Victorian Steampunk underskirt

Well, I buckled down today while Seth was packing up our books to move (filled about 8 large tubs full of them too!) and got the underskirt for my steampunk costume finished. It's made of a silver silk dupioni fabric and pleated all through the back to give room for the bustle as well as having that ruffle along the bottom pleated on. Pleats aren't nearly as annoying as gathering, but I'm still glad it's done. I even french seamed the entire thing so there aren't any raw edges inside. Go me. I also got the overskirt cut out and will start putting it together tomorrow.

Wizzum

Isn't he cuuuute? It's silly, yes. Click him! Edit: The images are the links

Floor Plans

Well here's the comparison of our apartment floor plans along with some very not-to-scale scrawling of where furniture is going to go. The living room in the new place is pretty big, so we're planning on extending the couch as a kind of divider to split the room in half and are getting a little dining room table to put behind it. With the second bedroom we can move all my sewing stuff and Seth's painting and modeling stuff into there instead of having it be in the living and 'dining room' of the old place. And when it says 8x10 in the old place for the dining room? That space includes the kitchen. The new kitchen IS 8x10 by itself and doesn't have the washer and dryer stuffed in there too! The washer/dryer has its own little room even. SO much nicer. The living room is almost three feet longer and two feet wider than our current place.

Moving!

Well Seth and I are finally getting out of our ghetto apartment in Alexandria and moving up into Falls Church (yay!) next month, with our move in date on the 15th and our move out date here at Tower 2000 by March 1. So we'll have a nice leisurely two weeks to get it done completely. Fairfax Towers is where we're going to and we went and looked at the place and filled out the application today. It's really nice and we're getting a two bedroom for $1600/month. There's even free aerobics classes held downstairs three times a week, a convenience store in the building, hair salon, and dentist. And hey, we just got dental insurance. Go us. Won't that be convenient. I'm also really excited about the move because we're going to buy new furniture. :D And that'll be a first for me that I'm looking forward to. I'm rather tired of hand me downs that aren't that nice anymore. Oh, and we're also going to get our snake when we move in too. ^^ We dropped by the pet store to visit him and an employee was around so I even got to hold the little guy we're planning on getting. He was very friendly and liked to curl around my hand and crawl up my arm to explore. And soft. I hadn't realized how soft their scaly skin actually is.

LOTS of pics up!

Hey guys! I know you don't hear much from me on here, but I finally go around to uploading about 250 pictures off my camera up onto Michael's website! There are a bunch from Williamsburg, some of Christmas up in PA with Seth's parents, and some from Dave and Melissa's wedding out in Utah! Then there are a couple of my latest sewing project pics up: the pluderhosen doublet pics, a couple of the green charmeuse skirt I made for the wedding, and the beginnings of my Steampunk Eowyn costume. I just finished the bustle tonight. Total it only took about 15 hours to make. Those ruffles were a killer though. Ugh. And buying the boning for it pre-cut to the appropriate lengths and pre-tipped? Pure Win and well worth the rather high price the patterns from Truly Victorian compared to the regular commercial Big 4 patterns. ($11 pattern + $18 for the pre cut and tipped boning) The entire pattern went together very well and easily. Would have been *easier* if I'd had a ruffler foot instead of doing them all by hand, but ah well. C'est la vie.



Next up: Finish sewing the drawers this weekend, order the silk and other fabrics I need, then the underskirt, regular skirt, bodice, train... It goes on and on. Less than four months to finish it though, so I've really got to kick it into gear!

Silly little email forward

Bucket List Hit forward and place an X by all the things you've
Done and remove the X from the ones you have not, and send it to your friends
(including me). This is for your entire Life!

( ) Gone on a blind date.

( )Skipped school

( ) Watched someone die

(x) Been to Canada
( ) Been to Mexico

( ) Been to Florida
(X) Been on a plane

(x) Been lost

( ) Been on the opposite side of the country

(x) Gone to Washington , DC

(x) Swam in the ocean

(x) Cried yourself to sleep

(X ) Played cops and robber

(x) Recently colored with crayons

( ) Sang Karaoke;

( ) Paid for a meal with coins only

(x) Done something you told yourself you wouldn't?

(x) Made prank phone calls

(x) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose

(x) Caught a snowflake on your tongue

(x) Danced in the rain or run through summer puddles

(x) Held a baby long after it fell asleep because it felt so good?

(x) Watched the sunrise with someone

(x) Blown bubbles

(X) Gone ice-skating

( ) Been skinny dipping outdoors

(x) Gone to the movies

Any nicknames? Not really

Favorite Drink? Root Beer

Body Piercing? nope

How much do you love your job? A lot

Birthplace? Alexandria, VA

Favorite vacation spot? London

Ever been to Africa? No

Ever eaten just cookies for dinner? Sort of, but I don't think it counts as dinner then

Ever been on TV? No

Ever steal any traffic signs? No

Ever been in a car accident? Yes

Drive a 2-door or 4-door vehicle? 2-door

Favorite pie? strawberry rhubarb

Favorite number? 25

Favorite movie? It changes depending on my mood

Favorite dessert? Chocolate lava cake with vanilla ice cream

Favorite food? Steak

Favorite day of the week? Saturday

Favorite brand of body wash? People have a favorite?

Favorite toothpaste? Crest Whitening

Favorite smell? Lilacs

How do you relax? Playing geeky games

How do you see yourself in 10 years? Somewhere with a house, lots of geeky friends, and kids

Furthest place you will send this message? Japan

Yes, Abbey, I am a terrible blogger

But that's because nothing happens! I despise blathering on when I haven't got anything to say- and sure sometimes what I have to say doesn't even seem like something to say to you guys, but hey. Anyways, no, we haven't gotten our pet yet. We decided to get him after we move this December/January to make that little chore easier. I still really want to get him though... :\ And while I know not everywhere is as politically charged as the DC area, I'm sure you all heard about the election of the country's favorite socialist. We all saw it coming when they nominated McCain to run again him. Hope you all went out and voted at least, or else you won't have any right to complain when it comes time for those of us that did to say 'I told you so.' And while taxes are going to go up and things might suck for a while, I only hope that it'll just be another Carter before a Reagan. For now though, I'm going to go quietly stew in annoyance than Virginia ended up going socialist in spite of my vote and just be grateful that while the economy might be spiraling downward in a trend that will inevitably get worse with him in office, Seth's job as a government employee is more secure than ever.