Stash Reduction Skirt Enlargement

It's not as painful as it sounds. There comes a time in every crafty girls life where she realizes the vintage fabric will not make itself into a new skirt. There also comes a time in every crafty girls life where she has been working behind a computer for too many months in a row and her behind starts to show that she has been behind a desk (and she ate her way through Chicago last week). I'm hitting the gym and upping my veggie to junk ratio, but I sincerely doubt that will make a difference by next week when I go to Florida, where the weather is hot and many eyes will be on me.

So I'm getting my sew on!

I also signed back up for eHarmony -yeah we're back to that- and I feel I need some cute date-wear to give me that extra bit of confidence, and seperate me from the sad, sad women limited to shopping at Forever 21 (when they're 32). Hopefully this time Mr. Right will present himself, as I am not interested in doing this for the rest of time. I know I have to keep kissing frogs, but holy crap! The endless supply of pond fodder is starting to wear on my nerves.

But I digress...
Tonight I made some patterns. I used this as a starting place, but as per my usual, I changed it up a little to be more suitable for my tastes. I also ordered some more fabric (I couldn't help myself, it's an illness I swear) from a groovy online fabric shop.


I'll be cutting things tomorrow night, and posting some pics of the process. I think I may have even convinced a draper at work to fit me in my skirts so my bum-bum will look as hot as possible!

Chicago By The Lago

This is a proper Chicago style pizza. The correct order of Chicago style pizza is: (bottom up) crust, toppings, crust, sauce. No subsitutes.




When I was in college my orientation class sang a song. It was called "Come to Chicago, the city by the lago". I for the life of me cannot remember the words, but it also worked in a clever rhyme about eau and Chicago. I tell you, those fine arts students are nothing if they aren't clever.

This past week I dashed away from our nation's capitol and worked in the costume shop of Northwestern University in Evanston, Il (also known as Heavenston). They were working on a crafts heavy show, and I found myself in need of a little diversion and money. So I jumped on a flight and crafted it up with the groovy folks at NU for a week.

The best thing about a working vacation? You can work all day, play all night, and at the end of the year- write most of it off! Here are some shots of my Chicago adventure. Enjoy!


This is Minnie, she is the pup of my dearest Canadian friend. This is how Minnie rolls.



Some shots of stuff I worked on in the shop.



Local Chicago wildlife





Chicago LOVES it's public art. And so do I.

Why Blog?

I've found myself asking this question lately. Does it really do me any good? Does it really do you any good? Here is one thought.

It's from Post Secret. Check it out.






I love this stuff.

Not In Charge

I've got a rule about blogging about work- I try not to do it. If I do it, I try to make it so generic that no one at my work could read it and feel like I am talking about them. So lately, I've not been blogging.

Here is why. I've been in charge of a costume shop for the last few months, and to be blunt- It has pretty much been the worst few months of my life. I have had to deal with almost every bullsh*t issue you can imagine. From grown women crying at work to grown men cursing me out in public. It has been one of the most stressful periods in my life to date. It *may* have even out-stressed the year my grandmother was dying, my father lost his job, my beloved dog died of bone cancer, and I had mono. Yeah, it's been that kind of few months.

There is good news. I am no longer in charge. The new person in charge is here, she is awesome, and she will deal with all this bs (hopefully) much better than I have been able to. If not, at least It's not me on the front line.

Some people have been asking me if I will be able to go back to my craft shop and be happy with my smaller income and less glamorous job title. The answer is one word:
YES.


And to celebrate- I'm gonna go do something totally immature and childish- I'm just not sure what that will be.