With this new picture comes a new art page! The last one spanned well over a years' worth of art, and it was getting very, very long. *sweatdrop*
And on this new art page, I have my very first completely digital painting.
Your arty hostess,
The Fox
Yes, it has been an obscene amount of time since I last updated a piece of artwork. I've been very busy. With this new picture comes a new art page! The last one spanned well over a years' worth of art, and it was getting very, very long. *sweatdrop* And on this new art page, I have my very first completely digital painting. She took me forever to paint...or at least, much much longer than I'm used to devoting to painting. (Something like 7 hours. Which is REALLY long for me.) However, I am very pleased with how it turned out, so I don't mind all that much. XD
Your arty hostess, The Fox
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The past few days have been admittedly rather hectic, hence the lack of updates. Most of the lack, however, is from my cursed 'all or nothing' mentality when it comes to making updates. For some reason I have this idea that I need to post pictures every time I visit my blog. Obviously this isn't totally necessary...but it's nice to have a visual of what I'm talking about. So when I don't have pictures ready to upload, I postpone and procrastinate until several days have gone past. This needs to stop. I have a few pictures to upload, but they really have very little continuity beyond my sewing projects. So forgive the disjointedness of my ramblings. ~*~*~*~*~* So in the past couple of weeks (closer to a month, really) I've gotten rather obsessed with re-fashioning clothing and/or repurposing clothes that honestly don't have much of a purpose anymore. In this case, it's old jeans and t-shirts. (Apologies for the tan line) This used to be a plain, small, black, men's t-shirt. But with a few snips and a quick sewing of the neckline I turned it into a halter top. Since I dislike wearing shirts without certain...ah... supporting undergarments, I also re-purposed an old sports' bra. Comfort above all, folks. XD While cutting it up I also had to bring the sides in about four inches--once the neck and sleeves were cut off all tension came out of the shirt and it was far too large. I've worn it several times, and it's been assumed that I bought it somewhere. XD Time to get some more shirts for experimentation, methinks... Along with the halter top is my second try at a tiered skirt. I think I like it even better than the first one, because the jeans part fits better (the other skirt rides rather high on the waist). Plus it's got that bright, paisley-bandanna-type splash of color in there, which makes me happy. XD (Thank you, Hobby Lobby, for having sales on fun material!) And here's the progress on my denim quilt...so far I've got it as wide as I want (queen-sized, or about 110 inches across) and it's just a matter of making it long. That's...taking a while. ^^; Cutting blocks has proven to be a time-consuming task...probably what takes me the most time, come to think of it. Second would have to be the actual sewing. *headdesk* I've spend at least twelve hours just on the sewing. (The cutting blocks part took the better part of a week's evenings. But it's obsessive--I get started and I have to force myself to stop. My back is starting to feel the stress.) At first I thought that I had way too many blocks (the jeans were salvages from garage sales and the Salvation Army's 'as many clothes as you can fit in a bag for a dollar' sale). And now it's apparent that I don't have near enough. Fortunately a friend of ours caught wind of my quest for jeans and has supplied me with 2 1/2 trash bags full of her husband's old work jeans. On a side note: these jeans have been through the wringer a few times, to put it lightly. I found a pair that was missing the entire right side of the behind...I have NO idea how that happened. I suspect it had something to do with a fence, though. Anyway...and other projects are a bag for Mom's bicycle (she wants a place to put her phone and mace), several purses (I need to figure out how to line bags--I have some really fun shiny red material I'd like to use), denim arm warmers, a rag rug (from the strips that are too small to use for anything else)...the list goes on. I need to use these jeans up SOMEHOW. As for the rest of this post... Where we sat for the Women of Faith conference I attended last week... An incredibly sedate and fascinating-looking dragonfly in a parking lot... And a lens cap on my hip. Don't ask.
Suffice to say that I've been taking pictures and shtuff...I just haven't been posting them. Too much sewing...it's taking over my mind, I tell you! I started school yesterday too. Only three classes, whee, and Photoshop looks to be the most fun. I'm really looking forward to it. 'Nuff rambling...I'm off to bed. Your sleep-deprived hostess, The Fox This moth landed on the wheelbarrow the other day and tagged along with Will as he picked up weeds to dump on Isaac's property. He was about half the size of my hand, and awfully pretty. I almost wanted to touch his wings to see how soft they were. But I didn't. Some kind of a memory from a Little House on the Prairie book stopped me, where Laura was told not to touch a butterfly because she would rub the dust off his wings and hurt him.
...I remember the weirdest things. *shakes head* I shall ever remain, Your hostess, The Fox Lately I've been feverishly collecting jeans for the purpose of making them into my biggest project to date: a block quilt. I've never made a quilt of any kind before. So I started out simple (8" by 8" squares), using legs, back pockets, and just about every scrap of denim I could get my paws on. It helps that the Salvation Army was having a sale (a bag of clothing for a dollar), so I was able to get a TON of jeans for refashioning purposes. This is what I've got so far: 5 squares by 5 squares, with more waiting to be added. (The cat thinks she's helping me, by the way, and I hate to dissuade her.) At this point I've got a TON of blocks--hopefully enough to make this quilt, some matching pillows, a reversible scarf... (With the flash it's a bit brighter) Suffice to say that even with a surplus of denim I've got plans for it. And there's 5 or 6 jean cut-offs waiting to be turned into purses/bags of some sort eventually, once I figure out how to line 'em. The only downside is that I don't have a permanent area to set up my sewing machine, and I'm tired of lugging it out of its resting place against the wall...so below is my temporary working spot. Piano bench...stool...I'm set. XD I used to have it set up on the dining room table, but when people are looking for a place to sit and eat they get miffed to find a sewing machine in their way. By the way: that sewing machine may look innocuous enough, but it weighs 15 tons and is supposedly 'portable'. HAH! I laugh in scorn at its so-called portability. Feh. Ahem. Anyway. On to other projects... I've been reading tutorials on how to make things out of t-shirts lately, and I decided to tackle this halter top pattern. It was a little more involved than I originally thought...by cutting off the bottom hem and the neck all of the tension went out of the shirt and it was really, really, REALLY loose. So a little altering was necessary (took it in about 5 inches total on the sides)...but as for now I'm rather pleased with it. Mom thought I had bought it at the second-hand store...which is a pretty big compliment towards my (usually) mediocre sewing skillz. XD Apologies for the lighting, by the way. These were taken at 8:30 at night, long after the sun had set. >.<
I'd show off a picture of my latest skirt too, but I haven't gotten around to getting a picture of that yet. Sigh. Oh! A note on the skirts--I'm working on another one for a girl I know and Mom and a friend of hers have also asked for one. XD I might actually be able to make money on these things...hmmm.... Anyway. It's late and I'm starting to ramble...so I shall ever remain, Your crafting hostess, The fox Sunday night was an adventure. And when I say adventure, I mean the kind that goes on far longer than is appreciated. So Sunday was Will's 17th birthday party. The initial 'party' was at our house, with much food served and people having a good time, etc etc. Mom made a TON of food: (Just two of the dishes served--there was manicotti, bruschetta, two different kinds of pizzas, some excellent melon, other various Italian foods...it was amazing.) But anyway. On to this adventure. After the party several of us went out to a friend's house to shoot off fireworks. Said fireworks were fabulous--there were some big ones along with normal bottle rockets--but watching Will and his friends jump around and squealing in reaction to the rockets was more entertaining than the actual fireworks. XD In short time we used up all the fireworks, and it was time to head home. We had taken two different vehicles, so Will and a friend rode in his car, and I rode with Zach. About two miles into our journey, and a quarter of a mile before the 4-lane highway, Will got a flat. Okay, no problem, he'd just jack it up and change the tire. We didn't have a flashlight, so I was given the job of holding an iPod-Touch and my phone up for light. That should have been our first clue that things weren't quite right. Our second clue was when the car fell off the jack when Will was trying to loosen the lug-nuts. Said jack broke, and there was much dismay. Fortunately Zach had an extra jack, and the car was put up again and the tire was changed. As Will was letting the car down, we noticed that there was something not...right about the new tire. Turns out it was flat, too. (At this point there was much in the way of moaning and groaning over our fate. But wait, it gets better.) The donut was hauled out of the trunk, and it was discovered that it had no air. THEN we tried putting Zach's donut on the car, and the bolts were ever so slightly off--enough so that it wouldn't fit. The moaning and groaning increased. At this point we were pretty desperate to get out of there, so we decided to drive back to town in Zach's car, fill the donut with air, and come back to put it back on. Unfortunately the lights had been on for quite some time, and his car had a dead battery. The moaning and groaning increased to ear-shattering levels, and I started keeping an eye out for serial killers and/or aliens in the neighboring corn fields. A very, very long story short: Will called a friend of his to give us a jump, and after said jump we were able to continue with our plans of filling the donut and going back to replace the tire. (We also bought food and energy drinks at the gas station while filling the donut. The energy drinks were a mistake--I thought they were just fruit juice--so at midnight I was starting to get spazzy.) While Will was on the ground (pictured below) putting the tire back on, a cop decided to stop and see what the heck we were doing. (Considering it was 12:30 at night by this time, I'm sure he thought we were out drinking or something.) ...let's just say that it was a very, very, VERY long night, and we were fortunate to get home by 1 in the morning. -_-
Although if this is how Will's birthday went, I can't wait to see what happens on mine...let the insanity continue!! Your hostess, The Fox On the last day we took the horses for a ride and walked around town. I hadn't ridden either of them for almost a week...I was beginning to suffer withdrawals. XD (Thanks, 'Shlee, for taking pictures!) Violet: "That's trippy, man..." It looks like we were stopping to regroup here, but in actuality Will was trying to kill a horsefly. Said horseflies have been TERRIBLE this year...both the horses have had bloody marks where they've been bitten. >.< Why do I have such cute friends? XD Thus ends the Illinois side of the Texan invasion. The NEXT week I went down to visit them...and there's a ton of pictures to go through there as well. XD
Your hostess, The Fox We even packed a picnic lunch this time. (It was Will's idea, can you believe that?) This is my "Ooh! Aah! IT'S COLD!!" reaction. Let me tell you, the water coming out of that waterfall/spring/thing is FREEZING. Whee, cliff-jumping! I think Christa did a flip off of there...let me check. Oh, yes, here she is: It looks like she's about to do a rather nasty back-flop, but in actuality she was in the middle of the flip. She managed to hit the water feet-first. Thus ends another successful outing--and we didn't get lost on a golf course this time.
Your hostess, The Fox Due to the insanity of the past two weeks, this is being updated nearly a week and a half after it actually happened. And since I came home from Texas yesterday, I'm still running on adrenaline and something around 6 hours of sleep, so forgive me if I forget some details. In fact, I may not even comment on the pictures from here out--there's not that much to comment upon, really--so maybe I can get the rest of the Texas Invasion series up in a couple of days and down-shift to a relative sense of normality. Ahhh... To put it concisely, we went to the mall and had an absolute blast trying on dresses. Unbeknownst to us when we first entered the mall, everyone was having clearance sales. *headdesk* Hence, I now have two ball-room-type dresses and a summer dress for under $50, and I'm still wondering what the heck I'm going to wear them at. Sigh. They're awful purty dresses, though... I actually wore this dress to Christa's graduation party...it was very staticky, as I found out when I sat next to a balloon. XD (It decided to travel with me for the next ten minutes. Hilarity ensued.) May I say that this little hat was completely and totally adorable? (The subject is awful pretty too. XD) Aaand at the hibachi grill! This was my third time at the restaurant, but the first time I'd sat at the grill. And this was 'Shlee and Christa's first ever visit to a Japanese restaurant. I'm starting to drool just thinking about the place...help... Now this guy was great...the cooks are trained to be entertaining as well as make the meal, so he juggled his knives and spatulas and tossed bits of scrambled egg in our mouths (Christa missed four times. It was hysterical. XD) and juggled a raw egg and generally was highly entertaining. And we must never forget the 'Japanese Dr. Pepper' (soy sauce) or the 'sexy sauce' (some kind of a sweet dip). It's making me drool again. Help... Oh yes, oil and fire, a great combination. XD Help me, Rhonda, I'm starting to revert to Pioneer Woman sayings. But it was gooooood, man. 'Shlee ordered a bento box, but we won't hold that against her. XD *sigh* Yes, I did leave my truck in this abhorrent state of parking for well over an hour. I shall go crawl in a hole and die now.
Tune in next time for another visit to Wildcat Springs with pictures to prove it...until then, I shall always remain, Your hostess, The Fox The day: Thursday. The place: Wildcat Springs. The people: me, 'Shlee, Christa, and Zachary. The reason: Because we could. Okay, okay, so we went to Wildcat Springs because 'Shlee and Christa don't have anything like this down in Texas. (Seriously, they don't. It's all flat plains and sky. Not that that's bad...but it's certainly not Illinois XD.) This was interesting--apparently the cliff had fallen over and slid into the creek. Ahh, yes, the swimming area...this was about 1/8 of a mile of hiking/wading along the creek bed. The water is about 9-10 feet deep, warm, and clear (I mean, until we muddied it up by walking around, of course). By the way: 'Shlee was taking this picture, and the other person in the picture here is Zach. He pops up in a lot of these pictures. XD Ohh, yes. The cliff. Last time Will and I came here he jumped off of this cliff, into the water. So I decided that I was going to jump off the cliff too. About this time I remembered that I'm not fond of heights. Well, I don't mind heights as a rule. I can climb trees, look down from major heights without feeling too dizzy, etc. It's just jumping off into the open space that's a bit of a problem. So after whimpering and looking down for a while, and letting the others jump first, and whimpering a bit more, Christa did a count-down and I jumped. After the initial shock it wasn't THAT bad...there's a moment of suspension, where the stomach feels left behind, right before striking the water. But in all honesty it was a BLAST. So much of a blast, in fact, that I jumped a second time. XD Zach's job, as a lifeguard (that's his part-time job), was to make sure that we didn't kill ourselves on the way down. And do photobombs. Zach is the master of photo bombing. It has become a game while looking over pictures to find which ones Zach randomly appears in and what kind of crazy face he's making. (...we love you, Zach, really we do...) Random log time! At the end of the lake was this covered bridge--actually part of a golf course, as we found out the second day we walked there--and it was so nifty that we posed and took some pictures on it. (Also: nifty dragonfly bug thingy is nifty.) Please ignore my stunning tan line. Thank you. At this point we headed off across the golf course and spent the better part of a half-hour meandering around. Aaand at this point Christa and I went sprinting down the golf course. *facepalm* We were exuberant, what can I say? Yes, Christa went rolling down the hill. Do not ask why--it was a random moment. JAPANESE BEETLE!! So after Wildcat Springs we went home, bringing Zach along, for some much-needed showers, supper, and a movie. Said movie was 'V for Vendetta'...I had never seen it before, so it was quite an eye-opener. (I tried writing a review after watching it, but my thoughts upon the story were so confuzzled that another viewing is necessary before figuring out how exactly to review it.) As you can tell from our expressions (minus that of Christa--she has a seemingly limitless supply of energy and general glee) we were pretty brain-fried. The fact that it was almost midnight didn't help either. I'm not sure whose idea this was...but the camera timer was involved. Zach may be the master of photo bombing, but Christa is the mistress of funny faces. XD So yes. All in all a most satisfying day, yeilding a huge amount of pictures, sore muscles, and dead-tiredness. (The good kind of tired, that is.) Tune in next time for day 4 of the Texan Invasion...
Your hostess, The Fox So after meeting at the airport we started the 3-hour drive back home, stopping en route at Denny's for lunch. Have I mentioned that I love Denny's? We hardly ever go there, but when we do I LOVE it. Gah. IT'S A WORM! A straw-wrapper worm, to be precise. Scrunch the paper wrapped together and drop water on it, and there ya go. It's hilarious. ...we got a little carried away here... ^^; At Denny's there was this claw-machine--the type that has cheap toys and stuff in it--and 'Shlee, in an unprecedented stroke of luck, actually managed to defeat the fiendish device. Usually the darned things can't/won't pick a toy up...or at least, I've never gotten anything from one. But 'Shlee won a minion from 'Despicable Me'. XD I shall have to get pictures...but his name is Howard and he's pretty darned cute for looking like a yellow Tylenol pill. Finally made it home, and at 3:30 we all trekked down to the gym (after exploring the yard and complaining about how hot it was, that is.) (A note on the heat: our A/C had broken the day before they arrived, and it was HOT when we got back. So going to the gym was the best thing we could do in order to stay cool. The A/C has since been fixed, but the first two days were pretty sticky.) 'Shlee's hair is so cute--she twirls the end of it around her finger, and it creates a perfect curl. It's so adorable. XD Weight-sharing time... Now THIS was pretty awesome. I think it's called a 'tower'--and I only stayed up there by pure willpower, because I was wobbling like a drunk person.
The excitement really started on the second day...it involves Wildcat Springs, jumping off of cliffs, and the taking of many, many pictures. :D Your hostess, The Fox |
Molly Rose
Multifacted obsessionist and all-around randomosity generator Journal
March 2011
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