Tiny Dancer

My Highland dance school does an annual fundraiser show each year with a small silent auction to help raise money for workshops and school costumes.  I wanted to make something to contribute to the auction this year, and found my new cross stitch addiction helpful in this regard.  I had a pattern for a Highland dancer in a blue kilt that I decided to try as my one or my ‘more advanced’ patterns.  The pattern was pretty easy, with the only tricky parts being the ‘tartan’ pattern in the kilt.

I really like how it turned out, and I think some of the kids from the school will really like it.  The blue Highland outfits seem pretty popular and I wanted to make something that the kids would be interested in.

After I finished this design, I finally was able to pick up a frame for the kilt hose cross stitch that I completed previously.  It's now proudly displayed in my craft room.

My crafty corner

Here are some pictures of my craft space.  It's still in progress as we recently moved, but I'm having fun putting it together.

Previously I would work on my crafts and practice dancing in our garage... luckily I could move this operation indoors with this new bonus room.

There's space to practice my Irish and Highland dancing, and some storage space for some of my crafts.  I have a little sewing table with the tv conveniently situated so that that I can watch (or usually just listen)  while I craft.

Oh, and this is my cat Simon who looooves to help me craft. That seems to be the #1 time that he wants to snuggle.

Your turn! Tell me about where you do your crafting!

Suit up...

Sewing clothing is still new to me, but my interest was recently spurred by the need for new costumes for my Scottish Highland dancing.  When you get to a certain level, your need for costumes suddenly increases, and of course, none of them are standard.  Everything is custom made and if ordered from a Highland dance company, can be hundreds of dollars.  

The price tags on these custom made costumes made my jaw drop, so I decided to use the help of friends and family.  I had an immediate need for an Irish jig dress, so my ‘dance mom’ helped me pick out the fabrics and assemble things.  She took the hard parts (zippers, weird angles, sleeves, oh my!), but made sure I did my fair share.  

Onto the Sailor’s hornpipe costume: a tunic and pants.  I pulled my mom in for this one as Project Runway has me terrified of doing pants.  It didn’t seem like it could be that hard, but I wasn’t ready to take that chance and have them split in the middle of a dance.  Watching my mom literally crank out an amazing hornpipe costume for me was inspiring and had me instantly ready to push her out of the way so I could make my own clothes.  Of course, I didn’t, but I promptly went out and begin forming ideas of things I could make myself.  And this is where I am today... an update on my raincoat is coming soon!