Productive Days Are Here Again!

Considering Saturday was spent going to see The Full Cirque's Dark Side of Knight, my good friend perform with The Sprockettes, and then going to watch a Timber's game, I'm surprised I managed to get so much done last weekend.

Exhibit A: Great progress on my new dance pants! Using some existing pants as a pattern I cut out pieces of my fancy new striped fabric. Now they're all sewn together and I've semi-pinned them to the tops that I'm going to attach them to.





Exhibit B: A cellphone bag for my mom's birthday. Last weekend mom showed me her new phone, and the sock she carries it around it. Nothing wrong with using a sock as a carrying case - sometimes it's the best thing for the job. But when she showed it to me it was mentioned she wanted a real case for it. Her birthday is tomorrow so I thought it'd be perfect to whip up a little pouch for the phone. Voila!



And here it is wrapped up all purdy

This was really simple and only took me about one episode of Twin Peaks to make. Yes, I'm still obsessed with re-watching Twin Peaks. That show is unbelievably good, weird and surprising - and it doesn't hurt that Kyle McLaughlin is an idiosyncratic cutie in it.

The weekend is almost upon me again and already it's full of wonderful, exciting things - which I will report on in my next post.

Now I leave you with a pick from the Labyrinth Masquerade Ball that Krista and I attended the weekend before last.

Costuming in the Great Outdoors

Since it was so nice out on Monday evening I decided to take my wire and fake fur outside and make some progress on the tail.

Success!



So right now it just looks like a furry ironing board, but wait 'til I get it bent into shape.

In the mean time I need to start working on the costume for my next dance performance and Dark Alice. For the latter I've decided to go as the Dormouse and I really want some ears like this:


They'll be pretty easy to make and I can tailor the veil exactly how I want it. Might even go crazy and make them with blonde lace so when I pin my hair up on the ears they will show up better - oh, that is brilliant. Why, thank you!

Alright, simmer down. This week has got me feeling a little loopy so I'm off to get ready for bed and try to get some decent sleep tonight!

Squirrel and Bone

The Squirrel shirt is done! At least all the stitching is, all that's left is to zombie it up.

Stitching detail (might need to go over again to make the stitching move noticeable)


Igor now has all the supplies he needs to start the mask

Hoping to have the paper-mache done on the thing by the end of the month, but it all depends on how fast Igor's little fingers get to work.

I've put together a simple little dancing outfit for Saturday and am working on more complicated ones for future performances - including getting started on another belt (no I haven't finished the lace one, but I'm ignoring that for now).


Don't know what I'm going to back it with yet, but probably some kind of lace (it's becoming a thing for me, lace and bone) and there should be more danglies I think.

Now the productivity continues while I watch more weirdness! Yesterday it was a Twin Peaks marathon, today Barton Fink and Dr. Who! Yay!!!

Holy Moley, Sensory Overload 2011!!!

Just got back from Tribal Fest last night and my head is still spinning. The workshops! The vendors! The performances!!! It's gonna take just a wee bit to sort everything out that I saw and did on the trip, but until then, here are some pieces for new costumes I acquired and a couple other random photos from the trip.

A lovely hip wrap


The perfect metal piece for my next headdress


This amazingly sparkly scarf that I think I'm going to make into skirt panels


But the best thing I got, my new pride and joy, is this:

So beautiful, I can hardly believe it's mine and I get to wear it whenever I want!

And now for some silly trip pictures!


Andria pointed this out, I think she was hoping Ash was inside


This is the first day of performances and I think I was a little over excited to have my wrist stamped to get in and see some amazing dancers.


We went out Saturday night to a bad, bad bar that was very dark and kinda skeezy - but I had fun.

So dark! Who are these ridiculous people?

The only good thing about the place was a random old dentist's chair - it might've been a barber chair, but I'd like to think it used to belong to some cranky old dentist. It does look like it made me a little uncomfortable (might also have been the flash)

but Krista was very comfortable in it


Yeah, I'm pretty horrible when it comes to taking trip photos - I'm kinda lucky I remembered to take any at all.

Final thought of the night before I go to sleep, enjoy!

What a frakkin' crazy weekend!

Performing on Friday, helping supervise and herd nearly twelve tweens for a sleep over on Saturday, very little sleep both that night and last night, mother's day (which was actually relaxing just hanging out with the moms and puttering around the yard when the sun decided to come out for a few minutes), a little secondhand store shopping. I certainly didn't get to do everything I wanted to this weekend, and on Sunday I made the hard decision of choosing much needed alone time instead of hanging out with awesome people - but sometimes I just need time to be a hermit!

On the bright side, I found this at the Goodwill near my parents' house (the one on 52nd, just off Woodstock in SE):

Which will probably be incorporated into the next headdress.

I also started the shirt for my squirrel costume


P.S. I totally looked up frakking to make sure it should be spelled with two 'k's and not one. Yeah . . .

Plan B!

So, neither the bra nor the belt I was planning to wear on Friday were what I actually wore. The bra is structurally dangerous and the belt is still in its proto-planning stage.

Good news is that plan b was in full effect! Here's some action shots of what I actually wore:



Dancy dance!


Oh and here's the headdress that one of my teachers made, so beautiful (I won it in a class raffle).


More detailed shots to come of the individual pieces!

Starting today it's full steam ahead for Halloween costuming - especially since I *just* fully comprehended that I will be a bit preoccupied the week before Halloween since that's the week that Arkham City comes out. (Thank you Andria and Krista for having no faith whatsoever in my ability to resist playing it until after Halloween.) Yeah, so everything needs to be set up and ready for October 31st by October 18th because this is what I'll be emerging myself in:

(Yeah, that's the old teaser trailer, but it's still my favorite. If you're interested in the latest: Batman: Arkham City - Official Gameplay Trailer)

Trying to concentrate on things other than Halloween

So, I've started my next dancing bra - nope it's not the one I showed last time. Instead, it's a basic striped covering I'll be able to build on and make more interesting in the future, but for now it's just something I can wear under a vest that goes with the next costume.

So it begins:



In non-bellydance, not even Halloween, related news, I'm making a new cropped hoodie for myself. I found a button up cardigan-type shirt at Goodwill that I liked the buttons and unfinished hem on, but the cut was all wrong. So, I took off the bottom of the thing and am making it into a hood.


Hope this will be a quick project so I can start to wear it as the weather turns more and more Spring-like (alright, maybe I'm getting a little bit excited about it).

While I work tonight, Igor and I are watching a classic: Leon, The Professional. Jean Reno, one of Natalie Portman's good roles, and a drug crazed Gary Oldman - yes, please! My only question is: why do they make such crappy trailers for such awesome movies?