Wardrobe malfunction ... no, not THAT kind!

A few months ago I made this skirt, and I was very happy with it:

I was also happy with the boots I'm wearing with it in this picture; however, the hard caps on the heels of the boots quickly developed a tendency to fall off. I became increasingly less pleased with them and eventually got new boots. Behold!

These boots hold up much better so far, but you may observe that about halfway up the boot, hooks instead of eyelets are used to hold the laces. I didn't think anything of this feature until I tried to wear the boots with my skirt. The hooks immediately began catching the hem as I walked. This was the result:

However, I have found a solution to this problem: embroider along the skirt's hem. I believe the tighter embroidery stitches will be too small for the hooks to catch, unlike the looser stitch I use for hemming. It will also hold the hem tighter to the side of the skirt, preventing the hooks from getting under the hem. Additionally, it will be pretty! Now, to devise a pattern ...

Coming soon: creating an embroidery pattern, how I make amazing soup, angry drawing, Ariana discovers the nanomachines

Update 7/18/14

I've realized that trying to put together a Patreon video has been seriously interfering with my other creative pursuits. So today I decided to just do a written profile, get back to doing what I was doing, and if some time in the future I find the time/energy/inspiration to do a video, great. I'm a lot better at writing than speaking, anyway. In a few days I should be back to doing the quirky, whimsical stuff you know and love.

In the meantime, why not check out my Patreon page?

Update 7/8/14

The good news is that I got video footage yesterday! Yay! The bad news is that I'm exhausted today! Boo! The sad thing is, it wasn't even nice, polished video that made it look like I really knew what I was doing. No, it was crappy video of me sitting on my bed in front of my laptop's webcam, and it still sucked all the energy out of me!

I've realized two things making this video. One is that I'm a female version of Jeff Lewis. The tones and cadences of our speech are very similar. The other is that I need to work on moving my mouth more when I talk. I'm not really sure how to go about improving that, but it's something I'll be thinking about. It's odd; I open my mouth just fine when I sing, but it's like my jaw locks up when I'm just speaking. Any speech therapists, orators, or theater types among my readers who'd like to give me some hints on that?

On a more positive note, my daughter deserves a big thank-you! I realized that I would look and sound more natural if I were talking to a person instead of a camera, so she hung out just above my web cam and let me deliver my pitch to her. She's so helpful!

Now to rest and get my energy back so I can do some (very amateur) editing! There will be naps taken and nuts consumed!

7/1/14 Update

Hello, everyone. It's been a while since I've posted anything. I don't have any chunks of creativity to share at the moment, but I thought it might be nice to write about what I've been doing.

My daughter is on summer vacation, and she seems to have decided that she wants to spend nearly every waking moment with me (she is sitting next to me and drawing as I write). I am honored and touched by this, but the fact remains that it's an extra thing making demands on my energy. Therefore my productivity in other areas has gone way down. I wouldn't have it any other way, but that's the way it is.

I have also been working on putting together a profile for Patreon. For those of you who aren't familiar with Patreon, it's a crowd-funding website. However, instead of donating a lot of money at once for a big project, people donate smaller amounts of money repeatedly for someone to create content on a regular basis. Sounds simple enough, and it seems like a good fit for what I'm trying to do here, but how do I pitch an ongoing project to do whatever the heck will keep me sane and feeling like I have something resembling a life? Not so easy, but I'm going to make the attempt. When I've finished my profile, I'll be sure to let you know.

There's also something I've been holding back from you guys. This page is supposed to be a repository for my creative endeavors, and for the past few years one of my most creative endeavors has been to run a roleplaying game for my husband and a couple of my friends. I haven't mentioned it much because roleplayers (at least the ones with any social awareness whatsoever) learn pretty early on that no one wants to hear about their roleplaying except other roleplayers. But you know what? It's part of who I am; it's one of the creative things that keeps me sane, so I think I'm going to write about it on here from time to time.

I am running a Changeling: The Lost game, one of the games in the World of Darkness universe. For the uninitiated, World of Darkness depicts our real, modern-day world, but adds a gothic, supernatural flavor. Changeling is one of the most complex, interesting games in that universe, and it has also been described as one of the bleakest. Odd choice, I know. "A storytelling game of beautiful madness," which has a reputation for being bleak, and I'm using it as a way to stay sane and cultivate a sense of hope. But there's something about it that really sparks my imagination, so that's what I'm going with. And recently, the publishers of the game have released a rules overhaul that I think will make it much more interesting to play. So much of my usual creative time has been devoted to familiarizing myself with these new rules and figuring out how best to incorporate them into my game.

Now that my family has gotten into a summer rhythm, I'm sure there will be more creative endeavors to come. But that's all I have for now. Time to go for a walk.