A Flare For The Piratical

I seem to make a lot of pirate garb. I dunno why, but people come to me for piratey clothes.
The most recent was a friend of my mother needing a pirate costume for a work function, it was actually a lot of fun to go shopping for fabric, we found some wonderful fabric for the coat she wanted, I would call it Pirate Chic.

There were 3 pieces to this commission; a shirt (ruffles and lace included) a coat (tres chic) and a head wrap (with beads)

The shirt was easy, I have a good old tried and true pattern that has not failed me yet.

I have a very tiny bit of this lace left over, I really want to find something to put it on.


The head wrap was simple because it was a rectangle with beads on the ends.

But the coat, the coat was a different beast entirely. This is the base pattern I used...

But it was lacking a collar, so I melded it with this pattern...

it is (unfortunately) a Vogue pattern and so was a bit of a pain to blend with the coat pattern. In the end though I made it work and I'm quite pleased with how this piece turned out.

I think this is one of my finer pieces, the weight of the fabric (or rather lack of weight) and the blending of the patterns made it a challenging piece and it's usually the pieces that I want to throw down in frustration, that I end up being the most pleased with.

Happy Monday all!

P.S. Happy Birthday Daddy!!!

Does This Make Me A Bad Person?

Before I address the title, I have a few other things for you.

Not the most crafty of crafts, but I think it still qualifies. It has become a tradition for Matt to get me a new jigsaw puzzle each year for Christmas. Starting in 2008, he got me a Fairytale puzzle that had all the Grimm's fairytale characters on it in sort of a "Where's Waldo" format, it was 1500 pieces and it took me 2 weeks of working on it everyday after work.
2009 he got me a gorgeous castle scene, with forests and snow and mountains... absolutely beautiful. It is a 2000 piece, I haven't ever finished it because of the forests and snow and mountains. (I told him not to do that again)
2010 it was a lovely fairy lady, it's a 1000 piece and I haven't finished it yet because of lack of time and helpful cats are not helpful.
2011 he got smart and found a 500 piece puzzle for me (just the right size for quick but challenging) it is a Carnivale mask and had enough detail to make me work for it, but I could still enjoy it quickly.
He also got me a puzzle mat, so I can roll it up and get it out of the way when I'm not working on it.
I had to share the pretty with you.

I do believe I promised you Spartans this week, I know I have been slacking on getting them up, but I should tell you life has been very very busy. Work is kicking my ass good and proper and when I get home, if I have any energy I workout and then I work on the current commission I have and then I sleep (if I'm lucky)
I do have Spartans though, I stayed up late last night to finish them for you (you're welcome)
So I have for you, the first in the "I'm only making the ones that are spoken for" series.
68 and 69 (hehehe)

68 is going to Mary, his name is Donny (lol, I had to)

69 (hehehe) is going to my friend Rachel, who was lucky enough to claim him first, about 5 people asked for this number after she did. His name is Caligula (because why not?) and this Spartan is the reason for this blogs title...

oh yea... I went there. And just for the record, that is a flogger he is holding.

aaaaaaand on that note I bid you good day





I said good day!

Useful Crafting

Through out the holiday months I made a few functional crafty bits that were not holiday related and so, did not make it into the blogs.

First we have my Dish Washing Glove Hanger (mental note; come up with better name...)

Don't you just hate it when you put on you glove to wash dishes and they are wet inside? Well I do too! So I came up with a little spur of the moment "I'MSOSICKOFTHISSHIT" solution...

I happen to have cabinets directly above my sink so any water that got inside can just drain into the sink. So far it has worked perfectly.

 (yes, that is in fact my stove in the background, my sink faces a HUGE window and all I could get was a bad shadowy picture of it hanging where it belongs)


Next I have a hanging pocket for my sewing scissors (mental note; think of name for this...)

Don't you just hate it when you knock your scissors off your sewing space and they stab you in the leg? or worse, the foot! Well I do too!!! I came up with this, also spur of the moment, when I should have been sewing on something else, but kept losing/knocking my scissors off onto my leg.

I even added some pretty to it, because I could.


And now for something completely different!

I saw an article for a thing called a Counting Bracelet, it is to help you keep track of your calories for the day, each bead is so many calories (50, 100, etc) and you move the charm around the beads as needed (think of it as the dieter's prayer beads) I took the concept and ran with it. I made a necklace, that can also be wrapped twice around the wrist for a bracelet, and made several charms.

I have one to keep track of how many days I do my workout; one to keep track of how many days I get some hooping in; one that was originally going to be for WW points, but I'm using to keep track of how many days I've tracked my food; and one to keep track of how many cups of water I've had in a day.

This is the workout one

Food tracking, Hooping, Workout, Water

These are all things I had on hand at the time, which I think is both cool that I can do that and scary that I have enough crafty shyte to do that.

Unfortunately I don't have Spartans again today, I went to a gathering last night and took everything with me to make them while there... except I forgot to grab stuffing. So definitely next week I will have some for you.

Happy Monday all!

The Big Announcement Of DOOM

Ok kids, this is going to be short and not so sweet...

I'm sure when some of you heard about this project you said something along the lines of "really? I don't think you'll finish this project" and to that I say, thanks so much for the vote of confidence.

Well you just so happen to be correct in thinking that, because I have decided to half give up on the project in favor of doing other more exciting things (like dancing and making a Nac Mac Feegle and other things out of my many many crochet books) BUT what I have decided to do is to make all of the numbers that have homes and take a picture of the impressive hundred-some-odd Spartans I would have made at that point. SO if you have chosen a number, hooray for you, you'll still get it; if you haven't and you want a Spartan, I will be posting a list of all the currently made homeless guys and you can take your pick from them (I might even change the weapon upon request and donation... or just donation)

I have grown weary of making them already and I'm not even at 100. I knew it would be hard to remain focused on this project because I like variety in my life and crafting, I just didn't realize how FRIGGIN SICK OF THESE LITTLE BASTARDS I'D GET...

*ahem*


Now if you'll excuse me I have a commission to work on.

Happy New Year Everyone!