, total, and the box was complete. That's with many, many stops and starts. Once the sewing and assembly part started, it just whipped right along, in between calls from telemarketer charities and puppy duty. Only reason it took as long as it did was due to my own fumbling, and constant second-guessing. And those darn phonecalls !

 

Turns out, the pattern has some ‘give' to it, and that's good, since the internal sides I cut were a bit off. But the bottom piece covers a multitude of sins, and it all worked out. Whew. The three layers of 2mm foam worked just fine, and I may well use them for the other sizes. The one I worked up was the smallest, and I can use the Dollar Tree stuff for it, and probably the medium one, too.

 

Further in the directions, the author does say that other items might work in place of the foam pieces, depending on the intended use. With foam and the glue gun, it's entirely washable. Otherwise, she suggests cardboard or possibly even (sigh) plastic canvas. I may write the author, tell her my solution, just for kicks.

 

Otherwise, it was a nice day. Beloved Hubby came home with a red velvet cake - cream cheese frosting, too ! He was in a celebratory mood, so we also had pizza for dinner. He's noticed my daily dish-washing, and wanted to do something nice for me. I like having just a couple of plates to wash at day's end ! And plenty of time to craft.

 

I think tomorrow, I'll test stitch that ‘Nerf' design I digitized, and make the crate cover I promised Dearest Son over the weekend. I've already had my indulgences this week, so I think I'll indulge on the crafty-cheap side at home. I may even find time to sew Triana something new... that'd be great !

 

All wired up !

 

Current Mood : Very tired - but excited and happy !

 

Busy day today. It was so bright and beautiful outside, I had plenty of light to work on ‘Triana' first thing this morning. Triana, of course, is the new Barbie Basics I bought yesterday, and her name is sort of a tribute to the Venture Brothers character, and part of a riff on her ‘Model No. 003' packaging. Not to be confused with Tiana, the lovely titular character from The Princess and the Frog. More on that doll line a bit later.

 

But anyway. Yesterday, while I was in the Lab for far too brief a time, I grabbed my fine-point green Sharpie and relocated it to my living room desk. And now, Triana has green eyes. It's funny - she had the ice-blue nearly-white-at-the-bottom-curve look to her eyes that's so popular with Mattel, so all I did was color that curve in. I kinda hated giving her just one color eyes, but the various details and lines still showed under the Sharpie ! Looks pretty good with her green eye-shadow, too. Now, if I could just somehow eliminate that too shiny underliner...I'm thinking toothpicks and Goof-Off...

 

Maybe later. Speaking of Princess and the Frog, I was surprised to see another doll from that film on the Mal-Wart shelves yesterday - a character who wasn't in the title. Charlotte La Bouff, Tiana's pink wannabe princess friend, is now available. She's actually kinda cute, and if she wasn't so wow! blonde, I'd have probably bought her instead. I really need to see that movie, if a secondary character warrants a doll. Ya'll know how I am about secondary characters... Even back when I did cosplay in my misspent youth, I always played the main character's best friend - Shinobu in Urusei Yatsura, Molly/Naru from Sailor Moon. Hard to believe I did that fifteen years ago.

 

My whole day changed about 9:30am. The box with my new computer parts arrived, and Beloved Hubby called - his scheduled job had been delayed. And once he was home, there went his day ! It's weird, but since we replaced the falling apart one function at a time CD drive, the flailing hard drive hasn't had a single bad minute. It could be the power supply wasn't good either, we replaced that, too, but I'm still running off my old drive. And it hasn't had a problem at all, even with all the restarts and even losing power twice earlier tonight. Thunderstorm.

 

With my poor ‘puter tied up with Beloved, I clearly needed other ways to spend my day. So I decided to run our dishwasher, to clean it. You may remember our dishwasher doesn't really work - the well water pressure isn't strong enough for it - so we use it as a dish drainer. Problem is, the water sometimes pools, and it gathers dust and dirt, and after a while, will even start to smell. Since it'd indeed been a while, I decided to run it... and soon had a small lake in the kitchen.

 

Oh, well. Needed to mop the kitchen anyway. Figured out where the ‘drain' part of the cycle was, and at least got the water in there emptied, then discovered that I can clean the inside of the door using the sprayer hose from the sink and a scrub-brush. Once it was all over, I did a load of laundry to wash up the two already-dirty towels I used for the lake and a bathroom rug that needed a cleaning. So it all worked out.

 

Watched a movie with my guys  (Weird Science ! ) between making lunch and dinner, then worked a bit more on the fabric box project. Cut out the stabilizer, fused it to the matching exterior pieces, and glued the fleece to the foam bits. Never found either of our old glue guns, and didn't buy a new one, so I just used good ole Elmer's White. Sooner or later, I'll buy a glue gun - I can even use a 40% off Hobby Lobby coupon this week - but I'm kinda tired of buying stuff for this project. There's now three piles - interface-fused exterior pieces, fleeced foam squares, and plain-fabric interior cuts. At least it's easy to tell them apart at a glance now.

 

I also attached the Velcro ^TM to the flap and front, and that concludes the ‘prep work' phase. From here on, it's all sewing and assembly. This has to be one of the most elaborate crafts I've ever done. Even when I sew stuff for me, it doesn't usually take this long. I've put about five hours into it, not counting shopping, and I have no idea how many more there are to go. But I'm really interested in finishing it, so there's little to no chance I'll abandon it at this stage.

 

It's funny how, at least with craft projects, I'll pretty much always finish them, even if I know halfway through that it's a bust. ‘UFO's (Un Finished Objects) are almost unheard of in the Lab. Unless you count not putting in closures, I'm notorious for that. Since I've only skimmed through the directions, it's time to give ‘em a pay-attention read-through. Just hope I can stay awake - it's been a crazy day !

(sigh) Now, *this* is why I had to quit recreational shopping...

 

Current Mood : Still kinda excited !

Spent on craft supplies : $3.24

Spent on a new doll : $21.55

 

Got some of the daily work done early so Dearest Son and I could head to Hobby Lobby for the interfacing I decided to get, and then to Mal-Wart for a few groceries that we need before the big grocery trip later this week. I printed out the 40% off coupon, and read the box directions - it said that Pellon 808 Craft Fuse  (20" wide) or 809 Deco Bond (45" width) was recommended. Thus informed, and showered, we were off.

 

I'd priced fusible interfacing during my weekend circuit. $9.99/yd for the stiffest stuff, but I only needed a half yard, and I had the coupon. So, $3. plus tax was reasonable. But when I got there, I found that Craft Fuse was only $3./yd, and Deco Bond was only $5. for a yard. Numbers matched and everything. So I plunked down my coupon and got a yard of Deco Bond, since it was wider, and this'd give me plenty to work with. Decided against the glue gun, since I was already treating myself a bit. Of course, this was minor compared to what was next...

 

At Mal-Wart, we were both OK with looking, but not buying, toys this time. But that was before the phone rang, and before Dearest found a Battle Force Five car launching set, marked down from $13. to $7. Beloved Hubby called, just to hear how the day was going, and when Dearest asked, Beloved told me to splurge a bit. Dearest selected the set he liked best - it included a never-before-seen car - and we headed for the Barbie aisle. I thought I might get an outfit or something...but then I saw the Barbie Basics. While they've been all over In The Pink and doll news sources, I'd never seen them in that harsh light of retail for m'self. Selection was limited on the dolls, but the same-price accessory kits were plentiful.

 

I quickly went through the hanging display, and found three of the four I'd been interested in. I quickly dismissed the short blonde bob Diva (#9), since her bob was turning out, instead of in, and I had two very similar already. And pretty #6 simply looked too much like the SuperStar repro I just got last month. #11 was not available, but Steffie-faced #3 was. I even had two to choose between. One had a visible tangle from where a rooted section had come undone, and they both had good facial screening, and the bangs on the snarled one were kinda short, so I snagged the non-tangled one. I felt a bit selfish and greedy, and actually put her back twice, but I decided that I was worth it. Of course, she was half of what I spent total...

 

And I still feel a bit guilty, since we're fixing my computer this week, too. Well, I'll make it up by cleaning house and staying home this weekend ! I'm also gonna customize my new doll from her eyes on out. Yup, gonna change her blue eyes to green. And give her a haircut. Wish me luck. I have to say, right here and right now, that I hate the dress she came in. While it looks like just a black tube, it actually has full princess seams from hem to hem, and fits beautifully. But three inches away, it's so darn plain. While I realize that's part of the ‘customize a little black dress' package, most of the other dolls have some sort of visually interesting dress to begin with. But I can't resist that Steffie face, when it's not in a whistling pucker, and no matter what body it's on.

 

Unfortunately, I spent so much time cutting her hair that I never got to cutting out the new interfacing for that box ! Still, I'm happy I got her. Her name is Triana, and this is the stand she came with - it's not that hard to hide. I'm trying to figure out how to alter her eye makeup, since it's so iridescent, it shows up in every photo. I'm sure I'll think of something eventually...or it won't matter after a while !

The white flag over the kitchen sink has been raised - I'm under it.

 

Current Mood : Seeing lines and ruler marks every time I blink. 

 

I thought I'd have to take a day off sewing and crafting. Dirty dish piles were approaching the rafters, so I needed to get to that first, before someone got hurt. Plus, the kitchen didn't smell too good. Started with silverware, since there was so much of it. I figured once I got that done, the rest wouldn't seem so bad, or so much. Plus, for some reason, I hate doing silverware, and I always put it off. I'm just gonna have to bite it and chew - and get used to doing dishes after dinner every night. I've been fighting that monster for years, and the only loser has been me.

 

We're getting ‘Free High Definition' week with our cable. While one company hosts HD as part of their all-day every-day package, ours has whole separate channels for it. Despite the new TV, we don't really care about HD, so this is more of a novelty than an actual benefit. I mean, does the clutter on Hoarders look more compelling when you can explore the details of the trash on the floor ? I can see how it'd make a difference in sports, but we're not into sports. I've even given up on ice skating, since there's no women in it anymore, just barely-teens.

 

I did get some time in the Lab, and decided to just woman up and use the box pattern I bought. So I flipped through to the page of what sizes I'd need to cut in the six - seven for me, since I have to cut up Stitch Witchery, too - layers required. The pattern uses fusible interfacing, which I don't have, but I do have interfacing and Witchery, which is the same thing, only more complicated. Started with the craft foam, and only used half of what I'd glued together. So if gluing three layers of 2mm foam works, problem solved. I even used the worst ones, where the Gorilla Glue foamed up some.

 

And it seems I was overly optimistic about how long cutting the pieces out would take. I spent two hours, and only got the foam and the interior, exterior, and flaps in fabric done. This is a great pattern if you love measuring. Personally, I hate it. If this one works out, I'll make cardboard patterns, instead of hand-measuring every piece. I'm hoping that later tonight, I can cut out the fleece, interfacing, and Stitch Witchery pieces. And get to sewing tomorrow. I used the glittery star fabric that was left from the Undercover Crate project. Used it all ! Even the squares cut away from the crate bottom. Only two pieces are off-grain, which I normally don't worry about, but really should.

 

But I can't help thinking...what if I take that 40% off coupon to Hobby Lobby early tomorrow, get a half-yard of fusible Pellon and the glue gun ? It'd be just a bit over five bucks, and it'd definitely save some time and frustration. And after I've cut out ten squares and two flaps three more times, I could probably use the break !

 

I made an Undercover Crate !

 

Current Mood : Craft happy.

Current Image Notes - Here's the crate cover I sewed ! Seems like Dearest Son's electronic EVE has already taken up residence ! 

 

I actually did get off my butt and into the Lab last night...and soon got back on my butt, although I was sewing ! Decided to try the crate cover design, and it worked out really nice, even though I made a couple errors. It didn't even hit me that I didn't have enough of the starry fabric until after I cut out the first of two pieces. So I patched the rest of the fabric, and there was enough, but that seam was really unfortunate. It kind of screwed up the measurements, so the Wall-e parts don't match up at the seams. And it puddles up a bit at the bottom. But it fits well, and Dearest loves it, so it all works out. I made my ‘embroider something and sew something' goal for the second week in a row, so I'm happy, too.

 

And now that I know how, I'll make a few more. Since I had to claim one of Dearest's crates - we have several, in slightly different sizes, so I measured the one I covered - to get the fabric dimensions, I ended up carrying it around to store fabric, cut pieces, the pattern, my notes... it really came in handy. So now, I want one. And Dearest is looking forward to picking out the fabrics himself for his second one.

 

I thought I posted a link directly to it, but I don't see it. Anyway, here's the link to the PDF to snag your own copy. I love freebies that work ! 

http://lauragunn.typepad.com/theundercovercrate.pdf

 

Oh, and before I forget - if I vanish for a few days, don't worry. My kernel fault a few days ago has gotten progressively worse every day. This morning, I thought my system was DOA for sure. We have new parts on order, and they should be here next week. I'm hoping my poor, sick ‘puter can hang in there a few more days ‘til we can get him fixed and upgraded, but if not, I'll try to post from Beloved Hubby's computer. If I can remember my password here !

 

We thought of just replacing the whole deal, but Best Buy is pretty much the only place that sells what we want, and they're waaaay overpriced, especially compared to Tiger Direct and other online sources. Plus they've started ‘optimizing' their systems - more crap and bloatware, I'm sure. No thanks.

 

One thing that was kind of amusing during yesterday's pseudo-shopping trip was that I couldn't really find anything to buy. Whenever I saw something I might like later, I soon figured out how to craft one m'self, using what I already had. One of my long-time whines is that you can never find the cute fabric used to make that $20. pincushion. Or $30. sewing box. Well, I have an embroidery machine. I can stitch up what I like, anytime. And if it's simple enough, I can even digitize what I want, if I don't already have it. So I doubt my next trip to Hancock Fabrics will cost much, either. Good-quality broadcloth's only $2. a yard, full price. It's still hard to believe I got out of there yesterday without buying anything at all.

 

And since I finished the crate, Dearest has put in a special request - a Nerf crate. It'd be perfect to hold and carry his new armory, and make easy, short work of projectile harvesting. Yup, you can still feel and use the handles through the fabric. So I spent a good hour cleaning up a Nerf logo, and another digitizing it five times before I thought it was acceptable.

 

Sometimes, I do feel a guilty twinge about appropriating copyrighted logos for my designs. But since I don't sell them, and use them strictly for Chez Insanity projects, it's not a huge stab. Plus, I figure I put in the time cleaning and digitizing it, so in a way, I've earned the use for one or two stitch-outs. And it's not like I can legally buy the designs, or I would. A commercially digitized design will always look better than my amateur efforts. Still, I get a kick out of doing it, and an even bigger one when they stitch out recognizable !

 

I posted today's entry early, so I could 'show and tell' the pattern creator, Laura Gunn, how well it worked up, and how much I enjoyed her sharing it. I like to pen a quick Thank You note when I get to use something awesome. She wrote back an hour later, saying she thought my version turned out cute. What a nice crafter !

 

Now, if I can get off my rumpus room again and update Somewhere That's Crafty with something cool...  

Return of...The Crab Woman !

Current Mood : Crabby

Spent on toys : 54c

Spent on craft supplies : $3.24

Spent on vintage pattern : $1.50

Spent on other stuff : $4.43

 

Today, too, was... interesting. I didn't get going til nearly 2pm, since we slept in ‘til neither of us could sleep anymore.  But I still went out, and in less than three hours, hit the Flea Market, Dollar Tree, GoodWill, Dollar General, Hancock Fabrics, Hobby Lobby, and Michael's. And spent less than ten bucks total.

 

Kinda got off to a bad start. Flea Market didn't have anything, but I visited the crab. Yes, it's silly, but one dealer has a Beanie Baby crab I like, and I visit every time I go. I'd have bought him, but $3. seemed kind of expensive for just another clutter piece. So I ‘visit' instead. Saw a huge box of old patterns, and went through them - very carefully arranging them as I went, so they could be flipped through by the next person. They were in there any which way when I first stopped. After about five minutes, I knew the sad truth, there were no doll patterns in there, but I kinda felt bad for the dealer who'd hovered over me the whole time, who didn't understand a word I said, but kept pointing out kids' patterns to me anyway.  So I put two I kinda~sorta liked aside...and she wanted two bucks each for them. (sigh) I can get new ones that aren't musty and dusty for half that. So I selected one, and she ‘let' me have it for a buck fifty. Arrrgh.

 

Kinda went to GoodWill to see if any of my donations had hit the floors yet. Nope. From the looks of the place, it looks like there's been not a lot of donations - the shelves were nearly empty. But I made a surprising discovery anyway. In the bottom of a bin was the crab ! Yep, same exact Beanie Baby crab, but only 50c. He was my only purchase there. Dollar Tree didn't have much, but I got a package of large mailing envelopes for Beloved Hubby, and a cassette-tape decorated tote bag. I'm hoping to use that design to digitize my own cassette tape soon ! Dollar General had a few 75% off Christmas do-dads, but evidently a lot of folks do their grocery shopping there now. With only one register open, and three groups of people (one right, one left, one center) trying to find their place at the end of the line, I decided to just let ‘em go.

 

From there, I was on the hunt for those 6mm craft foam sheets. Hancock Fabrics didn't have ‘em, and I successfully beat back the impulse to buy that Simplicity pattern that I saw last week. They were on sale, but I decided against it. So it was nice that I had some cash at Hobby Lobby - they didn't have the craft foam either, but I snapped up the Wall-e cake pan, in their markdown shelves. Just $3.11 ! I know we'll never decorate it as professionally as the picture shows, but a chocolate Wall-e will taste good, too. 

 

Michael's had exactly two 6mm foam sheets, which is enough to make the small box. And, despite the fact that the tech has existed since 1980 to tell how many specific items have sold at a retail outlet, and how many are going to arrive on the next truck delivery, the sales clerk I snagged had no idea if that was all they had, or when they'd get more. And I had the misfortune to get behind a dad with two Twilight-obsessed daughters who lounged on both sides of the lane, each with a copy of some fan magazine purloined from the display. They wandered off, so they didn't hear Dad lie to the cashier when she asked how much the dozen or so pieces of balsa wood he brought to the register - sans UPC, natch ! - cost. At first, he said 99c, which was pretty lowball, but then he insisted that it was 59c. Since cashier didn't want to call him a liar to his face, she had to call for someone to go check. By then the Twilight girls were back, whining about how long things were taking. Umm, girls...imagine being behind your little butts. And it's not the cashier's fault your daddy's trying to rip off the store.

 

I was saved when another register opened, and I paid the correct price for my two foam sheets - two bucks, plus tax - and found the same two girls blocking the door by standing in the middle of it, with their backs to the store. Like no one but them would ever want to exit. After asking quietly for them to move with no response, I leveled the Power Voice ^TM at them, and that got their attention. Dad was still too busy with the balsa that was suddenly $3. a plank instead of 59c to notice. It was somehow satisfying to see them jump a bit. PV isn't loud so much as very low and extremely focused. It uses my best projection and breath support, and I was surprised I pulled it off, I haven't used it in quite some time.

 

While it was fun to get out for a bit, I came home in a mood, having dodged two drivers intent on their desired parking space and nothing else, and countless shoppers in pairs, not looking where they're going, so I'm constantly ducking out of the way. Made me wish I had more crab-toys. I'd have flung ‘em !

 

Anyway. I settled down with a large piece of leftover Garfield cake and relaxed. Still not sure what to do about that 6mm foam sheet problem. I can either order it, which ranks, hope that Michael's eventually gets it back in stock, or come up with a substitute. I'm already subbing several things in the design, since I don't have a hot glue gun anymore, and my interfacing isn't built-in both-side fusible, but I have the right weight interfacing and Stitch-Witchery, which is nearly the same thing, so...

 

(sigh) This is why I'll probably be a bit hesitant about buying any other patterns. I really resent having to buy tons of supplies to make something rather simple. I have acres of craft and sewing notions, and while I don't mind getting a few new things, it's ridiculous that I drove all over this city to find foam sheets that even the author admits are hard to find in the size she requires.

 

I'm thinking of using plastic canvas backed by fleece or felt instead. That's easy to find. And I still have the ‘glue three pieces together' effort to try. Just need to quit bein' so bitter and get in there and sew !

Little splurges.

 

Current Mood : A bit frustrated... but looking forward to Saturday !

Spent on an embroidery design : $3.

Current Image Notes : That's the design I bought. Haven't stitched it out yet, but you can see how it'd be irresistible for me !

 

 Well. When I went to start making the soft-sided box I bought instructions for last night, I found that it required 6mm-thick foam sheets. And I didn't have any. I had a pack of 20 2mm sheets. So, I did what any crafter would at least try - I glued ‘em together. It kinda cheeses me off that, if I don't find 6mm foam sheets locally, I'll have to mail-order stuff to use the pattern I bought. It's my own fault for not checking, but to me, ‘6mm foam sheets' is what I see everywhere, not a specialty item. Still, I should have checked, and if I'd have known they were hard to find, I'd  have kept my five bucks. It's my own fault for assuming it needed the sheets available from Dollar Tree to Michael's Crafts. Kinda defeats the ‘instant download' benefits of the pattern when you have to mail-order a main part of the construction. Arrrgh.

 

With that knowledge, I also knew I wouldn't be stitching one up last night or today. Maybe this weekend, but not now. However, I did find something I can use a bit later in this morning's e-mail. Craft's daily e-mail linked me to a free design/pattern to cover and line milk crates ! While I can't do that for my fabric-stuffed ones - I need them to link together, so they can't be covered up - I can have some fun with the ones in Dearest Son's room cabinet, for toy storage. Heck, I can even use the same design to cover the two I have blocking Friday from my Lab !

 

And, with the crates lined, they can be used for small toys, like action figures and accessories, that would normally slip through the slots. I think I know what my ‘sewing project' for this week will be ! I already have the PDF printed out and ready to go.

 

(sigh) Plus, I've already gone against my vow to buy as few embroidery designs this year as possible - yup, I bought one today. It's all Urban Threads' fault. Other sites can give me great sales and fabulous discounts... UT gives me a fantastic freebie that I'd gladly pay for. And since I have to go through Checkout to get it, I usually decide to get one of the two or three I've been wanting anyway. The freebie was a ‘goes to 11' dial that's just awesome, so I went ahead and shelled out $3. for their dress form design. Ya'll know I'm a sucker for those. So that's my first embroidery purchase of 2010. Hopefully there won't be many more.

 

Dearest Son had a nice birthday celebration today. His grandparents got him a new Clone Wars spaceship, and he loved his new Nerf weaponry. He conned a new Nerf weapon out of his Dad when they picked up his Garfield cake, and he'll get to play the Wii Nerf game at his grandparents'.

 

I thought I'd go sew, but I've been having fun downloading new music onto the MP3 from Napster, so I doubt I'll stir much. But tomorrow's a busy day - I get to do a bit of shopping ! I have a few bucks, and there's a Flea Market...

Boxes - coming soon !

 

Current Mood : Still sleepy

Spent on craft stuff : $2.

 

Got another Blue Screen of Death ^TM this morning, and it took three tries before the recovery disc worked. But at least this time, I didn't have to reinstall Stitch Era Universal !

 

And again, the prep time on Dearest Son's latest embroidered t-shirt far exceeded the actual embroidery time. It usually takes me about half an hour to get a shirt hooped properly for Brody, sometimes longer. Of course, the design itself only took fifteen minutes to stitch out. And I had to wash it twice, since the chalk marks didn't come out the first time. I did go kinda heavy on them this time.

 

Spent a good chunk of the rest of the day debating whether or not to spend $2. in cash - I had $3. in PayPal - on a new pattern I liked. It makes soft-side boxes ! There's dozens of free patterns for that online, but these used fun foam insides, and I liked how the lid worked. I have lots of fun foam...and I could make a box to wrap Dearest Son's birthday present ! I already have Wall-e fabric.  So I bought it.

 

You can see it here -> http://www.youcanmakethis.com/info/featured-products/Case-Study-Basic-Boxes-3-sizes.htm  

 

I even printed the PDF download out, in color ! And stored it in a yard sale prong folder. I knew there was a reason I kept that ancient three-hole puncher around. Since most of the ‘pattern' is measured squares and rectangles, only the front flap and hinges are actual print-out patterns. I went ahead and scanned the print-out pattern pieces, so I can delete directions I don't need to reprint. Yeah, I'm dirt-cheap with ink, that's why my printing out the whole 36 page booklet - in color ! - is sort of shocking.

 

Not sure if I'll have time to sew it tonight, since cutting it out seems like it would take at least an hour. I get to cut out squares in fun foam, in fleece, in interfacing and fusible webbing, as well as interior, exterior and flap and hinge fabrics. But the top of even the smallest box - there's three sizes - would give me enough space to embroider something cool, or use a stitch-out. I could even embroider all the sides, and put a name on the flap closure.

 

Since there's not a lot going on tonight, I'm going to bed early ! Hope you sleep well tonight !

I hope that's the only error I gotta deal with...

 

Current Mood : Sleepy - but still awake.

 

Running a bit of an experiment. Before I donated the second-hand paper dolls I'd accumulated for their slightly-too-small backdrops, I removed the double-sided sticky dot pages a couple of ‘em had. Their original purpose - keeping paper clothes on cardboard dolls - has been co-opted. Since I constantly have small dolls and tiny dress forms falling over wherever they're displayed, I decided to give the clear adhesive circles a try. I hope they work, since they're a lot less visible than the masking tape I occasionally employ for the same purpose. Much as I'd love to buy Museum Wax or something similar, I've never found it locally, and hey, we're still broke. May as well use what we got ! Can always toss them if it doesn't work later.

 

I also ended up repurposing a different bowl for DC, since his original one has vanished. We've been feeding his canned chow to him on a reused polystyrene plate, but his licking often knocks it off the end table he eats from these days. Half the time, DC goes after the chow, the other half, it remains on the floor until Friday finds it. All dogs love cat food.

 

So, when the Lab clean out last month unearthed and emptied a small three-drawer cabinet, I kept it, but mostly because Aunt gave it to me. Got tired of moving it around, and finally placed it in the bathroom, where it now holds cotton swabs and razors. That freed a catch-all bowl up - and after a quick scrub, it's now DC's new food bowl.

 

I also relocated the trash can at my desk, since it was always in my way and constantly full, since it was the only one in the living room. It's now at Beloved Hubby's bedside, and I'm now using a cleaned out rice cracker container for desk bits. It's small enough to not be in the way, and it can only hold about a double handful of trash. I'm thinking of reclaiming the old can I use to store wrapping paper in the garage... or getting a bigger one for the kitchen and allocating the kitchen one to the living room. We need a large one in the kitchen anyway...

 

I love repurposing stuff - especially when it also frees up some clutter !

 

Got the doll clothes I bought from my last visit to the Flea Market washed up. The Fashion Avenue blue ‘poodle' sweater was stiff from something, but now it's nice and soft and drying. Since what I bought was all fairly modern, it probably would have been OK in the regular washing machine, but I sort of like using my take-out bowl.

 

Since it got quiet here early again, I decided to load up the ‘Buy N Large' logo from Wall-e that I digitized a few months ago. Got Brody moved and installed, and had no problems moving the designs onto his memory...but I noticed the BnL I did was a bit smaller than I wanted. So I clicked on Stitch Era Universal to redo it, a bit bigger.

 

And got an error message. "Class not Registered", to be exact, followed by a series of numbers and letters. Well, shoot. Maybe I didn't get off scott free from the system failure yesterday after all. Restarted, still the same. Restarted again, same result. I knew others had this problem with Stitch Era, since I'm part of their Yahoo group, so I consulted my saved e-mails. Not much for it but to uninstall and reinstall. Arrrgh.

 

But while I was doing that, Windows threw up a message. I had vital updates that needed to be installed. NOW ! If I hadn't already gotten halfway through the SEU uninstall, I'd have done the update first, since that may have fixed the problem. You'd have thought that message would have come up the first time I restarted. But, nothing for it. Finished uninstalling, then got the updates - which took over an hour to download and install. Then I got to reinstall SEU. Which had four updates I needed to get, too. Aaarrrrrrgh.

 

Long story short (too late !), it took me less than three minutes to make the changes I wanted - nearly two hours after I started it. Still, it's done now, and the new one is on Brody, so all I have to do is hoop up another shirt and stitch it out. Which will probably have to wait until tomorrow. It's much later than I want !