Handworks Crochet and then Some!

Here I am with my Grandmother. She's opening the purse I made her. I don't get back home to see my mom or my grandmother near enough... which is really alot to do with me being lazy because they only live an hour away!!! And I hate to drive! But this year I'm going to make more time to visit them.....

It fit him like a dream! This is the jacket I made my wonderful husband for Christmas.... he loves it!!! I made it from a Kwik Sew pattern,,, used some awesome denim that actually came from WalMart !!! and lined it with fleece... gotta make sure my man stays warm. I used silver buttons with the Cladagh symbol on them... to match the rings we wear on our right hand. It took me about 3 days to complete... I can't wait to see him the the shirt and vest I made him for New Years! This month I'm going to try and make him a button up shirt.. I have to admit I love making clothes for my man!!!

All these pics are from the lovely Bonaventure Cemetery Which is a beautiful, peaceful place not far outside the city. Its a must visit if your here.

Me n' the Bald Man are here in beautiful Savannah, GA! We are having a great time! I've always loved this city. Here I am to the right in my hat! at the Crab Shack restaurant which is SO good.... the poodles are loving it to... little travelin babies! It has turned off pretty cold though... which is a major downer for us and the dogs, since they get longer walks when its warmer!

Last night was especially fun! I danced my buns off! And so did most of the customers... it was a fun night!!! I wanna say Tony and Sam make it extra fun when they are there. I am sore today! If I got to dance this much every weekend I wouldn't have to exercise. We are leaving to go on our holiday trip Tuesday and won't be back until the 2nd. I hope the new year brings many night like last night.

> Since yesterday was stressful... new hair color, getting the babies groomed, dr appointment..... then my son decided to put on the pout of all pouts!!!! He got in trouble Again, for his grades!!!! And then being a hateful teenager.... Me and the husband needed a drink!!!! So I put on more make up, got out my best cleavage baring shirt and we went out in big K-town! Ha! First we went to the restaurant where I bellydance and had a hookah... then we met up with an old friend, Big Jim, at Palace... We had a blast... and so did one of our fav bar tenders, Chris. Check him out,,, dancing and singing behind the bar! Halirious!

Yesterday I was run ragged! The babies had to be groomed, dr appointment... and.... I went to see my wondeful hairstylist, Todd, at Hairpiece. The Bald Man has been wanting me to go back blond for sometime... Merry Christmas to him! I'm SO blond!!!

Here's another hat I made just today picture directly to the left. I made a more constructed hat too.... but it died along the way... This hat and the one I made yesterday, wearing it in top pic, are great though... minor flaws on them and they're really Cute! I think I'll stick to these kinds of hats for a while... until I can find a really good book on the contruction of hats.

So, as we all know... Me and My Bald Man love to cook... but we are both disorganized, messy,,,, and so were all our recipes. For a long time I've wanted to clean up the binder we stuff all the recipes in... yesterday I did! I made this cute cover,,, put the recipes in page protectors... now I just gotta get some divider tabs and its all done! About a month ago we started having "restaurant night" since I don't like the restaurants in Knoxville very much... Bald Mans ideal... another way he keeps me happy... great food!!!! We also love a Sunday brunch.... nope, no good restaurant here for that.... so we make our own.... his omlets are the best I've ever had, esp, the Spinach&mushroom... and so was the Eggs Benedict we made one Sunday... Heavenly!!! I had so much fun making our little cookbook!

My wonderful husband is really working hard to lose some weight... and its paying off! Thanks to healthy eating, will power... and well, our good friend, Dr. Sam!!!!

My Beautiful Bald Man just keeps the great gifts coming!! The Lady and Sons cookbook set, which is really an "us" present cause we both LOVE to cook, Some great modern looking flatware, another "us" present... we've been wanting some cool flatware to go with the dishes he got me last year! Then... GWTW on DVD... my favorite movie ever!!! That I only had on VHS... I'm thinking.... cold night, fireplace going, fleece blanket, hot coco, popcorn and GWTW movie night! And Sex in the City season 4 and 5!!! I feel a S&C marathon coming up soon! Also, last night, I got an extra present! I wasn't feeling well... which is usual lately! (I've had a head cold and now a horrible pinched muscle in my neck!) Anyways, the present was 2 great tickets to the Flyer's game in PA!!!!! I told the Bald Man I was needing some NHL... and the Bald Man is getting me some NHL! Yeah!!!!!

Here is a doll I worked on yesterday and finished today. Its a ducky and I do need to find some little eggs to put in her basket still!! Its a Christmas present for Bald Mans brother and wife. This summer Bald Mans brother decided to help some little duck eggs hatch that had been left behind by their mother... its was very cute! So they kinda had their own little hatchery going... and so a present is born!

Check out this adorable hat I made today from the Japanese pattern magazine Female Autumn 2005. I love hats and hate that they are not very popular to wear around here... I've decided I'm going to wear them anyways... they are just to cute of an accessory to be ignored! I tried making a hat today from a Vogue pattern that turned out hideous ! I followed the directions to a T!!! But it was still so off! It looked crazy! And here, I made a hat from a magazine with no English directions that turned out perfect... Go Figure!

I love this bag! Its a out of print pattern from Hot Patterns I downloaded months ago! I was intimidated by it at first... which is why it took so long for me to try and make it. It was actually easy though! And what a cute bag! Its like the one on Devil Wears Prada , which has to be one of my fav chick flicks ever! It has a large zipper pocket inside, cell phone pocket, small pocket and I added a lipstick pocket... cause I hate digging in my purse for my lipstick just as bad as the cell phone! I gotta make more of these bags!!!

So this isn't the original shirt I had planned to wear with my holiday skirt... but this shirt is way more comfortable that the silk one I made... and it bears a little less cleavage !!! Check out my awesome blond hair piece!!! Fake hair is so fun!

Okay, I really made this a few months ago to sell, but now I'm adding it to my moms Christmas. Its been a long time since I've given her anything like this... Its called "The Shepard's Angel" I'm going to attach a Bible verse to it also...

Here is another one of my 12 days of Christmas presents... its photos and ticket stubs lovingly framed of a weekend trip to Nashville. Which was also my first pro football game!! I am now hooked and a Titans fan! This was a very sweet, beautiful present. I will always look at it and remember how great that weekend was ... and also my lovely husband for preserving the memory this way.

My son, Brian, has a wrestling meet today in Pigeon Forge... we have to have him up there to weigh in at 8am (wrestlers are more obsessed with their weight than me when I was an anorexic teenager!) So This is why I am up at 5:30am!!! There will be 15 teams there today. We will probably be there until around 4. Wrestlers like to make their meets an "event" anytime they can.... usually lasting half a day.... but with so many teams its an all day thing today. Just last week Brian told me I didn't "care" about him.... yet here I am, up at 5:30, with a really horrible cold (that kept me outta work last night, no one wants to see a snotty, sneezing bellydancer !) me and his step dad, the Bald Man, getting ready to drive an hour, with all the food I cooked yesterday for us ( rotisserie chicken salad, salt potatoes, fresh bread, brownies) set all day and watch middle schoolers beat the crap outta each other.... (okay I admit I like to watch the matches!!) And I don...

Our 12 days of Christmas started today! This is a shirt I made my Bald Man for his first present. You can't see the cute flatlock I did on the seams... but its there!!! He got me the Rowenta pressure iron and steamer!!!! And I told him just to get me a B&D... that would be fine.... Sweetest husband ever!!!

I am still making Christmas presents, Holiday outfits and winter clothes.... But..... Spring 2008 is just around the corner for fashion designers. I'm thinking this make-up look to the left is what I need for New Years though!!! The outfit to the right is from Versace RTW Spring 2008. Normally I don't do shorts. I find them pretty boring but I am liking these alot. I think I can find a pattern to make a close copy... I'm also in love with this take on a wrap top and wondering how I could modify one of my many wrap top patterns to get this look. Most of Versace's RTW Spring 2008 line was hot! Check it out on style.com.

Here are the things I have sewn so far in Dec. Some are gifts some are for myself. At the top is my son's camo hoodie , mom's purse, Britt's purse, moms Fisher style wrap, Britts Bolero , a blanket for Rico's aunt, the 'muslin' belly dance skirt, My Holiday Outfit(I can't believe its done!!!!), my workout 'muslin, which included pants! I have also made 3 things for my Bald Man... but I can't picture them... cause he looks on here!!!! After Christmas I'm going to make him to a "Fashion Layout" for me! Now that'll be cute!

Both Friday and Saturday were busy this last weekend... but Saturday kicked my a**! Crazy busy. I danced so much! It was a great crowd. Tony was there to drum and make people happy! He also had some friends from Chattanooga that were delightful!!!! Esp. the Moroccan lady! Sam was there taking tons of pics for everyone! After my last song I relaxed with the Bald Man, a hookah and a bottle of champagne. Then we went to the Carousel and invited Jesse's sweet girlfriend to come with us. We danced alot, drank alot, watched the drag show. My favorite Knoxville Queen performed! Miss Ashley O'Neil! Great night all around... except for DJ Joey Santana! What was he thinking???? Had a blast!!!!

Yeah!! Our Christmas tree is up! And the Penguin lights are up outside that my Bald Man bought yesterday because I love penguins!!!!! Our 12 days of Christmas starts the 14th!!! I'm so excited!!!!

New workout clothes are born! I had to make a muslin for my 'Sexy Holiday Outfit' which is gonna be made from that stretch velvet silver/black fabric and the net black/silver from Rex's. So the 'muslin' was made from $2 knit from Walmart . its surprisingly a good knit! I added a decorative flat lock with white/purple woolly nylon thread. The only thing I will change when I make the SHO is to make the pants lower waisted. Low rise workout/yoga pants are NOT a good ideal!

All day long, working on the Bald Mans Christmas!!! I only have a second then its back upstairs!! I can't even blog or post anything about it cause he'll look on here and see! And I really want to bitch about what I'm making!!! I've not made anything like this in years!!!! And on top of that... my poor poodle babies got 'fixed' yesterday. Be'Be' is fine, you'd never know she had surgery.... but 2 Pac is terrible!!! Whining and crying.... he's breaking my heart. I took him back to Dr. Sarah today, who said he's fine, he's just 'working it'.... but he's a BABY!!!! More important... he's MY baby!!

The Pattern above is a Ghawazee coat. I will be working on it today also. I've been hired to make it... seeing I have no use for a coat like this.... it is cute though. If I did make one for myself I would probably use black stretch velvet, hand bead black sequins and beads around the edges and wear over a blue or red shirt.... hmmmm....

Here is the first shirt I made Bald Man using Kwik Sew 3044! He says he loves it and wants more!!! I have more and more projects for the Bald Mans Christmas.... lots to do today!

Ok! I didn't mean to start this costume. I meant to finish my Fire costume first but...I needed to make a 'muslin' for my holiday skirt though... and I thought I would make it out of this beautiful stretch velvet fabric I got from Gail K's back in the summer... and so a costume is born!!!! Just check out the color combos on this. I'm styling it after a Sahar costume. And so now... I can go ahead with Project Holiday Outfit too... the fit of this skirt is divine! I'll be making it again and again!

My projects yesterday were all for the Bald Mans Christmas so I can't post them cause sometimes he reads my blog! My projects today are for the Bald Man too! And I'm working on the 'muslin' for my Holiday Outfit!!! Which the 'muslin' will be used for a belly dance costume... no wasting here!!! Ever!

I do believe I have the best husband ever! Here he was having a bad day and he brought ME home roses.... SO sweet... one of the many reasons I adore him...

Here is my new costume!!! Finally! I don't have the perfect skirt and accesories to go with it yet. I just threw together this silver skirt cause I couldn't wait to wear the 'beaded beauty' Check out the way those crystals shine!!!

Last night was long!!!! and it did get alittle wild... there were times I felt like I needed to duck and cover when the people in the picture on the left started doing their debka dance.... I was afraid I was gonna get kicked! Then later the poor hookah boy told me he DID get kicked! Ouch! It was a very fun night!! I think everyone that came in had a blast! Sam took so many pictures, Tony was up drumming and making people get up to dance.... which wasn't hard to do last night! There were so many people up dancing ALL night. I am SO tired from all the dancing I did Fri and Sat..... and kinda sore honestly. I hope next weekend is just like this one!