Saturday, May 31, 2014

May Recap

Recap:

Read:
1. When Marnie Was There by Joan G. Robinson
2. Isabelle by Laurence Yep
3. Serving Victoria: Life in the Royal Household by Kate Hubbard
4. My Neighbor Totoro novel by Tsugiko Kuho
5. The Girl with the Iron Touch by Kady Cross
6. Dark Passages by Kathryn Leigh Scott

Stitched:
1. OUAT May block
2. Cherry Blossom Festival by Frosted Pumpkins Stitchery

Amigurumi:
1. Onigiri
2. Chinese lantern
3. MLP Big MacIntosh
4. Sailor Uranus

Hopefully I'll have more time for amigurumis next month if Frosted Pumpkins Stitchery doesn't tempt me with another kawaii design!

Until next time ^____^

Sailor Uranus Doll

Hook: Size H
Yarn: Caron Simply Soft dark country blue, lemon, off white, and white
Notions: felt in dark blue and light yellow

Yet another amigurumi that I had stitched up a while ago and hadn't finished until today. I'm not sure if I like her hair. I think I should have done one layer only since it's a bit poofy.....

Until next time ^____^

MLP Big MacIntosh


Hook size: H
Yarn: Caron Simply Soft melon and lemon and Bernat Satin rouge
Notions: felt in black, dark green, light green, and white

Everyone's adorable pony of few words, Big MacIntosh!

I stitched up this amigurumi quite a while ago, but didn't get around to finishing off the details until yesterday.

Until next time ^___^

Cherry Blossom Festival



 
Pattern: Cherry Blossom Festival Sampler by Frosted Pumpkins Stitchery
Fabric: 28 ct evenweave antique white linen
Threads: recommended DMC threads
Start/Finish: 5/17-26/2014

I love this design! It's adorable! All the kawaii motifs. As soon as I saw this design posted on hey porkchop! blog, I knew I was going to buy it that day! I'm an impatient stitcher and instead of looking online for the recommended fabric (which was gorgeous!), I went by my local HB and bought some linen to start stitching!!!

Thanks again Frosted Pumpkins Stitchery! You girls have the cutest designs. They always put a smile on my face when I stitch them :)

Until next time ^___^

Once Upon A Time sampler progress


Pattern: Once Upon A Time sampler by Frosted Pumpkins Stitchery
Start/Finish: 5/12-15/2014

Still loving this sampler. Isn't the cow adorable?!

Skoshbox May 2014




Favorites: (in order)

1. Fried senbei (flash fried rice crackers): These crackers were really good. Since I liked the crackers in the last package, I have a feeling that I need to check out my local Asian market and see if they sell different kinds in addition to the typical ‘party mix’ versions.

2. Roanne vanilla wafers: baked vanilla wafers! Yum….you can’t go wrong with wafers ;)

3. Bourbon lumonde cookies (flaky chocolate coated cookie): While I enjoyed the taste of these cookies, they fell apart easily which meant that my coworkers and I were tasting crumbs instead a complete cookie stick.

4. Bubble gum (orange flavored): I’ve always seen these in our local Asian markets, but never made it a point to pick them up. The orange flavor was not overpowering and it seemed to last quite longer than American bubble gum flavors.

5. Mizore dama (hard candy, strawberry flavor): these hard candies pack a punch. The flavor is intense, but still quite good…..though if you don’t have a sweet tooth, you might avoid these as the flavor can be sickly sweet.

The Questionable: (in order)

1. Tamago boro cookies (ball-shaped egg/potato cookies): I really couldn’t get into these cookies, which seemed to be more like an odd tasting cracker instead of a cookie. They reminded me of those mini crackers you can buy for soups. (I think they are called oyster crackers.) But the taste was something I couldn’t identify, somewhere between trying to be sweet and savory at the same time.

2. Oreo raspberry (Oreo stick exclusive to Japan): I know, I know……..you can’t believe I have an oreo product in the questionable category. Sadly this cookie stick didn’t make it through shipping and was a bunch of crumbs when I opened the package. The raspberry flavor was quite intense, which is great, but since the cookie was dilapidated, I couldn’t really gauge the ‘good vs bad’ factor of this treat.

Dislikes:

1. Dried ume (dried whole pickled plum): I thought for sure that this wouldn’t be a bad item in the box, but boy was I wrong! My mind was thinking ‘oh, a dried plum’ and totally disregarded the ‘pickled’ part of the description on the Skosh card……big mistake. I like salt, but not to that extent. I couldn’t even taste the plum only a very large amount of salt, which made me think I just tipped a box of salt in my mouth!

2. Yocchan cut squid (pieces of pickled cut squid): I will not lie; I totally drowned the taste of my cut squid piece with a soda. I even bought the soda as a backup plan in case I had something crazy in my Skoshbox that I needed to quickly wash down. Good plan! I think I need to keep that in mind for future boxes. Salty squid is not my friend. It was so chewy I thought I wasn’t going to make it through the piece. Luckily, my coworker loved it so he ended up eating the rest of the bag. None of the rest of us was fond of the cut squid.

I've waited so long to post about this month's Skoshbox that I received the Skoshbox for June in the mail yesterday!!! >O<

I'll be sure to blog about my Skoshboxes earlier in the month if possible ;)

Until next time ^____^

Mobicon 2014 - Dark Shadows

Good afternoon everyone! Last Saturday I went downtown to attend Mobicon 2014. I wasn't planning on going this year after discussions with the organizers and their lack of 3D artists/crafters in their artists' alley this year (which they do not consider to be 'art'), but when I saw that two of the ladies from the original cast of the Dark Shadows series were going to be there, I knew I had to attend.

As a thank you to Mrs. Parker and Mrs. Scott for being part of such a great series, I made two bat amigurumis. I presented them to the ladies in glittery silver bags.


I was extremely nervous to meet them. I kept walking around the merchant's room in circles and even texted my friend Kristina for moral courage to give them my gifts. Her advice helped, a deep breath and to have the bags in my hand to give to them. My heart was beating a million miles an hour and I know I was still nervous after giving them to the ladies because I was talking too fast.

Mrs. Parker and Mrs. Scott were lovely. I spoke more with Mrs. Parker since someone came up to the table to get an autograph from Mrs. Scott. She and I spoke of books and history. She even brought up a bit of Mobilian history that I hadn't heard before. There was a lady in the late 1800s who was accused of killing her husband who it turns out might have been Jack the Ripper. Mrs. Parker asked if she should include Jack the Ripper in her next book and I said why not!

I had Mrs. Parker and Mrs. Scott sign some books and my DVD collector card. Unfortunately I had put the card on top of my books and when I was handed my other books, I put them on top of the card. The signature smudged! Horrors! But I can't complain, I had Mrs. Scott to sign a Return to Collinwood book.

Mrs. Parker on middle left and Mrs. Scott on middle right.

Do you guys remember my post last year at Mobicon when I geeked out over a young man dressed as the Frid's Barnabas Collins? He was the one of who approached Mrs. Scott and Mrs. Parker about coming to Mobicon this year. He told me and another girl who were waiting for their panel that he tweeted them and asked if they would attend our convention. After the panel, I went up to him (in the picture on the right) and thanked him for giving us the opportunity to meet the lovely ladies of Dark Shadows.

I hope Mrs. Scott and Mrs. Parker had a great time in our city. I hope its architecture and history has given them inspiration for more Gothic tales in the Dark Shadows universe.

Until next time ^_____^

Friday, May 23, 2014

Mobicon 2014 Nerves

Hi everyone! I'm going to Mobicon downtown tomorrow. My main reason: to meet the actresses from the 1960s cast of Dark Shadows, Lara Parker and Kathryn Leigh Scott.
My little Barnabas Collins bats are ready for Mobicon tomorrow. I'm nervous to give them to the Dark Shadows actresses!

I'm going to get them to sign my book and dvd collectors card ;)

Wish me luck!

Until next time!

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Spring Garden and Birthday

My friend Bonnie had her birthday over the weekend on Saturday. We had cupcakes and snacks in the park and then went nearby to the Mobile Botanical Gardens. To my shame, I have never been to the gardens before despite being in Mobile since I was three years old.

While wandering the wood trails, I got my first mosquito bite of the year. I am glad we came when we did, the weather will only get hotter as the summer approaches, which means humid weather and a plethora of bugs including lots of mosquitoes!

Overall, it was a lovely time! The gardens were beautiful. I'm sure they are even more vibrant during the early spring when everything is in bloom.









Until next time ^____^

Talon the Kitsune

I got a request over the weekend through my Etsy shop to make a nine tailed kitsune. The customer wanted me to make a black and white kitsune for her friend for his birthday. I had fun making this amigurumi as it gave me a chance to see the amigurumi in a different color.



She wanted his ears to be longer and pointer. I love how they came out! Gives him a completely different personality and expression.

Cute kitsunes!

Until next time ^____^