Mood:  irritated

If I were an oyster, I'd have created a twisted pearl choker from the frustration level I had this afternoon. Grrrraaarrrgh !

Dearest Son got off to school fine, although the bus was about 20 minutes late. Heck, last time he rode a bus, it was a half hour late on that first day, and I saw it circle the neighborhood 15 minutes later. School called me looking for that bus ! And today the school called - just a courtesy call, informing me that new-student Son had arrived safely and was quite an enthusiastic and handsome boy. His bus-driver told me he wished the whole bus was as good as Son. He had a new Lego car set waiting to reward such good behavior !

That's not what's irritating. Wasted a good chunk of the morning, but got bills paid and groceries home and stored, so it wasn't too much of a time-squander. After lunch - the turkey legs from Mal-Wart are sooo delicious ! - I found myself just sitting around. Now, I spent half of summer vacation whining that I didn't have the time and solitude to do anything. Well, now I had both, and I was burning it. That got me off my butt and into the Studio, with the pattern I printed yesterday. Looking at it, I kinda figured it wouldn't work for Agatha, but it would probably use up that orange/yellow scrap left from Baby Ariel's shorts set. Plus, I could use the wooden-spool orange thread, so I wouldn't have to change it to cheap-serge all the new fabric I bought this weekend, before I wash it. And it'd be fun. So, off we went.

That wasn't irritating either. What bugged me was the five fund-raising telemarketer calls I had to stop my project to answer. Five calls in less than two hours ! I had to re-cut a piece because I got distracted and cut the same one twice. Not really the telemarketer's fault, strictly, but I was good and steamin'. One called to thank me for the check I sent, and asked me to join the new campaign. WHAT ?! Only reason I pledged was to get them off the phone - I'd just taken pain pills from the surgery, and those bustards woke me up ! And here they are, asking for more ??! I politely refused, in a voice that was so brittle and icy the ‘marketer shivered audibly. Then they called back - that was the fifth call. I unloaded on this unfortunate soul, I'm ashamed to say. Maybe I ticked ‘em off enough to not call back. Hope springs eternal.

The other two were ‘cop calls', and I'm vicious with those. Police here have numerous perks from both the City and local interests, and if they can't put their kids through college with free rent, free gas for their personal vehicles, free whole-family medical/dental/burial insurance, preferred HUD status with lower interest rates, and being able to work privately while on the clock for the City - and keep both checks - well, me sending them more cash is the equivalent to throwing it down a hole, I think. I can easily come up with better things to do with our limited funds. I don't mean to insult any Police families, Cops do dangerous, thankless jobs and deserve their perks. But most of these fundraisers are scams. If the ‘tuition fund' gets 20% of what's raised, it's lucky. Most towns only put up with it because it's basically money from the sky. They don't have to pay the fundraisers, and four dollars out of a $20. bill's better than nothin'.

Now that was irritating. And it's funny that the calls only came while I was trying to sew. Just during that two-hour window. Haven't had one since.And Cali's new outfit came out great ! Doesn't it look like she's enjoying a summery afternoon, away from that nasty old flea market ?

Yeah, the shirt won't work as Agatha's underwear top, but it worked up pretty good ! This is Simplicity 8377, view 1 for the top and Simplicity 9334 for the shorts. The top is too tight to create the fake button-front I need for Agatha's outfit, so  I've already printed out another one to try tomorrow. Still, this one does look nice on Cali. I thought I had enough fabric to do three panels of the four needed for the shorts, but that's where I mis-cut. Darn telemarketers. Anyway, I think it looks nice as half denim/half print !  There's hardly any of that orange-yellow print left, so wave bye-bye to it !

Gonna go back to the Studio now and cheap-serge all the new stuff. Man, I get rid of a scrap and bring in two more yards ! J

Posted by dorriebelle at 4:05 PM CDT

Updated: Monday, 2 May 2011 10:02 AM CDT

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Mood:  lazy

Well, tomorrow's the big day for our Dearest Son - he starts first grade. I worry, as his tummy's been a bit upset all weekend. Could be the McD's we had last night, could be anxiety. Poor guy.

I'm a little down, not sure why. Just wasn't ‘into' doing much of anything today. Evidently Beloved Hubby wasn't either, because we sat around and watched DVDs most of the day. Found two patterns in the Studio catalog (yup, that's what I call the big pattern catalog/summer project now !) that might work well for Agatha's undies, so I cleaned and printed one off. But had no interest in sewing it, no matter how much caffeine I consumed.

Well, there's always tomorrow...especially since I'll have practically a whole day to m'self !

Found out that the Pony playset I bought to replace the castle tower is the ‘Frilly Frocks' one, and it originally came with a miniature sewing machine ! Darn, I'd have enjoyed having that ! Oh, well. It fits on the castle fine, but it'll take some slight modifications to fit on the missing tower's housing. Found three little-girl rings in the drawers. No horse, of course.

(yawn) Well, 5am comes early...see ya'll tomorrow ! Hope your weekend was wonderful !

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CDT

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Mood:  happy

We slept in - really late ! - so I didn't get out until after lunch. Got to hit a few yard sales before it started to rain. Didn't find anything, but that's not always the point ! Also got a parking space I was waiting for taken, and a woman who's time is clearly more valuable than mine saw me heading for a grocery store register and dashed in front of me. I had four things, she had a cartload. Ah, well. I prefer to let karma deal more with folks than getting mad at petty stuff like that these days. Not worth my time or limited energy. Let's face it, they and their gods know what they did. Not my place to say or do anything.

Hit the fabric store - after a near-orgy of touching and feeling fabric, I bought a stretch corduroy striped remnant, a green fat quarter with Japanese lettering, some blue glittery knit fabric, and some black cotton with a small grey-brown fan print. Also eight sets of markdown buttons. Most are stars, but two special ones will end up on the sewing machine cover. One says ‘I (heart) me' and the other reads ‘don't hate me Because i'm flawless'. The one that says ‘I have nothing to wear' will probably get sewn to a jacket.

My little splurge was less than $8. - not bad when each button set was originally $3.90 ! No way I'd have paid that much, so the 25c they were marked down to was more my speed ! Love those star buttons, too. I about bought all they had of ‘em.

Thrift stores yielded woodworking magazines for Beloved Hubby, brand-new underwear for Dearest Son, and some sort of My Little Pony miniature playset for me. You may remember that I have a huge Barbie castle I bought for near-pennies at a yard sale - it was missing a tower that turns. Ordinarily I'd just ignore it, but the housing shows and looks bad. I've had various plans to replace the tower, ranging from buying a replacement from Mattel ($20. ! Forget it !), to making one from a cardboard grits container (it fits perfectly). I was also considering getting a Rapunzel tower playset off eBay, but shipping scuttled that plan. About the only one that fit the budget was the grits can. Well, I saw the MLP playset and thought it was cute. It's shaped like a tower, not all pink, with a little seat inside. Hmmm...50c. Worth a shot ! And if it doesn't work - haven't had time to play with it yet - I still have that grits box to work with !

I've been watching a new anime series on YouTube, Princess Tutu. Now I wanna make ballet-like gowns and such. One of the characters had an interesting line - ‘There is happiness for those who accept their fate. There is glory for those who defy it'. Hmm. I wonder which I'm doing ! Probably ‘accepting', but glory is such a nebulous thing... I really enjoy being happy.

Tomorrow I hope to sew something. Not sure what yet !

Posted by dorriebelle at 10:58 PM CDT

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Mood:  a-ok

Dearest Son's busily playing with old toys. I swear, he thinks I'll toss stuff out when school starts if I haven't seen it out of the toybox in a while ! Actually, I only ditch the broken stuff. I never know what he's gonna want next, so it doesn't do any good to toss toys until he gives them to me to donate. So I don't touch ‘em unless they're truly busted.

Got dishes and the kitchen cleaned, and did some laundry. In a few minutes, Son's gonna help me clean up the living room by moving all his toys back to his bedroom, and we'll get ready to go to Granny & Granddad's. Beloved Hubby's working late tonight, but we'll make time for ourselves when he gets home. We never did watch the DVD of Enemy Mine he got from the $5. bin at Mal-Wart last week.

Haven't decided what to do tomorrow. All the stuff I'd normally jump on doing tomorrow I can do any day of the week while Son's in school. Really feels weird. The idea of going to Hobby Lobby any time I want to...wow. I know it's only been a few months since school let out for summer, but it seems longer.  

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CDT

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Mood:  cool

The ‘get up offa yer butt' theme is continuing. Sometimes with humorously painful results. Was getting down to the Sound Cube when - owOW ! I'd managed to boogie on the sharp end of a pin on the Studio floor. It got pretty deep before it hurt ! Gave it some proper first aid, then restarted the song and checked the carpet before bouncin' around some more. Feels weird to have a band-aid on my foot, like I'm constantly stepping on paper.

Got my paper project done, too. This is gonna sound weird and uber-frugal, but I do it. Patterns I wanna try get printed out on regular copy paper - usually on the blank sides of sheets we've already used once. It's rare for me to use fresh paper, unless I plan to print pieces on both sides and it won't conflict. I usually end up with large paper scraps. Once I've got a pile of ‘em large enough to annoy me, I cut ‘em down to fit in the scratch paper box I got at a yard sale for a quarter. Yeah, I could easily just buy a pretty new one at Dollar Tree. Or use one of the dozen notebooks I bought beyond cheap during back-to-school sales recently. But for some reason, I get a kick out of reusing a sheet that had a soccer-team formation announcement from Dearest Son's school, printing a pattern on the obverse, sometimes twice with a Barbie pattern, and still having enough to cut a scrap paper sheet from. By the time most paper leaves our house, it's been well-used !

Cancelled XM Radio today. We're just not using it, and with winter coming, I may as well save the few bucks it cost. They were actually pleasant about it, I think it's the best cancellation call I've ever had. I'll miss it now that it's gone, but give me a month, and I'll be annoyed that the radio's still here.

Puttered around in the studio some, but didn't really get much done. Mostly just enjoyed being in there. Didn't do any housework either, so it all evens out ! I think, in my lazy, roundabout way, I'm trying to hold on to summer, since a new part of my life is beginning. Dearest Son will be at school all day, without me driving him. It feels so weird to know he's not as dependent on me - I'm happy about it, but a bit sad at the same time. He's excited ! I should be...give me a week or two.

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CDT

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Mood:  a-ok

Pretty much had to get off my butt today - ‘meet his teacher' night is tomorrow, and that's when most parents turn in the requested supplies. We had most of it, but not all, since we didn't know which school he'd be attending until Monday. Bought the wrong scissors, too. So it had to be done today, as tonight and tomorrow,  the ‘school supplies' aisles will be utter disaster. Parents who can't shop ‘til this weekend will be seriously shocked at how beaten up those aisles are.

Heck, it was pretty bad at 8:45 this morning. After I had to wait for a mom/daughter team to go through ever.single.folder.and.notebook for the ‘look' they wanted - and, of course, this takes the entire aisle, both sides, to accomplish -  I got almost everything he needs. But not the ‘ 4 blue, two pocket brad fastener folders'. Mal-Wart was sold completely out of all colors. Well, they had a few, but they looked as though they'd barely survived last year's tour of duty. Not enough, and not blue. So we got the groceries and hit Albertson's, which is now Homeland. They had ‘em. Cheap, too, just not quite as cheap as M-W.  I was so happy just to have it done, I would have paid double. But a buck for all four was nice.

Still, when you have to hit three or more stores to find the list stuff, it's a bit much. I don't mind getting what Dearest Son will need, it's not even that much money. I just get tired of every year having to hunt some items down like a bloodhound. Luckily my doll shopping has trained me well for this. It's just not as much fun.

Got home and proceeded to round my rump some more. This time, with chips ! But I knew I'd soon have the ‘cicada shell' feeling again if I didn't do something. Dishes and laundry were right out (grin), so I decided to download some music from Napster onto the MP3 and go clean the studio. With some new tunes flowing out of the Sound Cube, I got patterns sorted and stored, loose doll clothes put away, and the sewing table cleaned up.

I then went after the Fashion Fever sets. While I'd opened the one Gabrielle was in and one of the fashion sets, most of the clothes for those two and one other fashion-only set were still attached to the packaging. I hadn't even opened the red/white/blue/gold one. Not sure why I do that. Even when I'm pretty sure I'm keeping some new doll goodie, I often don't open it right away. Oh, well. At least they all got opened today ! Got it all stored, too. It felt really nice, like a gift all over again, to de-box everything.

There was one outfit from Gabrielle's set I really didn't like. Actually, I liked the minidress, but the open-back hood just didn't look right to me. I almost didn't buy that set because of it. It looked OK on a doll - I saw it on the Fashion Fever doll group - but I knew it wasn't anything I really wanted. So, when I deboxed, I put it aside with the purses that don't open. No kidding. One, a cute little gold and black box of a purse, even had a hinge and a clasp, but it was molded or glued shut. I normally stuff ‘em in a baggie and donate ‘em.

Went to pick up the dress along with the purse donation, but I looked at it a bit more. Yeah, I wasn't much on the big "8" on the front, and the curly script said ‘Barbie' and something, I couldn't read it. But the skirt was asymmetrical, and the fabric was really nice. I like asymmetrical stuff. I started to wonder...

Yup. Hood was sewn on separately, not part of a seam or hem. Well, in that case... The hood detached easily, but it was holding the hem down. Nothing a few hand-stitches won't fix. About ten minutes later, I had a dress I liked much better. It mostly fits my Scooby Doo ‘Velma', but it doesn't close all the way in the back. Not much of a surprise, it didn't close in the back in the packaging either. The little thin plastic body form was also too big for it. Velma's almost too big - and she has the 1997 Teen Skipper body !

Wasn't sure what to do with the hood. It had a seam already, and a hem. Too short for a scarf or even a good headband. On a whim, I sewed the new raw edges together, and folded it into a shape. Voila ! Coordinating hat. It's still mostly just an irregularly-shaped tube, so I can configure it differently later.

Velma's using the star on the door to the Studio as a photo backdrop. It's just a cardboard star box lid, spray-painted silver. Her hair's more red than this, too. Out of the package, Velma's hair is like concrete. A warm wash eliminated the heavy spray, but also some of the darker color. She actually looks more like a Molly Ringwald doll, but she's still Velma to me !

Posted by dorriebelle at 7:12 PM CDT

Updated: Monday, 2 May 2011 10:02 AM CDT

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Mood:  down

Kind of in a ‘down' mode. Not sure what's wrong with me, just can't seem to get off my ever-expanding rear. Most of the things I've forced myself to do or try this week haven't worked for squat, so I'm a bit reluctant on doing or trying anything else. Ordinarily, I'd treat myself to a new piece of fabric or somesuch, as inspiration to do something anyway, but I can't even get up the interest for that. And I already have more than I'll ever want, use, or need already. (sigh)

Oh, I'll shake this off and be fine tomorrow, but if I ignore it, it gets worse. So I'll wallow in it today and get it over with. Urgh.

Posted by dorriebelle at 7:05 PM CDT

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Mood:  blue

More domestic life, less doll. Since school starts up next week, that'll change. I'm kind of sad, kind of happy. We didn't get to slide in to his old school, he'll be going to a new one. Drat. But they have his bus all arranged - and it's not a Special Needs one - and their aptitude test scores are some of the highest in the county. I'm selfishly happy about not having to sit in a roasting/freezing car five hours a week, and not having to battle morning traffic, but I'll miss the interaction I had with his teachers and classmates. I'll have to see what volunteering I can find there.

In other news, I'm sure you've heard about Mattel's latest recall - >

http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/latestnews/stories/wfaa070814_wz_toyrecall.327c31ed.html

Shorthand, it's for magnets in Batman and One Piece action figures, Puppy Day Care figures, nearly every Polly Pocket playset made in the last two or three years,  and some of the ‘Barbie and Tanner' doll-and-dog sets, and for lead paint on one lone Cars figure, namely Sarge. Ironically, Sarge is one of the few we don't have. Dearest Son just wasn't interested in him much, and generic 'Hot Wheels' jeeps he already had stood in just fine if you asked him about it. Article is fully linked to better details, especially if you have any of these toys and need info about what to do.

I never liked the ‘Barbie and Tanner' set. It just seemed weird, and this is coming from a woman who had no squicks about the ‘Growing-Up Skipper' doll she had as a kid. Then or now. Again, succinctly, the plastic dog ‘eats' food Barbie gives him, then ‘craps' out the same nuggets from the other end. Barbie picks up the leavings with a magnetic scooper, presumably to put back in the "dog food" box, or Tanner's bowl. (shudder) The scooper was modified later in production, but Mattel wants to make sure kids don't eat more than one of these magnets - nobody wants a repeat of the Magnetix fiasco. Not something Mattel was responsible for, but better safe than sorry. Especially when you're already having trouble getting kids to want toys over electronics these days.

In related toy news, the co-owner and top exec of Lee Der, the Chinese factory recently banned from exporting toys due to their involvement in earlier lead paint recalls was reported dead from a suicide today. Something to think about when perusing the aisles at Mal-Wart. ‘Just toys' indeed.

http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/latestnews/stories/wfaa070812_mo_taintedproducts.2b6ddacf.html

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CDT

Updated: Tuesday, 14 August 2007 1:55 PM CDT

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Mood:  irritated

Today I tried the first of the ‘Agatha Heterodyne' outfits - her underwear. Simple enough, right ! It's basically a lace-edged crop top and knee-length pants. Button-up front on the top, faux drawstring waistband on the pant(aloon)s. I have at least six different patterns I could use for it, ranging from Simplicity and Vogue, to the free patterns Emby Quinn has on her site (See Links on the main site), to Doll Shop Deluxe. Probably only take an hour, hour and a half to sew the base garments, then a bit more time to add the lace.

If you'd like to see what I'm aiming for, here's a link *  ->    

http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20030507

Pfegh. The lace. That's the big stumper that has stomped me. I altered the Emby Quinn patterns and got a decent approximation of the top. Neckline wasn't as low as Agatha's, but I figured adding the lace would help. I kept the back closure - fit better that way - but added a simple tuck-pleat to the front, for a closure illusion. Not bad at all !

But then, the lace. The ()^%$#*+<@!> ing lace. Went through the whole ‘lace and ribbon' stash container - it's about the size of two milk crates, and a bit deeper, packed full - and didn't' find lace small enough. Found some that might work, but it wasn't gathered. So I gathered it. Attached it to the neckline and found out something fairly important...

There IS NO lace small or narrow enough to fit on the top the way it does in the darn images. If it's large enough to ruffle or sew, it's too big and out of scale. It'd have to be about 1/8" wide to be in scale, probably smaller, and sewing it on, even by hand, would be difficult. Then getting it in the right place...feh. It just won't work. I could do it easily in human scale, possibly even with some fussing and cursing in Elphie's scale. But 1/6 scale, I just don't have the skill. I don't know if it even *can* be done, by anyone.

So. What I'll probably end up doing is re-making the top again (it didn't take long) and using the stretch-stitch function to add a row of blanket stitching to the neckline, arms, waist, and knees. It'll give the illusion of lace without being actual lace. Since the garments are while, using cream off-white thread on top and a light grey in the bobbin will probably give me the look I want. Later, it's shown in pink, but I think a darker pink (and the grey beneath) will still work. Gosh knows I couldn't get the lace to.

Shoot. And I thought I was starting out simple...

*Umm, sorry about the linkage. You might well wonder why I don't just enclose a quick scan of it, especially since I still have Volume 1 from the library. I'm still kind of wondering myself. What it gets down to is this - I respect the work. And I don't own the book, much less have permission to share the image. Yeah, that never stopped me before, but in this case, it is. I just can't do it. Hence the link. I'm not trying to push anyone into reading Girl Genius, but I simply can't cut/paste it like I normally would. (sigh) This ‘respect' thing is making my life more difficult than it used to be...

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CDT

Updated: Monday, 13 August 2007 11:54 AM CDT

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Mood:  accident prone

Not a lot going on, doll-wise. About all I got done today were minor errands. Dropped off a donation to GoodWill, returned library DVDs, mailed bills off, hit a couple yard sales. Not much out there this week, but if I had major scores every week, we'd be even more broke ! So it's nice that I tend to find stuff only once or twice a month, when I'm lucky.

Helped Beloved Hubby load up some stuff - and cracked my knee on the new ball-hitch on his truck. Oh, well. That bruise will go nicely with the one a few inches higher, gained from one of the branches I hauled Thursday bouncing at my tugging, then suddenly giving way - straight to my leg.

It's been a clumsy day - I saw some currency floating on a breeze, and hopped out to retrieve it. Hit my arm on that (*^% automatic seat belt slider...for a lousy dollar bill.

Maybe there's a reason a chunk of me refuses to go near the sewing machine today...

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CDT

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