Any Other Name

The curtains are done, and I got to buy my very first pair of pinking shears to finish the raw edges. It's always nice to do little jobs like that for people in my community, because I get immediate feedback. It's also nice to make a little extra cash.

This weekend I'm headed to SF for the Maker Fair! My host has recently bought a sailboat as well, so we get to go out on the water a bit. I'm very excited. I'm making little lace-up wristbands to gift as a promotional item, so if any of you are planning on going, comment here and we can meet up so I can give you free things and hugs.

I'm loving working with these carpet scraps I picked up months ago in SF. I was wanting to make a patchwork coat out of them, but now it's too warm. However, it does turn out that they make fantastic little bags:

So now I have a pencil bag to replace the one I lost, and it can carry a full set of colored markers and pencils, as well as normal pens and pencils, as well as a pair of scissors, a pair of pliers, and the little clicker thingies I need to do in-class pop quizzes in physics.

Speaking of physics, I've been having a great time hanging out with the physics majors in their lounge. I can osmose math aptitude from them, and I'm a big believer in informal cross-pollination between disciplines. And they have comfy couches and plenty of table space for me to spread out my crafts in. Er, I mean my homework! I would ONLY focus on school whilst at school. *shifty eyes*

I've been horribly busy working on an art project for school. It was a piece of public art and it wasn't terribly exciting (except for pulling an all-nighter to sew a canopy out of bedsheets that we didn't end up using anyway), and I'm very glad it's done, because that means I can start doing fun sewing again! You can see pictures of the construction process in my Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/25492854@N03/.

I find often that when I haven't sewn creatively in a few weeks, I have to just buckle down and make something before I can get back in the rhythm of making things for others. This time, I've made a disastrously unflattering, though technically correct dress. Maybe I can find a home for it, but it isn't well-finished enough to sell. Perhaps I should have a seconds-and-failures category? I bet if I spruced it up with some screen printing ink patterns it would be at least interesting... Anyway, even though this dress is a whale of fail, it got me back in the groove. I now have a curtain commission to do before starting on another version of the forest shrug for a friend, which has waited too long. The problem is that she wants it to be light enough to wear in the Southern summer, and I don't have any fabric around that would fit the ticket. Poor me, more fabric shopping! It'll be posted on my Etsy at http://anyothername.etsy.com when it's done, and you can see the original Forest Shrug there right now.

I've decided to keep my blog here at Dreamwidth, even though it currently has less features than blogger. I think there is a more easily accessed audience here, and I like the philosophy. My old blog entries can be seen at http://fashionbyaon.blogspot.com. I'd also like to point out that I won't be autoposting my twitter feed here, because it really does cut down on overall content. I get lazy because it's being updated, even though the updates are about as tasty as cardboard. I encourage you to follow me on twitter, where I'm fashionbyaon (jerks keep stealing my handle before I can get it!).