A PAX Story

Alright.  This is probably the most exciting story from PAX for me.  It is not the happiest or best story from PAX but it is the most memorable.
  Friday night after my group ate dinner at an awesome Thai place we went back to the con to check out the table top gaming halls and later catch the Mc Frontalot show.  We were talking to a developer of the game Revolution (which we bought and will play this weekend) and I had to use the loo.  So, I went to the closest ladies room, did my business, and started to make my back to my group.  I rode the escalator down a level and turned into the table top gaming hall.  As I did, someone came up running behind me yelling and grabbed both of my shoulders as they got to me.  I think I yelped in surprise.  I turned around and I saw a very snazzily dressed Asian man bent over and rubbing his ankle.  He looked up at me and I recognized him as Penny Arcades very own Robert Khoo.  (Below, he is depicted in one of the Penny Arcade comics)

  He started telling me that he had chased me down the escalator and ran after me. Still rubbing his ankle and hopping on his other foot he said he had just twisted his ankle when he caught me.  He had chased me down to take a picture of the Fruit F'er backpack that I had made.  I told him I recognized him, introduced myself, shook hands, and started talking about my outfit and bag.
  He took pictures of it and me and I asked if I could get a picture with him.  He said yes so we walked over to my group (25 feet away).  Dereck, my husband, took our picture.  (below)  Isn't he cute?

  I thanked him and told him I hoped his ankle was okay.  He hobbled away (literally) and I told my group what had happened.
  The next day I went to the Rooster Teeth panel and everyone else went to the Naughty Dog panel.  They did not get into the Naughty Dog panel due to such a long line so they walked around the con to kill time while I was at mine.  I got out of the panel and they were all waiting for me.  Dereck had a couple surprises for me.  1, he got me the new Mc Frontalot cd and it was signed, and 2, he had a picture to show me.

  The above picture is of Robert holding a cane.  When I saw this picture on the camera I literally starting crying within 10 seconds.  Tears running down my face, standing in the middle of a huge crowd, and feeling terrible my whole group starts to laugh at me.  Apparently, while they were walking around they saw him in the crowd and he was holding someones cane while they got something out of their bag. So, Dereck took the picture (talk about timing).  I still felt terrible even though they told me it was not his and that he was walking around.
  On Sunday the last day of the convention we went to the Q&A panel with Gabe and Tycho.  I want to ask them if Robert was okay but the lines were way too long.  While we were waiting for the panel start Robert walked in along the wall.  He was talking with a few of the other Penny Arcade people and also waiting for the panel to begin.  I got up from me seat and walked over to him.  When he saw me he recognized me and started waving his hands and talking to the fella next to him and pointing at me.  I walked over and apologized and asked if he was okay.  He lifted up his pant leg and had a freaking brace on it!!!  He said it was sprained.  He told his friend about what happened Friday night and about my backpack.   Alright, I just about cried right there.  It took about all of my strength and will power not to let the tears fall.  I told him about the picture my husband took, how I felt really bad, and asked if he had insurance. ( He does)  We talked for a few minutes and then I said my final sorry and said goodbye.
  So there you go!  I inadvertently sprained Roberts ankle.  I still feel very bad.  We are going to PAX again next year so I will have to be sure that I don't let this happen again.

Free Jewlery at PAX giveaways

  When I put the word out that I was giving away free jewelry I thought I might a couple or few people who actually found me.  Boy was I surprised!  On Friday, the first day of the con, someone found me within 2 hours.  Girls in cute Lolita were finding me and their boyfriends found me too.  It was so cute to see they boys come up to me.  They would come up to me and say "You are the girl, ummmm, the password is Sweet."  They were all so, confused as to the task that they were put up to. 
  As to the number of people finding me.  I was sure I would get about 3 people.  10 or 11 people found me.  I was worried that I was going to run out of goody bags.  As for the people who did get them I hope you like them. 
  I will have more pictures tomorrow and an interesting story.

PAX Weekend Pictures

  Well, PAX did not go quite how I thought and hoped it would but it was still fun none the less.  First off, there will only be pictures of me in the blue Tycho dress due to me only wearing that dress.  Why did I only wear the blue dress you ask?  To put it bluntly, I made the Yellow Gabe dress too small and I could not zip it up.  This was my own fault.  I forgot to try on the dresses before we went to Boston.  I guess I just assumed that since I made them on the form and the form was my size that they would fit no problem.  I also guess that the form was a size smaller that me when I drapped the fabric.
  No worries though.  My blue dress was a hit and Lolita's and thier boyfriends alike found me no problem.
Here are a few quick shots of me at the live recording of the Joystiq podcast.  (which was amazing and hillarious)

  The first shot is of us filling into the room before the podcast and the second is of the whole room holing up our free swag that we got.  I got an awesome Ds game.  My husband got Wii Cheer 2, Haha!  Here is the killer back shot of the Tycho dress and my back pack.

I will have more pictures and more stories tomorrow and all this week.

Free Stuff! Yea!

  That is right.  Free stuffs.  I am going to Penny Arcade Expo this weekend.  I have been working on these cute dresses to wear so I should be pretty easy to spot.  Why would you want to spot me there you ask?  Well, if you go to PAX and find me I will give you a lucky pack of cute jewelry and accessories.  All you have to do is find me on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, come up to me and tell me that you want free jewelry I will give it to you.  Perhaps I should come up with a password, lets see.  The passoword will be "SWEET".  You don't have to be in Lolita but if you do come in Lolita you might just get a little something extra on top of the lucky pack. 
  Lets break it down.  Come to PAX, find me in my Gabe or Tycho dress, and give me the password SWEET, and then you get free goodies.  Even if you don't remember the password I will still probably give you stuff. 
  Look out for these dresses.  (they will be finished at PAX, duh)

    I don't want to post the finished pictures yet because I want it to be a suprise.  look for them tomorrow or Friday.  Also, if you are interested in pictures of PAX I am planning on bringning my camera and camcorder and posting them the pics/videos on the blog all weekend.

Sick of rude comments and just plain sick.

  I live in Upstate NY and we have have unusually pleasant weather for the past week.  My husband, sister in law, and her boyfriend and I thought we would use the last bit of nice weather and so we went to walk Broadway of Saratoga,our closest local city.  We did a little shoping at the mall (everyone bought nice shoes and clothes) and then I wanted to visit a local bakery so we went to walk Broadway.  Now, Saratoga is a very liberal city and there are always lots of hippies hangning out and playing their guitars, open cafes playing music, and people hanging out with thier dogs.  Normally it is a safe haven for a Lolita.  Not yesterday. 
  As we were walking up to Broadway a car with 5 boys/men pulled up behind me and made the streotypical snide remark "Damn girl, why you dressin' like that?"  and laughing at me.  I turned, smiled, and made a thumbs up and kept walking.  They continued to slowly follow me and continued to say rude things and thier  launguage became more colorful as the seconds passed.  My sister in law and her boyfriend heard the boys saying these things to me and started yelling at them.  Soon, people were swearing at each other, telling each other to "suck my d***", and pretening to get out of thier car to fight.  Soon, they pulled away and were gone.  Within 30 seconds another car full of young people starting barking at me, laughing, and making
dog noises.Please understand, I am not an unattractive person.  I am kind of cute and not overweight.  They pulled away.  30 seconds after that the car full of boys comes back and pick right up where they began.  All this took place withing 2 minutes.  I have never had that many bad experiences and negative comments/reactions in such a short period of time.  On top of the rudeness I have a killer cold.
  I can handle an off colored remark with ease.  I can deal with the staring.  I know how to make a rude boy stop being an ass.  But this string of events just got to me.  It really hurt my feelings.
  I prefer not to get into it with people.  I am not a fighter.  I try to difuse the situation and go on my merry way.  I just don't undertand why people think they have the right to be so mean and rude to another person.  Why do they feel that theyhave permission to break other people down? I would never dream of doing something like that.  I don't think I could live with myself if I treated people like that. 
  Every Lolita deals with these types of interactions when they go out in public all done up.  For all the crappy stuff that happened I did a very nice compliment from the girls that worked in the bakery.  They said I had the cutest outfit and that I was very well put together.
  Have you girly-girls had negative experiences that have gotten to you?

Riiiiiinnnnggggsssss!

  I am selling over 100 rings on the EGL Sales.  Bunnies, kitties, Bows, Hearts, Stars, Strawberries, and more cute charms.  Hop on over and I am sure that you will find something that you like.

I sell them for pretty good prices on EGL Sales and if you buy enough you get free ones too.  Yea Free!

Tychos Dress Update Part 3

  I did a bit of sewing last night an more sewing today.  I actaully got so engrossed in sewing today that I forgot to eat and drink.  I was just about to go to work and I realized that I was super hungry and thirtsy.  So, I treated myself to an Iced Coffe and Low Fat Blueberry muffin from Dunkin Donuts on my way to work.  The picture below is a little decieving.  It looks as if I am further along than I am.  I pinned it together on the dress for just to see how it is coming out and to make up my mind about a few design/embellishment details.

I am adding a light blue stripe toward the bottom of the skirt to mirror and top and add a bit of interest to the bottom.  The skirt needs a little punching up.  The bow is also just a stand in bow. I really love the back of this skirt and I cannot wait for it to be done.  I have a lot of ruffling to do.

Fun with Deco

  I bought a new pink watch and when I got it home I wasn't as keen on it.  So, I did a little deco job on it.  Super cute, super pink, ad super fun.

Tycho Dress Update for PAX

  So, I spent about 4 hours sewing today and the bodice is coming along.  All the pieces are together except the collar.  I think I am going to do some sewing when I get home from work, sew the collar on and drape the skirt.  I know the general idea for the skirt but I have a few ideas and designs that I am tossing back and forth in my head.  What type of lace I am going to use, the color of the ruffles, and tings like that.  Here is what I have so far....

  I really like a dress/jsk with lots of gathering on the back.  That way it can be worn by several people, different sizes, and it can account for layers under it or weight gain and loss.  Fitted dresses are nice and tailored but they are less practical.  I like my Lolita to be easy to wear and friendly. 

  Speaking of other wearing my clothes.  I think I might sell these babies once they are done and once I have gone to the convention.  After all, this blog is about my debt and getting out of debt by selling my designs.  At PAX I might spread that word that I am going to sell them and if I get enough interest.  I also want to start making OP's, JSK's, and skirts to sell.  All one of a kind.  I do not like making things in repeat.  It's not that I think I am doing couture.  I just get bored making things over and over.  I like every project to be new, interesting, and fun.  I think when I am excited about a piece it comes though in my work.

  As a bonus here is a picture of my other kitty, Bella.  She likes to "help" me make my jewelry.

                                    

Huge Rings!

  I got a new batch of charms and cabs in the other day so I pulled out my favorite huge charms and made some "almost ridiculously" huge rings.  These charms are all between 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide.  I am in the middle of putting them for sale in my Etsy shop. 

  I have to use all of my willpower not to keep the strawberry one for myself.  I am a sucker for all things strawberries.  (My husband calls me his little strawberry)  To give you a sense of scale here is a picture of one of the rings on my model hand.. The hand is pretty darn close to the size of my hand (I have small to medium sized hands). 

  Hop on over to my Etsy shop and see if anything strikes your fancy.  I am selling them for $5.00 a pop.
  On a completely separate note my kitty Eirwyn (said like Air and win)  is flipping out this morning and jumping around like a tiny crazy little bean.  Here is a quick little shot of here and her cute face.

New Dress for PAX, Tycho!

  I am a little sick of staring at bright yellow so I started the next dress for PAX that I am going to wear.  When I was designing these dresses and thinking about them I was so sure that the super fun and bright Gabe dress was going to be my favorite one but now I am having second thoughts on that.  The moment I starting sewing the light blue stripes on the bodice I got excited and the color palette alone made me love it already.  The biggest element of Tycho's outfit that I borrowed was the muted blue color and the bright blue stripe on his sweater. 

  So far I have drafted the bodice, cut out the bodice, sewn the stripes on the bodice, sewn the channels for the gathering on the back, and attatched the ribbon the to the front for the "corset lacing".  The lapel on this dress is adorable.  Kind of a wide Peter Pan.  Here is my progress thus far...

Please excuse the messy desk.  I can't wait to drape the bottom.  I have never done an open back skirt.  I think I will do pretty well.  Draping is just like sculpting clay, just lay the fabric where you want it and play around with it until it looks like it does in your head.

Daily Lolita Highlight - Mad Aristocrat

  It is a dreary and rainy day here in Upstate New York so I thought I would highlight a Lolita that fits the mood with gorgeously dark outfits and lovely poses.  I am drawn to Sweet Lolita and Deco but one of my not so secret desires is to try Gothic Lolita.  There is something about the head to toe black outfits and the serious looks.  On my recent frolicking around Daily Lolita on EGL I bumped into Mad Aristocrats post.  I was blown away but her outfit, accessories, and the vibe that she gave off.  Super Cool.

  How cute is she in this AP replica by Kidsyoyo? I like it when Lolitas take lighting into consideration when they are taking pictures or doing a photo shoot and you can tell the lighting was thought about in this picture.  Another thing that I like is twinning.  In the below picture it took me a minute to figure out whether it was 2 girls twinning or a nice "photoshopping".  Then, I read the post and it turned out it was a friend of hers, Selaja.  They both have the same cute pouty face and long brown hair.

   The second set of pictures she had are my favorite.  Her outfit is primarily made up of Moitie and includes that well known Church Gate skirt.  Her whole outfit is put together so thoughtfully and looks like a dream.  The head dress is one of my personal favorite parts of the outfit.  I love that she didn't go crazy with the make-up and kept it kind of natural.  Her pale pink lips and white nail polish accent her outfit very nicely.  And there is nothing that I like more than a hand full of rings are bracelets/wrist cuffs.  Of course I love lots of accessories and jewelry!

   I love her shoes in both sets of pictures.  The boots are by BTSSB and the shoes in the above pictures are AatP.  I don't have any name brand shoes or boots and boy am I jealous.  And, for the big finish she posted a funny picture of her and her poor balance.  (I can identify with that.) Good to see a Lolita having a good time and smiling a big smile. Very nice Mad Aristocrat!

Gabe Dress for PAX Progress

  PAX is coming around the bend and I have been working on my outfits for it like crazy.  The Gabe dress is about 80% of the way to being done.  I still have to put in the zipper, add the Pac-man decal on the front bottom of the skirt, and clean up the inside a bit.  I still need to make the apron but I have to buy more fabric to do that.  I bought just enough to make the dress and didn't think about the apron at the time.  No big deal though, I will just run to the store some time this week and pink up a couple yards.  Here are a few pictures of the Gabe dress and the progress so far.  Pretty cute if I don't say so myself.  I really like the scallops at the bottom.  Also, the 3 buttons on the bodice have little Pac-men on them.

Gabe Dress in Progress

  Well, it has been quite some time since I have posted about my sewing so I am gonna give you a little peek at what has been going on  in my sewing room.
  My husband and I are going to the Penny Arcade Expo at the end of this month and I am making 2 dresses to wear for the weekend.  Both of them are interpretations of the 2 main characters outfits and made into Lolita dresses.  I am making the Gabe dress first because my huband said he would like to see that one first.  I was equally excited to make both of them so I could not decide. 
  I draped the bodice on my form (I hate to draft patterns.  My mind does not work well when making clothes and wrting it down on paper.)  and cut out the bodice fabric. I bodice is mostly done.  I have to sew cute little buttons down the middle, put in the zipper, and a few tiny details.  I have the skirt pannels draped so all I have to do is cute them out, drape the lining, and them sew, sew, sew.  I am also making an apron to go over the JSK.  The Gabe dress is an underbust JSK and I will wear a black blouse under it.  I have never made an underbust and I think it is coming along pretty well.
   I am soooo excited for them to be done.  I really hope they come out just like I picture them.  If they do then they will come out adorable.  Here are a few pics of what I have so far.

   I just love the way the straps hug the side of the bust and curve around on top of the shoulders.  It is very attractive and gives a very nice fit.  Oooo, I almost can't contain my excitment!

New Etsy Items and more.....

  So, my new display items came in the mail late last week and boy was I excited.  They are just as I was hoping they would be.  The ring displays are nice and neat looking.  The necklace/bust display is just lovely. And, the glass hand is the best. 
  Since I waited for an Etsy seller to start her February giveaway I also got 3 free earring displays with my purchase.  All together the displays and shipping came to just over $40.00 and I will recoup that in my EGL rings sale I will be doing within a week.  I also got my new kitty planner.  It is a little smaller than I thought it would be but, I think it will be perfect.  I filled in the month of March with the dates, appointments, events, and a few notes.  Hopefully it will keep me a little more up to date and with it.  (I tend to forget things if they are not written down) 
  I added several new items to my Etsy shop.  I added and am still adding rings.  The shop was sorely lacking rings so I am punching it up with some super cute ones that I think are really fun.  I especially love the 3 Pink ring set with the flower, tiara, and the ballet shoes.  But, I am a sucker for uber girly things.

  Keep an eye on my shop because it is ever being added to and you never know when something will pop up that you just have to have.