Friday, August 24, 2007

Work in Progress- More than what's on the craft table

I know I've been bad about posting, not a good start for a newby, but really I have REASONS...
Last week I received a request for a hat to match a ready made jacket.


"SURE! What fun!" said I. Immediately images of hat designs sketched onto my brain's whiteboard. I was pretty much given generous free reign too, "Feel free to go wild. Make it whimsical." I usually get a bit leary when I read these words from customers. There have been times in the past when I've had more ideas than my customers could handle and they back out after I've already spent much time and effort planning their request. But this customer has been an absolute dream! I can't believe how nice she is! I went ahead , started templates and this is the week I've had.

I made a template out some thinner, lower quality fleece I've been saving for just this purpose. It turned out so cute, I decided to make it into its own project (ya know ya never have enough of those hangin' around.) I then plunged into some white, velourish fleece that was OH! SO SOFT. I mean this stuff was just indescribably plush. I knew she'd have to love this stuff!
Weeeeelllll, I should have realized right then I was going to need to alter the thin fleece's pattern for this "poke-me-in-belly-HeeHee" thick marshmallow fabric.
That dern hat came out like a helmet. I couldn't decide where to go from there. My creative muses left along with our AC. It shook me out of bed in the morning. I just knew one of those black hawk military helicopters we see had landed on the roof. Nope, just an AC fan off its mount. How timely, what with us being in the middle of a heat wave with temps over a 100 each day. My eggs were fried. (Remember, I am just soooo pregnant at the moment??? Not good to have fried egg temps.) My son who is my four year old model for all outfits male or female (the therapy I'll have to pay for later...) was not pleased with me smacking this muffy helmet on his burred head and telling him, "Now don't move or you'll sweat in it!"

He dealt with the hot humiliation by making faces for the camera as I played with various layouts for the "hat." He had to make it clear for all time how much he did not volunteer, in all his boyhood, to go along with this.
I emailed my sister back and forth furiously getting her opinion on various layouts.

I gathered up what female cajones I could muster and cut through the fleecy layers to make the darn thing less appealing to NASA. Two serger needles later, we began to see the light as the cap evolved (no pics,
too hot.) But it was happening.

Tassles from the ear flaps and crown, flowers to match those of the jacket and some hand stitched embellishing... we are homeward bound.
I will post a finished picture later, but right now I've got to go find the window unit somewhere in the barn. It's 8:30am and the fridge has decided it needed to joined the AC and complete its dying process; its been working on it for a few months. Its voiding all over the floor again. Guess we'll just have to keep cool with the frozen turnips.
If anyone has any snowballs left in their freezers, could you overnite them this way????
Update: finished photos, think I'll leave the forehead of it blank? I love it as it is!


Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Too pooped to pop

Well, I spent most of my day, in between lessons, cooking, cleaning, and breaking up squabbles, waddling up and downstairs to/from the computer where I set up more networking stuff. Its all fun and tedious at the same time. I measured out a new order but didn't get a stitch in... tomorrow.
I'm working on revamping the poncho I made on Sunday, ripping out is hard to do (as music plays in my head from "Breaking Up is Hard to Do).
The baby was soooo heavy on my left side today that I am waddling off kilter! Hope it doesn't affect my stitches! LOL!
Nothing terribly interesting to put up today. Hubby had camera so no photos to load either.
NITE, NITE.

Monday, August 13, 2007

Getting Started


Here I am. Diving in. Not sure where to begin but with my lazy day VanGoghWannabe pastel piece I did, I thought I'd begin my blogventure.
I should be sewing today now that lessons are wrapping up (we home school) but I had to learn how to post and tweak out my new blog.
I found my way here through Etsybloggers, which I found through the great community at www.etsy.com .
PlayVentura is a bee I've had in my mental bonnet for the past couple of years. Ultimately I hope it to be a place where I am inspired to turn my sketches into fabric renditions. I have planned an entire line of children's play clothes, nearly costumes but wearable enough for everyday play and travels.
This blog is to document my progress in this endeavor, good, bad and ugly trials alike. Stick around, I hope it'll be fun!