Stash Bash! Birthday Edition

So Monday was my niece's birthday and I quickly dove into my stash of fabric to find something good to use for her birthday present. I discovered some leftovers from a quilt.

A quick google search showed I had enough for what I wanted to do. A blanket and pillow for her American Girl doll. I even had extra stuffing and padding. So here we go:

This 8 year old in my life is a huge frozen fan and absolutely adored the frozen pillow I made her for Christmas. So for her birthday, her doll got an Olaf pillow and a reversible blanket.

I think she was very happy with this and I really enjoyed jumping back into sewing with this quick project that really helped me destress from the first 2 weeks of a new job and family/relationship drama. I was in a great mood the rest of the day.

The blanket was cut 21" x 18" wide and I added blanket padding since I had that laying around. After I sewed three sides I flipped it outside out and used my quilting thread to sew through the blanket o keep the parts together then finished up the end. Followed up around the other sides to make it look uniform.

The pillow was 9" x 12" and three sizes were sewed before being stuffed with stuffing and the final side was closed up.

Overall for a first try at doll bedding, it turned out great in my opinion and the opinion my niece so I think that is the most important.

Hiya!

Oh boy, I hate it when I spend awhile away from the blog. So, what has been up the last month and a half?

Gaming is continuing as usual. Current games are my World of Darkness: Werewolf the Forsaken as well as a game I am actually playing in Iron Kingdoms. I've also played a few games of Warmachine.

Reading: I have discovered the Fever series by Karen Marie Moning. Really enjoing the series, though I really should get back to reading the Dresden Files.

Crochet: I had taken a break, but I will be back at geeky crochet crafts after I finish a promised hat.

Sewing: The latest project is one I'm really excited to finish. It's a dragon quilt! I'll share pics when I finally finish.

Painting: Slowly getting back into painting, I did a quick fun painting of Gatoman from Digimon.

Photography: Currently working on a photography series of abandoned houses.

Baking: Nothing really new to report here, but I have been coming up with designs.


In short, responsibilities have taken over but I am getting back to what I love and looking at continuing my education starting spring semester. Just gotta find the right university.
This blog will start broadening in topic based on realizations that the idea was to channel Nimrochill, my go to MMO character. A big part of this character is crafting, a big part of my life is crafting. So hopefully some fun stuff will be in store in the future.

Alice Maybe

Alice is a young high school student who really is more talented than anyone gives her credit for. The talent is hidden underneath angsty teenage werewolf anger. She is the newest change in my new Werewolf: The Forsaken campaign. I wanted to introduce them to a Cahalith since all the players do not know what it is a Cahalith does exactly. So this post is just a small tidbit into the life of the NPC with the unfortunate name Alice Maybe.

* * * * * * *

The teacher was droning on but Alice couldn't care less, her attention was on the texting between a group a few rows away from her. Her former friend Ashley was in that group of smirking texters and eventually a look would be thrown her direction with more smiling and tick tacking for fingers hitting the touch screens with long perfectly manicured fingernails. Alice held out her thin fingers, her nails weren't perfect but they weren't pretty like their nails were. Alice went more with the fierce black that stood boldly against her pale skin.

*Alice* There was a whisper, it wasn't human. Was that a weird thing to think? She looked over to the window beside her. Her reflection looked back at her but something else, something within the reflection. Was it Portia or something sinister? Portia was the ghost of a young woman who was trapped in the high school, like Alice. Unlike Alice, Portia was at least a hundred years old at this point and still stuck within these walls. That wasn't true, she's left before, Alice had let Portia possess her before, for research they both had decided.

Portia had the ability was much too sweet of a person to take them unwillingly, Alice had come to learn. Now it was much too dangerous to let Portia possess her as often as she had let her. She was something else now, she wasn't human. She had been assured it was a blessing from the moon goddess... no, mother.... Luna.

*Alice* she heard again, the voice gave her chills. Was this one of her dreams. She looked up to the sky, clearly day with no sign of the moon. This couldn't be another message from Luna. *Look at me!* the voice growled menacingly. Alice looked around the room, nobody else heard it. Was she going crazy? Had she already gone nuts and and am imagining all of this as she sits in a padded room somewhere? She did it on instinct, wasn't even aware that she knew how to do it but looked across. There was a flash of the spirit world but she couldn't see much. There was a menacing face taking up her entire view. She swallowed back a scream as the image disappeared. Laughter filled her ears as she was visibly shaken. That laughter was something she couldn't find the words to describe.

"Alice?" a different voice asked and she shivered, slowly turning her head in the direction of the voice. It was the teacher, the lecture had paused. "Are you alright? Do you need to go to the nurse?" he asked.

"Y-Yes," she said stumbling over her backpack as she got out of her desk. There was a chorus of laughter from the group of girls who tormented her. She felt a sort of relief with that laughter. That was normal. Then the unnatural laughing started again as she snatched up her bag and tried to calmly walk out of the room. When she cleared the room she bolted down the hall. She could go to Morrigan... or, what about those werewolves that helped her change? They helped her with that, the Ian guy was trying to help her with her dreams, what about this Spirit problem?

Long Time No See

So it's been awhile since I've updated this. November was the last time I posted anything. The last several months have been a whirlwind adventure of job searching, role-playing, family time, crafting, and organizing.

I was a part of a Star Wars: Edge of the Empire campaign that finished last week and in that game I got to alternate weeks playing 2 different characters (1 per week) in the same universe and working for the same employer. It was a blast, but that's not to say that there were some hiccups. There were a few people who seemed to have taken player knowledge and used it as character knowledge which caused a large enough issue that made somebody leave the game (or at least that is the reason I gathered he left). Overall though, I really enjoyed it. The GM is one who encourages role-playing as opposed to just stating what your character is doing and rolling the dice as was my experience with a few games at Armored Gopher Games. What was great was that the system really encourages role-playing in which the dice have triumphs, successes, advantages, despairs, failures, and disadvantages to gauge how an action gets accomplished. Depending on what you roll something could fail but if you get enough advantages, something good comes out of that failure. I also got to create Dia (pictured below) a Twi'lek Assassin who was trained by a slave master but was mysteriously freed and spent some time trying to change herself into a scholar. That is until she got herself arrested for protesting alien slaving and was freed and employed by Honest Cid who knew about her special skills. It was fun playing a Twi'lek who is not very typical even though by end game she had lost almost everyone she had come to love.

I have joined a few other games to take up the time that this game after ending, left open. So I will be giving 13th Age another try as well as a Star Wars: Age of Rebellion (I will be playing without the book until the finished copy comes out as the game is still in Beta, with the finished copy coming out some time this quarter). I have also joined a Shadowrun game which is a very complex game with a lot more strategy than I am used to, but based on my older character concepts, I have had some practice in. Basically I will be playing a B&E expert with a bit of a Catwoman fetish. She grew up in a Russian immigrant household and fell in love with the character Selena. So when she turned criminal and became a Shadowrunner she took the name Selena with her secret identities being named for actresses who had played the femme-fatale on screen.

I plan on keeping up with this blog again now that I am not in school, having graduated in December with an Associates. A Bachelors is to follow but not for a little bit at least.

Horimono - Marvel Heroic (June 19)

Not gonna write a letter this time, we left at a weird place so it will have to wait until this Wednesday when I get to play Horimono again. That Wednesday I was handed a tweaked Iron Man power set. The GM, knowing me so well, figured that a gold early version of Iron Man's costume was the shiniest thing in the room and the thing I would most likely go for. One of her distinctions is 'Ooo Shiny!' and I have been known to poke and/or take shiny things in this GMs games. The last of these games was a World of Darkness Hunter campaign.

So, having fulfilled my 10xp by deciding to "get back into the game" by stealing from S.H.I.E.L.D. I spent that xp to unlock the powerset, thereby making it work for my character. Now Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Game is a story based game, you can get away with just about anything as long as you have a good explanation about it and roll really well, so I've been contemplating as to how exactly Horimono would power the Iron Man suit... which needs to be renamed soon because it's hers now. I added a limit to both the mutant power set and the Iron Man armor where I have to turn off one power set to use the other. Makes sense and I think it makes things fair to the other players. So that would leave her black magic tattoo. She is a mystic expert and so it would make sense that she could tap into her powerset some how to power it, but it can't be too draining to merit me having to buy a multi attack. The other option is that she took it to White Dwarf, the former super villain who is a rival to Stark Enterprises, and had him tweak it so that it would work for her but then I'm still stuck with the question of how it works. How does Warmachine power his armor?

Well, I still have a few days to contemplate this issue plus come up with a whole new milestone list for my super thief.

Torn Up Character Sheet

I get really into the characters that I create and the longer I've played them the more I let myself sink into the story. This is a post about the Irraka from my World of Darkness: Forsaken pack, the one that was taken.

We went searching for him but not before I made those that work go to work since they had been neglecting to do so. Delilah went off to a meeting at a gallery who had been interested in her paintings. She was given a run around and left frustrated. Were they buying her paintings or were they just displaying them until they sold? When she got home she had no idea where to start, the two who did not work (Jayden and Mickey) were off looking for Cote and I didn't know where they were. Leila, her twin had arrived home at the same time after the courthouse had been closed due to a bomb threat (Mickey's anonymous phone call). That was when the howl was heard, it was a nervous excited howl that he had been found buy help was needed. I heard the answering howl of my beta, Jayden that he was on his way and I shifted into wolf form and sprinted in the direction of Mickey's howl with Leila following suite.

There was another howl for anyone to help and I answered this time, telling them that I was on my way. When we arrived Jayden was digging, avoiding swinging branches of a tree. He informed me that Cote was down in the hole with Mickey who was trying to pull him out. Leila and Jayden took to grabbing a large root and managed to pull it back. I shifted into near human form and started to help Mickey pull Cote out. It took awhile and we finally did. It was terrible what Dark Reaches did to him and I immediately jumped into tending the wounds. Mickey ran off to hunt rabbits for Cote to eat. As I tended to him I realized that if Cote was going to get out of this, he was going to be a vegetable for the rest of his life. Then I finally understood what he had been trying to say through his pain. "End it."

My heart sank, Delilah started crying, I started crying for real. Delilah said that there was no other choice and that I was going to do what Cote asked. She said that Mickey cannot be here when this happens to protect him. Jayden went off to stop him from coming back until Delilah said it was okay. Cote smiled at me, "Challenge." She couldn't bring herself to do it, she didn't have the will power to do this. Leila stepped up, she could bring herself to do it. "1 Rule," he said. "Rabbit is awesome," Delilah sobbed as he closed his eyes and relaxed so that it would be quick. The "rule" of the pack had been in place since Cote, who was going by the name of Rabbit then, saved Delilah's life two times in one night. Leila killed him, Delilah started hugging him and crying as Jayden and Mickey came back.

Mickey saw the blood on Leila's hands, saw Delilah broken down. He shifted into full form and destroyed the tree that had helped Dark Reaches hide Cote. We all carried him home and laid him to rest there. "Number 1 Rule," Delilah reminded the pack as she sprinkled dirt over the body.

When we had finished Mickey ran inside and started turning all the lights on as it had grown quite dark. Then we saw headlights pull up and two people get out. Jayden moved to stand between the grave and the car, Delilah walked towards the car. We knew they were werewolves too, we could sense it. "What are you doing here?" Delilah demanded. They didn't answer the question, instead the old man asked what we had been doing. Mickey came out with his rifle telling them to get off of this land. The old man stood up straight and became intimidating, Delilah ordered Mickey to stand down and he did as he was told. "Again, why are you on our land?" Delilah asked.

"What are you guilty about?" the old man asked and that sparked anger in Delilah.

"This is not a good time for you guys to be here," she stated, eyes narrowing.

"Why?"

"We lost a pack mate tonight," Jayden told them. The old man turned to Mickey and put his hands on his shoulders.

"You're going to get the one who did this and you're going to make him pay, that's what you're going to do," the old man told him. Then we noticed it got unnaturally dark, Dark Reaches was coming. We were not in any shape to be facing him. Cote's death probably fed him so he would probably be stronger.

"If you want to be safe you will get in the trailer," Mickey said before turning and walking away. We followed inside and they did as well. Night had come and we had reached the end of game time so we called it a night. There was the tearing of Cote's character sheet that night upon his death, the player tears up the sheets instead of keeps them. I however am the type of person to keep mine for sentimental value.

Delilah has proven to be quite the medic, this is the second time she has had to make rolls tending to another's wounds and has done phenomenally. I think the dice are trying to tell me something, maybe Delilah should start training to be an EMT... she has the smarts for it, she just needs to medicine to back it up.

D20 Flower Hair Clip

I try to craft as often as I can. Doing something crafty gives me something creative to do, it gives me something that I can focus on for a little while and I have a finished product by the end of it. Totally beats surfing the Internet. So this past week has been D20 Flower Hair Clips. I came across the project and knew I wanted to create one.

The one on the left was my first run though. Armored Gopher Games was out of D20s so I had to pull some out of my bag. I settled on my blue with white numbering one. For the second one, which was a request from a friend of mine she wanted a red D20, but the moment she saw my black D20 with red lettering she said she had to have that one. So I made a black and red flower to go with it. By second run through was by far superior to my first. I can't wait until the Gopher gets more D20s in so I can make more of these hair clips.

Here is a the walk through I used to get these flowers completed from Swords & Stitchery on Youtube. For the 2 color flower, I added another layer of petals, stepping those squares down to 3/4".

Happy Crafting!

Deadpool

Comic books and gaming have found their place in my life, that I cannot lie about... but it has been the cause of inside jokes between myself and my friends (my little sister included). I was at the Gopher one night and my sister called me, she was at home and I thought "perfect opportunity." I had been wanting to do Deadpool inspired nails for awhile so I asked her if I had Deadpool red in with my fingernail polish.

 She was clueless. I told her to Google it, just Google it. She heard Google Google and she relayed that to me. When I finally got my point across she informed me that I had a similar shade. Yet when Deadpool comes up now between us she says "Google Google?" and I immediately lose it, laughing so hard. Yes, it's stupid but it is something we share and it's because of my love for comic books.

There are also jokes concerning the Marvel RPG game, my first game even got myself mentioned in a blog (how exciting!). I played Magma that game and my boyfriend (henceforth known as Superman) played Warlock. He changed into R2D2 and the Deathstar at different points of the game. It was a blast. My second time playing the game with a different ST, I played Susan Storm (Invisible Woman). Leave it to the ST to find a way for all of us to wake up naked. (Spiderman was upset that Susan went invisible before he could see anything.) I'm working on an original super hero for the next Marvel game, taking milestones from my first Marvel ST, a friend of mine. I took a milestone list inspired by Deadpool (go figure) and the other list works well with her side job being a super thief (can't be too good, now can we?). As for her powers, I'm unsure as of now. I had played with the idea of a plant manipulator but when Superman said "So, you're playing Poison Ivy?" I knew that wasn't going to work. I have until Wednesday to come up with something. Here's to hoping.

Marvel Bows

So I had to urge to get crafty so after work I went to JoAnn Fabric's to look at their fabric selection (couldn't find anything at my work place). I immediately zeroed in on Marvel comic book fabric and wanted to wear it. A few weeks prior I had come across anneorshine's youtube video where she shows how to make bows out of fabric.

Anneorshine's Video

She used vinyl in her video but mentioned that this could be used for other types of fabric. I just had to see if I could get comic book bows. I followed the instructions on the video and by the end of it I made 2 bows (with enough fabric to make 6 more. I wore the Iron Man bow yesterday and proudly showed off my latest creation. I can't wait to make more.

Happy crafting my fellow Geeks and Nerds!