My Little Gnome Flew The Coup!

Hi Everyone!!
Hope your week has been good to you. It's been a hectic one here in my little corner.....
Been busy, busy, busy!

How busy?
Glad you asked! :)
Work last week was a blur.....my boss was out of the office most of the week connecting all the computers and routers and phone system and etc.........So I was holding down the fort by myself. We've had a laptop just crap out. And one that just decided it didn't want to connect to the VPN at work. And then running back and forth to the owner's office trying to get everything set up the way he wants it. Next week my boss will be out until Thursday. And I'm already up to my eyeballs from Friday. Oh well, at least I will be busy. :)

Now that Sally can get back to going to the gym again- yes, she's doing well and walking without any crutches or cane - I started going again this past week. It's been a long 6 weeks since I've been. I can feel it too. My clothes fit crappy again. Gotta get back to the grind.

My daughter left today for Baltimore again. I'm not sure how I feel about that at the moment. I'm happy for her but I miss her already. :(  I know she likes Baltimore, maybe it's the best for her. Hopefully she can stay focused and accomplish everything she has in her heart. I know she'll do great. She's just so far away. Ok, enough with the self pity! :)

Let's see.....

We went to Michael's to see if they've put out any more Halloween.....yes, they did. But it was the normal holiday garbage. Kind of a bummer. I've been seeing all these blogs about the great Halloween goodies that are being put out, I want their stuff!! Maybe I'll make a trip into Atlanta in the next few weeks, see if there's anything better closer to the big city. I did get a few 'lil critters' to play with. Not sure how I'm gonna paint them. Or what I'm gonna do with them either. LOL! I also found some small skulls that I'm going to incorporate into my DragonCon costume.....

these were the only two pumpkins and bat they had

these will be dangling off my belt i think.......

I also came across some great Halloween fabric at JoAnn Fabrics. It's for a future project. Hopefully the very near future (next few weeks). We're getting closer to my goal - you remember, 50 members or 125 posts - well, I think this material will be part of the give away. Yes, I know what I'm doing with it, but, ssshhhhhhhh, it's a secret. Can't let the cat out of the bag just yet. LOL! Wanna see what I got? hhhhmmmmm??

secret stash.....what will it be??

Pieces of what I've ordered have started trickling in....

I received my 'pirate' shirt. It's freaking awesome! Jet black with ruffles at the neck and wrists. Looks great! My pants (dancer's tights) came in too. They are black as well. They'll look great with the shirt and jerkin (more on this in a minute). I ordered a couple of stocking masks (nylon). I like the way they look, I'm just not sure I will be able to wear them all day at DragonCon. They squish my face and are actually kind of hard to see out of. I may have to rework them some how so that I can use them. Maybe after you see them you can offer some suggestions on making them work. :)  Here's a few photos of all my goodies.......

my black 'pirate' shirt (bad pic, i know)

this is the pumpkin mask - the one i really

want to wear with my costume

this is the second one - i like it too

I also ordered a set of old 'dungeon keys' to hang opposite the three skulls (from above). They arrived on Friday. The package was on the table when I got home. My grand daughter was there. She watched me open the package like a kid on Christmas morning. Her eyes got really big when she saw me pull them out of the package. It was so cute. She had them in her hands within 30 seconds. They somehow became her keys not mine. She carried them around the house for the remainder of the day. She wasn't turning loose of them. I asked if I could have my keys and she told me 'No, they are my keys'. It was adorable. When she finally gave them to me (the following day) I put them on my work table and she had to move them to one of the side tables. 'You can't leave them there' she said. I moved them latter on and she came back and moved them back to the side table again. All I could do was laugh.

my skeleton keys! the perfect accessory

And now......

DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!

the reason nothing else has gotten done. LOL!

I have been cramming for DragonCon. I have been working on my jerkin and my hat. The jerkin is coming along fantastic. My hat is taking longer than I thought it would. But it's progressing nicely. I still can't believe that I only have 17 days to get this all done and pulled together. It just freaks me out that time has somehow flown by at the speed of light (or a witch's broomstick, wink, wink). Ok, enough talking, time for some photos of the progress......

the pattern for my hat - this is about the third or fourth

attempt. not as simple as anticipated.  :)

in the process of adding the 'pebble' to

the leather. took forever. the stamp is like

a half an inch wide. pain in the arse but

worth the effort when it was done.

at the beginning of putting it together and

attaching the tabs. leather cement is some

nasty smelling stuff.



working out the pattern. front quarter.

LOOK, my manikin is truly a pin head! LOL!

the back quarters. apparently i didn't take a

photo of the pattern......hhhhmmmmm, thought

i did.

the two back quarters are whole pieces.

i had to piece the front quarters together due

to the suede.

the front quarters being joined with a strip

of suede and leather cement (the inside)

the back quarters with the leather insert.

that way it will stretch and give. it's a green

leather. i know it's hard to see in this light.

i will take pictures outside once it's completed.

the front quarters - complete with 'Frankenstein' stitching.

the shoulders where the front and back quarters connect

the right front quarter. you can see how i

did the side seams as well. i used eyelets

to support the punched holes and then strung them

together. that way there will be movement and

air circulation. this stuff is heavy!

the left front quarter. i stenciled a sun/spiral

pattern onto it with acrylic paints and then

heat set them. turned out really nicely.

That's where I am with the hat and jerkin. The leather insert for the back is drying on the table as I'm writing this. The hat is drying as well. I can only glue a few tabs at a time, since it's an oval. Don't want to put to much pressure on the side walls and pop the glue free. Hopefully I can finish the gluing on the hat tomorrow. That way a can dye it sometime this coming week. Once the insert is dry I can add the rest of the eyelets to the back and string it. Then I will have to try it on and see if I want closures on the front or if I'm going to let it stay open. Not sure yet......depends on how the jerkin sits with the ruffles from the shirt. And that is the reason that I have gotten absolutely no work done on anything else......no dollies, no Wee Stuffies, no Halloweenies, no nothin'. I wanted to join the doll making class from Ankie Daanen but it starts on the 14th of August and there was just no way of devoting any time to it with everything going on for DragonCon. Maybe she will have another one after things have calmed down. Just not enough time in the day to complete everything. :) Maybe Miss Daanen will read my post and have pity on me and do a class just for me. Hey, I can dream! LOL! If anyone takes this class let me know how it goes. Please!

I almost forgot to show you my new punch. It's a Martha Stewart retired punch. I really like. The only disappointment is that it doesn't like to punch through my card stock. It punches paper great. Not so much with my cards. :(  Oh well, I'm sure I'll figure something out. ;)

not so hot on my card stock - paper is great.

My mead should have been racked this weekend.....but.....that didn't happen. Fortunately it's not an issue. It will wait until next weekend (or maybe sometime during the week). This will be the second rack and then in another 30 days or so it can be bottled. Then I just have to wait until April 2013. Wow, that seems so far away....but these last few weeks (months) have proven that misconception to be false!

My poor pumpkins are officially dead. There is nothing left of them at all. No remaining vines, no withered leaves or tendrils. It's like they were never there. Really bummed out about this (lil tear shed). My broom corn is desperately trying to hang on. Even if they manage to make it, they will be extremely tiny. The largest stalk is only two feet tall. And really sad looking. Again, really bummed.

Well, I think that's all for this post. I hope you have a wonderfully productive week! I will be continuing to work on my costume. Who knows, maybe next post I will be able to show you some photos of the finished pieces! *fingers crossed*

I will leave you with a photo of my daughter being silly.......she had to try on my hat, without the brim. She looked like a ga-nome. :) It was cute and made me smile......

ssshhhhhh, don't tell her, i'm

sure she'll give me grief for

posting it. ;)

We have another new member to welcome! YAY!

You'll have to go and check out the carvings at LLA Creations. They're great!

Thanks for stopping by! Welcome to my neck of the woods. :)

Anyway, til next time...

Be Good, Be Safe, Be Happy!

TTFN

That's 39 members and 120 posts....times-a-tickin'

OMG!! Halloween is only 79 days away! AAAAHHHHH!!