Perfect combo - K-Drama and Minis

I'm sick today. I have a fever of 101, and my throat is on fire. I don't see the white spots indicative of Strep, but I feel the pain. I hope it isn't strep. Yergh.

I spent last Saturday at a Jane Austen Faire in Aurora hawking my books (under the pen name Miranda Mayer) and my artwork from Feffie's Cottage. Lots of prints and notecards of my little Office Specials.

You can get these through Feffie's Cottage. Ping me if you're
interested.

That faire was the first time that I've ventured out in Regency garments in a long time. It felt really great, and I saw so many people I have missed dearly. I even smoked the peace pipe with someone with whom I was carrying a lot of anger against. So that was great. But man, did that wear me out. I came home with an infection and now a sore throat. M.I.S.E.R.A.B.L.E.

But in spite of my feeling unwell, I'm in my She-Shed. In Feffie's Cottage, puttering around in the nice warmth, with my slippers, and I finally relented and allowed Simon to come in as long as he lies down on a blanket and doesn't roll around and spread his fur everywhere.

During these mornings, when my offspring is at Preschool for three and a half hours, I spend it usually writing at the cafe and now in the Cottage. But I've been not writing. My desire to write is gone for the moment. I've been struggling with a little downtrend lately, and I probably need to take some Vitamin D. But there is one thing that is helping and that is the refurbishment of my little McKinley house. So I have been focusing on that lately, mostly. While streaming K-Drama on my Surface, I sit at my desk and slice up my thumb with the exacto knife.

The McKinley now has working windows in the bay, and the bay window has been fully secured back onto the house. The farmer's sink is done, except for the pump, which I still have to make. I used liquid sculpy to make some 'stained glass' transom windows. I'm not happy with the result, and might retry that with better products somehow. The sculpy was old and inconsistent and hard to tint and then squeeze out of the applicator. So my windows are really goofy looking. I also repurposed some plexi from some old used Houseworks windows I scored at a yard sale, also salvaging some of the wood from them to make the working bits. It's rough looking, but it's on its way. I'll fine tune as I go along. Here are some pics fo the progress:

Adding the transoms

Added the decals of the came

With the stained glass decals, and the fixed upper panes

Windows finished, interior painted, and bay windows
reinstalled onto the dollhouse. I need to fix
the broken/torn archway, and then wire and paper.

I'll fine-tune the painting, etc after a bit. The windows were so fiddly to do. But they open.

I also put a decorative trim on the window sills on the exterior. I will be attacking the exterior next, I think. I'm not sure if i want to tile just yet.  My current project is redoing the tower and bay roof pieces, to make them a little pointier and elegant, with a slight curve. I haven't decided what material I will roof them with. I also need to make the water pump. But I need to let the cuts on my thumb heal first, LOL. So more pics to come. I also need to sit down and catch up on my colourist work one of these days. But I'm not feeling well enough to concentrate that much LOL.

While I've been puttering, I've been streaming K-Dramas, as I said. I've gone through a pretty big chunk of them, and I'm not going to lie, I'm HOOKED. South Korea is no joke when it comes to talented actors and excellent writers (and OMFG the food, seriously). I've fallen in love with so many characters and I feel this big hole when each series comes to an end. Because unlike American drama, they don't go on for season after season until they jump the shark. No. They rarely reboot a series, and so you can be (almost) guaranteed the closure you need when the season is over. But that also means you are leaving behind people you have come to adore.

SO... here's how many hours I've wasted on Netflix, ogling Korean dramas (in other words, here is the continued list of shows I've watched since my last K-Drama post).

February and March, I was devouring "Prison Playbook". This is a delightful, humourous drama about a baseball star, who is about to go major league for the Red Sox, who assaults then is convicted of murder of a rapist who harmed his sister. He is imprisoned, and the story follows his travails in jail, with his five other inmates with whom he shares a cell. The roomies change, the challenges continue. All in all, a really great show with wonderful characters. Highly recommend.

I took a break from K-Drama to binge Jessica Jones, Season 2, and then back to it.

I started 'In Need of Romance 3' which, like its predecessors, pissed me off.  Mostly because the trend for these three shows seems to be that the man you've invested the most time in, is the one you should stick with. I'm not particularly in agreement with that idea. No matter what the situation is, if someone takes you for granted, maybe it's time to ditch them, no matter how long you've been with them, especially if you find someone who is devoted to you. But hey, maybe it's a cultural thing, I dunno. It's still a fun show to watch, even if the main character disappoints you each time.

I then binged every available season of Terrace House, which is like a Japanese version of The Real World, only way better. Mostly because of the commentators that host the show. I'm a little in love with Ryōta Yamasato. He's adorable. And rotten. And an excellent comedian. I don't know why I binged the shows, but I did. Sue me.

The second one, and the better one, I think.

The first one

Okay then.... next are my recent favs, which I really miss now that they are over. They are Reply 1994, and 1997. I suspect the word is supposed to be REPLAY, but something got lost in translation. But the1997 one is just hilarious, and just delightfully written and just a joy to watch. I really just wanted to move into that boarding house with the family, in all honesty. I recommend 1994 with alacrity. It's brill.

This one did not give me the pat closure that I wanted. There was only the hint of it. But for ONCE, this was not an ending which redeemed a shitty man who treated his woman like crap. Thank god! But they never gave the romantic ending you are waiting for. They left it dangling a bit. This was a drama-drama. It took me a few episodes to get into it, but it is really a sweet, emotional story of a woman whose husband was jailed for some shady business dealings, and who is forced to move in with her estranged father. She has two children, one of which is not her own, but from her husband's previous marriage. It's heartfelt and really sweet, and it invests you in this really endearing community of farmers, who start off not liking her, but eventually take her into the fold and who endure challenges alongside her. Good show. Recommend.

Hello my twenties, there's a season two! And like its predecessor, it's adorable. Recommend this one. The characters all return, with only one cast-change if I recall correctly. This time, instead of ghosts, the girls are against the threat of an unknown enemy. It's a wonderful series, definitely worth a watch. I just want to become the Belle Epoch's landlady so I can mother those girls. <3 font="">

Interrupted by viewings of Lost In Space, and a Series of Unfortunate Events, I watched 'One More Time'. This is a time-travel/time looping show. A musician, who has become embittered by his failure to succeed, and who has learned to take his AMAZING girlfriend for granted, must live the same day over and over again in order to change his ways and ultimately, save his girlfriend's life. Short series, very sweet. Recommend.

Man to Man is one of those shows that doesn't take itself too seriously, and it's really fun to watch. In order to capture a corrupt politician, 'Ghost' Agent K must infiltrate a famous Actor's entourage as a bodyguard. Naturally, there's a plucky manager who catches his normally indifferent eye, and he soon finds himself enfolded in what amounts to a family, led by the diva of an actor whom he is assigned to protect. I really enjoyed this show just because it's fun and silly and adorable. And the German/Irish/Korean actor who plays the Russian (David Lee McInnis), holy giggety, SO HOT. OMG, just smoldering hot. Total fun. Watch it.

"Beating Again' is the tale of a ruthless businessman who storms a cosmetics company, with the intent of destroying it for his personal revenge, but whose heart condition puts him near death. Bring in the heroine, and her devoted, loving boyfriend, a jealous and conniving murderous rival--which evolves into the antagonist receiving a heart transplant from the devoted boyfriend. The ruthless man is now mysteriously divided in his goal of revenge, and finds himself falling for the heroine--and there's a new Antagonist to fear, while the new man begins to unravel how his donor was murdered. It was.... Entertaining. Not my favourite show, but not so bad that I stopped watching it. I'll give it a three out of five.

My Horrible Boss. I. Loved. This. Show. -- It is hilarous. Delightfully written, played beautifully by the cast. The story centers around a placid, timid man in his 40s, head of household, taking care of and supporting his son (he is divorced), his father and his ne'er-do-well brother. He works for a small cosmetics company (Lovely Cosmetics). The company is fraught with challenges and impending hostile takeovers by its rival company, Gold Chemical. One of Gold Chemical's imfamous harpy team managers starts working at Lovely Cosmetics, and she is a harridan; a terrifying boss to the hero and his marketing team. And worse, she moves into an apartment across the hall from him and his family--and is now a pain in their ass at home too.  But what starts off as a torturous thing, evolves into respect and ultimately love. It's really funny, excessively sweet, (the son and his crush, is too adorable, and I LOVE the grandfather so much). Just finished this series today and I already miss the characters. <3 p="">
So that's where I am on my K-Drama journey right now. I'm about to embark into 'Psychokenesis'. Reviews to come. In the meantime, keep checking in on progress on the McKinley. And oh, swing by Feffie's Cottage if you want to buy some of the cute products that will result from this project.

I know I know, I'm a flake. Sue me. Now let's talk sleeve drafting. And then some.

Yes, I'm alive. Barely. LOL. I'm just trying to recover from a case of bronchitis, nearly pneumonia, which leveled me for this week. I'm on prednisone and antibiotics and slowly feeling something akin to normal tonight.

What brought me out from underneath my damp rock was a question on my most infamous post (the Benefits of a Bib-Front), which still garners countless hits and Pinterest pins nearly eight years after posting it. Always a plus right? Sort of makes me nostalgic for costuming whenever I see the hit counts. After just checking, seems like the old post on stays on the old ORS blog page is also still often-visited. It feels good to know that my efforts are still found useful. I hope to return to these things soon one day. Once my little cottage* is finished and I can breathe a bit. *I'll expound on that in a moment.

The reason for my post is that someone posted a good question. How do I draft sleeves to a Regency bodice?  I tried to answer with just words and it wasn't really working for me trying to explain it without some visual aid. So I uploaded this quick video, very spartan so that it can explain how I do it when I'm cobbling together my various drafted gowns.

If I were smart, I would have made ONE muslin and just used it repeatedly, but I tend to lose my muslins, or I just draft boldly and stupidly onto the fabric itself and then roll with whatever happens. So my advice is, do it in a muslin until it works, and then keep it for future projects. You can add wedges and extensions as you please to whatever basic sleeve pattern you create using my 'technique'.



So that is it. Fairly simple. Center all your measurements on the shoulder mark (top of the sleeve) and it should be a nicely fitted, free-moving sleeve. Add any arc *over* the top of the sleeve, not like how I penciled it, by the way. Seam allowance gives you a little give as needed as well. Wedging in fullness at the top will give you more pouf if that's your cup of tea.

Now, let's talk about THE COTTAGE and its evolution.

Now, everybody who has historically followed this blog knows that I'm a head-case. LOL. I have been stricken with an anxiety disorder that manifested itself on top of a lifelong battle with chronic depression and dysthymia. It has been a huge fucking struggle. I have never bothered to hide it or sugarcoat it, and I will talk about it everywhere I possibly can, because I will not pretend like it's something that I am ashamed of or should be worried might annoy someone to discuss. It is a real problem, and something I have had to take a great deal of pride in accepting. A control freak (who is in essence displaying overt signs of anxiety by desiring to control everything that gives them anxiety) does not like to concede that they have no control over the levels of fear and worry in their own heads.

So I have retreated. I've struggled with a balance of medications, trying to find some measure of normality. But it is a continued battle. I'll have long phases of seemingly normal days and then suddenly have daily panic attacks, some resulting in losing consciousness and striking a great deal of fear in both my husband and sadly, my son, who now has comforting and helping his mother as part of his routine, something no kid should have to do. I found him lying underneath my head once, because I had fallen onto the floor, and he didn't want my head to hit, so he squirmed underneath. This makes me so very sad. But it is my reality now. It has hampered everything I do. And one of the things that once gave me comfort and respite from it, is no longer part of my life. Which is probably a good thing, in the long run, but it means I do not get to see people I became very much attached to over the years.

Oh well.

However, I refuse to go down without fighting. And I don't like the idea that this imbalance of brain chemicals should somehow make me useless. I am a highly creative person, and one that needs many outlets for it, or I will go mad. And my husband knows this, and from the previous post last spring, you can see he cared enough to help me find a place to express it. And he built me my cottage.

It has been slow progress but in the last month, it has sprung forward quite a bit. From being painted up like a lady, to gaining an electrical system with plenty of outlets and light cans, to now being insulated and wall-boarded. The mudding and taping will soon be underway at the beginning of the year, and that will leave only washing up the messy floor, painting, and furnishing it with all my crapola.

Then Feffie's Cottage will be born in earnest. And it will be where I will be vomiting up my creative energy in droves, I hope. From busting out more novels under my Miranda Mayer nom-de-plume to creating more hats and costumes, to returning to miniatures and dollhouses and dollhouse kits, to drawing and making prints and postcards, to fashioning stuffed animals and plushies, to dolls to whatever floats my god damned boat.  And I will sell my shit. Because being an anxious ass doesn't mean that I can't contribute to the household. I will just do it on my terms, without an overarching presence who will set off my anxiety and make me crazy.

I hope you folks will be with me on this journey. However it may end up. You've been reading this blog for god... years now, and I'm still here. Scrabbling along. You were with me from the first office specials, the struggle for pregnancy, the surprise child, the costumes, the drama, the snark. So here I am. Hoping to pick myself up and get back to my Hungarican ways. :) Maybe I'll even post a new recipe or something? I don't want to get ahead of myself. These are no longer the days when I posted my updates on the clock of my job. But maybe this can become part of my job as owner of Feffie's Cottage. Maybe.

Every. Single. Time. Seriously. (not for squeamish people)

I went through another convention (Walker-Stalker/Heroes & Villains Fanfest)  and naturally, this happened. Every convention since 2012, this has happened the night before or during the event. I got my period in the middle of my wedding day. So I came home from the event and was inspired to sketch. Enjoy. 

PS, go to the bottom to see what happened at our booth (hint: it was crashed by Michael Rooker and Brendan Routh...)

Michael Rooker snatched my ukulele which I had brought to manage my anxiety, and 'rocked out' on it. His handler told me I was lucky I got it back in one piece. LOL. 

Brendan Routh (Atom/Superman) -- crashed the booth too.

HC, where have you been? Dealing. I've been dealing.

It's not unusual for me to go dark around the holidays and come out of hiding come the end of February, but add to that a medication issue, and you've got someone who is high-anxiety, low-spirits and all around distracted and unproductive.

Yes. I'm alive. I have been however, struggling a great deal with my brain chemistry, and in part, it's given me little energy to focus with. I have been writing. That's a good thing. And doing some editing work to finish up the next two books I will be releasing this year. But I haven't done much else except try to take care of my kid and sometimes, even myself.

I started going back to talk therapy for one. And my anti-depressant seems to have hit the two-year poop-out, and stopped working, so my doctor doubled the dose, and I have been creeping out from under my rock to see the light, hissing and scowling all the way. But this week, I've been feeling something close to normal. Which is amazing after having spent the past quarter of a year in depression and anxiousness.

Part of my crash was the significant reduction of a creative outlet. Another part was my removing myself from the Oregon Regency Society, which took a lot (way too much) of my emotional energy, and without that, I sort of got lost. When you've had something like that to keep you focused for ten years, and suddenly there's all this open space in your head where the drama used to live, yeah, it can be jarring. It's been healthy for me to leave that aside. To give me the chance to dream up new ventures without the baggage of difficult, unkind and attention-hungry people.

In the meantime, my husband, who is a fucking hero, was talking about using our tax returns to put together some kind of she-shed for me so I could have space for my sewing, crafting, writing and miniatures without taking over the house, and without tiny fingers getting into all my stuff. It's something I've wanted for a long time. I've literally stopped sewing because it's been such a pain to hear the complaints about the mess and such.

When we realized our tax refund was a tenth of what we hoped, I was a little disappointed but didn't say anything. But hubby, who I think has been particularly worried about my state of mind lately, went without my knowledge and took out a little loan to create this little retreat for me. So this Friday, a troupe of three guys showed up with a double-long trailer full of materials, and five and a half hours later, their assemblage retreated, leaving behind Feffie's Cottage. My little she-shed.

A trailer of bits and bobs arrived at noon.

Leveling took about 15 minutes. The blocks were arranged, and the
floor frame was made in record time.

They built the walls, tyveked them, put windows
in, etc, before they lifted them in place.

They spread the two end walls to make the fourth outside
wall.

The bit left unfloord was for the decking.

Wall 4 goes up.

Then it's time to put in the porch wall.

Then one guy goes up and puts in the rafters for
the loft. He did the roof and rafters
pretty much on his own.

Helpers handed up materials.

Sheathing the roof. 

These guys move fast.

Metal was about to go up. Foreman was starting to
do the trim, which meant the project was almost done.

Adding the pre-built railing. Cute huh?

Adding the ridge cap and rake. finishing touches.
Trim is done.

There it is in all its glory. My she-shed dubbed 'Feffie's Cottage'.
Feffy is my nickname.

We went and bought some paint to match it to our house yesterday. It's a little humid to do that today, but it will get done soon enough. It's a dark teal blue. I also got a creamy tan called Crepe for the trim. When I was on the Behr website they suggested a colour story and I'm kind of in love. The house colour will be the Juniper Berries, which is what our main house colour is. The trim will be tan, and I'm toying with the idea of painting the door either the soft bluish white or the track green. What do you think?

This morning, my husband got up early and let me sleep in. We had some leftover flooring from my nesting period/home makeover attack when I was pregnant, so he went ahead and used it up on the floor in the cottage. It's only about 128 square feet of indoor space. Enough room for my cutting and sewing tables, a few chairs, a large IKEA shelf I plan to buy, a small armchair, and my desk and chair for writing. I have them all laid on my floorplan already.

The main 'area' is about 8 x 10 give or take.

This little bay area is about 8 x 5 and it's where my writing
desk will be (by teh window).

The loft is pretty big.

The little porch. :)

So there you have it. If all goes well this will be my creation central from now on. I'll be able to do dollhouses again and sew unrestricted. I'll post progress pics as the Feffie's Cottage takes shape.

:Squee!: