Giraffe and a new year.

Well folks, 2011 is finally here. I've told myself I'm doing a lot of things differently in these coming 12 months, so we shall see how that goes.

Just a short post today, as I need to hit the books before bedtime to get the ball rolling.

Here's a giraffe I made at the request of a friend of mine for her boyfriend's cousin.  See some 'in progress' posts here and here. I had some problems planning and assembling this one.  It seemed to take ages and ages to finish.

Due to the fact that sewing machines still put the fear of god in me, it was mostly stitched by hand - but thankfully my mom stepped in to help sew up the arms and legs with her intense seamstress skills on the day before I needed to ship it!

I used minky fabric for the body and felt for the details. The minky was horrifying to work with. It sheds and is slippery to sew with. But it ended up looking alright, thank goodness! I monogramed an M on one of the hooves for the eventual recipient. The lower legs and belly are filled with rice that I tied in bits of nylon stocking to give it a bit of weight. Unfortunately, I think I overstuffed it a little bit. I would have liked the legs to hang down a little more freely. As I am generally pleased with the body shape, I am not too pleased with the face. I had not devised a solid way to build the horns or make the nose a little more... nose-like.  I do like the eyes (from Suncatcher) and the eyelashes.

Some handy things I learned with this one:

• Build complex felties out of paper first, serves as a 'measure twice, cut once' substitute and creates a handy pattern as well
• Never work with minky ever, ever again
• Rice works MUCH better than tapioca pearls if you want a little weight
• Rice works even better when put in bits of an old stocking tied at the ends to keep things nice and tidy
• To, once again, not leave these kinds of things to the last minute
• Giraffes look sort of dumb without their horns

I've got some other things to post, recipies and Christmas crafts mostly - but that can wait until another time.

I hope everyone had an absolutely fantastic break. I certainly did - though coming back to my empty basement suite was a bit of a shock and I'm thankful I have people here I can bum around with every so often or else I'd get awful lonely.

Some classmates from the film program and I went to see a Taxi Driver/Raging Bull double bill at the Cinematheque the other night. It was so fantastic seeing Taxi Driver properly and seeing Raging Bull for the first time. But walking out of the theater after that much Scorsese was a little disorienting. I'm also very, very excited that the Cinematheque is getting in a ton of Chaplin feature films in on 35mm and showing them throughout January and February! Unfortunately, due to my measly student funds, I'll have to pick and choose which of these I attend. It'll be like trying to pick which child you like the most.

Other news I'll sum up here: I'm currently in an obsessive Harry Potter state, I cooked my first whole chicken last week, that was pretty exciting, the word of the day today was infarction and I've started studying chemistry on my own time to make myself feel less dumb.

Anyways, that's that. Hope all is just peachy with everyone and the new year is treating you all very well!

From here.

Hey there, ho there, DECEMBER.

Oh December, how bittersweet your arrival.

I did a lot of Christmas shopping today. Most of it in fact! Now I have sewing supplies spread all over my living room floor, am chiseling haystacks off of a plate I neglected to put parchment paper on and watching some good ol' Pulp Fiction.

Last week, I said goodbye to a feltie that's been with me for a little while. Little Buckaroo!

May he find peace amongst the dutch tulips!!

School is done on Monday, thank goodness. Monday is also the day I show my film to the class. When you show your film to the class, the following things happen: fingers trembling with trepidation, load the projector, fiddle with the sound, roll it, short round of applause, the class talks about your film for a while without any of your input, then you get to talk about it, then you take some questions, then you sit your ass back down. Needless to say, all I'm feeling is fear... but that is normal.

I picked up some inks from Opus, along with a variety of super skinny paintbrushes and my very first real X-acto knife in preparation for the post production portion of my film. Opus is now one of my favorite establishments because they give student discounts. I love a solid business who knows the financial perils of the student. I finished a rough cut today and will spend the next few days doing some all-too-fine work under a magnifying glass.

My one paper for the term is complete, pathetic as it was. My lame math presentation is done, thanks to one super group member who thanklessly did most of the work. Once my film presentation is done, it's on to studying for three exams. I will be done the Fall 2010 semester on the 14th and will be flying home to chilly Canmore on the 17th! I'm fairly excited to have a home visit after an entire year. Hard to believe it's been so long!

In recent (as in 10 minutes ago) news, I have finally started assembling this giraffe for my friend Amanda to give to her boyfriend's cousin who is two years old! I just put these fantastic eyelashes on it, aaand I sort of had to share it ASAP. SNEAK PEAK.

Working with the minky fabric has been a little bittersweet. Although it is extremely soft, it has a bad bad habit of looking a little mangy at the seams, and there doesn't seem to be anything I can do about it. It was probably a fabric made for more large scale things like baby blankets.... but it will have to do!!

State of the floor. I'm going to have fun vacuuming out all of the minky bits out of the shag. Not.

I'm really happy to be sewing again. I haven't finished anything since the Rainbow Owl. I've sold a couple of felties since then. I seem to be missing them a little more than I had expected. I guess every feltie I make has a little bit of my love stitched into it (corny much?!). Bahaha. Anyways. Life goes on. More felties come to life!

Back to felting I go!

I do plan to finish that VIFF review sometime...

Creature 002: off to start another life!

Bye bye, Bat Creature! Fare thee well!

OOOWL!

Hello everyone! Behold my first significant felt creation for quite some time! I've been fiddling with the pattern for about a week and in the past couple days the assembly began. Lots of things did not go to plan, but I think he turned out pretty swell!

See a quick progress photo in my last post, here!

The thing I love most about him is his shape That turned out pretty well. I ended up doing a lot of snipping and extra stitching than originally planned, but that is so with many of my creations. I love his colours and his lidded eyes! What I think I could of done differently is his front feathers - they could have been a little shorter I think. Originally, the pattern had him sitting a lot taller, so it would have worked in theory. He's a little lopsided (again, like most of my creations) and he doesn't sit quite like I wanted. But I think he's still quite handsome!

Side profile, so handsome!

I'm a big fan of how his tail turned out!

Ahoot ahoot?

Top view to see his glorious wings!

His gorgeous amber eyes are from Suncatcher Eyes, here on Etsy.

Such eyes!

See this sweet owl's listing on my Etsy!

Happy September everyone!!

Is it July 17th already?

It seems there's so little to update on, and it's been so long! Anyways, moving happily into my new basement cave - wondrous as it is! The kitchen and the living room are all cleaned up and livable. But there are still piles of things in most other rooms of the house. However, I did just get a storage space freed up today - so in some boxes go! Here's a bit of a nostalgia binge: I went through all of these boxes my parents brought out for me that I had packed up in the summer of '08 before I went off to University. It was pretty awesome going through them. I was trying to get rid of some things, but basically all I did was pack them more tightly into the boxes so it seemed like I had gotten rid of 4 boxes worth instead of two.

Today I decided to do a little sewing, when I was probably supposed to be catching up on bio, but whatever. I drew up a bunch of patterns for fruit&veg keychains (!) and ended up making this tiny little fellow I have called Wee Blue Bunny. He ended up a little more lopsided than I would have liked, and I should have stuck with felt for his belly - the fabric I used is sort of weird and stretchy, which makes it hard to keep even.

In other sewing news, I'm thinking of making Big Buckaroo more interesting. Since I made him I have continuously said to myself, "He's not quite 'alive' enough, he needs something more!" So the answer? I think a neckercheif and some chaps are in order! It'll make him look like a real buckaroo from the west. It'll sure make his boring felt torso a lot more intriguing. Maybe I'll give him big Brezhnev eyebrows too.

My garden has shrunk quite a bit since I've moved. It's been a bit neglected lately. But one tomato on my micro tom plants has started to turn red at last! They are LOADED with tomatoes. The back yard gets sun all day and my plants are just loving it! My Brandywine toms are chest high and started flowering a few weeks ago. Hopefully I'll be able to get some huuuge tomatoes off of them!

I think I'm going to go to a park further north tomorrow and get some nature shooting in. I haven't been out with my Sony in a very, very long time, so it's time to delve into nature for some gorgeous shots again! It'll be a bit of a haul by transit to get up there, but hopefully it'll be well worth it. I was going to go up there today, but my mom, dad and puppy left today and after that, I wasn't feeling up to too much of anything (except A LOT of Star Trek: Deep Space 9). Azn's coming to visit next week for 4 or 5 days and I may have a hot date the week after (?) busy busy busy.

Hope everyone's summer is going swell!

Buckaroos

I was just sketching up some creatures when Little Buckaroo was born. After I made the small fella, I just felt compelled to make a larger Buckaroo, with an even larger mustache!

Odd & Ends

I've had some spare time lately because it's been extra slow at work, so I've made a set of new felties, but I shall post those later! Here are some miscellaneous happenings.

Here is my gorgeous Weston Cinemeter. I don't know how to use it yet, but it's definitely on my list of things to conquer this summer! Sometimes I feel horrible that I have all this equipment, but not the wherewithal to use it. In time, I suppose.

Here's most likely the last three sisters feltie I will ever construct. It was a fun idea while it lasted, but I love making new things too much! This one here was specially ordered, so I made an exception. Hopefully the buyer loves their mountainous feltie!

Creature 002!

A new feltie is up on Etsy! Creature 002! A bat-licious felt creation! He didn't turn out exactly how I wanted, but I think he's still pretty awesome! I love the colours of the felt I used. Delish!

My garden!

It's sort of a pathetic garden, but I like it. Whatever.

This is the deal I've got going on my patio.


What my plants look down over each and every day!