The house is coming along. Marty and I went to World Market over the weekend and bought a nice media center/tv stand, a console/side table and a big wood cube for the record player and to store all our records.

I don't think I'll be going to SDCC. Vivian and I planned but it's really not so feasible at the last minute, too late to plan, and no money to do it (least for me what with the house and all). Someone from the Wolf Pack Elite is going to see if he can get an autograph from David Tennant. I think his chances are slim because David isn't doing an autograph session and SDCC is different from other cons. More promotion, less about the fans. He thinks he has a chance though because he got his picture taken with John Barrowman last year due to his awesome Captain America costume, hehehe. Either way, it's really nice to know that someone's going to try. That's all I can ask for. It's a sweet gesture.

( This consoles me too. )

I am getting really excited for Dragon*Con! I seriously need to make all my costumes right now. Not right now, right now. My sewing room is organized, but I need a cutting/work table, stat! Ikea is freaking crazy with their shipping charges. $300 for a $50 table, I don't think so! I just need a large table where I can cut fabric dammit and I don't want to spend more than 100 bucks dammit! I think I can get what I want at Office Depot. We'll see, I'll check it out this weekend.

Mike, the RT, is in town! He's wandering New Orleans as we speak. Ima meet him up for lunch, woohoo!

8-25-08 - Sash, originally uploaded by TineyHo.

For the Seven Deadly Sins group, I made a sash and bought a tiara. I was Pride so I was a pageant queen. I had other ideas but with the moving and job hunting, I didn't have time to come up with anything more original. o_O I like my sash though. I'll keep it if we ever do the Seven Deadly Sins group again, but I'll make sure to come up with a custom outfit.

8-17-08 - Pattern Drafting, originally uploaded by TineyHo.

This is one of the books that I got and it makes me incredibly happy!!! It's a book called Pattern Drafting that was published in 1969. It has everything in English and Chinese.

I love, love, love old books. I love things that truly reflect the time it was made. I love the 50's and 60's. Technicolor, whimsical, repressed. XD

8-11-08 - Serger, originally uploaded by TineyHo.

This is the serger that my friend Melissa lent me. No manual yet, will be getting one soon. Look at all these threads, it's so confusing! I can't wait till I get the manual to figure it out. This will do nicely in terms of learning until I get my own serger. :D

Oh yeah, I'm going to have to teach Melissa how to use it after I learn it. LOL

8-6-08 - Moscato, originally uploaded by TineyHo.

Wednesday night was extremely fun. Went out to dinner with Aleesha and Melissa in the city. We went to a posh sushi place called Sake Cafe. Before the sushi, we had wine at Melissa's place. She lives in New Orleans. She's an engineer at Lockheed as well, but she's also an artist! She's freaking awesome. Her house is covered in art and antiques. She also keeps a studio with all her paints and crafts and easels and stuff.

I don't drink wine, I don't know crap about wine, and I generally don't likeit but Melissa introduced me to a wine I actually like. The type is called Moscato and it's a dessert wine but she doesn't care, it's her favorite and now it's my favorite.

Melissa lent me her serger. She doesn't actually know much about it, but she bought a used Bernina. I need to figure it out, but there's no manual, going to have to get a manual. It's real old. She said it worked when she first got it but then it got all tangled and she doesn't know how to fix it. o_O She wants help with a Xena costume. OF COURSE I'll help.

7-18-08 - Psylocke Costume Complete, mostly, originally uploaded by TineyHo.

I finished this some time ago... and I finally had Marty take a picture. Now that we're getting closer to Dragoncon, Marty's getting all excited as well. We're going to put together a Resident Evil Centurion outfit for him. I initially thought he might want to do the UBCS because I already have the vest for it but he wants more armor.

I still need a wig.

7-3-08 - Sewing Table, originally uploaded by TineyHo.

This is like the last picture of my sewing escapades except now this table is in fact the designated sewing table. Our new dining table is much larger and prettier. I so prefer darker woods. I've been diligently working on my Psylocke costume and I'm almost done. I just need to finish the one thigh-high boot. Oh, and possibly make myself a psi-blade.

6-24-08 - Sewing Bin, originally uploaded by TineyHo.

I bought this little storage bin at Hancock Fabrics. I love it. I've put the fabric for my current projects in there instead of having the fabric sit somewhere random. I love the design and the colors on the bin. So yeah, makes me happy.

6-19-08 - Boot Cover!, originally uploaded by TineyHo.

So I finished my prototype and it was a success. Now I need to take the pattern I made from it and use the Psylocke fabric to make one thigh high boot cover. The other boot cover will be ankle high. YES! Progress.

6-17-08 - Back to Sewing, originally uploaded by TineyHo.

I finally got off my butt and started sewing again. Nothing big. I just need to finish my Psylocke so I need to do the boot covers and straps. I'm not done. :P This is just a prototype that I'm testing out before I cut the blue fabric . BUT! Before I even finish the prototype I want to get some paper to make my own patterns. Sheesh. I need to get to Hancock's.

Oh yeah, this is our modest dining table as well.

4-23-08 - Beginning of Psylocke, originally uploaded by TineyHo.

So yeah, this is what I've been working on after finishing all my catsuits. I had to perfect this bodysuit, this is the second time around making it. I also made the gloves real quick, those were easy since I didn't have to deal with fingers. Next up I need to make all the various bands and get some shoes/boots to make some thigh high boot cover thingies.

Generally psylocke has a katana of some sort, hence the boken, like conventions ever let you bring real weapons. :P Party poopers. I'd like to figure out how to make a psi-blade but obviously I don't have kinetic powers so I can't make it with my mind. I need to figure out a way to make a physical prop. Hyuk.

4-21-08 - Gorgo, originally uploaded by TineyHo.

So I was lazy and I didn't take a picture but Rob did, bwahaha. Hey wait, I wasn't lazy, I was sewing all night. I made two catsuits and the bodysuit for Psyclocke. Course, it was mostly an experiment since it turned out great but it was too small. My torso is longer than I thought it would be, I thought I measured correctly. Oh wells. I'm going to make the bodysuit again and obviously make it longer.

So Ashley has created the base dress for her Gorgo costume. It's basically one of those costumes that you have to create when you're going to wear it because there's no good way to make it, then take it off, and then put it on again without it all being crazy or falling apart. It's kind of funny because she had been freaking out over this thing for weeks and then the simplest solution was the one she went with.

4-17-08 - Vinyl Fabric, originally uploaded by TineyHo.

This picture is rather ambiguous. I made a large order from spandexworld.com and got 15 yards of fabric. 15 yards is a lot. o_O Three different types of fabric; navy stretch vinyl, black shiny lycra, and black stretch vinyl.

I plan to make more catsuits and use the navy vinyl for both Kitana from Mortal Kombat and Psylocke from X-men.

What am I going to do with so many catsuits? One is for the UBCS and one is for the Baroness. Maybe I'll do a Death Dealer as well. You can never have too many catsuits. :)

4-16-08 - UBCS, originally uploaded by TineyHo.

I'm not partictularly fond of this picture but what can you do.

This is my current project. I made a catsuit. It's my first catsuit and it turned out pretty well. This is the beginnings of my Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service uniform. The field armor vest needs to be modded for better fit and the Umbrella Corp logo needs to be added. There's other pieces that I still need to collect; boots, gloves, other stuff...

I don't think I'll be wearing catsuits too often. I'm too modest to go around showing off my figure. :P Not to mention I feel like you need to be tall to pull it off. I feel like an oompa loompa.

Back to the gym for me.

4-7-08 - Mirror, Mirror, originally uploaded by TineyHo.

So this is the Italian Renaissance dress I made for the Ren Faire. If I move to New Orleans/or whenever I visit New Orleans, I plan to get a mask to match the dress. Or maybe I want to get a better circlet. I feel like the current cheapy circlet I have doesn't match up with the period of the dress. Or maybe I should make a more medieval dress to match the cheapy circlet I have.

Anyways, this dress was made in around 20 hours. Bought materials on Monday, worked on it after work on Tuesday, Wednesday, only an hour on Thursday because we had dinner with the Van Assche family, and then I had a half day on Friday so I worked from 3 pm to 1 am. Something like that. I had it ready for the Ren Faire but it wasn't fitted right so the next week I fixed it up a little bit. I like it a lot. There's some imperfections so my skills are constantly improving but I'll probably keep this for a while.

3-21-08, originally uploaded by TineyHo.

On Friday I got to leave work at noon because it was Easter Weekend/Good Friday. It was pretty freaking sweet. I ran a bunch of errands before going home and ending up shopping, getting lunch, picking up Oki from the groomers.

I obviously stopped at Joanns to get the rest of the trim for my Renaissance dress and when I was checking out I had to take a picture of this icky top. o_O This top is what we would have learned to make if Ashley and I decided to take the second sewing class. I totally wanted to but now I'm glad we're not. There were scheduling conflicts.

Instead we've made an appointment with a seamstress we met at Megacon who's done some nice work and she's going to answer our questions and show us how to do certain things. It'll be cool!

I did end up finishing my Renaissance dress on time... it was rather exhausting. I don't really have any pictures yet though but that's okay. While I finished it on time there were little things I wanted to tweak, like taking it in the back. I think that's it really. Turned out rather nicely.

3-20-08 - Renaissance Dress, originally uploaded by TineyHo.

This is what I'm currently working on. I bought the fabric on Monday, I started working on it on Tuesday and it's going very well so far. I'm hoping to have it done by Saturday morning. o_O

Yeah, it's a tall order. If I don't have it done by then that's fine. We're going to the BARF (Bay Area Renaissance Festival) over by Mosi in Tampa this Saturday so I wanted to have a cute outfit. Even if I don't get it done in time, at least I'll have something for the next faire.

I want to be a princess, not a wench.

I figure if I can get the base done by tonight, I can add the details tomorrow. Here's hoping, yeah right. I still need to go back to Joanns to get the detailing, ribbon, etc. Actually, I need to go back to Joanns to get some bias tape for the sleeves. Sheesh. o_O

Yeah, who knows if I'll have this done by Saturday morning. :P

3-8-08 - Wolf Pack!, originally uploaded by TineyHo.

Okay, so this isn't really something I've mentioned in my journal but I've joined a sort of costuming club. Basically everyone costumes and there are forums we chat on and we share tips and tutorials, etc. and then during cons we get together to get crunk. Most of the people do Resident Evil costumes, primarily Centurions and UBCS, but they welcome anyone who costumes.

Friday night they held a costume party at the Embassy Suites on International Drive and Saturday night after Megacon, they held another party at the Glo Lounge on International Drive.

I took the Wolf Pack t-shirt and with my mad sewing skillz, turned it into a halter top. Some people dressed up for the Saturday party but most dressed normal. So from left to right is me, Becca, Raccoon, Ashley, Buddhaful, and Nox. Buddhaful's still sporting the headgear from her 7 of 9.

Yes, I was kind of drunk. It was a big night of dancing, oh, and there was a burlesque show with Batman villains!

At Megacon there was a Wolf Pack table and Ashley and I did a shift where we talked to people about what Wolf Pack was and told them to go to the party!

3-6-08 - Firefly, originally uploaded by TineyHo.

So here are Ashley and I's mostly completed costumes. I say mostly completed because I didn't do my hair for the picture. I did my hair later to make sure it could curl, and in fact in can curl, but I'm going to need a crapload of hairspray to make sure it stays.

Megacon is this weekend and there's a costume party tonight at the Embassy Suites. Tonight we're wearing our Resident Evil outfits and then the Firefly outfits are for tomorrow.

I am so antsy at work today because the office is mostly empty and I wanna go home to get ready! AAAHHHHH!

It will be spring break for people who go to school.

I'm going to work very slow today.

Also, Rob and Marty are planning on participating in the Red Bull Flugtag/. I hope they make it.

2-24-08 - Beginning of Jill Valentine, originally uploaded by TineyHo.

Ha! That's not my hair. It's a wig. I need to style it a little better but I only put it on quickly for this picture. This is the beginnings of my Jill Valentine outfit. I made the top and it's not done. I still need to hem the bottom. Let me tell you, making a fitted top was not easy for me. This is the third prototype. It's got boning and that makes me happy. I'm a little annoyed with how wrinkly the fabric can get but it doesn't look bad in the picture.

I still need to make the skirt (easy), I've got the military belt (which makes me so happy btw), I'm altering the shoulder holster I have, waiting for the thigh holster in the mail and I bought some boots. I want another pair of boots, I want a variety of boots really. Just so I can pick and choose whatever.

I forgot to say that this is my first wig! I always thought wigs were kind of weird. After shopping for one and having a blast trying them on and being goofy, I can see why people like them. It wasn't too expensive and the quality is pretty nice. The lady at the wig shop was way nice too. Anyways, this one is obviously for Jill but I'm hoping I can style it for Ada Wong as well. I have no experience styling a wig but apparently it's possible to make a wig look different. I just figured you're stuck with the one style but we'll see how things go when I finally do Ada Wong.