Showing posts with label gifts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gifts. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 22, 2016
Podfic Update
At the beginning of the month, I talked here about the podfic I'd created. As a refresher, podfic is basically like an audio book, only it's fan fiction being read and not a "real" published book.
Well, reveals were finally made and my recipient--the author of the fic I read/turned into podfic--seemed quite pleased with my efforts and had many complimentary things to say about the end product. He or she also wants to link it to the original written version housed at a major fic archive.
Needless to say, I'M VERY CHUFFED at the response and can't wait to visit the fic page and actually see the link.
So, while I still don't have much time at the moment to learn the software, I definitely want to try my hand (or mouth??) at this again.
Monday, October 5, 2015
The latest cross stitch project...
About two years ago I started a very ambitious cross stitch project--a birth sampler for my younger daughter. All three of my kids have one, made when they were babies, but DD's was simple and plain and small. She's the middle child and the good one, so she garnered less of our attention as she grew up. Nor is it a secret that Sonshine (the youngest and only boy) is my favorite. Understandably, she has some jealousy.
So I looked online for birth sampler ideas so that I could make her something as special as she is. One particular alphabet showed up again and again and I thought it was perfect, but it was quite detailed. Never-the-less, I purchased the pattern, laid out the design, and purchased the cloth and embroidery floss.
Then I set to stitching, but soon discovered that I wouldn't be able to complete it by Christmas nor probably by her birthday three months later. So I set it aside. And then didn't pick it up again.
Until now. The goal is to finish by her next birthday at the end of next March.
And here's what I've got so far...
These first two pictures are as of Thursday, October 1.
And the second two as of Sunday afternoon...
This is (obviously) one of the letter pattrns.
Am I crazy??
Monday, September 22, 2014
Gifts from the Middle East
My sister- and brother-in-law live and work in the Middle East right now. They're home on leave for a short time and brought me these fun gifts...
...a magnetic post-it note and a camel-themed ornament...
Both are perfect.
Hope you had a lovely weekend.
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
The evolution of a self-created cross stitch pattern...
So I've been working on a gift for a dear friend. It's a cross stitch project, a sampler of sorts. But I had to create the pattern myself. I've done them before, and usually they're birth samplers and are much easier to throw together. You have pattern books with alphabets and decorative lines and borders and cute little baby patterns. Dig out the graph paper and the pencils and plan it out. Or, you know, you could buy a kit, but where's the fun in that?? But I digress...
I'd seen this tee shirt...
...and an idea sparked!
(Those are names of spells from the Harry Potter universe, if you couldn't tell.
My friend and I share a love of the Harry Potter books/movies.)
I wanted to cross stitch it, but try as I might I couldn't find that Harry Potter "font" in a cross stitch pattern. And it would have taken quite some time to create my own and in the various sizes. Honestly, I couldn't have pulled it off. So I did the next best thing--I dug out my cross stitch alphabet books and looked for alphabet styles in various sizes that looked Harry Potterish.
As a side note, in cross stitch they aren't really called fonts, but the term works for my post so I may interchange the term with alphabets as seems appropriate.
Anyway, once I picked out alphabets in fonts I liked, then I had to create the words from the tee shirt to see how they scaled and mixed and matched. Different fonts are going to end up different sizes. Once I did that and counted the sizes of the words, I had to arrange them on my master pattern. I started with the arrangement found on the tee shirt, but had to move things around to make them fit and look appealing. I ended up looking up a few spells that weren't on the tee to switch out or add into available spaces.
My work product...
This is determining word-to-font size.
This is the master pattern, though it's hard to see...
Then it was time to stitch. And stitch and stitch and stitch. Because most of the alphabets are outline and require only back-stitching, they went rather quickly, but I took a huge break over the holidays and got back to it almost too late! In fact, I didn't finish by her birthday, which was last Thursday, but I'm going to see her this Saturday and come hell or high water, this thing will be done.
This is what it looks like at the moment...
There's a lot of aida cloth left at the top and the bottom--that's so I can roll it and make the whole thing look like a roll of parchment. However, I need some some sort of fray stopper so I can cut the sides a bit wavy and not have the whole thing shred apart from the sides over time. I'll have finished product pictures next week.
Have you ever received a hand-made gift (aside from your children, if you have them)?
Care to share what it was and the event for which it was given?
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Shopping...
I went Christmas shopping this morning...
First stop: Office Depot. Yes, I Christmas shop at Office Depot. I even found a super-dee-duper gift for my younger daughter for cheap cheap. It was on clearance for $50 but when the gal rang it up, it was only $20! I even asked if that was right, and the checker assured me it was. Wahoo!!
Next stop: Target was dead so it was nice for me to meander around the store and look. I found several good movies on sale--we cataloged all our movies a couple of weeks ago and we have... 178 movies! So my goal is to put us at or above 200. We usually buy 20-25 new movies each year at Christmas anyway so it's not really going to be a problem. (I did buy other stuff, but I won't bore you with a laundry list.)
Last stop: Albertsons--my sister wants a Longhorns hoodie and they used to carry that stuff. But now they are strictly Cowboys--ugh. Now I have to find someplace else--is Steve and Barry's going to be open for Christmas?
So how's your shopping going?
First stop: Office Depot. Yes, I Christmas shop at Office Depot. I even found a super-dee-duper gift for my younger daughter for cheap cheap. It was on clearance for $50 but when the gal rang it up, it was only $20! I even asked if that was right, and the checker assured me it was. Wahoo!!
Next stop: Target was dead so it was nice for me to meander around the store and look. I found several good movies on sale--we cataloged all our movies a couple of weeks ago and we have... 178 movies! So my goal is to put us at or above 200. We usually buy 20-25 new movies each year at Christmas anyway so it's not really going to be a problem. (I did buy other stuff, but I won't bore you with a laundry list.)
Last stop: Albertsons--my sister wants a Longhorns hoodie and they used to carry that stuff. But now they are strictly Cowboys--ugh. Now I have to find someplace else--is Steve and Barry's going to be open for Christmas?
So how's your shopping going?
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