That's My Story, & I'm Sticking to It!

Well, although I haven't been posting much here, I've been very busy! I finally got my Trade Name Certificate (the day after I receive a note from my bank that they're going to close my account because I haven't produced it!), and my credit card machine, and my sales tax license... now I need to get my county license (couldn't do that until I got the TNC!), got new business cards printed and a banner made up, and finished all the suits I had cut out just in time for my first ever show last weekend!


Now I need to update my website: <http://www.whatwinnerswear.net>

wow. my head is spinning with everything necessary to start a business - and I had hoped to keep it low key for a while! not a chance <sigh>.

so in addition to being on the phone constantly ( Read more... )
But, while I was down in Roanoke, I did manage to snap a pic of a restaurant sign I mentioned last July. So.. for all the Whovians out there....

   I think this one has good potential - but I wish I had a hotfix navette (pointy oval).
Would be a better 'dangle' based on that instead of 2 large rounds. But I still think it's a nice, elegant design with good potential. What do you think? Now that I have one of my wholesalers (the easy one), I can order more - and they have colors... I think a blue or a green center navette inside the cluster would be nice!

Well, I've been keeping somewhat busy. Aside from spending a good 2 hours or more talking with the Verizon guy about getting DSL at work (and therefore having to change my phone as well), I've been doing some sewing.

( Read more... )

Do you think I can sell things like this on etsy??

I'm trying to buy rhinestones and it's got me sooo frustrated!

( It just shouldn't be this difficult! )
ewwwww: COD with a money order, that's the worst I can think of aside from overpaying.

I've been wanting to make new patterns for the tops of my suits for a while. I got some bra-cups from Joann's (gotta love those 50% notions wall sales!) and tried to drape pattern stuff over them to make shaped tops. Should have worked. Really don't understand why it wasn't, but when I tried cutting out the pieces in spandex and sewing them together..... utter crap. ( Read more... )

I figure that it's heading towards Halloween, I'd best get back to that <#@$> Angel Dress that's been hanging on a post all year. She wanted more glitz, more 'costumey' look - silver around the flounces and a star on her chest. <sigh>

I put the silver (silver spandex - at least it doesn't shred, and those seams were already stabilized anyway) around the flounces on the 3/4 sleeves and at the hem. She was thinking something at her neck, but I told her that she wouldn't be able to pull it on over her head if I did that (was thinking about lame' at the time, rather than zig-zagging on the spandex, but I don't care). So I agreed to make a rhinestone star on the front. That was all I really needed to get done.
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Lets talk rhinestones. Well, the fuschia suit did glitz a bit more than the red, so many it's soap film. I'll have to try to look into that. Unfortunately she didn't win Best In Show ("only" 1st place in Women's Figure) so she doesn't qualify for the Nov show - which means she doesn't need a new suit for then <sigh>. She's done competing for the year now.

But, while checking around last night on lots of rhinestone sites, I found one by a guy out in CA who had an interesting opinion: he said (in his opinion)( Austrian vs Czech... )

Other thing this guy had on his website, was a talk about gluing them on. ( I've been doing it backwards?... )

Anyone else that has worked with rhinestones, how have you put them on?

So now we know the skunks aren't living in our yard. Yippee! ( Read more about oiling the house... )

Wish I could say the same for the bodybuilding suits. ( Why are my rhinestones so dull? )

Haven't heard yet, but it's quite a dilemma and I have no idea why my swarovskis aren't behaving the way they should. anyone out there have a clue??

Got an email this morning from my friendly caretaker: it seems we have squatters! under the back deck. ( Read more... )
Welcome to the country. <Sigh>

Yep, it's ours! Lock, stock and no furniture.

We've gotten a few things set up: we put our new bed together at 10:30pm that night (determined to sleep in our new home rather than at parents)... and since we aren't going to set up in the Pepto Pink master bedroom until it isn't Pepto Pink anymore... we're kinda crammed into one of the other rooms. But it will work for a while.
( Costuming Crick Hollow... )

I've never really had an eye for decorating, but if we're going to buy new living room furniture it's got to be good enough to keep when we finally build Mathom Hall. I think this looks kinda hobbity.....

wow, I think this really is going to go through this time! I've picked up the van. Geez, I live 10 minutes from enterprise, and it took them an hour to get to me?! and then most of an hour to get the van processed and rinsed off (I don't know that I'd call it washed, but it was wet). Go figure. Man, this thing is huge!! First I need a ladder just to get into the driver's seat, ( Read more... )
Then we took a break for ( Torchwood.. )
After that DH went back to readying boxes of books to pack in later. Geez, the dining room looks so odd without 2 stacks of 5 book-tubs! Hey, that's prime space for stacking the next stuff that will go up in the fall.

On the lighter side: ( and sewing stuff...! )

Hopefully we hit the road early Thursday morning! We may try to see Harry Potter while we're up there (not amused by the amazing lack of theaters to choose from. There is actually a drive-in not too far away, but I'm not sure how comfortable the Titanic is will be for movie watching. There's not even armrests!)

I don't know where they're coming from, but in the last two days Magnus & Canute have managed to catch 3 mice (they get smaller each time).

On the house front: settlement is delayed until next week. That should give everyone enough time to get their signatures, verifications, and maybe burst pipes fixed! geez.

On the suit front: I'm so glad some of my customers plan ahead. That glitzy red suit? She tried it on for her posing coach (who is also a judge) and he said 'no way, not regulation'. Apparently the front is too narrow (in spite of it being what they show in the magazines). So, since I can't have her getting disqualified in the show next week, I have to make a new bottom! good thing I have time. Yes, I'm going to salvage the stones - but not for this particular suit, but I will try to get them off. I think I'll wash the suit and let the water soften the glue to make it easier. The fabric is toast, don't care about that, but if I can re-claim that $60+ worth of crystal....

Some day I'll get back to Sprout!

No, we haven't lost another house. but things are so screwy I could just scream.

I thought everything was all set, coordinated and we were just waiting for the final amount to get the check and head on up the road Thursday morning. DH was picking up the rental van today while I was at work, and we'd start packing it up tonight. Boy was I wrong.

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If you actually read all this, I'm amazed. Mostly I need to vent. I hope your day was better. I spent mine chasing phone calls and pressing creases into fabric so I can sew the curtains I may not need this weekend.
<sigh>

Do I dare?? ( Settlement is set for Friday... )

this also means that while I probably had planned to go back to mocking up Sprout's yoke (since the robe came out so well), instead I'll be sewing cafe curtains for the kitchen and mudroom. Found a really nice narrow blues/white stripe that catches both the dark blue of the kitchen, the white, and the moderate blue of the mudroom. Can I make 4 sets in time?????

As for catching up: ( Read more about posing suits... )

I got a couple of swatches in for the brass corset.( Read a litle about corset fabric... )

Well, I'd better go shift the curtain fabric to the dryer so I can do some cutting on Monday. Wish I'd been able to stitch the ends together to keep it from twisting all up <sigh>.

last night I came up with a really cool idea.. now I have to find the fabrics and DH has to figure out the electronics if it's possible

Ok, I've been wanting to make a metallic corset for a while: maybe brass, maybe copper... copper spandex (sure, I'd have to interface for stability anyway) is easy to find, brass less so. Gold tone is easy, but it's a bit too bright. But Spandex House now has a bronze.... hmmm. well, I think it's a little too brownish, more old bronze and I want new shiny tone. But Stretch House might have some things. They dont' have a good display on their page so I'll have to get some swatches.

Now picture this: a brass metallic looking corset edged maybe in brown, over a brown fabric that looks kinda wood-y (not moire though), a miniature matching brass top hat maybe with a kaleidoscope on the tip. That could be really cool... what do you think?

So I actually got some work on the Sprout mockup done!!
( just sprouting up! )

and since I don't have any other hand-sewing to be working on, I've been working on my sami belt at Tuesday Sewing. I've finally made the center zig-zag out to the end, and I've turned around to double back. ( Why do I keep planning heavy costumes to wear in May??? )

House news: if you weren't at sewing to hear the current state of things (and care)... ( still househunting... maybe hope? )

So that's the news. At least all that's fit to print <G>

Here's a glimpse of the red suit bottoms. I've been moving the center design over a smidge and then stuck a few extra on the back. ( Read more... )

I've pretty much finished the fuschia suit. I've left a gap in the stones so I can move the loop & hook over, then I'll fill in the gap. But other than that... here's a pic of the bottoms that I've been working on today. The stones are all crystal clears, color is only how the flash hit them.
I think it will look pretty good on stage.


And I even went out for a mile walk tonight!

I got so depressed about the farm I just couldn't get fired up to do much work. But.. I'm trying to push past it (deadlines can be useful things).

I've got one suit all glitzed, but now I find I've got to figure a way to pull off a few stones to re-set them. You know, if you're a little bit off-center in the first row, but the time you're down around the 6th row ( Read more... )

No idea how to cost something up from the materials! I guess I've got to learn. My time to glue is getting better, and I really don't know how long it will take on any particular pattern so I can't just say $X per hour. they want a final figure. Gotta get to it.