Tribal Otter

All done!

Woot!

Still Obsessed With This

I spent a decent amount of time yesterday trying to track down where this image came from in the hopes of finding some tutorials or suggestions for recreating it. As best as I can tell, it is inventory at  a costume rental location. Oh the agony! Blogiverse, you have failed me.

The rest of the evening was spent staring at the screen, trying to determine how best to recreate this masterpiece. Finally at about 8:30 I grabbed a notebook and made some concept sketches, establishing at least some semblance of a plan and digging some unused scrap fabric and muslin out of the fabric closet to make at mock up.

I'm going to make it in two pieces, 1) the skirt and 2) the leatherlook bodice with the overlap skirt. I've decided to close the sides on both, as I'd rather not wear another layer underneath. I am open to the idea of making a second one with open sides but I would have to dig up a cami and some bike shorts to wear underneath.

I'm hoping to get some time to work on the mock up this weekend, but before I do I want to finish my otter. It's almost complete.

Other things on my want to do list? A carry bag for my diffuser and oils. A new toiletries bag. Stitching all the things. You know, just the usual ;)

Slow Sunday Stitching

I am happy to let you know that one of my problems has been resolved. Last night about 12:30 am we managed to fix my computer. It was overheating within about a minute of turning it on. The problem turned out to be the liquid cooling system, which had apparently developed a slow leak at some point and so was no longer cooling the CPU.

This is what the back of the cooling thing looked like. The green discoloration and the brown liquidy gunk are the symptoms of the cooling fluid leak. The white stuff is an overzealous application of thermal paste from when the computer was built.

A quick trip out to the computer store for a replacement and a hour or two for the repair and its up and running again. We lucked out, because the CPU could have been damaged during the overheating and that would have been a significantly more expensive repair. Many thanks to the people who offered advice on how to get it fixed.

After reading my last post, one of my readers sent me this charming meme, which is infinitely suitable. This will be me tomorrow, which will be the first day in a long time that I can stay home and not have people over. Forecast for tomorrow? Quiet and relaxing with 0% chance of people-ing.

I have decided to join in on Just One July to see how far I can get. Therefore, for July, I will be working on my otter during my cross-stitch time. I got a good start
in yesterday morning while Jack was sleeping.

This will also be my project this afternoon when I get back from church and lunch. Linking up to Slow Sunday Stitching@Kathy's Quilts

Happy Stitching All!

Overwhelmed

Being back from vacation is no fun at all. I have  (a) a broken computer, (b) a car that needs repairs, (c) an oven that I can't use because it doesn't want to turn off after I turn it on, (d) the camping things still need to be cleaned up, (e) I think I'm on my last pair of clean underwear, (f) I cannot locate my rotary cutter to save my life, (g) a yard with two weeks worth of weeds that are managing to grow even though everything else is dead due to drought, (h) this list could go on forever but I won't bore you with more reasons why I'm stressed out.

I stumbled across this rather accurate comic strip the other day and it is particularly relevant now.

By AnemoneLost. Shared under the following Creative Commons License per the author. 

Only instead of Netflix, I'm throwing myself into a variety of craft projects in a sad attempt to bring some order and sanity into my life. Or at least a little bit of fun. I think part of the problem is that I naturally relax by being alone and doing my own little things but living with 30 other people while camping for a week is like social time in overdrive and I haven't had two minutes to sit down and recover yet.

(I apologize in advance for the lousy photos - my photo editing software is on the computer that is no longer working.)

I managed to hide in my sewing room on Wednesday while Jack was catching a movie with a Dagorhir buddy who was in town. Last night I had to go to an after work appointment and didn't get home until almost 8 pm. So today I took a nap, drank a coffee brought to me by my wonderful husband, and have been diligently avoiding human interaction ever since I got home by way of chain piecing a quilt coupled with Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince on audiobook. Headphones for the win.

Dresden Plates In Progress

I did finally receive my hand dyed fabrics that I ordered in mid May and was more than a little disappointed to see that the colors were no where near as vivid as they were pictured on the website. A little homework and advice seeking turned up the fact that aida cloth dyes much lighter than an evenweave, which is lighter than a linen, so if I want vibrant colors I will have to purchase a different type of fabric.

Regardless, its still prettier than plain white aida, so I started one of the kits. This is the beginning of Frog Pile by Design Works.

I've yet to decide whether to join Justine in Just One July for this month, but I suppose I'm out of time to make up my mind. I think that I could probably finish either my otter or the Library Kitten project if I did. I'll make the decision tomorrow. The idea of finishing a project is quite appealing.

May you have a happy and blessed Fourth of July.

Ragnarok Recap

Last week was spent chilling with *most* of our favorite people at Ragnarok. My brother even surprised me with a trip up to join us. It was really fabulous to see him!

Camping went much smoother this year than in the previous several years. The weather was cooperative, albeit quite warm and humid, but we had very little rain and didn't have to spend every day cleaning up from the natural disasters. I didn't take very many pictures this year but here was our camp entrance.

Here is our new tent all set up. The shade pavilion next to it was lowered due to the storms we were expecting that night. I LOVE MY NEW TENT. My only complaint is that it takes a while to set up and tear down.

Jack and I went down to Wargar's Third Annual Swine and Wine, which was a first for us and it was fun. It's a pig roast. Next year, I'm hoping to spread the word in time to get more people from Akron attending.

We also made it out to the Living Treasure Animal Park again, which is becoming annual tradition in Akron.

Plus we had the smallest member of Akron in camp for a couple days. His favorite past time was picking up whichever weapon was closest at hand and running around with it. He's currently holding a very light spear that is two to three times his height.

I even had time to get a fair amount of cross stitch in. I took both Library Kittens and Tribal Otter but I only spent time on the otter project. It is small and there is only one color of thread, making it a great travel/camping project.

Now its back to mundania, and a couple weeks worth of Ragnarok Recovery. I'm a little socialized out for the week, so I'm going to keep my head down and relax over the next few days, as well as start the post-Rag clean up process.

Linking up to Keep Calm and Craft On