An office special on a Happy Friday.

A quick and forced office special.

I have SO much sewing to do for the retreat and I haven’t spent any time on it. I have been in a bit of a funk since the last post, granted, and my creative muse has scampered off somewhere into the wilderness and left me uninspired and bland for a few weeks. The thing that sucks is that I have all this sewing to do, I should be drawing, and working on a book, I should be reading for my review site, and I am not. I am completely stagnant. I actually *forced* myself to draw my office special today. It’s not very good. I get up in the morning, barely able to peel myself from bed, I go to work, I spend the day at work, I go home, I idle about at my computer and TV until bedtime and then I struggle to fall asleep, only to find myself having to wake up five minutes after my head hits the pillow (at least that’s what it feels like).

My Dassenplank project has ground to a hideous halt because the carpenter who seemed so excited about the project took the seed money and has vanished off the face of the earth.  I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt, but I don't have a good feeling about the fact that he is ignoring my emails. He did call and leave a message to me saying he'd been called away to Utah or Idaho to do some work out of state, so I'm trying to give him a chance to prove himself a decent person before I lose it. But it's hard when you give someone your trust, and think they're decent and they do something untoward like take money and then disappear. It wasn't a lot of money on the greater scheme, but in our financial situation, it would have helped towards one of our bills for sure.  We'll see if he comes through. I still have hope that he will.

Tag is still languishing in the wound-department. I haven’t spent very much time with him these last two weeks, except to swing by, overcompensate with carrots, brush his sleek coat down and take off. I’ve been working on the sidesaddle thing too. Until I can afford a full reflocking, I’ve ordered a cheap channel riser to lift the seat off of his back a bit and even out the saddle a bit, otherwise I’ll tip back off of him ::hahaha:: I also need to find the funds to have a balance girth made for him still. Blurgh!

The ORS Regency Retreat is totally sold out. That’s exciting! I have to sit down and finish up drafting the new set of bonnets and hats for the workshop. I’ll start posting the little minis as I go along, but I haven’t been making minis right now, since I haven’t been doing much of anything except exist.

So here’s a list of what I will need to sew before December 1 for the retreat:

• 2 day gowns 
• 1 robe
• 1 ball gown
• 1 redingote
• 1 new hat/bonnet (plus finish up the patterns for the workshop)
• 2 chemisettes
• 1 fishu
• 2 mob cap
• 1 false sleeves
• 1 dressing gown
• 1 night gown
• 1 apron
• 4 shifts
• 2 petticoats
• 1 pantelettes, maybe 2
• And the big one... A new set of stays. Garr!

I also need to save up so I can order three pairs of stockings, go out and buy some shawl(s) among other things.

What I want to make after the retreat stuff is done:

A regency period riding habit (here’s a little blurb about them I did on the ORS blog)

Today’s office special is sort of connected to a project I’ve started for Etsy. It’s a kitty cat (four cats actually, a calico, a grey tabby, a black and white cat much like the above image, and an orange cat) I’ve had them printed on fabric through Spoonflower (still waiting for the swatch/yard of kitty fabric to test them out) so I could make some bean/plush cat dolls. I’ll make them, dress them in little regency gowns with pinafores and pantalettes, or in a skeleton suit if they’re boys (orange cats are usually boys and calicos are mostly girls). We’ll see how well the doll-design works with my first test-swatch.

I’ve resolved to sew this weekend. I MUST!!! Hubby will be gone most of Saturday anyway riding around with his Italian mistress, the Ducati. ::hehheh:: I will try to sew on Sunday too, but I owe my horse some quality time this week.

Have a delightful weekend. I’ll get over myself, I promise, and will be back posting projects sooner or later. I’ll try to do some photos of my projects this weekend. TRY. If I can find a decent camera and enough light to make it work.

HC

More projects...

In my work to have fine hardwood Dassenplanks produced to sell, I’ve also started thinking about accessories to sell with them. It’s a natural progression. And one of those accessories is a carrying case for the Dassenplank with room for yarn and a possible skein of on-the-board knitted material. Maybe a few pockets for crochet hooks and knitting needles and accessories too. Then I started thinking about fabrics, and themes and silly things, so I spent the better part of last night working on these:

Spin-A-Yarn ~ Cartouche

Spin-A-Yarn ~ Scroll

Spin-A-Yarn ~ Scatter

I call this series Spin a Yarn. Miss mouse is steadily knitting away, and Ladybird is not being very helpful, batting the ball of yarn about. The little cartouches hold themed items like baskets of knitted material and yarn, a work-in-progress and a smirking Ladybird. The scrolls and cartouche frames are supposed to be golden yarn. :)

So these are my fabric designs (so far) for Spoonflower. I’ve already uploaded these two, I’m also working on a solid with much tinier prints of Ladybird and knitting paraphernalia and a stripe made of a single continuous piece of golden yarn.  That will be tonight when I get home, hopefully.

I might start messing around with different colour configurations for this series. Try different themes, maybe a darker background, maybe one that looks more like toile. I had no idea making tessellated designs could be so much fun.

Knitting/Dassenplank totes.

Anyway, it’s a start. This is the basic idea for the bag. I’ve made something similar before from outdoor yard-furniture canvass; a little striped carrier for my tiny netpad computer. I lined it in fleece which I quilted to a thick (weird feeling) felty-cotton batting to give it more stiffness. It turned out really cute, except I didn’t really work very hard to center the pocket on the front and it looks uneven.

Anyway; this is a rough sketch. They will come in three sizes to accommodate the 1-foot, 2-foot and 3-foot Dassenplanks.

A Sort of Office Special & Stuff

So I had an retail-therapy moment yesterday. Of course, because I'm me, retail therapy does not mean a splurge on new clothes, oh no. I don't derive that much enjoyment from modern clothing. To me it's something to put on for modesty's sake and no more. There are no 'I-Love-Me-Clothes' as my sister calls them. The closest thing I come to being a clothes nut is the historic thing. Otherwise, a pair of comfy jeans and a shapeless sweater will do. I think if I felt more comfortable with my body, I might like clothes more, but since they never fit me like I wish they would, I just don't bother.

For me, retail therapy can often entail fabric purchases. I did that recently and bought $180 worth of silk velvet just because. It was so bad. But in the case of yesterday, retail therapy comprised dropping a couple of Jacksons on art supplies I probably didn't need. I already have a nice set of watercolour pencils at home. I have graphic pens, I have sketching pencils, I have a case. What did I do? I basically duplicated these things (except the coloured pencils are just coloured pencils, no water-colour features included this time). I bought a new set of each, and a new case and a pad of sketching paper.

I am not sure why. I think because it just made me feel good to open up that new tin of 24 colours and to roll my fingers across them. It felt good to open up the fresh sketch book and to pencil out the lines of what would become the image above.

It is in essence one of my 'office specials' except this time, it wasn't made with my muddy collection of pencils I found in the supply closet... the pencil sketching wasn't done with a mechanical pencil with a worn-down eraser, and it wasn't inked with as sharpie. It wasn't done on my printer paper. This was a commission from my etsy shop; someone wanted 'A Wee Bit of Tea' with an owl instead of a chipmunk. I'm not entirely happy with the snowy owl.

Since I already own these thing at home, I'm thinking of keeping this new set of art items here at work for my office-special breaks and lunches. Maybe that's a good way to justify having the second set of everything.


Yes. It is nigh. The 22nd will drag me kicking-and-screaming into my 38th year on this planet. Where did my twenties go? Where did my thirties go? It's so weird how time just seems to accelerate with each passing year. As a child, a week felt like a month (except in summer time). I'm starting to think that the secret is ANTICIPATION. As a child there is so much to anticipate, that time just seems to trudge along. As an adult, there's more to dread, and dreading is like an accelerant. That's my theory and I'm sticking with it. Hopefully I won't spend my birthday alone. Husband has a tentative return date of Thursday. I am not counting on it though. His original stint was supposed to be two weeks. We're pushing seven weeks right now. So I night be sitting at home on a pile of 17 ounce Trader Joe Chocolate Bars on Sunday night, watching something appropriately depressing and feeling sorry for myself. Who knows? ::heh::


I added a couple of more prints to my etsy shop last night. I added the new drawing above, but also a couple of my classic 'Five Oaks Friends' series. I went on a sheep binge when I was taking care of the livestock on my sister's farm back in '03 & '04. These are two of many drawings I made from that time. I have some goat images I will be adding in later on. But they're on now. Maybe someone'll like them. Fiber artists maybe?

I love Simply Swank!

No other craft kit has ever been more fun to play with (and dangerous and destructive--when in my hands) than the Simply Swank starter kit. Once I used up what they had in the kit, I promptly went to Craft Mania and bought more.

I made my little ornament with a Simply Swank soldering kit, and I am sold on it. I print my drawings in high-res, teeny size, cut them out with care, and layer them in glass. SO MUCH FUN! I won't mention that I burned myself and burned hole in my fleece pajamas with solder and that I dropped the soldering iron on the dining room floor and melted the carpet pile. ::::grin::::: But I will say that I've been having a lot of fun making my ornaments, and I cannot wait to go and buy more glass and copper and solder to make more!

I made one with Mr. Corbeau, one with the Dearest Friends image and one with the Racoon Hug, yesterday too. I need to only buy more solder to finish one. I'll post pics of the ones I completed tonight.

I recommend this kit to anyone who is adventurous in crafting; you can make cool pennants, bracelet links, ornaments, anything you want with this kit! It's easy too. Like painting with metal.

Try it. You will become addicted like me.

PS, this post was inspired entirely by my own enthusiasm for making little ornaments. Nobody paid me to say this. I'm just so excited about it I had to rave.

Mrs. Renard and Ellie become an ornament..

Available in my etsy shop. Only three available right now!

Quibbly Costumers, Graveyards and Mondays

My bonnet pattern has been inciting some dissention among the die-hard costumer set recently. It has come under attack by a couple of know-it-alls on youtube, who are determined to nyeh-nyeh it as much as possible. I rreeeeeaaaallly cannot abide people who pick stuff apart like that simply to make themselves appear knowledgable.

Anyway, it seems the height of the crown is too high for the regency period according to them. I can only roll my eyes and sigh. I based the pattern on fashion-plate images and a couple of existing historic bonnets from the MFA in Boston... but when you make a pattern in buckram, you have to sacrifice things like flares at the top and such--and you also have to provide for the materials you're working with. You're not working with straw, you're working with a stiff fabric that requires structural rigidity. But these ladies are most determined to tear the whole thing down. Oh well, I say. Have at it if it helps.

Either way, those who bought the pattern love it, it meets its purpose quite decently, and creates a bonnet that looks most regency and amazing with a spencer and reticule. :) I haven't had any complaints yet, except from these nit-pickers. My advice... get a life ladies. So you think it's imperfect, who cares? Really? The hard truth is that there were no mass-produced garments during the early 1800s. People made their own clothes; yes, there was an overall fashionable look, but I am certain that the rules and creativity varied in as many ways as it does today. The fashion plates and portraits show a wide variety of styles, and so I'm prone to believe there were. There are no period 'standards' except the portraits and plates, and the few surviving garments, and they all are as different as they are the same. Get over it. The end-product is identifiable as a regency look and it makes the wearer happy. That's all that really matters. So in summation to the quibblers: Bite Me.

::yargh::

Anyway... today is Monday, my least favourite day of the week. The new drawing above is what I wish I was really doing right now. Mondays should be reserved for napping and snuggling. It should be the new law.

I took a spin today at lunch to visit the Davis Graveyard. There is this family down the road from my work that has become quite infamous for their incredible halloween yard display. This year's was especially good in the tombstone department; lots of quips and silliness; and lots of Joss Whedon references, not to mention Eddie Izzard; "Cake or Death?" If you're in the Portland area this October, do stop by... you won't be disappointed. They are artful creators of Halloween decor, including these really insanely cool wraith/harbinger characters of all hooded, droopy black robes with skeletal hands. The tombstones are a laugh. They are off of Tacoma/Harney near Johnson Creek Boulevard in Portland.

Check 'em out. Anyway, that's it for today. Another installation of the Tredwell Secret is coming soon. ;) Promise.

Youtubery Goodness

I posted the second half of my bonnet tutorial last night. I speak in this one; and in it, amid my yammering series of 'Ums' and 'Ers'; I manage to get the message out (plus I also manage to slip in a picture of my dogs for good measure, just because). I am of course plugging my bonnet pattern on my etsy shop... but look what a fine bonnet it makes...



Incidentally; I went hunting for this video when I was reminded of it recently watching TV. This is the third time I've noticed this song in American commercials or media. I saw it in a Pepsi commercial, and now Gossip Girl ::yugh:: trailers. When I was growing up in Belgium, this song hit it very big there. I recall bouncing off the walls as a little one with my neighbor friends screaming "CA PLANE POUR MOI!" at the top of our lungs. Of course, looking back at Plastic Bertrand these days, I think he looks awfully silly in his leather pants and puffy hair--but it was the late seventies people... and Belgium too. But the quality of the song isn't the least bit diminished, 30 years later. Amazing how relevant it sounds today... Love it still. ::Screams: "CA PLANE POUR MOI MOI MOI MOI MOI!!!"



Feel free to dance.

Mr. and Mrs. Douglas

It was half-past two and it was tea-time. Mrs. Douglas was particular about one being punctual for tea, but lately she has had to exercise some tolerance for tardiness. She waited for her friend Mrs. Sylvester to join her. Mrs. Sylvester was also very recently married and she was already expecting. With sore ankles and woozy spells, Mrs. Douglas understood she had all the excuse in the world to be late, so she patiently waited, having Mary keep the kettle hot in case she had to make a new pot..

When the doorbell rang only a few minutes late, and Mary let the visitor in, Mrs. Douglas settled down into her favourite wingback, and started to pour the tea. She looked up at the door expectantly, surprised to see Mr. Douglas enter, not Mrs. Sylvester. He looked most pleased with himself.

“Ah, you’ve served tea. Capital!” he declared. He sat down and helped himself to Mrs. Sylvester’s tea and pastries. Mrs. Douglas was confused.

“Don’t eat that. It’s for Mrs. Sylvester. She’ll be arriving at any moment.”

“I ran into Mr. Sylvester just a moment ago. He was on his way over to excuse his wife from today’s tea. It seems the lady isn’t feeling too well today. So we’ll have tea together for a change.” He smiled and then dug into the lovely service of tea; which included both smoked salmon and egg sandwiches as well as plump, golden scones, and a fine array of pretty pastries.


“What brings you home so early?” Mrs. Douglas asked, delicately biting into a dainty petit-four. She was quite delighted to see her husband so early in the afternoon. It was a welcome change to have him home for tea.

“I’ve a surprise for you,” he smiled. He jumped to his feet, and left the room, returning with two small framed portraits. “As soon as the artist brought them, I came home directly. Look! They’re finished at last!”

Mr. and Mrs. Douglas have only been married for a year and a half. Mr. Douglas is a fairly well-to-do young attorney with great prospects, and Mrs. Douglas is a doting, loving wife. At their first anniversary, Mr. Douglas commissioned these portraits to be made for their humble drawing room. At length, the portraits were complete.

Mrs. Douglas was enchanted, and interrupted tea to insure they were hung on the wall at once.

The creatures are Douglas squirrels; which are the kind that frequent my home near Mount Hood. As usual, they are wearing Regency period clothing; Mrs. Douglas sports a cap, a turkey-red gown and a chemisette. She sits modestly with her hands folded in her lap.Mr. Douglas wears his best blue frock-coat, his tangerine waistcoat and a nice crisp cravat. He is a handsome young fellow indeed.These are both hand-painted and sealed in craft paints on wooden plaques. They hang from a swiveling ring topped by a bow. They are backed in black felt. The plaques are ~ 2" x 4" at their widest points.

You can find these one-of-a-kind portraits in my etsy Shop

Etsy Feature

I am now a proud member of the EtsyBloggers Street Team. That means that I am part of a large group of Etsy shop-owners who have banded together to promote our shops and our hand-made products.

One of my duties is to create a promotional post every month for a featured Etsy shop. This month’s featured shop is “Tulip’s Treasure Box”. I’m really excited about this aspect of being a member of the EstyBloggers Street Team; simply so I can become acquainted to the huge variety of lovely handmade products that can be found on Etsy. Here's Tulip's Blog too.

Stunning!

Tulip’s Treasure Box features some really gorgeous hand-made jewelry pieces, as well as handy ‘upcycled’ tee-totes and beautiful beads. She is currently having a sale on some of her items. I recommend you check my fellow EstyBlogger Street Teammate, and also take a moment to browse the cornucopia of creativity that is Etsy. Support crafters and the artists!

Bonny Bonnets and Beautiful Things

Nothing centers me more than doing things with my hands. I can feel my blood-pressure even out, and my frenetic thoughts that are like mexican jumping beans inside my head just fade into quiet pensiveness when I've got something to create.

Ever since the founding of the Oregon Regency Society, I've been preoccupied (moreso than I had ever been before) with the Regency period. Once, I simply would immerse myself into Jane Austen adaptations, or read the books (which I do twice a year no fail)--now I am taking it to another level. I'm making gowns and bonnets and reticules and all manner of other items. The society has also resparked my love for drawing period pieces, and my whimsical Potter-knock-offs... I'm more creative than I've been in years. I'm not writing as much as I used to, but that will never really go away, it simply takes a back seat something when that part of my brain that likes to fabricate things takes over

Instead of allowing my creations to clutter up my home (my husband calls it the 'craft-house' when I'm in project mode, because my small cabin gets cluttery very quickly), I've been selling them on etsy. I've even developed a pattern for my signature 'stovepipe bonnet'. It's really something to be making money doing something that you like. I wish I could do it full-time.

One of my first etsy customers is a big-spender. She bought an existing bonnet I had up there, plus commissioned two more (a stovepipe and a soft-poke like the sage one), and is also buying my pattern and a reticule. This is the soft-poke bonnet I made for her.

I went all-out and covered this one in dupioni silk. It's so lush and pretty and crinkly. It's my favourite soft-poke so far I think

The stovepipe is a ruched delight. I went wild with feathers too. I used my own pattern for it.

The pattern for the stovepipe includes two variations. Click the image for details.