Handworks Crochet and then Some!

Super long post.... ready??? lol!! Self drafted bolero and Burda top 7742... simple top... made with a purple knit with metallic pinstripes (walmart)... Which would have been fine but... I decided the front pin stripes would look cool if I cover stitched them with some thick metallic decorative threads... it worked nicely and added something special to the top. I also chain stitched on the jacket, then sergered the edge with a metallic thread also. To achieve these looks all you have to do is put your decorative thread in the looper on your cover stitch. On the serger it goes in the upper looper.... Sheila over at sheilazcrochetz asked me about doing a tutorial on the technique but honestly ... if I do I'm afraid I would confuse everyone lol!!! Including myself!! So here's my source for cool serger and cover stitch stuff.... "Serger secrets" the book... easily found on ebay or half.com . I have used many decorative techniques from the this book. The projects in it ar...

It was a great night... Sam and The Bald Man both got some awesome shots of me... which is very good because I really need to update my web site since I've changed my "look" yet again! The best part of last Friday was the very wonderful Arabic people from Chattanooga came to see me!!! And! They brought me back gifts from their recent trip to Morocco!!!!! Check me out above and to the left in the awesome Galabaya (pretty sure I spelled this wrong!) from Morocco! I love it... beautiful embroidery... and the fabric is a soft silk! I think it is silk.. These are really super wonderful people and I do feel honored that they thought of me on their trip. They also brought me back a DVD of Moroccan music and dance!! Some people are SO sweet!!!

I danced Friday and Saturday! Here's a few pics from the weekend of Dance... it was very good! With Drummer Tony here to the left... doing sword dance to the right... Random pictures from the weekend... And how it ends.... hungry!

So I decided I would go back to the Cairo Cafe and dance for a couple nights a month... why? The number 1 reason... The Bald Man missed it (he's such a social butterfly! ha!)... number 2 reason... for extra fabric money ofcourse!!!! Seriously I've missed the some of the people there too. Here to the left is my hand beaded beauty I made last year when I was laid up after having my tummy tuck... all hand beaded! It took months to finish!!! The purple skirt and gauntlets took about 20 minutes... made last night about 7:30! Here's my all new costume!!! Made in the 'new' bellydance style.... inspired by dancers like Dina.. and designers like Sahar.... The Kiss Kiss costume!!! I need a better pic of this! I'll get one next weekend. All in all it was a nice night... very slow night... but nice. Rach, Nancy and Stan came by to hang out... its always good to see them! Stan gave me a great compliment... he said I was a "fun dancer" and I said... what I alw...

Another BWOF top from the March issue. Check my review for details on Patternreview. This was an easy top to make.. I adore zipper tops!!!! I got alot of compliments on this last night! I finished my punch needle jeans!!! And wore them out to. Punch needle is so fun and I've recently discovered someone makes an electric punch needle!!! Here's a couple of pics from last night at the restaurant. You can see in the pic on the left people got a little crazy!!! But thats ok... they were making it rain all night! Which goes in the 'tip money for fabric' fund!!! whoo hoo!

This is what I'm working on today... putting this embroidery design up the leg of these boring jeans! Here are my projects from yesterday!!! I am SO hooked on felting!!!! I love it! This cute bolero was a hideous sweater just 2 days ago and now look! And this adorable purse too... a sweater no one would have ever worn... is now stylish.. unique, and due the the nature of felting, one of a kind!! The metallic threads and eyelash yarn on the bolero are not sewn on... they were punched in by the felting machine. So was the yarn trim on the purse. The felting machine has 5 needles and you have to be really careful not to pull your fabric out until the needles are all the way up and stopped, or you break the little expensive needles really easily... Ask me how I know this! haha While my embroidery works away I'm working on turning this once ugly dress into a cute "corset" type top... I'm actually not feeling real confident about this project.. but if I ruin it, it was...

Here's a larger belly dancer purse... that I didn't forget to put the magnetic closure in!! Also made with d rings and it has 2 separate pockets... made with a soft faux suede and lined with a cute printed cotton... I like this one alot... tomorrow I'll make the 3rd one using the tiger strip faux suede! You can see inside the pockets for a cell phone and then divided to make an extra pocket... oh yeah... and the magnetic snap closure! I guess I need to start dinner and stop playing with my purses!

Saturday night I worked at Mirage... it started off slow then really picked up as up can see in the pic above... the cute little Arabic dude is getting ready to do one of his many "money showers"! I really love it when they do that! After I had got done dancing me n' The Bald Man were hanging out at the bar enjoying a glass of wine and a hookah. There had been a Arab-American dinner event in town that night and a couple of the band members had come in the restaurant with some of my favorite local Arabic customers... They came over to the bar and asked me if I would put my costume back on and dance for them.... I really didn't want to... but these guys are very good costumers... and very good tippers!!! I gave him my price... he handed over the cash... so by 2am I was in costume and dancing for the locals and the guys from Detroit! The guys (and the girl!) decided I should dance on the table... I protest,,, not because I'm uptight about it... I don't care to.....

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!

Times like last night its fun to be the bellydancer! People up dancing, laughing, clapping! There's so much energy being in the middle of it. I can dance longer and not get tired when its like this. I feel like I've done my job... their being entertained and having so much fun. I've got to share the joy my art of dance brings to me. I started dancing and performing because I feel creative, ya know, kinda like a artist! I keep dancing, esp. in the restaurant seen, because of nights like last night and people like these two in the pictures! They were a blast!