Mama Hughes’ Neighborhood

      As a craft-procrastinator (why I procrastinate on something I love doing? no idea.) Thanksgiving signifies that x-mas is but a month away and if you haven't started making your gifts yet, you need to ASAP.  Since this year I am very, very, very, seriously, poor and unemployed all x-mas presents will come to fruition through my super stash of yarn and fabric and my own two hands.  I've come to the realization that I can pretty much make and do anything I want depending on my level of interest and my access to materials and tools.  I know how to do a ton of amazing stuff and I'm learning more everyday.  Yesterday I learned how to nest my seams to make my quilt blocks lay flat, and today I taught myself to make doll clothes patterns with just the measurements I found online.  More importantly than realizing that I can do and make and thing I want is that I SHOULD make and do what ever I want.  That I should be contributing to the craft community and stop wasting my talent and super awesome studio space by being a "lurker".

This craft-epiphany was due to a culmination of influential women in my life:

• Mama Hughes for being an amazing mentor and for always believing in me, encouraging me and giving me endless opportunities to learn from her and really making me feel like all things are possible.
• Ayla from the Jean M. Auel book The Clan of the Cave Bear for showing me that sharing your talents with the your community enriches the lives of those around you unless you are a complete troglodyte like Broud.
• My very talented friend Katy, (she designed my website and business cards) who was jealous of my craft room and made me realize that I was wasting my precious gift of space and tools and being unappreciative of what I have.

Sewingroom

And this is what I've been up to:

      I'm making a denim quilt for my parents.  We have an "heirloom" denim quilt that has been passed down from my dad's parents no one remembers who made it, or how old it it is, it's just always existed.  While being shoddily pieced together and not very attractive, it is highly utilitarian.  We used it for going to the drive-in theater when we were kids, countless picnics, music festivals in the park, trips to the beach, camping, you name it we've used that thing everywhere for everything.  Now it's gotten pretty beat up over the years and some of the patches are beyond repair.  I've also noticed that we use it a lot less now that it's all tattered.  My parents also just got a new RV so what better present than to make a new quilt that we can use the hell out of and make memories with.  The picture above and left shows the plaid I want to use as the backing (it's from France and I got it at a designer leftover sale) and the above and right photo is a sample of the block pattern I'm using.  Cool side note about the denim I'm using, it's all from jeans that I've worn dating back to middle school.  I harvested all the denim over the years knowing that someday I wanted to take on this project of creating and "heirloom" quilt.

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I've taught myself to make doll clothes.  My cousin who is 9yrs old, loves the American Girl dolls, and Michael Jackson.  What better than to make her doll one of the most iconic MJ outfits!  I will be making the red sequined military jacket and cropped tuxedo pants that the king of pop made legendary on his Victory tour.  Now if i'm super cool, i'm going to attempt the sparkly glove and socks, but we'll see about that.  here is the jacket I'm going to attempt to emulate.
 
                                            

Turkey day was hella laid back with only minor family drama when my sister's dead-beat-baby-daddy (DBBD)decided he was mad at my boyfriend for not being welcome at our new apartment and threatening to

Black Friday, talk about epic let down!  Nothing I wanted (or wanted to buy for someone else) was on sale, or was on sale enough for me to want to buy it.   Even my 9 month old nephew protested by smashing his glass bottle on the floor at Wal-Mart.  Why my sister uses glass bottles is beyond me.  My sister and I gasped in horror, but he laughed and smiled, finding the whole event quite entertaining.  this picture is of him biting a defenseless kitten (only joking, no one was defenseless or injured, in case PETA or CPS is reading)

Love:

Mewithjuliandjosh

- I organized all my trim this week, now my lace and ribbons and zippers and whatnot are all organized, now maybe I can get to some x-mas crafting.  lol.

- Free and delicious coffee from my new and wonderful credit union.  using the Keurig machine is half the fun, but getting FREE, GOOD, chocolate cake flavored coffee is the other half.

- Playing with my niece and nephew.  It's one of the few times I can actually let go, cut loose and just have fun.  those two are so cute it's just unbelievable.

Hate:
- New Moon movie.  ok, I can forgive them for fucking up the vampire lore, I can even forgive them for being a disgusting teen romance series.  What I can't forgive is sending the WRONG message to young girls about relationships, healthy break up behavior, and how to treat your family and friends and boys who have feelings for you.  Bella Swan is a piece of shit, she is selfish and self centered and treats her the people in her life like garbage.  wake up!  these boys aren't the life/death of your universe, get some self respect, Edward is emotionally abusive (he hates himself to much to ever really love bella, and bella is too insecure to know better thus pressuring him into huge commitments like marriage and changing her into a vamp) and Jacob practically threatens physical violence that he has "no control" over.  this is a VERY POOR role model for young girls to find appealing or romantic.  As a feminist I am beyond appalled.

- The cold weather making my bones hurt and living with someone who had a natural body temp of like 103F who never needs the heater who says to me just as I'm getting warm, "it's so hot in here, do we really need this on?"

- Not hearing back (it's been 3 weeks now) from the school district where I applied to be a substitute teacher after they basically told me that I would have a job because I was needed so desperately.  I've come in and talked to them twice now and both times they told me the paperwork just hasn't gone through yet.  so by the time I start working for them I'll be starving and on the streets and the kids will be like, "oh god no, not the homeless sub, she's the worst!"

- I just want to bold one thing and now the bold wont turn off. guh.

Homesweethome

Despite fake neighbors, I'm sticking with VOX.  Tumblr was terrible.  The content quality of the majority of the users was lame.  commenting wasn't an integral part of their structure, "hearting" and re-posting were what you did if you liked something.  not the connection and conversation i was looking for in a larger community.  The posting interface just re-affirmed my suspicion that tumblr is not interested in blog style content, just pictures that you can heart and repost.  it all seemed really superficial and shallow.  not that anything that i say here is epic or deep, but it's me and it's real and if people can't interact with it and have a conversation, what is the point?  So for now, Vox is home sweet home.

I've been getting some comments and neighborhood

i come in peace (vector)

If Ikea and Anthropology had a baby it would be Car Mobel.  A German company that carries several interiors lines that are popular in Germany and Scandinavia.  I found them on decor8, which is a blog I read religiously, if pretty things and nice houses were a religion.  subscribe to them if you haven't already!

I want the thread holder on the left!!  <3 <3 <3  Tragically they only ship to Germany.

I just love finding things like this, it really helps to inspire my thrift shopping and polish up my ideas about aesthetic. 

It's always hard to see an animal friend go.  Today we say goodbye to Bud, the mule. 
Bud was over 40 years old.

So after watching a few episodes of the shows I thought I was going to like this fall I have to admit that I'm not so in love with all of them.  so here is an updated schedule of my TV watching.

Monday:

House on FOX @ 8pm

+Trauma on NBC @ 9pm (shot in SF, watching for nostalgia factor)

Castle on ABC @ 10pm

Tuesday:

Nothing

Wednesday:

Mercy on NBC @ 8pm (lame, I think I'm over medical dramas)

+Modern Family on ABC @ 9pm (pretty funny, might watch this instead of glee)

Glee on FOX @ 9pm (catching this one on HULU so I can fast forward through the musical numbers)

Eastwick on ABC @ 10pm

Thursday:

SNL Weekend Update Thursday on NBC @ 8pm (easier to catch on HULU)

+/- Parks and Recreation on NBC @ 8:30pm (still not sure about this one)

The Office on NBC @ 9pm

Fringe on FOX @ 9pm

Grey’s Anatomy on ABC @ 9pm (this just isn’t the same show it was last season)

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia on FX @10pm

Friday:

Ugly Betty on ABC @ 9pm

So its that time of year again and costume creation is in full swing.

The other day at work I brought my sewing machine in because we were trying to turn our weather balloon into a giant ghost by making a fabric costume for it (didn't work by the way :( ). I had not sewed in a very long time, but the little sewing I did at work made me think that I was probably the best at sewing ever, and why the hell wasnt I sewing things all the time? (normaly I hot glue all my costumes together...) Anyway long story short Paige and I went to the fabic store today and decided to put my "I rockzors and sewing" hypothesis to the test. Result:

I ROCKZORS AT SEWING!

Mostly. Some of the seams are a little wonky, I skiped interfacing because I decided it looked hard and I didnt want to buy it, but over all not too bad. It will definately work for Paige's Chun Li costume. Next up a tailed jacket for my Zatanna costume. Also, mods for my star trek costume, perhaps a jacket for my steam punk costume, who can tell. The posibilitys seem endless now that I have graduated from hot glueing.

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here is the tunic I made for Paige today.

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And this is who Im going to be for acctaul Halloween. Our theme this year is comicbook characters so I figured I'de go for the obscure batman love interest. Some may remember her from Batman the Animated Series where she helped Batman fight Ra'sh al Ghul.

I'm so glad fall programming is back on!  I feel like I can get back to some regularly scheduled entertainment, this summer wasn't exactly brimming with choices.  However what it lacked in quantity it made up for in quality, True blood and Weeds were absolutely primo, bar none, some of the best television I have seen ever.

Without further ado, this is what I'll be watching this fall.  What about you, what are you watching?

Monday:

House on FOX @ 8pm

Castle on ABC @ 10pm

Tuesday:

Nothing looks good on Tuesday for any of the major networks!

Guess I’ll just read a book.

Wednesday:

These shows are all maybes pending on me really liking the first 3 episodes

Mercy on NBC @ 8pm

Glee on FOX @ 9pm

Eastwick on ABC @ 10pm

Thursday:

This is the big night where 3 shows I want to watch air at the same time, and I don’t have TiVo.  The office is easy to watch on hulu the next day (thanks NBC!) and I'm not positive I'm going to like this season of grey’s, the plot line is kind of fizzling out., and I'm loving fringe, so it may all work out in the end.

SNL Weekend Update Thursday on NBC @ 8pm

Parks and Recreation on NBC @ 8:30pm

The Office on NBC @ 9pm

Fringe on FOX @ 9pm

Grey’s Anatomy on ABC @ 9pm

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia on FX @10pm

Friday:

Ugly Betty on ABC @ 9pm