Here are some random thoughts I had during the show last night:

• If none of the original members are in the band, is it really that band? Or it is basically a cover band?
• Is it common for deaf people to attend rock concerts? I was really surprised to see a sign language interpreter down on the floor.
• Does anyone actually like it when bands play stuff from their new (usually unreleased) albums? It takes me a couple listens of a song or an album to really appreciate it, so I really don’t enjoy hearing new stuff at concerts.
• Is it really necessary to shriek like a banshee? It sounded like the girl behind me was getting attacked. And she about did, by my fist.

• Staying in one of the main host hotels
• Marching in the parade
• Showing up for the BSG photoshoot (didn’t even know about it)
• Not wasting so much time on a dumb costume that didn’t turn out well (Nyan Cat)
• Wearing better socks with army boots (calves were blistered, bruised, and chafed)
• Having better props (i.e. a gun for Starbuck)
• Bringing my own liquor ($8 for a rum and Coke!)

Costume overview:

• Apparently I make a pretty good Starbuck. I had tons of compliments and several pictures taken. None of which I have been able to find yet, but hopefully I’ll find some eventually. I actually had some people say I look like Katee Sackhoff, which I don’t see, but okay. Sure. I’ll take it.
• Ziggy Stardust was only worn for a few hours on Friday night, mainly for the Rock Star photoshoot, and was fairly well received. I’m pretty sure I was the only Ziggy there. I saw several Jareths (from The Labyrinth) and a photo of an Aladdin Sane. It would be a lot of fun to get a big Bowie group together.
• Sexy Nyan Cat girl was pretty much a failure. Only lasted about 2 hours before I changed back into Starbuck. I saw other nyan cats there, and thought mine was pretty good, but I think I got all of one picture taken, and I felt pretty uncomfortable in it, so I decided to change out of it. Which totally sucks because I spent SO. MUCH. TIME. on it. Sigh.

Goals for next year:

• Get into a host hotel
• Be in the parade
• Make a flight suit
• Get a costume group together
• Maybe get some professional photos done
• Lose weight (for reals)
• Be an even better Starbuck than this year (a.k.a. the best frakking Starbuck there!)

Enough with the words, let’s see some pictures!

Chris and I in our BSG costumes. His duty blues didn't turn out particularly well, mostly in the collar area, but they were decent enough to wear. The fabric for my outer tank wasn't the best (it was thin and shiny when using flash) but I frakked up the first one (cut a damn hole in the strap!) and had to rush to make another using whatever fabric I could find.

Me as Starbuck, waiting in line for the first BSG panel

Chris and I with Saul frakkin' Tigh! Michael Hogan was super nice and, to be honest, I was most excited to meet him.

Me with Aaron Douglas (Chief Tyrol). I'll have to be sure to make it to his Hard Rock event next year, if he shows again.

Me and Tahmoh Penikett (Helo). He was also super nice, and gave me a high five when we passed him in the Marriott.

Autographs from all the cast members that were there. I wonder if I'll ever be able to complete this.

We found a New Caprica Saul Tigh and Ellen. The mug was a nice touch.

Old school Cylon! I wish I'd had a gun so we could've gotten a more exciting picture. Chris looks a little too happy in this.

Chris and Amy in their steampunk costumes. I unfortunately do not have any photos of all four of us together.

If you’d like to see more pictures, I have both a Facebook album and a Flickr album.

I’m already starting to plan for next year, including what costumes I’m going to make. I’m definitely not going to be rushing at the last minute like I was this year. So far my plans are to re-make our double tanks and to attempt a BSG flight suit (including the helmet). I’ll probably make another set of duty blues for Chris, and maybe for myself. Chris is really interested in a Tron costume, so we might try to make a couple of those as well. I would LOVE to get a group together, but aside from BSG, I don’t really have any ideas.

Sewing the jacket for Chris’s duty blues has not been easy. But up until now, I have not had any issues that have driven me totally mad. For the past two weeks or so, I have been spending much of my time working on the sleeves. The sleeves… oh god, the sleeves. I don’t know how many times I’ve had to rip them off and sew them back on to get them lined up properly. I had one of them on pretty well, then I realized that I needed to sew the ‘suede’ patches onto the sleeves before sewing the sleeves onto the body of the jacket. So I had to use the seam ripper on it, and now, after finally getting the other sleeve on, I can’t get this one (the original one) back on. The fabric isn’t lining up and the ‘vest’ fabric keeps bunching up. I think I’m going to just have to deal with it, and keep the bunching up in the armpit where it’s less noticeable.

This was probably a really horrible pattern to use for my first sewing project. Altering it as much as I did was not the best decision, either. It doesn’t fit Chris very well, and I’m pretty upset about this. It sucks to spend so much time and money on something only to have it turn out so badly. Part of me doesn’t even want to finish it. I’m not proud of it, and I don’t really want him to wear it at DC anymore. But at the same time, I don’t want all that money and time to have been for nothing.

I’m also not having much luck with the outer ‘racerback’ tanks. I bought some shirts from Goodwill to use as fabric, and it’s been a pain trying to create my own pattern. I’ve gone through four shirts and am now working on #5. Luckily this one may actually turn out okay.

Here’s what I have left to do:

• Finish sewing on jacket sleeves
• Put last few buttons on jacket and pants
• Hem pants
• Make outer tanks
• Redo belt loops on my BDU pants
• Buy BDU pants for Chris and put on belt loops
• Make the belts
• Decorate the corset/top for my other costume (it’s a secret!) and create accessories

Can I get all of this done before next Thursday?! We shall see…

On top of all this stress, I’ve had to deal with getting my hair colored. I decided to go blonde for my Starbuck costume, rather than just buying a wig. I went in last Friday and instead of dyeing my hair blonde, they gave me blonde highlights. So I went back in on Saturday, and they put in more highlights. And though it looks a lot better than it did on Friday, it’s not as blonde as I’d wanted. After 4+ hours of my time and $200 (plus tips). To make a long story short, I went in today and spoke with the salon owner, hoping she’d do more highlights as a courtesy; but after consulting with her and another stylist, I decided not to get any more color, as they thought my hair was already really blonde and more color wouldn’t make much difference. The back is a bit darker than I’d like, but I’ll live with it. I’m getting it cut tomorrow, so hopefully I’ll be happier with it then.

Suffice it to say, I’ve not been a happy camper this week. My costumes are not turning out well, and the hair issue was stressing me out (I’m not a confrontational person and didn’t know how to handle the situation). But things are going a bit more smoothly today, thankfully.

Seriously though, I’ve been so incredibly busy, and it’s wearing me out. I would love to have a day to sit and do nothing, maybe watch TV, but nope. No time. I can’t even remember what it’s like to be bored. If you complain about being bored, I might have to smack you.

Since I’ve been so busy, I still haven’t finished up Chris’s costume yet. Unfortunately the jacket probably isn’t long enough, so I’m taking a break from it and working on the pants so we can see if it can be tucked in (and stay tucked in) without me having to add extra fabric to it. I really really really hope I don’t need to, because it’s going to ruin my pretty lining and will probably just look stupid.

Isn't my lining pretty (aside from needing ironing)? It looks like a real jacket!

Here’s a peek at the jacket so far:

You can see where I’ve placed some pins to mark where the buttonholes will go. I’m really dreading adding those. If I frak them up, I frak up the whole jacket. The piping wasn’t as bad as I expected, but there are a few not-so-great spots. Also, the pocket might be too close to the buttons, so I probably ought to move it. We’ll see about that…

I wanted to get a lot done on the pants today, but between ironing, cutting the fabric, and trying to figure out the pattern, I didn’t accomplish much. So far I’ve added in some pleats and worked on the fly.

The pattern calls for a zipper, but because I did not have any zippers and do not really care to learn how to attach one at this point, I decided to use buttons instead. Seems more military appropriate, anyway, if the BDUs I’ve seen are any indication. I started putting the buttonholes in right before I had to leave for Ultimate, then realized when I got back home tonight that I’d need to add some extra fabric. So, there are two separate layers with buttonholes, but the initial layer I did should be pretty well concealed.

The perfectionist in me hates all these imperfections, but I’m just going to have to live with them. I’m not going to start completely over after I’ve done all this work, and I don’t really have the time to do so, anyway. If I ever make this costume again (which is likely), it’ll turn out a lot better since I’ll know what I’m doing. I’m actually considering trying to make one for myself, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to get it done within a month’s time.

I hope I can make more progress on Friday, but we’re thinking about having a yard sale this Saturday, so that’s going to take a lot of preparation, and then I have some web design work I need to get done as well. Again: Can I please have more time? Pretty please?

One reason the pocket’s been such a bitch is that I had a hard time finding a pattern/tutorial for it. First off, I wasn’t even sure what type of pocket it’s considered to be, so I wasted a lot of time just trying to figure that out. I finally found this cargo pocket tutorial that seemed pretty close. I had trouble understanding some of the steps, so it took some trial and error (read: seam ripping) to get it right. The pocket ended up way too big, so I had to take it in a bit—it looks pretty crappy on the back side, but fortunately no one can see that since it’s sewn onto the jacket. It’s also not very straight. Oops.

One new thing I learned how to do when working on the pocket was making a button hole. It’s definitely an awesomely useful stitch, however it about drove me mad trying to get the damn thing lined up straight. After a couple of practice runs, I finally attempted it on the pocket flap, only to have it end up crooked. Unfortunately it’s near impossible to pull up the thread with the seam ripper, so I ended up having to make a brand new flap. Which, in the long run, wasn’t too bad of a deal considering how crooked the first one was.

The finish result, sewn onto the jacket:

It’s not the prettiest thing ever, but it’s a pocket. I don’t want to waste any more time on it. Though, I may have to remove it and move it over on the jacket, which I really do not want to do. We’ll see how it turns out once more of the jacket is done… which should be soon! All I have left to do is add button holes (gulp), sew up the bottom, and make and sew on the sleeves. Oh, and then figure out how to sew on the ‘suede’ shoulder patches.

As of this moment I have taken in my BDU pants, added the wide belt loops, taken in Chris’s light grey tank, sewn the jacket ‘vest’ and lining of Chris’s duty blues jacket, and put together the chest pocket for the jacket. So far, the pocket has been the biggest pain in the ass.

The first thing I worked on was Chris’s grey undertank. Let me tell you, finding a plain light grey (not HEATHER) sleeveless shirt with no logos on it is nearly impossible. I was considering trying to make it myself, because it really shouldn’t be that hard, but I couldn’t fabric for it, either! After much searching online, I finally found a tank (Roundtree & Yorke Jersey Muscle Tee) and fortunately it was in stock at Dilliard’s. Unfortunately, it seems to be getting discontinued, so their supply was limited. I had to get a medium, when I needed a small, so my first real sewing job was to take it in. It’s not perfect, but I don’t think anyone will notice.

I found my BDU pants (brand: Tru-Spec) at an army store in Nashville. I had to get a medium short (the waist of the small size was extremely tight on me), and it was super baggy, so I had to take the pants in as well. I might take them in a bit more if I have time, as they’re still a little baggy. I think they are a little too dark, but oh well. If I ever decide to do the jacket as well, I’ll probably have to redo the pants as I’ll mostly likely have to buy them with the jacket in a set.

For the belt loops, I found a pair of pants at Goodwill the same color as the BDUs and sacrificed them for the fabric. After sewing them on, I realized they are not the same exact color, but hopefully this won’t be too noticeable in most lighting.

It’s pretty noticeable with the flash on… ack. :(

They’re also not sewn evenly on the pants, but that’s more the pants’ fault than mine. Whatever.

I was going to continue writing about the other things I’ve worked on, but this post is already much too long! I’ll save the rest for another post, maybe tomorrow or Friday.

Going to Ikea is always a treat for us, being that we live in Nashville and the closest store is located in Atlanta four hours away. Fortunately this trip wasn’t as stressful as the last one, where we pretty much bought every single piece of furniture for our house. On this trip, we mostly bought decor and smaller items, though we did somehow manage to fit a small futon and two dressers into my Tracker. Gotta love getting everything dissembled and squeezed into boxes!

While in the area, we just had to visit the Creation Museum. I would go into a detailed “review” of the place, but I don’t really have the time, and quite frankly, I don’t know that it would be worth my time if I had any to talk about it. So, I’ll just share some photos.

After paying a whopping $25 a person and having our pictures taken à la an amusement park, the first exhibition we come to features two children chilling with a couple of raptors:

As if this isn’t funny enough, check out the creepy-as-fuck look on the animatronic girl:

Jesus Christ, she’s terrifying.

The museum had some nice little displays of Noah’s Ark (and there will be a theme park in 2014!), such as this one where all the heathens die a lovely watery death:

In another display you can see some little dinosaurs hanging out in their room on the Ark:

Apparently two of every dinosaur was taken onto the Ark.

I’d like to know how they got all the Sauropods on there.

At the end of the museum, there’s a Triceratops that kids can climb up on. I couldn’t resist. Unfortunately in my attempt to be stealthy, we didn’t get a very good picture.

My thoughts on the museum? I really don’t know. It was interesting, but also mildly depressing. Some of the arguments are pretty legit, but others are just laughable. I feel like it was worth a visit, but at the same time, my $25 probably could’ve been put towards something more worthwhile.

After buying tickets for Dragon*Con and deciding to make costumes, I resolved to learn how to sew so that I could make some well-made costumes. I signed up for Sewing 101 at JoAnn and brought along my crappy little portable machine. Although the class was informative and helped to lessen my fear of sewing machines, I still wasn’t too terribly keen about using one. The machine I had, which couldn’t have cost more than $30, had no fancy features, only two stitches, and sounded like a lawnmower (much to my chagrin during the class—the whole store could probably hear it!).

I asked for a sewing machine for my birthday, because I knew I’d never be serious about it or be able to really do anything too fancy with the piece of shit I had. Chris ended up buying me a Brother CS-6000i, which has 60 stitch patterns, speed control (!), and some other nice fancy features.

I finally took it out of the box last week and tried a couple of practice runs. Very nice, but I spent about 10 minutes using it, so I didn’t really get a feel for it.

On Monday I pulled it back out of the box and sat down to get some real work down. Much to my surprise, I totally love it.

I’ve come to realize that if you have a good machine, then sewing can be fantastic. The three machines I’ve used in the past were all horrible. The portable one is just not sophisticated enough to do any serious sewing, and the two others were old and clunky, not to mention missing all the extra parts and instructions. The lack of speed control was probably the worst part, so I absolutely love the speed control on my new machine.

I thought I’d get frustrated with sewing, but I actually felt very relaxed for the five hours or so I used the machine on Monday. It’s a bit of a challenge, figuring out how to put the pieces together and planning out what I need to do, but it’s a challenge I really enjoy.

I do feel pressured to get these costumes done, since I’ve got less than two months and am still learning how to sew, but I’m feeling a lot more optimistic about it now.

I’m also pretty excited about the prospect of Chris moving his stuff into the guest bedroom and me getting this room all to myself. A crafting room/office all to myself! I definitely need my own space, and can’t wait to get things moved.

Here’s the first step toward making this room mine—the (finally) completed door desk!

This room is a total mess right now, and I hate how bare the walls are, but hopefully that will be rectified soon!

I had really hoped I could stick with the 30 Days of Creativity, but unfortunately I just haven’t been able to. I really hate that I couldn’t commit to this. I want so badly to be more creative, to make things and feel proud of them, but the hours I work really don’t allow me to. It’s one of the most frustrating things in the world.

Anyway, here’s the rest of what I did manage to do…

A pixel maneki neko!

This is my very first attempt at pixel art. I think it turned out pretty well. Only took me like three hours, haha.

A drawing of Tom Kitten:

And a Cylon:

Day 10′s theme was “Toaster,” so I couldn’t resist! I didn’t know until pretty late, so I cracked this out in about an hour.

I also made another mini maneki neko:

I’ve sold a few of these, and they’re fairly quick to make, so I really ought to make some more of them. I’m just so damn busy!

On the upside, part of why I’ve been so busy is that I’m working on getting our costumes together for Dragon*Con. I’ve been doing quite a bit of research on the Battlestar costumes, especially the dress blues which I’m making from scratch for Chris. Considering I don’t really know how to sew, this is going to be quite an undertaking. I’m very nervous about it and not too confident that I’ll be able to do it. I’m trying to be optimistic, but it’s quite intimidating.

The other thing that’s been taking up a lot of my time is research for opening up an online store. I am super excited about this, but it’s going to be pretty expensive to start up. Buying everything wholesale is pricey…

And speaking of expensive, I am craving some new ink so bad. I have several ideas but need to figure out exactly what I want and who I want to do them. I’ve got plenty of money saved up, which definitely doesn’t help curb the cravings.

To add more to my plate, I’m seriously considering moving this blog to Blogger. I’d considered Tumblr, but it’s down so much and customizing the layout kind of confuses me. Though I love WordPress, the social aspect of Blogger really appeals to me. Sometimes I feel like WordPress is just too much for this little ol’ blog.

Since I missed yesterday, I drew two cats today. My drawing skills have really gone down hill over the years, as I’ve not really kept at it, and you can definitely tell that from these sketches. But at least they’re somewhat proportionate. The shading/markings really suck, but I wasn’t trying too terribly hard.