Lauralynn Elliott's Blog, page 39

Adventures in Sewing

Susan Bischoff and I went shopping a LONG time ago and bought everything I needed to make a skirt and blouse for my first (in a long time) sewing project. I got around to cutting out the material a few weeks ago. Today, since I’m on vacation, I’ve had a whole day to work on my sewing. How is it going? Well…maybe not too bad. I have the under skirt finished. But the lace overlay is giving me pause. I had to cut six inches off the skirt because I’m short and the skirt was much longer than I wanted. Now, I have a problem because I can’t cut off the lace (haven’t cut the material for this yet) since it has a scalloped edge. So that means I’ll have to cut off the top of the skirt instead of the bottom. Maybe this won’t be too much of a problem since the skirt is fairly straight. I guess it will be gathered just a little more. I decided to make the overlay separate from the underskirt so I can maybe mix and match later, sometimes wearing the skirt without the lace.

On to the blouse, which is what I’m just beginning to work on now. This pattern is supposed to be “very easy”, but I say nay, nay. Only because I had no idea how to use bias tape. However, thank goodness for YouTube! The way the pattern showed using the tape was confusing, but the video showed exactly how it’s done, plus an even quicker way to do it. (This is double fold bias.)

Okay, I know I’m boring the non-sewers to death. In fact, those people probably have already stopped reading. LOL. Anyway, I was just wondering. Have any of you ever used YouTube to figure out how to do something? If so, was it helpful?

Final Check-In

There’s not much new to report. One beta reader is finished (and she loves my story!), and one is halfway finished. I haven’t worked on getting Vampires’ Curse ready for print since I was at the cabin. The frustration of the page numbers just overwhelmed me, so I’m still trying to decide whether or not to add the extra pages to make the chapters all start on the right side. Most people who commented on my blog post said they didn’t care where a chapter started.

All in all, I’m happy with where I am with my goals for this round. Except for exercise goals. Those are the ones that always suffer.

On an unrelated note, my cats are fine after their surgeries, just lying around a little more. Oz had this huge hernia removed, so he was a little worse than if he had just had the neutering. They both slept with me last night.

The “Look” Challenge

I’ve seen this floating around, but I finally got tagged. I have Jeff Clough to thank for it. No, really, I like to do these. LOL Anyway, here are the rules:

1. Grab your current work in progress.

2. Find the first occurrence of the word “look.”

3. Copy that paragraph and a few surrounding paragraphs.

4. Post them to your blog.

5. Tag five other people.

Ok, I’m going to break the last rule. Although I LOVE to be tagged for stuff like this, I know others don’t necessarily want to take the time, so I’m not putting anyone on the spot. But here is the except from my book containing the first instance of the word “look”:

“My Nikolas, I have a gift for you,” she murmured as she kissed him. He was lost. He wrapped his arms around her and wanted only to stay here with her for eternity.

He kissed her deeply and urgently, but soon she pulled back and looked at him. Smiling, she said, “And now for my gift.”

I know that’s short,but the surrounding paragraphs would give part of the story away, which I don’t want to do in case someone reading this decides to read the book.

Cabin Pictures

While I’m sitting here waiting until it’s time to pick up Willow and Oz from the vet, I thought I would post our cabin pictures. The vet’s office called and said they had awakened and were doing fine, and that I could pick them up in about four hours. In addition to the neutering, they fixed a hernia Oz had.

Anyway, on to the pictures. I’m going to have a hard time picking out my favorites, but there are too many to post. It amazes me how much clearer they are on my iPad than on my computer. The iPad display rocks.

Barn where grill, canoe, etc. is kept. Note the paintings in the window.

Cabin

Dining Room

Kitchen

Living Room

Porch

More Porch

Anya’s Bedroom

My Bedroom

Swing by the Creek

View of River From Cabin

River

Willow and Oz – The Great Escape

Okay, the title is a little more dramatic than the circumstances call for…maybe. The whole thing certainly felt dramatic at the time.

Today is the first day of my vacation, so I was trying to sleep late. But I heard my puppy, Daisy, barking like crazy at something. She just wouldn’t stop…she kept barking and barking. Finally, I got out of bed to see what the problem might be. I saw Willow sitting on top of the cat cage. Not IN the cage…on top of it. And Oz was nowhere to be found. I hurried outside and saw Daisy was barking at something under the deck. I figured it must be Oz she was barking at. I got a flashlight and saw that it was, indeed, Oz under there. And I couldn’t coax him out because he was afraid of Daisy. I doubt Daisy would hurt him, but the barking was unnerving. I finally yelled at my husband to get out of bed and help me. He had to run Daisy back to the other side of the house. I called and called to Oz, but he just wouldn’t come out. All I could think of was 1) I had to have both cats available to be “fixed” tomorrow morning, and 2) We have coyotes around here. The coyote issue is the reason my cats are in a huge cage on the deck instead of roaming free. So I’m really freaking out because Oz won’t come out. Finally, I figured out what to do. I got Willow out of the cage and held her while calling to Oz. It worked like a charm. As soon as he saw Willow, he started toward me. Now I had another problem. Oz is getting really BIG. And Willow was struggling in my arms to get to Oz. But my husband gently took Willow from me so I was able to scoop Oz up into my arms. What a sigh of relief came from me. Now the two culprits are safely ensconced in my house.

Oh, here’s the way they got out. My son and his girlfriend were here when I got back from church yesterday. He had let the cats into the house so the girlfriend’s little girl could play with them. Apparently, he had opened both doors of the cage, and when he put them back in, he only latched one of them. It took the cats awhile, but they finally figured out one of the doors was unlatched. What a scary thing it was!

Late Sunday Post

This is a very late post. I didn’t have time before church. Then, my son, his girlfriend, and her little girl were all here this afternoon. And THAT was more important than posting. Then there was church tonight, so I’m just now getting around to it.

There’s not a lot to report aside from the last couple of posts where I’ve already told everyone what’s going on. But to summarize for those who haven’t kept up. I went to a cabin in Ellijay, GA with Anya Kelleye. While there, I got all my editing done on Soul of a Vampire. I got Vampires’ Curse ALMOST ready for print. Anya worked on some book covers. We both did some reading. We ate. We chilled out. It was a much needed retreat. And Soul of a Vampire is in the hands of beta readers.

For those of you waiting on pictures of our retreat, I think I’ll post them tomorrow. I didn’t think I should do it in a ROW80 post.

Almost Time to Go

Well, it’s almost time to go. Although I do miss hubby and the animals, I’m sad to leave this beautiful place. I won’t miss Mr. Roach, though. Nor will I miss his little brother who I found resting on my pillow before I went to bed last night. I slept with the light on again. It’s been a good trip. I finally got Soul of a Vampire ready for beta readers. I tried to get Vampires’ Curse ready for print, but I’m still having trouble with page numbers. When I finally get one problem fixed, another one crops up. I finally got the numbers right. But then when I added the blank pages needed to make sure all the chapters start on an odd number, those pages had the page numbers and headers on them, even though I started them in different sections. I’m tempted to leave those blank pages out. I’ve noticed some traditionally published books aren’t staring all chapters on odd numbered pages anymore. And I think one of them was a Stephen King. I wonder if that even matters anymore. I think it looks better, but why beat myself up over it when big publishing houses don’t all do it anymore. What to do….

Day One of our Retreat

I’m stealing Anya’s hot spot on her phone for a few minutes. I just wanted to give a quick update.

When we arrived at this cabin, I was completely in love! This place is absolutely amazing and beautiful. I’ll have pictures later. Maybe more pictures than anyone wants to see. LOL. I went around with my iPad snapping pictures like a crazy person.

Anya is sleeping downstairs in the master bedroom, and I’m upstairs. There’s also a loft bedroom. We each have our own bathroom. I haven’t seen any scorpions, but there is a roach the size of Texas that apparently thinks my bathroom is his own personal domain. He’s scared of me, though. When I come in the bathroom, he scurries behind a little container that holds towels, a candle, etc. Once, he peeked out from behind it, and when he saw me, he scurried back behind it. I did sleep with my light on last night since roaches like darkness. LOL.

I’ve been working on getting Vampires’ Curse ready for print. The page numbers, as usual, have been kicking my butt, but I’m using some pointers from Ruth Ann Nordin, and I think I might have figured out how to make it work. I ALWAYS struggle with the page numbers. That’s the only problem I have with formatting for print.

So I’m going to get back to work now. Later, Anya and I might go outside on the huge porch and sit in the rocking chairs and work. Or not. We can do whatever we want.

Might be Internet Silent

I just wanted to let everyone know there’s no Internet access at the cabin where Anya and I are staying. My Verizon 3G might work on my iPad, but I’m not sure. This whole weekend is about writing and working on writing stuff, so it might be good to be offline a couple of days. So I’m not ignoring everyone. LOL

Anyway, we’re on our way. We have all our food packed. We have all the tools we need to work. We have our jammies. We may STAY in our jammies. The cabin has three bedrooms and two bathrooms, so we have plenty of room. I told Anya she could stay in the master bedroom with the jacuzzi tub…since that’s where she found a scorpion once.

Cats!

Just a quick post to show you a picture of my cats. Although they are only about six months old, Oz is as big as many full grown cats. If he grows any more, he’s going to be HUGE. I’m sorry you can barely see him in this pic. He’s all stretched out against the back of the love seat, and he’s black, so he’s hard to see. But I had to show this pic because Willow looks so cute, looking at me like she wants her picture taken.

While I’m on vacation next week, I need to get them spayed and neutered. I caught Oz trying to “get friendly” with Willow, so I guess it’s time. And then we’re going to have a puppy to have spayed soon afterward. I think I’ll let my husband take care of that one. Anyways, here’s the pic.

Willow and Oz