The depth of my geek

I miss my RPG crew.  It was my weekly escape from the everyday. We played Star Wars, D&D, but the best game was DragonAge. And I got into it, man.  I was Ruby. Dwarven warrior princess. I was Xena, but not a lesbian. I loved Ruby. Still do truth be told. I sometimes replay her awesomeness in my head on long car drives to and from work.  I expressed this on Facebook the other day and was asked to share her origin story. So here you go, and yes on considering writing it again, but bigger. 

(And I got tired of deleting stuff out halfway through. Sorry.)

You can call me Ruby.

A month ago I would have never thought of camping outdoors, under the stars. I didn't know what out doors was. Nor camping. Or stars. I was born in the rock and thought I would die in the rock. This surface life was  never part of my plan. A lot of things that happened weren't in my plan.

I was on the path to be a paragon. The first child of one of the most powerful families in Orzamar, second only to the royal family. Two campaigns in the Deep Roads under my belt. I was planing a new campaign to unite us again with our lost cousins. If i was successful I would rise to a paragon. If i wasn't I would die in the rock a warriors death and my ancestors would welcome me home.

Everything was planned. All supplies were purchased. We would leave after the proving. The proving would be strange for me. This was the first time in years that I would not be fighting, but in my private box watching, hoping to find new talent to take with me into the Deep Roads. I never made it to that box.

>> > The arena is always alive. The air thick with the smoke from cooking fires,
>> > the music of vendors selling their wares. If you know where to look, you can
>> > find anything. I wanted a new sword, something special.
>> >
>> > It needed to be perfect. There should be heft to it, but light enough to be
>> > shielded with one hand. There should be runes inscribed for both fire and
>> > ice. I needed a sword that would inspire victory in my troops and fear in
>> > the Darkspawn. I found the booth with little difficulty, even though
>> > someone of my caste should have no reason to. But this was no errand for a
>> > servant. This had to be done by me.
>> >
>> > The sword was perfect. The price exorbinant, but worth it. I left that
>> > squalid little booth feeling happier than I ever had before. Which is
>> > possibly why i never saw them coming.
>> >
>> > The were seven or eight of them. There may have been more, I'm not sure. I
>> > now four of them were dead when I was finished. Three of them were
>> > castless, but the third was a favored son of a rival house. A note found in
>> > his pocket detailed a plan to kill me to stop the campaign.
>> >
>> > I was devastated to say the least, not because someone wanted me dead, but
>> > because they wanted to stop my plans. I assumed as all people of privledge
>> > do, that my actions would be universally accepted, loved, and lauded as an
>> > advancement for all. If this... truth... was in true what else in my world
>> > was wrong?
>> >
>> > I wandered, bloody, through the arena, my appearance like this, raised not
>> > even one eyebrow. All around me I witnessed, for the first time, the
>> > atrocities that dwarves did to one another. Mostly with little or no
>> > provocation. To my right dwarves sold one another for a few bits of
>> > copper. To my left drunken masses fought to the death. Directly in front
>> > of me members of the royal house were descending upon a castless wretch, set
>> > upon killing her for daring to look upon them.
>> >
>> > To be honest, I dont remember my sword striking the royal son. Its all a
>> > bit hazy. I do remember standing over his body as the life left his eyes. My
>> > new sword was now stained with more blood in one hour than might have
>> > happened in weeks of the Deep Roads. This new, beautiful, sword had no more
>> > meaning for me. I gave it to the castless wretch telling her to learn to
>> > protect herself.
>> >
>> > Without another word I walked out of the arena and through the streets of my
>> > home, liming ever higher until I was at the surface gates of Orzamar. I
>> > had left my people, my family, and my given name.
>> >
>> > And I will never look back.

What do you think?

Using up the fabric stash

I have way too much fabric and no set projects. I can't justify buying more fabric for the projects I have lined up until I use some of the stuff I have on hand.  Its a bit of a catch 22 situation.

So I'm trying to come up with interesting things to do with odd bits of fabric.  So far ive made a marble maze and a bunch of infinity scarves.  Oh how I love the infinity scarf.  I would wear one all the time if I thought I could get away with it.  Love em.  And there very easy to make.

1) start out with 2 yards of light knit fabric. I'm sure you could use any light fabric, but you will have to take a couple extra steps and hem it up. 
2) cut the fabric up the middle long ways. So you now have 2 pieces of 2 yard long fabric
3) sew up the two short ends.

Done.

Seriously, that is how easy an infinity scarf is to make. The one you see in the picture has been drip dyed a charcoal gray to white.  The other three I made went to friends at work.  I'm thinking that ill be making a bunch more in different colors and fabrics.  Because I love them. 

The next project will probably be a weekender bag.  I have a  bunch of fabric that has bright red palm trees all over that would be perfect.

Im a what now?

Its taken a little longer than expected to decide what I wanted to be when I grew up.  Technically its a second choice, as "Lottery Winner" is a bit harder a bracket to get into than originally anticipated.

I'm a fiber artist. I crate beautiful, sometimes functional works of art.  My raw materials are wool and linen.  Cotton and silk. Sometimes, they are stand alone objects. Sometimes they require a human body to showcase their beauty.

I love sewing. I love taking something as two dimensional as a length of silk and turn it into a three dimensional sculpture. It makes me happy to see the finished product and know that I created that. That something I made can turn someone into a completely different person, if only for a short time. 

Needle felting is also becoming a new favorite. I'm just at the beginning stages of learning this medium , but so far I'm in love with it.  Its 3D sculpture in wool.  And its amazing the level of detail you can accomplish.  Ive got an idea about a series of needle felted sculptures of anatomically correct body organs.  Yes, I'm aware I'm a little weird.

I want to be a pretty pretty princess

I got this pattern at Hancock for a dollar.  As you can see, I've already started sketching on it.  I'm going to make a Belle costume.  Yes, the Disney princess.  In an ideal world it will be for PlanetComiCon in Kansas City this April.  I'm a little excited about it.  I'm thinking yellow silk organza, cream silk accents, antique lace, svartski (or how ever the hell you spell it) crystal beading. 

I'm going to have to make quite a few changes to the pattern.  The sleeves are all wrong, the neckline needs to be reworked, and there will have to be several overlays of fabric draped in the skirt.  I may even add the bows.

And blood.  Lots and lots of blood. 

Because to make a regular ole Disney princess is just about as boarding as hell.  And everything is better zombified. 

(yes, I will post progress)

Long time no.... whatever

Its been a year. Little more actually. I put all the extra time and energy I had into the Omaha Witch Walk and the VinLand Foundation. And I'm sorry to say that they won't be continuing anymore. We tried, we gave it a good run , any platitude you like, but we just aren't able to continue. And while I'm sad about it, and I truly am, I'm trying not to dwell.

I've taken a long distance course (is it still called distance learning? Is it officially just called online?) in dress making and design. I've finished my final project and mail it away tomorrow. I have a bunch of other costumes to finish soon, and get asked to do more fairly often. I'd like to turn it into a nice little side businesses. No, I don't think I'll be able to quit my day job (honestly the demand for really high end costumes isn't that great) it is work I love doing, and something I'm really good at.

Hubby mentioned that I haven't blogged in next to forever, so I'm going to try to do that regularly again. Please help keep me on task there. Im not really sure the direction I'm going to take, so please bare with me if I change up the look/feel of the blog a couple  of times. Sorry in advance if it sucks.

So I guess what I'm saying is that I'm trying to be back.

Here's a peek of my final project.

2 weeks of meals for $104

groceries are getting stupid expensive. and healthy food... even worse. so the "no processed food" challenge became a pretty big drain on the coffers. I wasn't willing go sacrafice my families health (or taste buds) with the over processed crap, so something had to give. a little judicious planing was in order. meal planing to be exact.

sitting down and deciding what to have for brecky lunch and dinner for the next couple of weeks so that I don't waste money on food we aren't going to eat, or worse, having to run out and get emergency supplies halfway through.

the newspaper ads come to the door on Wednesday, and I planned my menu around what was on sale. since I wont shop at wally, I cant price match, so I usually pick just one ot two stores to go to, and get all the groceries there. this week I went to Hy-vee and Aldi's.

brecky menu:
pancakes (from the bizkwik mix I made myself so it doesn't count as processed) or eggs. oatmeal when those are just too routine.

lunches are either leftovers or (and I'm almost ashamed to say this but they were on sale for a buck each) frozen meals. I got the Michelinda's meals, there usually pretty good for you (ish).

here is the dinner menu for the next two weeks:
Sunday : chicken noodle soup
mon : pork roast
tue: Mac n cheese
wed : encheladas
thur: chicken noodle soup
fri: Chili
sat: brecky casserole
sun: potato soup
mon: chili
tue: brecky casserole
wed: potato soup
Thurs : Mac n cheese
fri: chili

as you can see, most of the meals are easy to fix. most of them will be set up in the crock pot in the morning before I go to work. and I have a big crock pot so I make BIG meals. that way there is always enough to make for two days.

here's how the the shopping trip broke down:

Aldi's -
10lbs russet potatoes $1.49
2 cans diced tomatos $1.18
6 cans kidney beans $3.54
garlic $0.89
bunch of bananas $0.55
(I also got some diapers $4.99 and Penguin crackers $1.49)
total $16.27 after tax

Hy-Vee -
sour cream $2
1/2 gal milk $2.14
2 cartoons of large eggs (18 count each) $3.76
hash browns $2.69
6 frozen lunches $6
all natural dunk shaped chicken nuggets $4.99
2 chicken soup mix $5.96
coffee $3.48
tortillas $1.68
2 large elbow pasts $2.50
cane sugar $3.98
enchada sauce $3.36
stew meat $4.91
pork shoulder $13.13
cheddar cheese $3.97
cream cheese $1.25
jalapeno string cheese (don't shop hungry) $4.38 (-$0.75)
velveeta $5.99 (have to learn to make this stuff )
apples $3.63
more apples $0.85
green grapes $4.02
onion $0.58

total $87.99 after tax

ill post the recipes tomorrow.

Bessie N Bambi Chili

it's finally consistently below what my loving hubby calls "Tattoeen Hot" outside, sooooo, CHILI TIME!!!!  I came up with this recipe kind of on the spot after a trip to Trader Joe's (you notice i do that a lot), so if any tweaking happens, i'll be sure to let you know.

you need:

1lb beef stew meat
1lb venison stew meat
2 cans of Organic diced tomatoes from TJ's
4 cans of Organic kidney beans from TJ's
4tbl chili powder
2tbl paprika
3 cloves of garlic
1tsp smoked salt
3-4 turns of the pepper mill
a couple dashes of 'cajun seasoning' (we use Tony's)
a dash of Hot Sauce
1 bunch of green onions

sour cream
cheese (grated, but buy it in blocks so you don't get any human hair extract.  just trust me, and read ingredient lables for the love of all that is holy)

crock pot

first thing in the morning, drain the kidney beans and rinse.  plop in the crock pot.  pour the tomatoes, juice and all, in the pot, and add 1 can of water (the tomato size cans).  add the spices, and the meat.  turn onto low for 2-3 hours, then to high for another 6.  about 5 min before serving, chop the green onions and put the whites in the crock pot, reserving the greens.  after 5 minutes, ladle into bowls and serve with a dollup of sour cream, a sprinklin of grated cheese, and add some of the reserved green onion.

serve on a cuddly night with a pint of beer.

nom nom nom.