Orange it prettttttty!

I wanted to try drafting my own full bodice pattern and decided on a cowl neck style. I got this fabric on clearance for 1$/metre to try out jersey style pattern drafts before using my good (read: more expensive) knit fabric. but turns out I really like this fabric too (common problem which stops me from testing out things with fabric originally bought to "test things out")!

Anyway I'm pretty happy with how this turned out. There are some issues - some which I know how to fix in future patterns, some I'm not too sure how to fix (such as a gape in the back neckline)

The pics are a bit dark but here they aaaare!

Jumper on the band wagon :)

So I really like those jumper style tanks and dresses that are popping up everywhere
I like the look of the ones gathered in front but question how it'd look on my. So I tried making one
one of the straps is too wide (oops) and I think I gathered it TOO much in the front. next time i'll gather it less and only gather it in the centre, not the whole width (it make me look a tad well preggo shall we say - actually when I eat my tummy balloons right out and it seriously looked like I was pregs last night. the boy face didn't appreciate me saying "look at ma bebe!" repeatedly so much...)

right so here's the shirt with a couple of different ways of wearing it:
(excuse the silly faces, I'm really bad at posing for photos)

The original style - no belt but can wear belt as a headband or necklace-scarf thingie...

with some waist definition:


with the low hip belt, kind of ancient greek-esque no? would look better with a wide brown hip belt me thinks


The high waist/under bust belt


ugh that too wide strap is really noticeable and now it's bugging me. sigh it's going to be SUCH a pain to fix! Times like these that I hate being a careless crafter...

Long time no post

I have HAVE been making things though! kind of...ok not really
I made a skirt which turned out nicely, will post the photo later
actually in general i'll post photos later :)

I've mostly been getting into the whole baking/cooking/eating cycle
I am obsessed OBSESSED with these muffins
I use all fresh blueberries, gluten free flour and didn't have the spices around so I went without and they were still ridiculously delicious
I actually tried them last night with 2 cups of blueberries and non of the topping and they were still wonderful and only like 116 calories each and I could feel they were healthier although in all fact you're only getting like 1/16th of a cup of berries each muffin so...

**CORRECTION: you'd actually be getting 1/6th of a cup blueberries per muffin which is not bad, not bad at all!**


and this quiche but with this slightly altered recipe instead:

VEGAN QUICHE

1 Package, Firm Silken Tofu
2 Tablespoons Tapioca Starch
1 tsp Curry powder (1.5-2tsp if you'd like a curry flavour - which is very good as well, add a bit and then taste, repeat)
2-3 Tablespoon Nutritional Yeast Flakes
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 teaspoon Salt

I added in cherry tomatoes, black olives and mushrooms sauted first and then stirred in and I didn't use any crust.
cooked the whole thing at 350 for 25minutes
and it was deLICIOUS. next time i'm going to add spinach to make it extra healthy

and AND FINALLY I've been eating a boatload of hummus. I really want jalapeno hummus but apparently the stores by me don't sell any jalaps (grrr!). But yes here's the recipe I've been using:
1 can chickpeas
4 cloves garlic (we really really like garlic)
cayenne pepper (to taste - i like it spicy, i like everything spicy)
3 tbsp tahini
lemon juice (about 2 tbsp)
1/4c water (sometimes up to 1/3c, start with less and add a bit at a time till you get the ideal consistency)

food process the sucker up and serve with carrots, celery and cucs

oh and (one more recipe I promise): PEACH CRUMBLE!!!
actually I'll leave my crumble recipes till next time :)

Ninjas, Superheroes and Cupcakes YAY!!!

My friend Jarnifer gave me this really cool monkey superhero tank for my birthday but I felt that a full superhero monkey top was a little too much for me so I reconstructed half into the following wallet and am going to put the other half into a top for me (if I ever get around to having time to make things for myself rather than other people)...

Wallet guts...


My second cupcake coin purse ever...just need to get my act together and make a bunch to put on Etsy...This one doesn't have a zipper because well I have no money at the moment and was trying to just use supplies I had. I like how it turned out though :)
It's a ninja in case you can't tell - ninjas like cupcakes right?

The exposure is a bit off around the face piece actually...oh well

Tool swap take 2

Ok so my original swap pack got lost in the mail (booo!!!!)
so I said I would make another for my partner
but then May was horribly busy so it didn't happen for a while
but it's finally FINALLY done and here it is!!!!

the colours are bright and summery because well it's summer and she likes girly-esque things
and I think they fit nicely with the lyrics

let me tell you: hand painting things with a paint brush and faric paint is really not all that fun or easy. more frustrating, painstaking and annoying

for noncompressed/crappy quality version of photos check out my flickr

wallet:



purse:


close up on detail:

firstly Rogers sucks

Ok I haven't blogged ina long while but I meant to post this when it happened...

So my internet just stopped working one Tuesday and with it my phone since we have Vonage - a broadband phone.

So I call Rogers to have them come and fix it. They refuse because since I don't have a phone there is no way for them to conirm someone is home and thus no one will actually come. So after being transfered among different people finally they agreed to come that Friday sometime between 11:00 and 2:00 (previously they said between 9 and 5) and that they would put in a confirmation code so the person would just come without calling.

So...I take Friday off work and wait. and wait. and wait. finally at 2:15 I call from a pay phone to ask why no one came. I am informed that they called and since no one was home they didn't come. So I once again explain that I have no phone because the internet is not woring, he confirms that yes they put in the code so the guy would come anyway. So why didn't he come? Because I don't have a phone. So we continue in this circle for about 20 minutes (I wish I was joking), and then 10 mnutes after that is this "customer service" guy blaming me saying that I should have a cell phone and really it's my own fault for not having a cell phone. So I said you know what? I'm switching providers this is ridiculous. He blames me a bit more and I give him an out saying give me the month for free and we're fine; but he refuses.

Finally Saturday some guy comes (I had to use my parents as the confirmation number), this guy is really good and nice. He looks at the cable to see what's wrong. want to know what was wrong?

well when the Rogers people came to connect my neighbour's cable they decided to just cut our cable. Not even joking, it was just a clean cut straight across.

So in short, Rogers is the worst service provider ever and I am switching when my contract is up at the end of the month.

Community Garden

Ok these photos are from a while ago I just took forever getting them sorted out. These are from the very first day of the gardening season for the Eglinton Park Heritage Community Garden. I've been going to that park for years and it turns out where I always sat was more or less right next to the garden and yet I never noticed it. So I'm really excited because since university I've always wanted to be part of a community garden.

Right but these photos are from the first day of the year when we cleaned up the garden from the winter time - weeded, aerated, etc... The day I got heat(sun? what's the difference) stroke yay! other than that it was a great day.

I have a cool photo stitch shot that I set up while there so you can see the whole thing. However a) I forgot to take an after pic. but still cool. I think I'll do one each time I go so that you can actually see it grow. that's the current plan anyway

b) I haven't got around to installing the actual canon photostitch program




all that green stuff is garlic. there was so SO much garlic. I love garlic in a garden, I love the whole idea of it, I love the colour and I love the actual garlic




that side of the garden was absolutely insane. these were part way through the day and compared to the photo up top you can see how much work we had done by this point

____

their website: http://www.ntgc.ca/EPGevents.html
my flicker for the garden: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7534516@N06/
article written about the clean up day: http://www.insidetoronto.ca/to/centre/story/3952190p-4564427c.html?loc=centre

what a struggle

What a struggle indeed. Mostly to do with my stupidity and lack of attention paid to details. I've been working on this quilted heating pad cover for a swap. And it was looking so pretty, with its variety of pink fleece and flannel prints! and I measured and measured again after my fiasco with making a shirt that I clearly didn't measure at all and which ended up not coming anywhere close to fitting me



So all that was left was to add the zipper which I bought today, even though I had made the actually item like 1 week ago. This is when I realize...I've sewed 3 of the sides shut already...Needless to say it was a huge HUGE struggle and ended only after I unstitched the whole zipper after 1 try, added in more fabric and broke my needle (!!!!) because I forgot I was in overlock stitch and it hit the zipper foot and flew in my FACE!!!!!!!

It still looked a little weird because it was a 12" zipper for a 15" length. So after trying a couple of things I finally arrived at what I feel (read: hope) is a suitable solution.

nice weather :(

Well I have a ridiculous amount to do over this next week starting with a lot to do today

This morning was my first morning at the Eglinton Community Centre Heritage Garden at Eglinton and Avenue Road...It was also really sunny and definitely in the 20s temperature wise. Plus side: beautiful, amazing day perfect for gardening. Down side: i'm pretty suree I got heat stroke. I could hardly walk to the subway station which was a block away. and then when i got home I just lay in bed for a couple of hours. Not conducive with getting a lot done like originally planned...

but at 5:30pm i'm kinda getting back on my feet and out of the groggies...hopefully at least.

i'm working on a graphic design project that I had hoped to finish last night but was way too tired last night to even begin to do anything about. And then I'm going to post some pics of my WIP for the OWS21 happening on craftster.org. Hoping by tonight to finish that and a 1920s inspired shirt I'm making for this jazz thing i'm going to tomorrow evening (Sonic Bloom - spoken word to jazz).

Then after i'm done that I can start working on the communications plan I'm supoosed to be meeting about tomorrow at noon.

GAH!!!!! back to work!