I was a Zombie

Something on my Life To-Do list (aka: the Bucket List) was that I have always wanted to be a zombie! An odd thing to have on your life list but I have a lot of odd things on my Life To-Do List.

So my sister heard about this small indie film that needed zombies and so we decided to do it! The shooting was set for Sunday, May 31, 2009. It was a lot of fun even though we had to get up at 4:30am to be there at 6am. The shooting took place in Dixon, CA. Here is a link to the film's MySpace page:
Ravenwood Movie

Here is my sister about to get her make-up on!


Here I am with some make-up on:


Here we are in full zombie make-up!


My sister got lucky and got an action scene- this means she should be on screen in the film! Here she is getting some "open wounds" installed. This was really cool as I had no idea how to do this before doing this shoot. To get the effect you put a liquid latex on first then rip up some toilet paper and put that on and paint over it with liquid latex. Then let that dry and rip up the toilet paper layers so they look ragged and then paint it with flesh color and red. The effect was a really gross open wound!


Anyone who has done any photo shoots or has been in film, knows that 90% of the time you sit around waiting. So while we were waiting we shot pictures! Here is Nicola in the car- being an undead driver.


Here we both are with the main stars of the film. It was hot and the end of the day- but you can tell we all were having a great time still!


After we left, we just *had* to go to Starbucks for a cold drink- as zombies!


We were both very sore later on but still were glad we did it and we would do it again too!

NIN: Sacramento December 12, 2008

I went to the NIN show in Sacramento at Arco Arena recently. My concert buddy and I went together and this is the third time we have gone. He actually bought the tickets in October so we have been looking forward to it for a while! Then I started getting a group of migraines all together- I had 4 in less than three weeks. And we are talking about multi-day migraines! I was so over it and was very concerned that I would miss the concert- but I was fortunate. The Thursday before I was migraine free and Friday, the day of the show, I remained migraine free. Jason had a job interview at Google that same day so I left immediately afterwards and got stuck in some traffic on the way but I managed to get there with time to spare!

I wanted to get a camera in but decided not to since I also really didn't want to lose a camera or have to walk back to the car and stand in line again. But then they didn't even search me and TONS of people had cameras! I wish I had. but I did manage to get this one picture on my camera phone.



The show was WONDERFUL! I have been a Nine Inch Nails fan for a very long time. I love how he does a layered effect for the visuals in his shows. I would love to know how that front screen works- he did some amazing things with it this time and I am fascinated with it- being the techy geek that I am!

I stayed overnight in Sacramento then my friend and I went to breakfast and did a little shopping. We had to stop at Dimple and I picked up The Slip by Nine Inch Nails and Indestructible by Disturbed another band I LOVE. I have never seen them in concert but would love to.

Project Professional Tote

I just finished my Professional Tote by Creative Thimble. I read a review of this on Pattern Review and had to have it! So I got the pattern and started making it.




You can read more about it on my review for Pattern Review here and on my website, CamoFish.

My goal in making this was to make a bag that I could take with me when I go into San Francisco and have everything I need in it- so I didn't have to carry my laptop bag and my purse- and pull my dog in his rolling carrier. So this will fit either of my laptops and everything I need/want for the day (I think) and has a travel strap so I can slip it over the handles of Toby's rolling carrier. I have not yet tried it but I will on Thurs and will post an update then on how it went.


Close up of my dragonflies.

I embellished the front with some dragonfly beads I had in two different sizes. I am very pleased with the way it came out. I am also VERY proud that this tote was made from 100% properly aged stash fabric and I only purchased notions for it (zippers, thread, etc.)

Halloween Fun

I love Halloween. It has always been my favorite holiday.

This was aired a few years ago during the Super Bowl. I just love this commercial- I think it is hilarious. It is probably my favorite Halloween commercial.



Yesterday Saw V opened. I love the first three. Four really was not great- they should have stopped at 3. I have seen all of the Saw movies in the theater with a friend of mine. I will be going next week to see this one as well. Hopefully it is better than four.

And I have just discovered a new show that I am fast becoming addicted to: Fringe. I LOVE THIS SHOW! I was an X-files fan for a long time and I was depressed when it ended. This show is a new X-files! Very creepy! I will be following it and hopefully this show has a long lifespan.

Project Quilt Repair

So Jason has this quilt. I am not sure where it came from and am researching that now. But where ever it came from it was in need of repair. Many of the ties had come undone and so while I was house sitting in Mokelumne Hill, I took advantage of the expertise of some ladies that meet and craft in West Point (close to Mokelumne Hill). We retied the quilt and cut out the old ties. Here it is- with the new ties.



I am pretty happy with it- except for this small problem: Burn holes- two of them. I am not quite sure how to fix this. The suggestion I got from the ladies at the quilt/craft group was to put small patches on it- and I might do that and add some to make it look like it was supposed to be like that. Here are the burn holes:

I am not a quilter (yet) so all the help was greatly appreciated. So after repairing the burn holes- I will need to clean it. I got tips for that too but have to wait until I get home to tackle that project.



Update: I heard from Jason's mother and this quilt was apparently made by a church group that his Aunt was involved in and it was purchased for Jason by his parents. She is happy that I am repairing it.

Embird Help: Yamada Taro

I got Embird- I LOVE it- but I am still learning! I am trying to make a patch now that has Yamada Taro in Kanji (Japanese Characters) for part of a costume for Jason. But I am having problems getting it to work right. I knew that Embird would not be compatible with my IME (Input Method Editor) so I used PhotoShop to create an image that I later imported into Embird and used the AutoTrace tool. Sounds good so far, right?

Here is the image:



The Problem: I import and everything is fine except for the following problems:
1. on the first character (Yama) the last vertical stroke is not rendering.
2. on the second character (da) the ONLY line that renders is the first vertical stroke.

Does anyone know how to fix this?



UPDATE
Problem FIXED!!!! I ended up breaking the two kanji that the AutoTrace tool could not render into parts and that worked. I now have my embroidery ready to go. Too tired now to test it- so will do so tomorrow (it is almost 2am!!!) :)

OMG- I am still alive!!!!

I have a TON of news- but first- I promised my sister that I would post a widget for her so she can help promote Amy Ray, who apparently looks a lot like me. LOL! :)

If you are interested in the Indigo Girls or Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls- check it out! Unfortunately for me and my sister- they seem to play mostly on the East Coast.







Ok- now for news. My sewing room is clean and organized though I must admit that it is VERY HARD to keep it that way! I keep noticing piles of stuff I need to go through before it gets out of hand again! I have been very good about NOT BUYING fabric- except I did get some for Jason's costume. He wants a ninja costume and needed a lot of black and I have some but not enough so I got some.

I will post pictures soon.

I got Embird- and I LOVE IT! I actually got the basic program, digitizing program, Font Engine, Cross-stitch and Iconizer.

I got a short term job watching an 11 year old until school started and I was teaching her to sew. It was great fun and I loved hanging out with her! She finished two projects- a drawstring bag and an elastic waist skirt and they both turned out great! I will continue to teach her to sew.

I went on a trip to Tahoe with my sister. We had a wonderful time and neither of us wanted to come back. Toby had a great time hiking with us too. Unfortunately when we got back, not even 5 minutes after we got the last load out of the car, the phone rang. It was our mother's neighbor telling us that she had another heart attack and was on her way to the hospital in an ambulance. So that ended our vacation quite abruptly. She was in ICU for 3 days then in the standard room for another 2. She is home now and has a heart surgery planned. She has a leaky valve they have to repair and they will work on two more blocked arteries.

And I was not even done with that and my tooth started hurting. I had to get it pulled and ended up going to UCSF in San Francisco. It was very inexpensive but they took very good care of me. They were definitely students but that didn't bother me. If you don't like a lot of different people looking at you- then you probably would not like it- but I don't mind that. The worst part of it was that while waiting at the dental clinic- I got a migraine. So that sucked- I had my tooth extracted WHILE I had a migraine. Ick. :( And then later- when I got back to my friend's place I lay down. I still had Novocain on board so I was ok. Not great but ok. Then later when I woke up- the Novocain had worn off and my migraine had doubled in intensity. I almost went to ER I hurt so bad. But I managed to eat a mashed avocado and took a vicodin and that kept me from ER. It helped enough for me to be able to rest again. I hope I don't have to do that again though!

ok- that is the short story of what has been going on!