Chapter 6 is up!

Here's the next chapter!

Chapter 6

I hope everyone is doing well.

Raven Cross-stitch Framed

She came back from the framer's yesterday. They did such a lovely job!



I am still working on Chapter 6 of "Dawn Child". It was a tiring week last week, and I did not get much done. :(

Chapter 5 is up

Chapter 5

Dawn Child Chapter 4

Hey there! I hope everyone had a good Valentine's Day. Chapter 4 is up!

Chapter 4


Have a great day.

Namaste

KTH

Dawn Child Chapter 3

Chapter 3 is up!

Chapter 3

Chapter 2 of "Dawn Child" is up

Hello all,

Chapter 2 of "Dawn Child" has been posted!

Chapter 2

Thank you for your kind words and reviews. They mean so much to me. I hope I can keep the momentum going!

First Chapter Posted - Dawn Child

Hello my friends,

I am taking the advice of a dear friend and starting my posting of "Dawn Child", at least what I have written so far. It is nowhere near complete, but the first few chapters are close enough that I can release them. So I am releasing it a chapter at a time, unlike my normal habit of releasing the entire story at once. I will update it as I can. Unfortunately, I cannot promise any kind of regular schedule.

I do hope you enjoy it! I have enjoyed everyone's comments and emails of encouragement. They really do mean a lot to me.

Here is a link to the first chapter, which is all that is posted so far:

Dawn Child

Thanks & have a great day.

Namaste

KTH

Blog Changes

Hello all,

I am figuring out how blogger lets me change things on my web page, a little at a time. It is vastly different from what I do at work. However, I don't spend a lot of time tinkering with the blog... it's too much like work! Go figure.

Anyhoo, I have figured out the great Header mystery, so I am playing with my header image. It may change over time. The above image is the one I use in my signature over at RBSU. The main design was a gift from a friend. I added items to it. I may play with it a little bit, so this probably won't be permanent. I want to play with the colors as well. I haven't upgraded my template to the more-friendly editing type yet. I don't want to lose what I've done so far, and I'm always proud when I figure it out myself. However, some of it is just frustrating. It would be nice if Blogger put more comments in the HTML, like "if you want to change the image in your header, you would change it here". That would definitely make the learning curve less steep, especially for people who like to blog but don't have a lot of time to play with the settings to see what does what.

Tomorrow night is Craft Madness with my friend. We get together with a group at her church the last Friday of a month to do crafts. It started out as scrapbooking (a gathering known in scrapping circles as a "crop"), but it has since expanded out to cover any craft that someone wants to bring in. I've done drawing, cross-stitching, and scrapbooking (I collect hobbies) at these events, and I just enjoy it. It's great to have a time that is dedicated to making something, without interruptions from the dog or the phone. It's nice to get together and hang out, too. I enjoy spending time with my friend, crafting or no. But tomorrow night's project: continue work on the Jane Sagan patch.

In the meantime, I AM still working on Dawn Child. I've just been suffering from bout upon bout of writer's block. I did sit down and make a lot of pre-write notes the other night, and I think that will get me moving again. I am seriously considering posting a chapter at a time this time instead of the whole thing, just so I can get this ball rolling. What do you think?

UPDATE: I just changed the header image again, this time something I created myself. I may still play with it over time, but it is a sampling of some of my hobbies.

Raven Cross-stitch Complete

Hello all, I hope you are keeping warm. We are going to get a cold snap tonight, so I'm about to go enjoy a cup of hot tea. I'd like to share with you pictures of my latest cross-stitch project. This is a picture of the comic book version of Raven. The original sketch was done by George Perez and can be seen on Bill Walko's website, Titans Tower . The link directly to the sketch is in the previous post. I imported it into a cross-stitch rendering program to create the chart. I don't think I made any changes to it once it was imported -- the upload was very clean. I then printed the chart and stitched it up. Here is the result. I really do like it, and I hope you do too. I truly love this picture of her. This is the original Wolfman-Perez Raven. I thought it was so beautifully drawn by Mr. Perez that I just had to stitch it up. He draws her in such a hauntingly beautiful fashion.





She is 150 stitches wide by 200 high on 14 count Aida fabric. It's all done in black (DMC color 310) and took about 2 full skeins of thread. I started this on New Year's Day, so it took the better part of 3 weeks to stitch. All stitches are full cross-stitches (no quarter or half stitches are used).

I had her on a scrolling frame while I stitched her. I only use hoops if the design is smaller than the hoop itself. I don't like the way hoops bend the Aida fabric.
This does tend to curl the fabric at the ends (even though it does offer some protection from fabric fray). I need to press it out before it can be framed. I'm not sure what I'll do about the framing yet, but I do intend to get it framed.

My next stitching project: the patch for the Jane Sagan costume. This will be a little different, as it will be mostly satin stitch and not cross-stitch. I am way more experienced with cross-stitch. It's almost mindless... I just make little x's. Enough x's, you get a picture. The satin stitch in and of itself is easy, but I don't have the nice pre-made holes to guide me. I am following a trace of the design, but it's a little harder to get the stitches exactly side by side. We'll see how it goes.

Being Crafty

I took Friday off in hopes of getting some work done on my costumes. When I first tried to sew, the machine started a fight with me. It won. I think my husband may be able to referee between us later, but for now, I did not make any progress on the gloves. :( However, I did get something done. I made the clasps for the cloak: old jacket buttons from the 80s (literally), funky foam, and 2-sided adhesive. They look pretty good, but I want to sand down the foam to get the outer edge nice and smooth. I'll try to put up pictures later.

I also got some work done on my Jane Sagan patch. I traced the design that I did several months ago (seen here) onto some stabilizer fabric. I have basted that onto the actual patch fabric and placed it in the hoop. It is now ready for stitching. I will probably attack it with a series of satin stitches. The hardest part was getting it set up. Hopefully I will have pictures of it when I am done.

I am working on another cross-stitch project, one that has helped me generate ideas for my latest story (which I have been stuck on for some time). It is a cross-stitch rendering of a George Perez sketch of Raven, as seen on Bill Walko's site. I imported the JPG into a rendering program and turned it into a chart. I've been stitching on it since New Year's Day, and it is nearly complete. Again, I will post a picture once I'm done. I probably won't post it on deviantArt since it's not my sketch originally, and I just don't feel comfortable posting it on an art site. I don't mind showing it here as a "Here's what I'm doing now" sort of thing, though.

I hope everyone is doing well!

Namaste
KTH

I Hope Everyone Had a Great Christmas!

It's hard to believe it has come and gone already. I am one of the few people here at work in the week between Christmas and New Year's. There are tumbleweeds blowing about in the aisles. I don't mind so much, as it is nice and quiet so I can get some coding done for my deadline that is only a couple of weeks away.

I cannot report any progress on anything story or costume-related. However, once the holidaze are over, I hope to get my act together and back to work on them. I haven't even had time/energy to cross-stitch, which is really sad. This weekend will be spent shaping up the homestead for our New Year's Eve party, then hopefully after that I can focus on my Titan-ic stuff. I'm looking forward to the party: friends, food, movies on the telly (maybe The Transformers movie that I got for Christmas from the mister), watch the ball drop, kiss the mister at midnight, wave bye-bye to friends and collapse into a long winter's nap. Maybe not the most glamorous party around -- I have sparkling grape juice instead of champagne as I cannot drink -- but it's enough for me.

Please have a safe and happy rest of the year. May 2008 be an even better year for all of us!

Shhhhhhh.... It's Stalk Like A Ninja Day

*sneak* *sneak* *sneak*

In case you haven't heard of it, here's the Wiki on "Stalk Like a Ninja Day". It's kind of the counterpoint to "Talk Like a Pirate Day", which happens in September. I love these extra holidays. Just another way to let the people I work with know that I'm totally insane.

So, get out your throwing stars, play a round of "Ninja Burger", and have a great day.

*sneak* *sneak* *sneak*

Congratulations to B &M Amusement...

... on the occasion of their 8th anniversary. B&M is my local comic shop. Buddy, Mary, and Tyler always make shopping there fun! If you are ever in Chattanoog in need of a comic shop, give them a try, out on Highway 58. Or you can visit them on the web at this link: B & M . They make Wednesdays fun!

Happy Halloween!

I hope you have a safe and happy Halloween!

I normally wear a costume to work on this day, but I just wasn't feeling well when I left this morning. I just didn't have the energy to get into the full regalia today. So I grabbed a pair of bunny ears before I went out the door and just wore them with my regular work clothes.

It's amazing how much attention one gets when one is wearing bunny ears, even on a day when people dress up. The ears made a lot of people smile, and that is a good thing. A lot of people cracked up because all they could see of me were my ears bobbing around over the cubicle walls all day (I'm too short for them to see the rest of me).

I made gingerbread for the first time last night. It was pretty good, but it was a lot of effort for what I got out of it. Way too many steps to prep the ingredients before they even went into the batter. I used my Pampered Chef ^TM mini-loaf pan to make four loaves. The recipe claims that this does not freeze well. I'm not sure why; maybe it's the chunks of pears that this particular recipe uses in the batter. I may reserve a little dab and freeze it anyway just to see. If it doesn't, I'll need to find a better, freeze-able recipe. The mister and I just can't eat sweets that fast, and it's better to freeze something like that so I can eat it in small portions later. (The zucchini bread I made this summer froze VERY well. I thawed out the last loaf this past weekend, it was just as moist then as it was the day I made it. Maybe I should just stick with that and banana bread.)

I found a great, versatile recipe for a roll-up this week. Basically, you use refrigerated pizza dough (found with the whomp biscuits near the milk), sliced deli ham, and mozzarella cheese. Remove the dough from the can and roll into a rectangle. Sprinkle whatever seasonings you like on it, to within a half inch of the edges. ( I used Italian seasoning, although I will probably vary it as I go.) Then spread thin slices of deli ham ( or turkey or pepperoni or whatever) over the dough, again to within a half inch of the edges. Then sprinkle with shredded cheese. The recipe calls for mozzarella, but you could use any other cheese you like. I want to try it with goat cheese! Then roll it up and pinch the edges shut. Put it on a baking sheet, seam side down, and bake according to the directions on the pizza dough container. Keep an eye on it, because it will burn quickly! Remove from the oven, let it cool for a moment, and slice it up. It will look like little swirls of crust, meat, and cheese. You can eat it like that, or you can make a dip out of salad dressing or spaghetti sauce or whatever takes your fancy. This is good for a snack, a quick dinner, or even lunch. If you try it, let me know what you think!

Oooh, making myself hungry now.

Comfort Food

I've had a rough week so far. I came home today feeling like a freight train had gone through my head. So I made some Appalachian comfort food: a pone of corn bread. Now, if you've never had Southern corn bread, let me describe it for you: it is savory, not sweet like the usual restaurant corn muffins (which I refer to fondly as "Johnny cake"). It's a white corn meal instead of yellow. Lots of butter... if you have a nice cold glass of milk to dip it in, that's even better. Some folks like buttermilk with it, but I prefer sweet milk (translation: regular, non-butter, milk) with mine. I hope to dive into it as soon as the mister gets home from karate.

A few words of advice for first-time Southern-style corn bread bakers:

- Pay attention to the meal that you are buying. I learned the hard way, that there is corn meal (much like you would buy flour) and then there is corn meal mix (kinda like Bisquick, except with corn meal). The mix already has the correct proporations of baking soda, salt, etc., to make it rise. Plain corn meal does not. My favorite mix is Three Rivers. I think it's only a regional brand, though, because in my short stint in Boston a decade ago, I couldnt find anything but Martha White. However, if you are lucky enough to live in a area where Three Rivers is available, I highly recommend it. Most of the measuring work is already done for you, and it is a high quality blend.

- Watch what kind of cooking oil you use in the batter. I advise using a mild-flavored oil, such as canola. I used olive oil once, and I hated it. Now, I am a big fan of olive oil over all, but it just overpowers the corn-breadiness of the batter.

- Be sure to grease the pan well (with butter!) to allow the bread to release when it is done.

- It'll keep on the counter for a couple of days if you put it in a sealed plastic baggie. You can reheat it by wrapping it in a paper towel and nuking it for 10 - 20 seconds, but it is also great cold. It is good for lunch the next day.

- Cast iron skillets are wonderful for cooking it in. They can go in the oven safely and are usually well-seasoned enough to release the bread well. The various pans you can buy to make corn sticks or corn "fish" or corn "cactuses" are fun too.

- Fried corn bread is a delicacy. This is basically pancakes, except you use cornbread batter instead of pancake batter. I don't change the recipe at all from baked corn bread. My daddy loves to make this, line his plate with the cakes, and pour white beans (cooked slowly all day in a crock pot with a ham hock) over them and crumble some more cakes on top... a feast fit for a king!

I haven't been able to work on my costume at all this week. I've had very little time to play at all. Hopefully things will lighten up soon.

Costume Updates

Well, I gave up on the homemade pattern for the gloves and bought a Kwik-Sew pattern. Silly me finally figured out that it doesn't matter if my pinky doesn't fit in a standard glove well... the McKone Raven gloves HAVE NO PINKIES. Why did I forget that?!? Anyhoo, I have a pattern now. Later this week I'm going to try to cut them out of the bolt of spandex lurking in the corner of my study. I'm losing weight slowly, so I'm not ready to cut out the dress part of the Raven outfit just yet. I want it to still fit me when I get to next Labor Day! However, the gloves should not change all that much. I can do them and the cloak (whose size shouldn't change at all), then the boots.

Ah, the boots! With my husband's clever tips, I think I have found a solution to the sole problem for my thigh boots. I have a pair of flat sandals that have served me well for several seasons. The tops are about to fall apart, but the soles are in great condition. I think I will recycle those for my boots. Spandex "hose" + Dr. Scholl's liner + some kind of heel cup + Glue! + soles may give me what I need. They are the right size, and it will be easier to remove the tops from these than from full shoes. He told me that I should take pictures of the process. If it turns out well, I might make an Instructable for it. We'll see how it goes.

I made the basic shirt for the Gar Logan bear last night. I found an old shirt of mine that I didn't wear any more and used it. It wasn't suitable for donation to Goodwill, but it would do nicely for this project. I love to recycle old clothes! I basted it and had him try it on last night, and he was quite happy with it. Later on, I will machine-sew it and add the purple collar, sleeves, and side-and-back panels. I have a piece of purple material from a Fat Quarter that will do nicely. If it turns out well, I'll post the picture of the finished product here.

You Might Be An Obsessed Gar Logan Fan if...

...if the Fluff-n-Stuff (local version of build-a-bear) has a sale on GREEN BEARS this month. It looks like the one you drew a year ago, so you feel compelled to buy it.

...if you can put a wishing star in it, and you put in a purple one (which will make sense to my fellow members of RBSU)

...and if you don't buy an outfit for it because you intend to go home and sew up a McKone purple and white shirt for him...

GUILTY!!!!!

...now I just need the material for the shirt...

Crafty web site

I found a cool crafty web site last night. I am getting more interested in multiple kinds of crafts -- especially needlework -- and this looks like a great place to get information and post pictures of your own projects:

Craftster

It is a forum that has many, many members and has lots of great craft ideas.

I no longer have a reason to be bored. At all.

As Archimedes once said, "Give me a bottle of Mod Podge, and I will decoupage the world." Or something like that.

I have started work on the pattern for the McKone Raven opera gloves. I have never made gloves before, so this will be a challenge. I am going to mock up a pair from my scrap fabric pile, but I STILL need to keep in mind that my final version will be stretchy and should be cut somewhat smaller than the mockup. If all else fails, I can get a store-bought pattern to make them with, but I prefer to make them myself. I have incredibly small wrist bones that are very hard to fit into standard sizes. Also, my little finger is a little on the crooked side (on both hands)... gloves that fit the other four fingers tend to NOT fit my pinky!

Wish me luck.

Jane Sagan Makeup

We had a wondeful weekend. We went to go visit my folks, since it was my niece's birthday. What a great time! My family is a lot of fun to hang out with. We took the land yacht out for the first time in a while and stayed in my brother's driveway.

While we were there, my wonderful sister-in-law helped me work out some of the green body makeup that I may use for my planned Jane Sagan costume. She does a clown ministry with her church, so she has a collection of various types of clown/theatrical makeup. We played with some Snazzeroo and some grease paint before we found a combination that seemed to work. She even jogged my memory as to the makeup that friends at Dragon*Con told me about. It was on the tip of my tongue for weeks... I kept thinking "Krylon". But then I would think, "No, KT, that's not right, that's SPRAY PAINT." (Then I would hear Jeff Foxworthy in my head, saying "Just say it with Krylon!" GAH!) But she told me the correct term: Kryolan. (Once I saw it written down, I could remember it. I can't remember a word very well if I don't know how to spell it.) It's amazing how just a few letters make such a big difference! Unless, of course, I want permanent body makeup. But that's a horse of a different color. Anyway, I was going crazy trying to remember that one brand name, and now I have it.

I liked the Snazzeroo. It isn't very expensive, and it felt light on my skin. I am concerned that it may run if I get too hot and sweaty (which is a hazard at Dragon*Con). We tried using a paintbrush and a sponge for applying it, and the sponge worked much better. I'd like to try some Kryolan at some point, too, but I think I am happy with the preliminary stage of my research so far.

Now for the preliminary stage for my eyes. The soldiers in "Old Man's War" have cats-eyes, which means... theatrical contacts! I have never worn these before, so I am doing my research. One piece of advice I have found that I will pass along... do not order theatrical contacts from anyone who does not require a prescription from a doctor. Even if you don't need them for vision correction, you still need contacts that fit your eyes properly. Ones that don't fit properly may damage your eyes. I have enough trouble with mine that I don't need more! I may check with my optometrist to see if he sells any specialty lenses. Some do, I have found. And he already has my measurements. I will need "powered" lenses... otherwise I'll have to navigate the con by sonar!

I am still going through various designs for the costume, with help from my older brother, who has also read OMW. He has a lot of great suggestions that will help in this design.

...and there was great rejoicing...

It just got announced at work... I've been promoted from Programmer/Analyst III to Systems Analyst! I've been working toward this for a while, so I'm glad it has arrived.

Sorry about the weird colors on the blog. I've been playing with the template lately. I'm making adjustments as I have time, such as playing with the colors. Hopefully it will look better soon.

Also, my weight is finally going back down. I am back below 150 for the first time in over six months! I'm looking to get back down to about 130, which is the high end of 'normal' for my age and height. I've lost about 7 pounds since Dragon*Con. I hope to get to my goal before next D*C. I've lost 50 pounds in 6 months before, so I think I can do this.
Why is it so easy to gain and so hard to lose when it comes to weight?

This will change the size on my costumes a little, so I'm going to wait a bit before I do anything that's closely tailored.

Here is my basic design for the patch for the Jane Sagan costume:

CDF Patch Rough Design

I went with the Phoenix-and-Torch motif, as explained in the artist's comments in the link above.

What do you think?