Halloween Sneak Peek

My mother is a magnificent seamstress. As a result, I had some pretty spectacular Halloween costumes as a kid. As I got older, though, I could never decide what I wanted to be, and so the creativity of my costumes totally tanked.

Seriously. I was a shooting star one year. I just tied blue and silver ribbons to my elbows and knees. It was sad.

But this year, I had somebody suggest a costume for me. Admittedly, it was like May, but I latched onto it and have been completely convinced that it is the best idea.

I'm going to be a black-and-white movie star!!!

Originally, I was going to make my own dress from an authentic 30s pattern, but then I was thrift shopping and found this beauty:

Don't mind the mess in the hallway...

Sure, it's a little 80s, but just LOOK at the trim:

And the knot at the waist!

And it was like $22! That's cheaper than the pattern I was going to buy! The PATTERN.

So I'm thinking: ditch the shoulder pads, trim one of the layers of trim, and possibly take it in a bit on the sides.

Pair it with black shoes, black gloves, grey tights, and grey face/body paint, and I'll be good to go.

Stay tuned for more updates on how the costume turns out!!

Bombomb Plushies!

This project is one of the reasons I started this blog. This is a project that has been languishing for two years now and really isn't that difficult - I just couldn't get the motivation to get over the hump and FINISH. What's worse is that I also made a Christmas present for the recipient last year. The present was done well before Christmas, but these suckers weren't and I, for some reason, couldn't send one without the other.

But lo and behold, I have finally finished them - two Bomb-ombs!

I'm totally in love with them.

Look at their cute little wind-up keys!

I can't believe they took me two years to wrap up.

This is another project where I used a pattern by Wolfdreamer Off The Hook. She is an incredible artist with yarn and I don't know what I would do if she wasn't so generous with her patterns.

Anyway, I'll add pictures of these guys if the recipient sends me evidence of their new home!

Routine Issues

One of the biggest reasons I started this blog was that I had a whole bunch of lingering craft projects that I just needed to FINISH AND BE DONE WITH THEM, GOSH DARN IT!

Well, I've finished a couple of them, but I'm still procrastinating. The past couple of weeks are a good example of my justifications.

My sister and her husband didn't get a chance to take their honeymoon right after their wedding last September, so they decided to do a one-year honeymoon/anniversary trip. They were gone for two weeks and I volunteered to housesit for them. In my mind, this would be a good chance to get outside of my home and finally finish a couple of projects. And by a couple, I mean four that have been hanging over my head for anywhere between four months and a full year. 

It seemed like a good plan - the only thing on my plate was to go home after work and let the dog out. Because of the dog, I couldn't really go anywhere in the evening - she needs to be taken out every 4-6 hours. That time restraint made it easy to just be at home instead of going out and socializing.

But the best-laid plans...

See, my sister has a dog and a cat. The dog gets severe separation anxiety and will eat anything that you leave out when you leave. Simple solution: close everything in the bedrooms. But the cat knows how to open doors, so the cat will open a bedroom door and the dog will eat things.

That's how this happened:

I came home after work to find my yarn EVERYWHERE. I wasn't overly concerned because there didn't appear to be much damage done to the actual yarn - the cat just really liked pulling it around. But then I went upstairs. And I found this:

THAT is the remains of the stuffing of a project that I've been working on for over a year now. Something that's just been hanging onto the end of my list of things to do. The rest of it ended up in the dog's stomach. And now I feel like I'm back to square one with the project.

Motivation is really hard for me right now. I'm not sure if it's because I'm trying to do to many things or if I'm just not excited about the things I'm doing, but if anybody has any tips or tricks for finishing a languishing project (besides "just do it" - it might work for Nike, but it hasn't been working for me!), I would love to hear them!