Announcing the Stashbusting Sewalong!

One thing that I notice every year in other sewing bloggers' resolutions (ha! I say "every year" as if I've been doing this for years, but no, this is only the second time I've been participating in the online sewing community) is the desire to get rid of stash fabrics. Somehow, despite our best intentions, we all manage to collect more fabric than we can sew, and that takes up valuable room in both our sewing spaces and our minds! So when Emily aka EmSewCrazy contacted me and suggested that we host a stashbusting sewalong challenge for 2013, I was super excited. I've participated in other sewalongs and challenges before (like Me Made May and the Sew Weekly) and had tons of fun, but I've never started one before, but 2013 is the year of trying new things, so here goes!


Wait, what's this all about?

The 2013 Stashbusting Sewalong is a casual sewalong whose goal is to encourage us to reduce the size of our stashes. If you've got more fabric than you know what to do with, join Emily and me as we systematically purge our stashes by sewing items to fit a series of themes. We've got a whole schedule that you can follow if you need that kind of structure, or you can just join us by pledging to destash in your own way; it doesn't matter if you want to follow our themes, as long as you use up that stash fabric. Either way, we know we're in it together, and we know that others will be cheering us on as we go. If it takes a village to raise a child, well, it takes an online community to bust a stash!


Here's how you can join us!

• Leave a comment here or on Emily's blog with your pledge: "I, _______,commit to using ____ pieces of stash fabric in 2013. Additional option: I also commit to not buying any new fabric/patterns/ notions except for _______ until ______."
• Post on your blog (if you have one) about your commitment! There's nothing like accountability and public shaming to get us to use up fabric that's been lingering in our stashes. Please share the link back to this post so others can join in if they want.
• Join our Flickr group! Whether you have a blog or not, this is where you can post photos of your stash, your plans, and (hopefully!) your finished projects. We can encourage each other and gush over the reduced piles together at the end of the year. 
• In one of those above options, tell us about what pieces you would like to use up this year: 
• how much there is, 
• how long it's been in your stash, 
• what your original intentions were when you bought each piece, and 
• what you would like to make from it this year. 
• Be reasonable and kind to yourself, though -- as tempting as it would be to list everything, the point of this challenge isn't to make us feel guilty at the end of the year about our failed plans. Choose pieces that you could conceivably sew up this year; don't choose everything. If you've got a gorgeous piece in your stash that doesn't match your current lifestyle or sewing skill level, feel free to leave it in the stash to wait a little longer. Its day will come! It's just not this day, and that is okay. 

So what's this about themes and challenges I hear?

Every month we'll have a theme for our stashbusting, e.g. knits, accessories, scraps, etc. We'll take turns posting on our blogs with our stashbusting projects in case you need the inspiration, and we'll also have Pinterest boards going for ideas that go along with the theme. You can follow along with us if the structure helps you, or just do your own thing...the goal here is to use fabric in any way possible! Here's a list of the first six themes, which covers the first half of the year.

1. January: Itty Bits! Sew up those remnants left over from another project, use up some of those tiny scraps that you've been saving...as long as it's less than a yard of fabric, it counts!
2. February: THE LOVE CHALLENGE. 
3. March: Impending Seasonal Change. Regardless of your hemispherical location, the weather will be changing soon...what will you make? Something fun for the coming spring, or something cozy for fall?
4. April: THE VIBRANT COLOR CHALLENGE. 
5. May: THE KNIT CHALLENGE. 
6. June: Containment! Get ready for those long car trips, summer outings or some good old fashioned cleaning and organizing! We're thinking bags, boxes, totes, purses, pouches, you name it; this month is all about making things to put other things in.

We will be posting the rest of the themes/challenges later in the year, so as not to overwhelm you right this instant. You'll also notice that some of the months are challenges, and that they don't have descriptions yet, but that's for a good reason -- they're going to be contests! This means that if you sew along with our theme, you can enter your finished project in the contest, we'll choose our favorite and you'll get bragging rights and prizes. And we promise that the prizes aren't just pieces from our stashes that we want to get rid of! ;) We'll give you more detailed information about the rules and how to enter before the February challenge.


Okay, I think I'm in! I made my pledge and joined the Flickr group, now what?

Start sewing up those scraps for January! Emily and I have a very helpful Pinterest board going with all sorts of ideas for using up scraps, so you can check it out if you need inspiration. It's up to you if you want to post every month about your project on your blog, but we encourage you to interact with your fellow stashbusters, whether it's through Flickr or blog comments. Besides documenting our own projects, Emily and I will also post round-ups each month of your makes so that you can see all of your fellow stashbusters' projects gathered into one place.

Lastly, if you want to proudly proclaim to the world (or just to the people who have to share a living space with!) that you are Finally Doing Something about that stash, you can grab this nifty button for your blog's sidebar:

<a href="http://cationdesigns.blogspot.com/2013/01/announcing-stashbusting-sewalong.html" target="_blank"><img alt="Stashbusting Sewalong" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8323/8366452772_a65d1628f7_o.jpg"/></a>

The button features a Sewasaurus Rex tackling a piece of stash fabric in a rather, uhh...extreme manner. It was done by one of my former chemistry students; you can check out more of Jen's amazing artwork here, or you can contact her here.


Yeah, yeah, that's great, but what about you? Are you just going to laugh at our stashes and not show your own? 

I've got a whole lot of stash fabric that I need to sew up before we move in June, so I am definitely going for serious stashbusting this year. Bonus points to me if I manage to make things that also work for the Historical Sew Fortnightly! Look for a post tomorrow featuring my own guilt-inducing piles and what I plan to make from them.


What about Walnut? Is he stashbusting too?

Nope. Walnut's all about saving all the stash fabric for sleeping on.

You take this fabric away, lady, and you will pay. Do I look like I'm joking?

Ahhh, see, that's much better. 

Isn't that just like a cat, to be diametrically opposed to everything you want to accomplish?

Historical Sew Fortnightly: Regency Bodiced Petticoat

Week #1's challenge for the Historical Sew Fortnightly was the " Bi/Tri/Quadri/Quin/Sex/Septi/Octo/Nona Centennial," i.e. sew something that would be worn in __13. I had grand plans for finishing my ball gown for the Jane Austen ball, but alas, I got bogged down in the research and all the possible fabric/trim/pattern possibilities. I'm still not sure on that front, but in the interest of having something finished, and because I know it's important to have the correct underpinnings, I tried my best to sew up a bodiced petticoat following the directions on Sense and Sensibility's website.

Let's just preface this whole HSF endeavour by saying that I will never be a historically accurate costumer. I love my sewing machine too much (read: don't have the time or patience for hand-sewing) to make entire costumes by hand, and I don't have the budget for getting historically accurate patterns, fabrics, or notions. Still, I'm going to do my darndest to produce historically "inspired" costumes on a budget (both chronologically and financially speaking...meaning more bed sheets!). This means utilizing free resources to the best of my abilities, namely the internet and the two Patterns of Fashion books I already have.

I'm not modeling it because it's quite scandalously low-cut. I will say, though, that there's nothing like a Regency outfit that's supposed to "lift and separate" to remind oneself that there's nothing to display on that shelf. The skirt was quite long, so I added a couple of tucks to bring it up some, but I might put in one more. I'm not really sure how long it should be. I might also want to eventually add in a ruffle or something at the bottom to pretty it up, in which case it will definitely need more tucks to ensure that the hem's not dragging on the floor. 

It fastens at the back with four large, un-period buttons, along with a hook and bar at the waistband.

You can kind of see here that there are three different fabrics being used: the skirt, the bodice shell, and the bodice lining.  

Summary:
The Challenge: Bi/Tri/Quadri/Quin/Sex/Septi/Octo/Nona/Centennial
Fabric: 3.5 yards of 35" wide 100% cotton muslin, but from three different sources and therefore in three different shades of white...
Pattern: The directions called for using your Regency gown pattern as the basis of the bodice, but I didn't have one, so I used Burdastyle's free Danielle dress bodice. I had to modify the neckline and angle of the straps to match the diagram in the S&S directions, but it wasn't too difficult. If I were doing this again, though, I would make the back much shorter to be more historically accurate. The skirt was just two panels of muslin sewn up the sides and gathered into the waistband.
Year: 1813-ish.
Notions: I used the heftiest zip ties I could find for the boning, bias tape for the casing, and seam binding for the drawstring.
How historically accurate is it? Erm, not very? Besides being entirely machine-stitched and using plastic boning, I think the circumference at the hem isn't quite wide enough, but I didn't have anymore muslin and was too lazy to drive out to the nearest Joann's (not to mention that once I purchased the muslin I'd still have to wash and iron it). I did check to be sure I could still dance in it, though.
Hours to complete: Six...even though essentially it's just a sleeveless dress like all the ones I started out making, it took a while to futz with the pattern and fitting, plus turning it through those tiny straps took ages!
First worn: Not yet, but it will make its debut in a couple weekends!
Total cost: $10


I know that one of the goals of the HSF were to encourage us to improve our standards of historical accuracy, but frankly I'm going more for some of the other goals that Leimomi listed, namely having an excuse to sew up historical costumes, and to have fun. I think I'm doing a pretty good job of the latter! With that disclaimer, please don't laugh too hard at the mismatched bodice and skirt fabrics, or my terribly wonky darts. Do you know how difficult it is to pin triple darts on yourself without an assistant?

At least no one will see these under my actual dress!

On a totally different note, do you ever feel like your background entertainment (Netflix, podcasts, audiobooks, etc.) has to match what you're sewing? I was watching My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic while sewing this, but felt like it was slightly wrong...like I should be watching Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility instead. Oh well!

A Whole Lot of Random

I couldn't think of a good way to tie in all the assorted topics in this post, so here's another bullet-pointed list!

Hey, that's my text and images on this horrible ad-filled site!

• If a trolling comment is the first step to Arriving as a Real Blogger, then surely this is the second step: I had one of my blog posts stolen by a content scraper! Funnily enough, they stole one of my 2012 sewing fails, but still. Many thanks to Steph at 3HoursPast for noticing and taking the time to let me know. Since Blogger doesn't have a lot by way of tools to prevent this kind of thing, I'm now considering switching over to WordPress; I'll let you know if that happens. In the meantime, I've gone and added a RSS Feed footer. So here's your PSA, fellow bloggers: CONSTANT VIGILANCE. Here's the extremely helpful post that I used to get that content scraping site shut down. Friends, has this ever happened to you? What did you do about it? 

• I never shared some of my haul from birthday/Christmas happenings. Not that you really care, since you can't enjoy them, but have some pictures anyway:

Top left: Kat of Macskakat is a total sweetheart and sent me some hobbit-y souvenirs from New Zealand, along with a handmade pincushion. It was the best package ever! Top right and bottom: My very thoughtful brother, who I could've sworn didn't read my blog, surprised me with this amusing book, All Cats Have Asperger Syndrome. I'm pretty sure that's why I'm a cat person...they're just like me! 

• Lastly, I've done something jolly with my hair! I was growing it out for the first hobbit movie, but that's over now and it was really getting gross and split-endy and hard to manage, so I've gone and chopped it all off. I was originally thinking that I wanted a true pixie cut like Anne Hathaway or Emma Watson, but at the last minute I wasn't sure if I could pull it off so I chickened out. At least this way, it's still long enough to curl for the Jane Austen ball at the end of the month.

Mr. Cation and I went to the Huntington Library and Gardens to see their Civil War exhibits, and it was such a nice day!
I mean, it's January and I'm wearing a sleeveless maxi dress and only a tiny bit cold!

2012 Sewing Round Up

I know I said I wasn't going to do a post about everything I sewed in 2012, but right after I said it was too overwhelming, I got curious. What exactly did I do last year, and how does it compare to the year before? Here are some statistics; this year I put them into the form of charts!

Number of items sewn has increased in all categories, especially when it comes to non-dresses! I'm so happy to say that 2012 was the year I tackled pants/shorts, underwear, and outerwear, although there's still so much more I want to learn when it comes to those categories. I also branched out into using buttons and hooks and eyes as closures, instead of just zippers. And probably the biggest change was that I ended up sewing waaaay more with knits than the previous year. The accomplishment that I'm proudest of, though, is that almost half of what I sewed was done using patterns of my own making! Granted, the patterns mostly boiled down to three basic blocks, but still! I also think it's telling that the next highest number of patterns came from free patterns put out by other generous sewing bloggers. I'm pretty happy with these numbers; the only thing I would change next year is making more patterns by independent pattern companies. I've got a Tiramisu, Cambie and Thurlow in my queue for this spring.

I also couldn't figure out a way to put the following stats into chart form...

Blogging community "events" participated in: 4 (Sew Grateful week, the Sew Weekly, but only sporadically, the Summer Sewing Swap, and VPLL's 1912 Project)...this one makes me so happy, and I totally want to participate in more!
Projects that used sheets/curtains/other non-traditional yardage: 17 (mostly sheets, but a couple of curtains and a tablecloth too!), up from last year's 13
Stashbusting projects: 16, including two fabrics from the earliest stages of my stashing, definitely an increase over last year's 6! It's just too bad that fabric-buying more than made up for it...

And speaking of fabric buying, the average cost of projects this year was $5.91, a slight decrease from last year! I blame the FIDM scholarship store, Michael Levine Loft, and several fabric gifts for the decrease. The total cost of all the garments though, was $432. This is almost exactly double last year's amount, but the number of garments I made is also roughly double, so this is actually reasonable.

As for time spent sewing, the average time spent per garment was 6.7 hours, for a total of almost 491 hours of sewing this year! I didn't calculate this number last year, so I have no idea if the average time per garment went up. I'm inclined to say that there was little change, since I know that that's about how long a dress took me last year, and that's pretty much all I sewed. I will say that the range of time spent per garment definitely widened, though, as I had many more knit projects that took less than two hours, and many time-intensive projects that took upwards of 20 (e.g. my jacket, my Elizabethan stays, the Girl on Fire dress, etc.). Considering that I tackled so many more tricky fabrics and patterns and PANTS, I'm actually surprised that the number isn't higher!

And now, the really scary part is the actual collage of everything I've made, minus the five fails that I listed previously. I also somehow missed my Ms. Frizzle dress, chiffon tunic or Mr. Cation's shirt, for some reason, but I'm not going to go back and add them in after getting all of these pictures to play nicely together.

Whew, what a year! I knew that I had been productive, but seeing it all put together like that is a little scary. This is one of the reasons why I'm taking on the Historical Sew Fortnightly Challenge: I don't really need any more modern clothes. While I still want to tackle jeans and jackets, I don't think my closet can handle this frenetic pace of sewing for another year. I've donated quite a bit of clothing (both RTW and me-made from last year), but really, how many tops and dresses does one really wear? I mean, I get lazy in doing laundry, but not that lazy. So here's to sewing slower, larger projects, and being more thoughtful in what kind of fabric I take in and sew up!

Top Fives of 2012, Resewlutions for 2013

It took me long enough to get this together, but I'll blame the going-back-to-school doldrums. Last year, I did a wrap up of everything I'd sewn in 2011, but the thought of doing so for 2012 is way too overwhelming. Summary lists sound doable, an image map not so much. Many thanks to Gillian for the idea of making a top fives list instead!

Top Five Creations:

1. I think #1 has to be my dolman sleeve top pattern: the first time I've had a multi-size pattern that other people found useful! And of course, I've made up multiple versions myself, all of which get worn regularly. 
2. My not-a-Renfrew tee pattern: it's been the basis of so many tops and dresses, it's ridiculous.  
3. For most-worn me-made item that's not a top, my bias-cut Spiderman dress wins. It's comfortable, it's geeky, it's fairly subtle as superhero dresses go, and it fits nicely under my favorite cardigan. I also love my Roaring Twenties dress, which is made from the same pattern, but that one is less versatile because it doesn't go with any of my shoes or cardigans. 
4. My one and only pair of me-made pants: that one make gave me so much confidence, but for some reason I haven't tackled pants again. Time to remedy that in 2013!
5. I resolved to make outerwear in 2012, and I finally squeezed it in near the end of the year with my fleece toggle jacket. Like pants, a jacket is one of those things where I didn't know if I'd be able to pull it off in a more-or-less professional-looking manner; I was horribly afraid that it would turn out like a bad home-ec project, but I totally love my jacket and wear it all the time!
6. Okay, I know I was only supposed to choose five, but can I give a shout out to my two complete costumes of 2012? I love my steampunk outfit and hobbit maid outfit and am so proud of myself for making complete ensembles. 
7. It's only the first list, and I'm already breaking the rules -- I want to give a grand prize to my Girl on Fire dress, which was featured in a stylized photo shoot and for which I won a costume contest. Is it silly to give a grand prize to myself?

Top Five Sewing Fails:

1. The springy sheath: at least it died a good death, as it contributed to my hobbit maid costume!
2. The too-successful Peggy dress: still lingering in the closet, unworn. I suppose I should cut off the skirt and make something else out of it, but I just feel so meh about it. I guess I should just admit I'll never get around to it and donate it...
3. This green top: never worn, too ugly to even donate, just ick. At least I spent relatively little time on it and the fabric didn't cost me anything?
4. This 1930s top: unflattering, and I spent quite a bit of time on it and it seems a pity that I used up a fabric I liked on a top that doesn't get worn. 
5. Unfortunately, once I was really honest with myself, this giraffe dress had to be included. There was just too much fabric being gathered into too little elastic, and the heavy polyester made it unsuitable for hot weather. It was well-made enough that I didn't feel bad about donating it, though, so at least it's not taking up space in my closet!

Thankfully, none of my costuming pieces ended up as fails!

Top Five Lessons Learned:

1. Choose the right fabric for the right project: Four of my five fails were due to poor fabric choice, and most of my just middling makes are classified as such due to fabric choice. They still get worn, but they could've been better. Although sewing with bed sheets is a noble endeavour, I think I need to be real with myself and admit that there are some projects where I need to use "real" fabric. 
2. Knit dresses have a much better chance of being worn. Even though I love my fitted bodice woven dresses, it's hard to beat the comfort of stretchy fabrics. 
3. Even though dresses are supposedly complete outfits, they're still unlikely to be worn if they don't go with any of my cardigans. I get cold too easily for sleeveless dresses to be standalone items. With that said, I need to either invest in cropped cardigans, or make less full-skirted dresses, since they look pretty silly with cardigans that end at the hip. 
4. Let's get real here -- I don't wear cotton sundresses in the winter. If I want to be able to wear me-made when it's cold, I need to spend more sewing time on pants and outerwear. 
5. Making costumes is one of the most gratifying uses of my sewing time, even if they only get one outing. When I consider the amount of pure pleasure produced from a finished garment, it's the costumes that have the highest yield. I used to feel guilty about spending time on impractical things, but thanks to Stephanie's insightful spin on costume sewing, I feel much better about this. 

Top Five Blogs/Bloggers That Inspire (in no particular order):

1. Tanit-Isis Sews: She was the second blog I ever followed, and it's largely thanks to her that I started my own blog! Taran always has such helpful things to say, and honestly, it's her writing about her daughters that makes me feel like having a SHB isn't the world's worst thing. Also, she remains the only sewing blogger friend that I've dreamt about. Is that creepy or what?
2. Four Square Walls: I'll keep it simple...everything Andrea makes, I want to steal from her. I can't even count the number of times I've said something along the lines of "I never used to like ____, but now that I've seen your version I'm rethinking everything." I probably sound like a broken record to her!
3. The Dreamstress: Leimomi makes me feel like I might actually be able to tackle historical costuming, but she also inspires me not to compromise on accuracy. Of course, nothing I've done so far has been remotely accurate, but she makes me feel like I at least want to try!
4. My Happy Sewing Place: Debi was the one who made me feel like the sewing community really was a community, a place where one could make virtual friends that would encourage and support one another. It doesn't hurt, either, that she's a huge Tolkien fan too!
5. EPBOT: Jen of CakeWrecks fame writes another blog about girliness, geekiness, and goofing off, which are some of my favorite things. She blogs honestly about being a geek girl, books, steampunk, craftiness, etc. Not sewing-related, but still excellent stuff! She's a crusader for the acceptance of geek girls, and she inspires me to reach out to my nerdy students. 

Top Five Goals for the New Year:

1. Not buy new fabric or patterns at least until we move. Meg the Grand's resolution reminds me of how much stash I need to bust, and if I don't want Mr. Cation to be totally exasperated when we move, I need to get cracking. My exceptions: necessary notions in order to complete a project (buttons, zippers, elastic, etc.), and something for a Regency gown. I've got a Jane Austen ball to go to at the end of January, but I legitimately have nothing suitable in my stash. 
2. Make pants! Specifically, at least one pair of jeans, one pair of work trousers, and one other pair. 
3. Participate in the Historical Sew Fortnightly. I've got plenty of modern clothes, minus the pants situation, so I can concentrate of costuming. Besides a Regency gown, I've got dreams of more Downton-esque outfits, something for the Gatsby picnic, a chintz 18th century gown, a Victorian bustle dress, and something appropriate for Dickens Fair. 
4. Sew for Mr. Cation. I want to perfect a button-up shirt pattern, and maybe tackle pants for him? MakeMyPattern has what looks like a good starting place for that. 
5. Continue not buying RTW. I did really well on that in 2012, only buying one pair of pants, one cardigan, one long-sleeved shirt, and two pairs of tights: five pieces, which was my allotment for the year! I'm going to stick with a five RTW piece quota, since that seems to be a reasonable compromise. I don't think I could go with none at all, to be perfectly frank. Maybe that's blasphemy for the hardcore sewists out there, but I guess I'm just not that hardcore!

I actually did decently with my 2012 resolutions. Even though I didn't make the historical costume or bias cut dress I originally had in mind, I think I got close enough to the spirit of the resolutions. And while I didn't clean out my fabric stash, I made a good faith effort on my knit fabric stash!

To wrap up this post, I'll close out with a couple of pictures of my first sewing project for 2013: Squidnetto, made out of the fabric remnants leftover from making Squidney. Squidnetto is only a yard long (as opposed to four yards!) and is a gift for Squidney's owner's girlfriend.

Squidnetto's got the normal stuffed animals eyes and unstuffed tentacles. After the difficulty of trying to turn such narrow tubes, there was no way I was going to try squeezing in stuffing too! The rest of him was much easier to sew, though, since I wasn't trying to wrangle so much fabric. Even though he was only here for a short time, he made good friends out of the cat sprites, and they were sad to see him go. 

Thank you to all of you who had such nice things to say about Squidney...and here I was wondering if I should even bother posting all of his posed photos! 

The Many Adventures of Squidney

I'm starting out 2013 by posting possibly the most epic thing I've ever made, even though it was technically made in 2012. Congratulations to everyone who guessed that I was making a squid!

Everyone, meet Squidney!

A friend of my brother's posted on Facebook that he was looking for someone to make him a giant squid body pillow, similar to this one by Cassandra Nguyen. Hers was priced at $1800, which is pretty extreme. Since he's a friend and also a professional photographer, I agreed to make him a squid in exchange for a portrait session, which I'll probably end up claiming once we move back up to the Bay Area for good. While we made this deal back in October, I wasn't able to work on Squidney until now, since transporting such a large creature from LA wasn't really a viable option.

He barely fit into the backseat as it was. 

Summary:
Fabric: Four yards of 60" red non-pilling fleece, 2 yards of 45" spotted flannel, scraps of white and black fleece, all from Joann's
Notions: Is poly-fiber fill really a notion? If so, I used almost twelve pounds of it.
Techniques: For such an impressively large project, it really required nothing more than basic sewing skills...most of it was straight lines on my machine (even if things got really unwieldy once the tentacles were stuffed and attached); the only hand-sewing involved was the eyes and closing up the underside once all the stuffing was in. Stuffing the tentacles was actually the hardest part, but a long wooden dowel helps a lot. While I ended up free-handing the pattern pieces while cutting, I did find this tutorial helpful for visualizing things. My final squid is obviously a lot bigger than hers, though.
Hours: About twenty, all done over this last weekend.
Will you make it again? Unlikely! At least not at this size. Unless, of course, someone else wants to pay me to make one.
Total cost: Less than $60...$20 for the fleece, $10 for the flannel, $25 for stuffing, plus thread...not bad, considering the size of it!
Final thoughts: This was my very first commission that wasn't for Elaine, so I was actually pretty nervous making Squidney, especially since he turned out bigger than expected! When I finished him, my whole family came downstairs for the grand reveal, and I think everyone was pretty floored by how incredibly large he is. My dad said that Squidney belongs in a museum, and Emily wanted to keep him, but I'm just glad that his new owner loves him. I'm also so grateful for getting the chance to make a giant squid...it's one of those things you never think to do, but it's incredibly gratifying to finish such an immense project. It also definitely made for a memorable end to 2012, sewing-wise!

Emily suggested that this photo be titled "A Farewell to Arms."

Before we let Squidney go, Emily and I did a series of ridiculous squid tableaux for our own entertainment, because how often does one have a giant squid around for photo ops?

Squidney started life as a studious young squid, always reading and taking advantage of his multiple arms for maximum technology usage. He realized, though, that it was important to exercise his body as well as his mind. 

He graduated and moved out on his own, much to his parents' dismay. Unfortunately, the bad economy meant that he had to try to make a living busking on the street.

Eventually, things picked up and he was able to pick up a series of odd jobs. Squidney tried his hand at being a sushi chef, a snake wrangler, and a cowboy (cowsquid?).

Eventually, Squidney matured (as evidenced by his mustache) and discovered his true calling: evil mastermind (as evidenced by the eyepatch and several creepy black pets)! This finally brought in enough money that he was able to go shopping to his heart's content. 

Okay, so that's a story with a dubious moral, but boy was it fun coming up with props to pose Squidney with!

Bye, Squidney! It was lovely having you, and I hope you enjoy your new life!

I still intend to do a proper 2012 wrap-up, but I figured I needed to show off my last project of the year first. Happy new year, everyone!

A Quick Update!

The cone of shame. The shaved belly of shame. Sigh.

He just climbed into my lap and started hugging my thigh.
Also, now you know what my pajamas look like. 

Thank you all so much for your kind words for Walnut! I'm busy with an end of the year commission, but I wanted to take a quick moment to tell you all how grateful I am that he has so many well-wishers all over the world. The surgery went smoothly and Walnut was grouchy and klutzy post-anesthesia, but quickly returned to his affectionate self; in fact, he's been more affectionate and snuggly than ever.

He'll get his stitches out in a week, but in the meantime he either has to wear a cone to stop him from licking the incision site, or we have to supervise him constantly. Maybe we're weak-willed cat parents, but it makes us so sad to see him crashing into everything and struggling to eat with the cone on, so I've been doing lots of cat watching instead of sewing, blogging, or grading papers. Well, there's been a little bit of sewing...here's a preview: