Not dead, merely resting.

So, yet another six-month stretch has passed between updates. Perhaps I need to take on more projects, you say? Naw, I've just been busy with work--and work makes for boring blog posts, so, no posts. But to whet your appetite for new material, here's an illustration I did recently. It's signage for a cage of mathematically-named rats:


And I do love me some rats. Especially geek rats.

Doin' it to ya earhole

EDITED 9/08: Unfortunately it looks like the site that was hosting my radio shows has undergone a complete redesign, and so the shows are no longer available. Dammit. I do have copies of them, though, if you never got around to hearing them and are interested...

And now, a quick link to my most recent project:

Rev. Patty's Soul Power Funksplosion Hour!

Yep, I got to be a guest DJ on KAOS on two separate occasions over the past month or so, and I used my time to beam a bucketload of funk, soul, and classic R&B out across the airwaves. It was a blast, and I'm glad I had the opportunity to do it.

You can either stream the music online, or download the MP3 files for later enjoyment. #19 and #21 are the shows I guested on (as a glance at the setlists will surely tell you). Now, go forth and listen!

FINALLY. (also known as Burda 8106)

After more than a year of stalling, I have finally finished the green dress project, Burda 8106. AT LAST! I didn't finish it in time for the last opera of the season, but I did wear it to the last ballet (which was on Friday).

Of course, just because the project's done doesn't mean the learning experiences are. Wonder Tape--an aptly named notion that dissolves in the wash--was integral to this project, and I used a lot of it. Between the zipper installation and taming the lining, I easily went through a roll of it. So of course when the dress was done, the last thing to do was wash it, right? Right. And that's what I did (twice; it turns out Wonder Tape doesn't dissolve in cold water).

That's when I discovered that when sewing with linen, pinking the seam edges is Not A Sufficient Finish. In some places, the seam allowance had ravelled all the way to the stitching line, and that's not good. So although the dress is done enough to wear, I've still got some work to do...maybe a Hong Kong bias finish or something on the longer seams, I don't know.

Simplicity 3893

In an effort to kick-start my sewing, I took some time the other weekend to start--and finish!--a less time-consuming project than the one that's currently on my dressform (Simplicity 4171). I had picked up two yards of a semisheer floral print at some Joann's clearance sale, so I decided to make it into a summery top using Simplicity 3893:


The main draw of this pattern was that it was easy. Really easy. The version I did--the lime green one at the bottom right--used only four pattern pieces, which was perfect. Of course, nothing can ever be that simple; I fiddled with the cutting layout quite a bit. The fabric I used had originally been intended for skirts and featured a diagonal border print along one selvage edge, which I wanted to incorporate into the final product. (I was also an eighth of a yard short.) Here's what I wound up with:

You can see the border print at the bottom of the hem. Through some serendipitous occurrence I even got some stripe matching on one of the side seams...well, almost.


And finally, here's the shirt on me:


Clearly I have learned nothing from all those years of watching America's Next Top Model.

I'm glad to have finished the project, but I'm not entirely satisfied with it. For one, I'm not convinced this style doesn't make me look pregnant. Second, I hate having to wear a camisole with it. Finally, the fabric was a pain to work with; it frayed like nobody's business. So much so, in fact, that I had to use some of the leftover bias tape from the neckline to make the casing for the underbust elastic. (In theory one would just press down the seam allowance and stitch the casing into that, but the rampant fraying made that a non-starter.)

If I make this pattern again, I'll be modifying the neckline and using an opaque fabric. But I think I'd much rather use the momentum to springboard back into the shirtdress project, which promises to make me look like a 50's bombshell...

Art cake from beyond Saturn

As many of you are aware, I will occasionally take on an utterly insane or random project, just because I know I can do it.

The Sun Ra Art Cake (SRAC) is such a project.

For the technical details of the contest that inspired the SRAC, see Threadcakes.com. The short version: one was to create a cake inspired by Threadless' t-shirt designs, and I was inspired by this one. The text refers to an album by Sun Ra that I just happen to own. Serendipity like this can't be ignored, so I dropped my preparations for the Procession of the Species (more on that later) and got to baking.

First, my bona fides:

I solemnly swear that I really did bake this cake and I really do own the album. It's in the middle of the photo. At any rate, I made the cake and prepared the marshmallow fondant on Thursday night.

Yummy. I filled it with a cooked rum buttercream, and I even remembered to soak the layers with a rum imbibing syrup, so it stayed nice and moist. Next day I sat down with the marshmallow fondant, my reference photograph, and a handful of shaping tools. After covering the cake with a layer of fondant, I used some aerosol food coloring to paint it blue. Then it was on to the business of tracing out the pieces of Sun Ra. Here's what things looked like when I was halfway through cutting out his robes/headdress:

You can only accomplish so much using the medium of fondant, though, so I wound up painting in the details of Sun Ra's face and hands using a very fine paintbrush and some of the brown coloring gel. After placing the fondant pieces on the finished cake, I used some yellow buttercream icing to pipe the text and the details of Sun Ra's headdress and collar.

Here's the finished product:

And here's the photo I worked from:

The likeness might be shaky, but rest assured...

...it was delicious.

So that's the story of my entry into the Loves Threadless Cake Contest. Threadless is a dangerous site...I already had my eye on a shirt or two of theirs, then they compelled me to bake 'em a cake playing off of their homage to Sun Ra and his Solar Arkestra. Scary!

The Needlewoman of Olympia

Sure, it's a little conceited as far as post titles go, but if this project isn't enough to announce my arrival as an Accomplished Hand Embroiderer, I don't know what is.

This is a baby blanket I made for my niece, Clara--and it only took me a year and a half after she was born to finish it! In my defense, it's the largest embroidery project I've ever undertaken, and if I had it to do over again, I might simplify the design just a teensy bit. I have no idea how many hours went into this: hundreds, probably.

This is as much of the blanket as I could fit in one shot:


A closeup of the medallion:


An EXTREME!!! closeup of the cinquefoil corner and some text (and a broken stitch):


Finally, a picture with the backing fabric showing:



The poem around the border is (as you may have guessed) "Evening Star" by Edgar Allen Poe:

'Twas noontide of summer,
And mid-time of night;
And stars, in their orbits,
Shone pale, thro' the light
Of the brighter, cold moon,
'Mid planets her slaves,
Herself in the Heavens,
Her beam on the waves.
I gazed awhile
On her cold smile;
Too cold- too cold for me-
There pass'd, as a shroud,
A fleecy cloud,
And I turned away to thee,
Proud Evening Star,
In thy glory afar,
And dearer thy beam shall be;
For joy to my heart
Is the proud part
Thou bearest in Heaven at night,
And more I admire
Thy distant fire,
Than that colder, lowly light.

Very fitting for a girl whose name derives from a Latin word for light. Since it's more of an artifact now than a mess-up-able baby blanket, I'll probably wind up making a second "daily driver" blanket for her. As Marie (Clara's mother) said, "This isn't just a blanket, it's a textile!"

Who's trendsetting here?

Why, that would be Burda and me! Compare and contrast the dress Queen Latifah wore at last night's Oscars with my dress for Swan Lake:


The underbust band is wider, and I know better than to fool around with stripes, but apart from that...very similar, no?