When discouraged...

It always helps me to remember that there have been a few successes. Here is one that I am still rather pleased with. This is a recreation of a dress from Return of the King. I had a good time with this one. Not a bad likeness is it?




This is a photo of the original taken from alleycatscratch.com. I would do a link, but I haven't figured that out yet!

And here is a close up of the embroidery and beading I did on the sleeves. This was my favorite part of the project. I love the hand work. I was pleased with the outcome. I pull this out from time to time just to remind myself that it can be very fun and sometimes successful to embark on these creative endeavors.

Barney is dead

For now. Yes, I have caved. I need an easy, actually, really, truly easy project to boost morale. I have learned that it really is best for me not to rush into a big project. I need all that planning and re-thinking before I actually cut or stitch. Enough said for now.

Barney

I have decided to name this dress Barney because it is just that annoying. Yes it is true. I pretty much despise this dress right now. I discovered today that the lovely silk is actually one of the worst colors I could possibly have picked. It makes me look recently dead. And all I have to do is sew this thing together, and yet literally with every seam I sew I run into a different problem. Most of them creative in nature. This is why it is foolish for me to rush into any major project. The temptation is great to take all the pins out and chuck this thing out of a moving vehicle. However, because I now have this blog I feel some accountability to actually finish, which was sort of the point. So I guess it is working because as painful as it may be I am determined to finish this beast and hopefully make it pretty in the end. I will have to do something about it making me look dead however...

Musing

I'm still not convinced that anyone is actually going to look at this little blog and if that is the case I am ok with that. Last weekend a friend was giving me tips on what to blog about. For example he thought that having tea with my two year old daughter and her Yoda doll would be of interest. So I guess I will just write sometimes and if any are inclined to read it then they will get maybe a glimpse into my strange small world. That being said, I thought I would ramble a bit about Dexter my cello. (I failed to mention earlier that I like to name precious inanimate objects after some favorite character. If you can name the reference you get a prize!) Anyway, I was in the car last week listening to "Drink the night away" by Romantica, which is a great song. Mid song the strings come in and it choked me up a bit. I realized that though Dexter is neglected he is representative of hundreds of hours of my life. Most of those hours were very hard work, but also so joyful. I truly believe that no endeavor to expand your world and your mind is worthless. Even if nothing else comes of it but the experience. Almost every time I hear a cello anytime, anywhere it takes me into that part of myself, that experience of learning and working and getting to a place where I could make something beautiful. I still have this skill now, laying dormant just waiting for a reawakening. Whether or not that ever comes is maybe not the point. I have those cello related treasures stored away, and it was worth it. It will be a part of me the rest of my life.

C.K. Dexter Haven

So I thought I would branch out a little and share some other things, like Dexter. This is my cello. He is sadly neglected lately because, well, my daughter is two, but he is a dear old friend. I learned to play about 6 years ago and almost 4 years ago decided it was time to buy a cello. He was made in 2000 by D. Albert of Markneukirchen, Germany and finished by A. Fein of St. Paul. It is a great cello. Great for me. It has a very dark tone to it, which I like. Nothing too "silvery" or bright. I love the cello because it is melancholy, much like me. Yours truly, Snuffleupagus.