Month: October 2010

Cosplay: Yoko from TTGL

At last! It’s time to reveal the super awesome epic gift! As you might notice I am very satisfied with the result but most of all, with the great success it was! I wasn’t aware of how much Veronica likes Yoko or the fact that it’s one of her favorite characters, but apparently it is and that just made me even happier.
My first idea of a gift was a simplified Pikachu suit/costume based on a modified bright yellow hoodie. Unfortunately bright yellow is not very trendy this year so it was next to impossible to find one without any details and with the right color for a reasonable price. My plan B was to sew one myself but I realized that I don’t have that much time to spare in order to be finished this year. Luckily she mentioned Yoko one day at work and showed me the scarf.
When I got home I had forgotten the name, but thanks to my Google-skills I found her and a few episodes of Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann for further studies. The images I found were mostly cosplay or fanart. That won’t do! I always aim for perfection, so I watched the anime (I think I might continue watching one day) instead and kept searching for a decent image.
A few days later I ordered a bordeaux colored zipper, silk band, light pink and white micro fleece and some other fabric for a few upcoming projects. And then I just had to wait for the Saturday to come, no pattern to follow, just a nice picture of Yoko and an idea.

I also made a card out of the image I used for inspiration. The skull is made out of polymer clay and the card says “happy birthday” in Japanese (yes, she was able to read it!).

Anyway, enough chitchat. Here are a few pictures!

Unfortunately I didn’t think of taking pictures along the working process but I’ll give you a quick DIY guide later on. I kind of feel like drawing the instructions so I’ll post the guide later in November!

Summer fruits and berries

I love summer and the seasonal fruits available during these few months of warm sunshine. This year I decided to make my own jam, jelly and lemonade. Just for fun and the experience.
My mother used to make currant jelly when I was younger and I used to watch the process, eager to learn!
I went to my moms house, since I don’t have the tools needed and I love to work in a larger kitchen, with a lack of plans, too much sugar and lots of fruits and berries. The only plan I had was the currant jelly and maybe some strawberry lemonade.
I had no idea it was so time consuming to make my own jam, jelly and lemonade! I was completely exhausted when I got home with my small jars of goodies.
I ended up with seven small jars of jelly, one small jar of sea-buckthorn jam, one larger jar of a mixed jam (raspberry, lime, strawberry and blueberry), one small bottle of lemonade and one very small bottle of blue- and raspberry lemonade.

The jelly was very good and I was surprised by how nice the flavors matched in the mixed jam. I tried it with some waffles and cream, it sure was a really nice treat! I was worried that there would be too many flavors and that they all together would be a terrible fail, I’ve learned to follow recipes when I try new things and not go nuts and do as I wish. Surprisingly enough the lemonade was good too (and I didn’t follow a recipe completely)! The touch of lime was very nice these hot summer days we had this year.

Suit up!

Today was the international suit up day (according to facebook) and since I like to dress up and join masquerades etc I wasn’t late on planning my look for the day.

I found an old suit my granny and I made for my graduation five years ago and the jacket still fitted, somewhat at least. It surely did look better five years ago, he he. Anyway, I won’t miss an opportunity to dress up and wear a tie!

I was very satisfied with the result of our sewing, her are some pictures, not the best but good enough to get an idea. Both patterns were taken from Burda magazines, not related to each other.
I never had the time to add lining to the jacket but it looks good anyway!

Another sewing project I had the same summer was clothes for my mother’s wedding. I used patterns from Burda this time too and the fabric I used was dupion silk. I also made a purse in the same fabric.
I like details and I sew some of the visible seams with silver glittery thread and I embroidered a silver heart on the skirt.
The silk was nice and cool during the warm summer day in the end of August. I wore black ballerina shoes as well, the same shoes I wore on my graduation day. Love them!

Crafty Saturdays

So this Saturday was one of my favorite ones, the ones where Malin and I go crafting with Jen and Tricks and Trick’s sister. So far it’s only been us five but I joined this secret crafting club a few months ago. I think there are a few more ladies who use to join them but the two times I’ve been there they have had other plans.

I spent the first Saturday trying to understand my new sewing machine, a Singer Curvy 8763. After a few hours I managed to create one of the shopping bags I posted a while ago. I had other plans for the day such as making some jeweleries and maybe sew something else. I brought most of my pearls, lots of fabric and a pair of pants I never finished. I barely touched any of those things. I underestimated how time consuming things actually are and time just passed by.
You might think I learned something for our next meeting and brought less unneeded items?
Well, I kind of did but there were still a bit too much crafting to do than what the time would allow me to. I managed to create one item, a very awesome and epic item, but I was, of course, hoping to be a bit more time efficient.

Since the super awesome item is a gift for a friend, I won’t post it here until she has received it. And I have a few more things to finish before the gift is complete. It’s going to be the best gift ever! Or at least one of the best.

I’ll keep you updated!

Cinnamon bun day

In Sweden we have a day for the cinnamon buns, nothing fancy, it’s just a day to celebrate the cinnamon buns! Or an excuse to eat a few, I’m not sure.
Anyway, I take this opportunity to spend a few hours in my kitchen making them. It’s nothing I usually bake more than once or maybe twice a year. Can’t say I’m too keen on baking with yeast as I usually fail, except for the yearly saffron and cinnamon buns. They, on the other hand, are a great success!

So, this year I decided to bake some buns and I also felt like making braided cinnamon bread. Instead of making braids I made a roll and cut 1 cm pieces and

put them on top of each other. It almost looks like a braid and it’s very tasty!
I made blueberry cupcakes, fail cupcakes (it’s impossible to make them eatable and somewhat healthy), buns and pirogues. I also cooked up some homemade mushroom soup!As the day to celebrate was this monday, I spent my weekend in the kitchen. Baking. Just baking… and some cooking. Even a baker has to eat!

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Knitted scarf: great success!

I finished my first scarf earlier this week, I’m quite satisfied with the result even though there are a few mistakes, my need for perfection did not beat my laziness this time. One stitch wrong is not enough for me to go back a few rows to correct it. Three stitches in a row, on the other hand, is a too big mistake even if it’s six rows back.. I can’t say I regret the choice, luckily! I’ll just have to be more careful next when I’m knitting the second scarf.

As the white scarf is finished I continued my work with the black shawl. I’ve used up one of ten balls and I think it will be nice when I’m done. I just wish I remembered to knit the first row with purl stitches to avoid the curl at the ends that easily happens when knitting stocking stitch.

Another nice knitted item I have is a kitten my friend Malin made me a few years ago. I think she gave it to me the first or second time we met and I still keep it on my computer desk, it’s so cute!

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