Finally Finished!: Fox and Friends Quilt

 

It's not the prettiest quilt ever. Even though in theory the heavier quilting cotton should have held up just fine, there was a lot of easing going on and the hand quilting meant that it got stretched in placed. I really do not like the recommended fabric for the binding (Binding Architextures Cross Hatch in Black.) It jars with that solids and natural theme of the animals. I think a less industrial fabric would be better - there was a camping themed collection last year that might have something that could fit. 

Stuffed Monsters

My cousin's angel of a daughter turns one in September. Seriously, this child is perfect. We went on vacation with them and her fussy is a normal child's good day. This is the who my mom and I made this quilt for last year (part one, part two.) So when my cousin asked if I would be willing to sew a couple of stuffed monsters for a Pink Monster themed birthday party, I was happy to. It helped that I was waiting for fabric for a quilt to arrive and I had nothing better to do with my time.

She asked for bright versions of yellow, purple, blue, and pink. She had a couple of requests in terms of what some looked like but otherwise I had artistic freedom. The dog-earred monsters were closely based off a commercial brand but the others are looser. My favorite is the cyclops and the sort of adipose-like ones. My cousin seems really pleased.

An End to the Radio Silence

On Monday I had my 9 month follow up with my PCP and realized I've left this space vacant for pretty much that entire span. I didn't mean for 9-ish months to go by without posting anything new. Oops...
First things first, I finished my master's program this spring!

It would be nice if graduation robes had more defined sizing other than "<250lbs"

The last nine months saw weight loss in both DH and I (he's been averaging about a pound a week for the last year and a half- meaning his ideal weight is less than a year away!), severe drop in my cholesterol (125 points off my total, 85 off my triglycerides, and 105 off my LDL), an increase in fitness (the last time I was this in shape was when I was training as starting midfield- over a decade ago), and... an increase in Olive's weight. Her allergies got so bad that she was put on prednisone based pill so she puffed right up to a very unreasonable weight which refuses to go away with diet and exercise changes.

Still as scruffy as ever

Also because of the combination of new diet and exercise, none of my me-made clothes fit. In fact, I've replaced 95% of my wardrobe since the beginning of the year. It was jump started by AA losing my luggage over Christmas and doing some emergency shopping to not wear the same shirt and jeans for a week and a half (luggage eventually showed up.) Some of my patterns have a restricted size range so I need to replace those as I find time (first was my Smooth Sailing pattern, I miss those trousers a lot.) Part of this process of replacing my wardrobe is really looking at my career goals and how I want to be perceived. I mostly replaced my clothes with second hand clothes since:
A. I have no idea what kind of museum I will be in - or in what level of position (I've applied to everything from local farm museums to federal museums to private art collections)
B.  I have no idea what the climate with be like where we are living (applied to all four corners of the continental US)
C. A & B throws out most of my expectations a year ago.
D. My body is still changing and I'm getting used to a new shape (proportions changed a little.)
E. I'm still wrestling between how to blend my ideal with my reality (vintage and practical don't always got hand in hand, especially when reality is moldy books, grave wax, and chain grease.)
Because these will change as time goes on and I find out where I'll be working, garment sewing has been put on the back-burner. Instead, I've worked on more quilting and some small sewing projects, . Also, DH and my dad built me a fantastic sewing table. Pictures have to wait for that as they built it at my parents' house.

You'll meet these guys in a little bit

I promise I have some posts written already so there should be less radio silence, at least for a little while. At worst I can ramble about my decorating plans for our new house (we are getting a house, I'm very much done with our condo HOA, sharing walls, and multi-unit fire protection systems*) and review Olive's training gear (yes, she has gear.) Expect a good number of colorful meals, that are low cholesterol, low processed carb, and very filling (even meat-lover DH is okay with most of them.)

*There were quite a few 3-5am fire alarms this summer, some went on for hours. The fire department won't even come for the first 45 minutes, they're so done with it all.

So things got a little busy....

So here's what happened-
I have yet to finish Olive's Sherlock costume, the fabric for Carment Sandiego is still on the roll, and Olive rewore her BUGWB uni for trick or treating (no dedicated contests this year)
I registered for my last semester of grad school, I have 2 days left in my last internship, and I'm finalizing the edits on my writing requirement (my program's version of a thesis)
I had some less than stellar news from my physical that further constricts my diet, but knowing family history it really shouldn't have been a surprise
Olive competed in two Herding Instinct Tests and Q'd on Saturday. While I think she did better on Sunday, it wasn't enough for a second Q and we may just leave that title unfinished; the trials are kind of far away (out past my barn) and she's not going to competitive at herding. Upside is the first judge called her "The Pretty One!"

This is her "I want that cookie your promised" face

I now have a sewing list of fabric and patterns I already have on hand:
1. Mom's flannel nightgown
2. DH's plaid negroni (sort of regreting my choice of fabrics but we'll see how it goes)
3. Altering a knit skirt and breeches
4. Olive and my Sherlock Holmes pieces
5. Spring 1930s blouse for me (using a Miss Depew pattern)
6. Olive's Carmen Sandiego costume

I also have a couple of recipe reviews to post, too

Baby Quilt for K: Part Two

Now that Baby H is born, I asked K if she wanted a monogram or named embroidered on the back of the quilt. She asked for the first and middle name, which I thought was great. I think she and her DH chose a great name- unique and a nod to her heritage without going "too cultural" (...I was rooting for her to use Sigrid... DH hates the name, if we get another female dog in the future she's likely going to be Anya or Sigrid. Olive was almost Anya, I just couldn't explain to Grandma that we named our dog after a character on Buffy the Vampire Slayer*)

Anyway, it's been years since I've done any embroidery. We learned a little embroidery and cross stitch in Pioneer Girls but that was 15 years ago. So some quick google searches had me running over to the craft store (that's a little too indie for my tastes, not plain fabric in sight, all hand-dyed batiks) to pick up embroidery floss and DH to Micheal's for a smaller hoop.

(theoretically) Quick Storage Bag

 

The horse I was riding up until last week* threw me and then I caught the nasty bug that's been going around (it's since turned into a sinus infection and I can't hear 100% out of one ear) so all last weekend I moped around. The problem is I get a bit manic when sick and decided I needed to replace the plastic bag that's been housing random stuff.

Custom Bookcase... I mean Shoe Rack

I've been meaning to post this since the peplum post but with Boston and then what happened in West, other things took priority.

I could not get words right this past week- this shoe rack was called everything BUT a shoe rack.
Anyway, DH seems to be on a mission to replace as much possible of our furniture with DIY pieces. And for this piece at least, this made sense.

Olive's Costume/Sewing List

My machine is off to the shop (the bobbin case is catching the top thread on something and I can't quite figure it out) so there's going to be very few sewing posts until I get it back. In the mean time, I thought I would work on a sewing list for Olive, it's only fair.

Costumes:
- Joan of Arc (enough of her being called 'him')
- K-9 (there's an adorable corgi dressed as K-9 floating around pinterest)
- Sherlock Holmes (I really just want to make her the iverness coat in a tweed or houndstooth)
- Serenity (the ship)
- Disney-canon Maid Marion (she already has the foxy Sheltie face, despite her raccoon markings)
- Pony (mostly to make up for my mistakes 13? years ago that I subjected on poor Niki)

Other Sewing Projects:
- Something for the Scottish Walk (probably using DH's clan's* tartan, or else the Stuart tartan since it's similar and cheaper). Do women wear kilts? Can you even make a puppy kilt without it looking like it belongs on a "Kilt Girl"? Shame only boys are supposed to wear TOS, I think they're adorable (and one of the reasons I would consider going the PhD route, since it really doesn't have professional value outside of teaching and just no.)
- Recovering some of her old toys using stash fabric

*Don't ask me which one it is, I know Sean Connery is in it and it's HQed on the Isle of Man. If I had taken the program opening in the UK we would have gone to the annual meeting this year.

Olive's House

Olive has three "crates" around the condo. This was accidental but allows her various comfortable vantage points to survey her domain DH and my home. One in the living room, one in the office, and one in our room.

Crates 1 & 2 are boring conventional flexi and plastic-shell crates for traveling and for bed time. Flexi means she can be contained when her stomach is upset overnight but can see everything, making her happy. The shell means she can't chew through it without a ton of determination while we're gone (which she has but a kong of peanut butter and kibble helps deter her) and can be buckled in when we go on a car ride (straps around the outside make it more secure and allow it to be buckled into 2-point or 3-point belts).*

 Taken outside Roanoke after a long car ride from around Little Rock (day 2 of the trek from Texas). It's currently serving as her canopy bed, stuffed with a large fleece blanket and a couple bath sheets to give her plenty of fabric to root around in.

Anywho, that brings us to crate 3. Olive's very special, handmade, custom wood crate.**

If she sits up very tall, and puts her ears up, she still has a couple inches of room

You would think any dog would be happy to have a comfortable crate like this. Nope. First Sunday we had her, we came home from church to find she left us a present in the living room and took chunks out of the door of the crate.

 Every so often I will throw all her toys in the back, and one by one she will unpack them so they are all under the coffee table.

This was DH's project while we waited for our adoption paperwork to be approved (and before we knew the size of dog we were getting) so he did all the math and most of the decision making (I had most of the say of the color on the top). He took this project from Ana White and downsized so that it is 24"x24"x32" and could have gone much smaller to comfortably fit ~13" Olive. If you do re-size it, I would recommend finding a standard crate size for a mat/pillow. We are having a time finding one that fits well. MDF was used for the top and plywood for the base and inserts (plexi would would work too), and pine for the sides and door. The hinges and latch were purchased at home depot as was the paint (something in the Behr 400- series, I think Mossy Green but I could be wrong, I know it was an all-weather/outdoor paint which is a bit of a pain since I find it to be a bit tacky with dust or wet glasses for whatever reason).

The hinge is on the left side as, in the old apartment, the crate was on the other side of the couch and it made sense in my head. I want to remove the door since we never keep her in it anyway but DH wants it to stay. Whatever. Still needs to be stained.

HOWEVER, by careful if you use this project as there are math problems with length/cuts missing. So carefully read the directions and walk through each step and highlight each cut as it corresponds to a step to make sure everything makes sense.

DH's Thoughts:
- Wait to stain until after you see if your dog is part beaver
- Either use the exact size as the pattern or be very competent with wood construction*** or math, better if it's 2 out of the 3
- Pocket Holer-thingy is very useful and makes it much cleaner
- Don't use the plastic plugs on the inside of the door/crate, dogs can and probably will eat them (we used wood filler stuff that's harder to pop off)
- Electric Sander is also useful
- Home Depot does pretty decent cuts but if you get the high schooler, you may want to add length or get extra pieces since our guy decided to not measure each piece but instead used each progressive piece as a ruler (I think I was off looking at door hardware or something)
- It is possible with only one power tool (minus cuts) as long as it is a drill.
- Make sure all exposed sides and edges are smooth for delicate puppy skin, and stupid human toes

*We allowed her to be loose in the car when we took her home from her foster parents but knew we wanted at least a harness on her since she's neurotic and it's safer for them to be contained, especially in an accident (and it's illegal for a dog to unrestrained in a vehicle in some states near us). We bought the shell crate since she's an escape artist. Figure it's easier for first responders if we are ever in an accident since she doesn't wear a leash in the car and the crate can be picked up and carried.
** You'll notice that both the flexi and wooden crates are over-sized. Because she was already potty trained (ignoring the church present) and she is not kept in either without supervision, the "den" mentality isn't a problem. Her shell crate is smaller (but still appropriate for her size, even though she loves to smoosh herself into a tiny ball in the back) so if she needed a den mentality for house training, it would suffice. DH didn't trust the stability of wire crates so we don't have one of those. I do want an exercise pen at some point but that can wait for now.
***My two years of musical tech crew were not enough

Miss Frizzle Costume: Planning

(The shirt I've been working on for the last two-three weeks is just waiting for a hem and button holes, I just keep putting it off. I should finish it tomorrow... maybe)

For another day at ComicCon I wanted something a bit more... out there. And what's more out there then everyone's favorite magic schoolbus-driving teacher? A lot of things, but this is as out there as I want to go. I may be putting this off for Halloween in favor of Fairy Godmother- depends on if I can find a shirt for Kaylee and how intensive of a design I choose for this.

 

Did you know they have whole episodes on youtube? I'm reliving my childhood.

Unlike Kaylee, the Frizz doesn't exactly have a set costume. In fact it can vary wildly in each book/episode or even scene to scene! So my first step was to figure out which one I wanted to attempt. It seems like most people do the space dress, so I'd like to do something different. These were my favorites (so far, of course, subject to change):

The red unidentifiable things look they have the Earth point of origin symbol on them, don't they? Kind of makes it my favorite

I'm not even sure she wore this dress in an actual episode,
someone grabbed this screenshot from the intro- where it changes designs a couple times

Green cowboy boots!

I already found a wig: 

Arda Wigs- Glinda

So I just need to make the outfit (including shoes) and find a Liz. Apparently the stuffed Liz creatures put out a couple years ago are now going for $50-90 and I'm not spending that on a stuffed animal Olive will likely try to destroy. I may just find a Beanie Baby that vaguely looks like it (they still make those, right?) or do what L* did for our last convention and make the thing (she made a 2-3 ft bright pink rabbit that poked me in the ear constantly as we walked, her dog later destroyed it. She made me a mini to take with me to college. It has a lavender sachet in it and is currently keeping my wedding dresses smelling nice, I know it's best practice but I'm not terribly concerned with the continued condition of them so, oh well.)

I ordered this pattern with a gift card I got from BIL for Christmas (along with good fabric shears, thread nippers, and new marking pens)

Not a perfect match but I'm going to Frankenstein the bodice a bit anyway, so I'll be combining it with McCall M6124 I have in my stash already.

*L, being the really awesome art major that she is, made DH and I really awesome mugs- she also made the little Kaylee I use as my profile pic as part of a high school graduation/you're-moving-to-Texas-and-leaving-us gift. Who can figure out the two 'verses?

Costume Wishlist

I'm taking a break from studying (or something, more like having a Disney and cheesy late 90s/early 00s movie marathon with some notes open with my legal primer staring me down giving me a guilt trip) and wanted to make a costume wishlist. I have a sewing wishlist somewhere for "real" clothes (I have a shirt planned for the week between the end of the semester and Christmas) but nothing really for costumes except for a vague "costume closet" pinterest board. So here goes:

Kaylee Frye (Planning)
Ms Frizzle (Planning)
Fairy Godmother from Cinderella (I really just want a glitter wand)*
Jane from (Disney version) Tarzan
TARDIS (original)
DubDub from Middleman (a mix between the show and the GN)
Weeping Angel (I think this is mostly making up for the mistakes I made in high school musical tech doing set and makeup for Cats)**
Margo from Despicable Me 
Lady Adventurer (not quite steampunk but something not quite accurate either, with a vest. I need a reason to draft a custom vest since I know I wouldn't wear it in real life, but I want a vest!)***
Charlotte La Bouff from Princess and the Frog
This list subject to change and updates as I remember



*Also, the caftan/robe looks like I could wear sneakers underneath or whatever and that's just a win in my book. I'm always looking for a costume that allows for me to wear comfortable shoes.
** Here's a winner from when we were trying to figure out Old Griz's makeup. I was test monkey- someone else got to wear Jennyanydots that night. Her eyebrows got higher with each application.

***I may have mentioned this before but in high school and part of college I worked for Hershey. Part of the uniform in my area for a time was a hideous vest. Not even sure if it was an improvement over the previously hyperfitted ringmaster coats.Wearing both the coat and the vest, I was mistaken for a "nice, young man". Ruined menswear for me forever.

Kaylee Costume: Planning

Here's the tie-in I promised! I'm kind of running ragged with year-end work and filling out paperwork for a really awesome volunteer position. It's been a couple month process so I'm really excited to get it all completed. Anywho, here's the tie-in to Olive's potential Serenity costume.

Ms. Kaywinnit Lee Frye aka Kaylee

Photo courtesy of Serenify Costumes 

(other reference shots as well)

Olive's First Halloween: Olive Joins the Golden Wave (in spirit)

Unless we decide to take more pictures for Homecoming (first time DH hasn't been, in almost a decade) Olive is finished with her role as the Furriest Member of the Golden Wave! (Fluffiest? Certainly not Hairiest... and I've seen babies dressed up so not Smallest either).

A Quick and Messy Fez

It's almost Halloween again, so I thought I would share another costume piece DIY (also works for a lazy cosplay for a convention.)

When I made my TARDIS dress, DH wanted to be the Doctor (the 11^th to be exact) and he needed a fez.

If my costume was hasty, his was … worse. I had every intention of sewing a bowtie and fez. Things got away from me so he rented a tie from Men’s Warehouse and in the 5 minutes I had between rehearsal, decorating the gym and the dance I took two plastic cups, a staple, and some red fabric and made a very messy fez.

This is more or less how it went.

Take 2 *matching* plastic cups. Cut on the dots.

Staple the two cups together along the long sides to make a larger loop. Then cover in fabric (again, staple) however you can. I didn't like how I did it soo... yeah. Ya'll are on your own.

And this is how it turned out

Rethinking the TARDIS Dress

A couple years ago (2? 3?) I made a TARDIS costume.

This is the TARDIS:

It travels through time and space and according to Neil Gaiman’s really awesome episode, The Doctor’s Wife, is female.

I picked a 60s type dress and handstitched the thing in a week. It was serviceable but so ill fitting. I want to tackle this again, just to have it on hand (doesn't work for my plan for upcoming-next-year-big-event.) So here’s the original:

A cardigan will cover a multitude of sins... like unfinished/incredibly sloppy armholes that were supposed to have sleeves.

Olive's First Halloween: Progress Report III

I gave up on the plume. Nearly spent more on a boa with the correct tinsel (white with gold, for those wondering) than I did on fabric. It arrived with new trimming sheers for little Ms. Barky McBarkenstein (thank DH for that one, even though she is remarkably quiet for a Sheltie) so I was very excited. Sheers are awesome (tidy paws and ears now, so cute), boa not so much. It's a sad, sad, sad boa. If I were going for a ridiculous May West costume, it might have worked but with it going to be a very small section for the chicken, it would look just weird. Also, it shed everywhere and Squishface (my name) tried eating the pieces*.

The boa is now sitting on my scrap pile until I decide what to do with it. I never put a plume hole in her shako (which is adorable) so it's not a big loss. There's a weird pucker on the top that I need to touch up that I was hoping the plume would hide. Otherwise her costume is done.

 Not her costume, but still cute (pre ear and paw trim)

Made three epaulets (one was sewn with buckram forgetting that that stuff doesn't bend and it when flipped inside out should not be between the front and back). Sewed button holes for the epaulets and the cape. Used fancy gold-plated buttons (Fabric Warehouse 5 packs for $2 sale) to attach everything. Freaked out about the zipper (only had a white invisible, should have gotten a white separable) decided to do a fake lapped zipper and have with a gap at the top and bottom (also didn't have the right length). Freaked out about which type of hooks to use, ended up sewing in two different types before realizing I'm worrying about a dog's costume. Drank a lot of cups of tea (Early Grey, hot- also, Turkey Hill Diet Green Tea). Cooed a lot over Ms. Smooshface (DH's name, again) and how cute her costume was).

Olive (halfheartedly tried to convince DH we needed to remain her Oveta after Col. Oveta Culp Hobby) will likely debut it this Saturday at the Petsmart Howl-o-ween, there are at least two we will also do. So no pictures until then.

Waiting very patiently for DH to finish making her special dinner (between trims)

*Discovered that she will eat anything. Also, discovered she has as sensitive a tummy as her mom. Hello, Saturday morning vet visit and "special" food that requires a scrip. Also, special ear drops for her mild reaction to something that she ate.

Peg people

At some point in the wedding planning I wanted a peg people topper and DH humored me. They were really popular at the time, usually with the people in their ceremony attire. They were especially popular with the hipster crowd (which we are not, unless you count liking a certain off campus coffee shop frequented by the slack line and chaco wearing crowd). When DH and I started deliberately hanging out, it was Halloween and I was mechanic!Kaylee from Firefly/Serenity. However, I thought her pink!Dress was more wedding appropriate and since … well if you saw Serenity, you know.  So I set out to make my own. I posted this DIY on another site a while ago but I’ve edited it a bit.

 

Photo By Epic Photography

Olive's First Halloween: Progress Report I

My hometown's fair kicks off the funnel-cake season for the area (yes, it's a season). We discovered when I was still young enough that they had a children's pet show that had a best dressed class in each division that qualified for BIS, additionally, the 4H region (could have been district) fair also had a pet show that was not limited to 4H projects (thankfully, since I was horseless member of the year for the county the year before and nothing changed since then sadly, but DH has promised me a pony within the next decade. I'm holding him to that). A couple years before my parents took in a Sheltie when his owner moved out of the area. He became my guinea pig for drafting costumes. He was Harry Potter, a pony, and a sheep before I aged out of the division and he got too old to put up with that nonsense.

Until a sewing table is constructed, I use the dining table for all my sewing needs. Yippee...

An Introduction I suppose

So I guess I’ll give this blog-thing a shot. At the very least, I’ll have somewhere to document new recipes, projects, and the antics of the puppy (DH has decided she will be a puppy until she is 8, and may even after that. We have 7 years to decide).

On Washington Crossing the Delebear.
In a search for a clever user name for something university related and after suggesting more questionable names like "bear collector" (sounds like a bad lingerie shop to me) DH landed on that gem. With a little convincing, it stuck and I promised him I'd reserve it as blog name (since twitter doesn't allow for long handles apparently). It's a play on the fact that our alma mater is the bears (technically bruins but we only use that in pep tunes that no one outside the band actually knows, though they did start announcing as our "war march" my senior season, no clue why) and they love a good play on words. And we recently moved so I can work on another degree in the DMV so it sort of makes sense. And I love history, and I used that particular painting in one of my last finals of undergrad (yes, really, it was military history final no less). So there. Washington Crossing the Delebear.

You’ll find a couple different things here (hopefully):

-          Reviews of mostly successful recipes (I may include disasters like the Pink Lady Cake just because it was that special)

-          “Normal” sewing projects (things that wouldn't be too strange to wear to class)

-          Costumed sewing projects (I have the firm belief that everyone- including the dog- could use a costume box)

-          Puppy sewing projects (yes, double coated breeds are more or less waterproof but they just look adorable in little yellow slickers, especially when they still have a puppy coat and very little undercoat)

-          Maybe some little crafty bits

-          Lots of parentheses (don’t ask where that writing style came from, couldn’t tell you)