Pet Gala

 So the top is done for the gala outfit for Piper Jo, next comes the skirt.

My double just sent texted me a picture of my hat, wow, hope I do not topple over. I can not wait to see my dress.

D27 and D36

 From RRP:

D27: Home for the Fall!

In late July, D27 sent a postcard from just inside Manitoba: the farthest north that any of our Decorah eagles have traveled. She started her fall migration on August 10, traveling 79.1 miles SSW to an unnamed lake 58 miles ENE of Sachiago Lake. After several short hops of 30 or so miles, she flew 145 miles south between August 16 and August 18, and an incredible 338 miles between August 19 and August 22! She flew within 3.9 miles of her natal nest on August 29th and is currently hanging out in the Postville area, about 18 miles south. Since January 1 of this year, she has traveled an incredible 3,190 miles. That is a lot of wind beneath her wings!

While looking at D27's map, I got curious about her daylight length profile. We know that daylight length pulls a lot of strings in a bird’s body, and we also know that D27’s daylight length changes quite a bit with the seasons and her latitude.

- Between November 15, 2021 through February 1, 2022, D27 experienced less than 10 hours of daylight per day.

- D27 was above the 50th parallel from June 1 though August 19. She averaged 16 hours and 13 minutes of daylight while she was there: an increase of 39% over her solar minimum. Her solar maximum occurred on June 23, when she experienced 16 hours and 55 minutes of day.

- D27 did not experience true night from June 1 through August 9. Between August 9 and August 19, true night went from 1 minute, 3 seconds to 3 minutes, 33 seconds.

Changes in latitude might mean changes in attitude, but they also mean changes in daylight length! Between August 12 and August 22, D27 lost over an hour of daylight as she moved from the 54th parallel to the 45th parallel. The days will remain shorter in Decorah until the fall equinox on Thursday, September 22.

D36: The Iowa Staycation Continues!

How is D36 doing? Our little homebody is continuing his Iowa staycation, wandering back and forth between the Turkey River and Ten-Mile Creek. Do subadult male eagles travel less than their female counterparts? It’s tough to say. I checked D36’s logs and he’s traveled 2096 miles so far this year: quite a bit less than older half-sibling D27! However, he traveled more miles overall in his first two years compared to hers.

- From September 1, 2020 to September 1, 2022, D36 traveled about 7,950 miles.

- From September 1, 2017 to September 1, 2019, D27 traveled about 7,830 miles. She’s flown an incredible 19,199 miles since we started tracking her on August 9 of 2017: far more than I’ve flown in my lifetime! We'll see if D36 catches up.

Holiday Already

 So here we are school has barely started and we have a day off.  It is just weird everyone trying to get back to normal when we may never get back to normal.

Oh well I have things to look forward, my birthday is the 17th and I have a new outfit and I think I spied a cake somewhere and a new cupcake recipe to share cupcakes with everyone.  My outfit this week is kind of a weird yarn but it is crinkly and I love it.  It is a bit chilly in my classroom so I asked for a sweater and got this cool shrug, it is just right.  Look at those clear shoes, they are fun, people think I do not have shoes on.  HAHAHA

I spied my muslin sample for my gala dress being made today, I need to find the perfect orange shoes for it.  Now to see what my hat will look like, can't wait to see it.

Hope everyone has a good week.

Hot Dogs and Buns

 When I was in HS I made my own clothes, you could get cotton fabric 5 yards for a dollar, patterns were about a dollar and thread and zipper and you had a new dress for about $5.  Fabric came in 36" and 45" width and the pattern had yardage for both widths.  Today buying fabric and patterns are a lot like buying hot dogs and buns.  Why they do not make the same number of hot dogs and buns in a package is beyond me.

Now fabric is 42" wide instead of 44/45" as the pattern states.  So when are patterns going to come into the new fabric width size?  I have got to the point where I buy an extra yard of fabric and hope I have enough.  That adds more money to the project and they wonder why people are not making their own clothes anymore.  Well many do not want the extra cost of $10-$15 a yard for just cotton and hoping they have enough or do the math to try and figure out how much more they need.  Because we all know that cotton shrinks a lot and you never get the true yardage you paid for after you wash it.

I will continue to make my own clothes because I get the fit I want and need and I get to pick something that does not make me look like an old lady or a 20 year old.  Hey pattern designers get with the program and fix the pattern yardages to match the fabric width.

School has Started

 Boy it is hard to get back into the groove of getting up and getting ready to go to school.  But it will be ok in a couple of weeks when I get used to it. I hope everyone had a great first week at school.  Next week I am going to be kind of subdued, too bad my orange daisy with a face button did not show. So a simple dress with vest and of course orange shoes.  

My dresser made a mock dog body, it is pretty funny but what are you going to do when you need to make sure the outfit fits for the Pet Gala.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Look what my dresser go today, too many things in the book that can be used for me. I am a lucky lightbulb.

First Day of School

 Can you believe school starts Monday already, where did the summer go.  You know I had to pick an orange outfit so I picked this dress which is just too much fun, all those colors.  I was gonna do orange shoes but these lime green screamed at me.  My backpack is full of books, paper, pencils, crayons, a calculator, etc.  

This fabric is more orange than it looks but this will be my gala dress. My dresser has enough that she is thinking of making her dress out of this too, we can match. 

Eleanor we missed you today. 

A Sad Day

 One of my favorite employees is leaving. I totally understand why, but I will miss her a lot.  She always dropped by to see what new outfit I was wearing, found cute little things for my apartment and yard and well, I am sad.  

Eleanor please make sure you stay in touch with my dresser so I know how you are and if you can stop by once in a while and see me.  

Why is it so hard to figure out what to wear on my first day of school, next Monday?  Off to figure it out and yes it will be orange.  

Meeting Piper Jo

 We got to meet Piper Jo yesterday at work.  She is smaller than she looks in the pictures and so full of energy and cute.  We had set out 4 sets of fabric, trim, etc for the parents to look at.  I really wanted the black and white with a splash of orange but they chose a different color.  I have to admit the fabric with the white paper wrapper really did look good close up to the dogs colorings.  

Unfortunately Piper does not like bows or hats or anything on her head cos I so badly wanted to have a hat so i could ride in the top of it.  Fear not though my dresser is taking me to the gala and I think she will do me in black and white and orange.  She is going in her LBD and her monarch butterfly shawl.  So we need to match.

Piper has so much energy she made me need a nap just watching her.  She also has her tail up on her back most of the time so that really changes what the skirt will look like so she can throw her tail up and over the skirt.

Anyway now to get some drawings done, get some thoughts going and start on this. It has to be done by September 24th for dress rehearsal.

Meanwhile I am going to pack my backpack this next week along with pick out my First Day of School outfit cos it starts here on the 22nd.  I am just vegging in a yellow top and purple shorts this week with yellow ballet slippers. My dresser forgot to get a picture.

Stay tuned for further Piper events.

Pet Gala

 I am so excited I am going to the Pet Gala (even though I have a cat, hope LightBulb does not mind).   It is like the Met Gala only this one is for dogs.  Dogs get dressed up and walk the red carpet.  The Grooming Project will be the beneficiary of this year's gala.  They assist low income families in obtaining jobs in dog grooming.  Anyway my dresser is helping dress a Shichon.  Of course being at Scraps there is a ton of fabric, trim, etc to choose from.  Since Scraps is dressing a dog then I of course must go along and report back.  So I have yet to figure how I am going down the runway in my outfit but we have til October to figure it all out. Suggestion is I ride on a hat worn by the dog owner, ride in a pocket on the dog, somehow get fastened to the back of the dog but the cape is a problem for that and how do i get fastened on.  Anyway, lots of white and orange preparations to be done.  Stay tuned for pictures of the dog, me and the work going into this outfit.

Good thing my dresser has my outfits done til my birthday mid September or she would not be able to sleep.  And of course there is Halloween coming up and what will I be this year, leaning towards a mermaid, or?????

Outifts

 My coloring book outfit, notice the sash has crayons on it.  It was fun to watch the kids come by, pick up crayons and color books.  I hope they had a fun week coloring, I know I did.

My outfit this week is pretty blah, just hanging out relaxing because school starts soon and then it will be busy again.

 

 I am off to start packing my backpack for school, so many items to choose from and what am I going to wear on the first day, something orange of course (my fav color) and I have several pieces to choose from.

How Does This Happen

 Remember I wrote about my Vinca in the pot that died earlier in the year but the seeds sprouted.  They were a bright pink bloom and last year I had one white bloom.  So this year I have the bright pink, a white and the small bloom in front is a light pink.  I have no idea why this is happening but it is pretty cool that I have new color of blooms from one color.  We shall see how long the new plants last, hopefully another 4 years.  

Who Am I?

 So let me go back almost a year ago and explain how I came to be.  Someone decided the store needed a mascot.  Since we collect used craft, school and office supplies, and various other things and re-sell them, the whole purpose of the store is you walk in see all the wonderful things at cheap prices and voila the light bulb goes off.  So I became a light bulb.  After much trial and error I came about.  There is a flat Scrappy for people to color and take with them and post pictures and there is a somewhat flat felt kit you can make.  But there is only one of me, well 2 but one is only my model that my dresser uses to make sure all my outfits will fit.  

Sometimes I wish I had hair there is so much more my dresser could do with me, but alas light bulbs do not have hair, so she uses hats and headbands to try and cover my huge head.

It all started last year in October when my dresser was asked to make me a Halloween costume, she had many ideas but nothing worked because I only have a 2" long body to work with.  Once the bug hit she decided I needed an outfit for every month centering on the holiday, so I became a turkey for November, had an ugly xmas sweater for December, had a snow outfit for January and so on.

Because I kept getting moved a lot around the store my dresser thought i needed a place to be, so my studio apartment happened, 2 solid weeks of drawings, measuring, painting, etc and my place came about.  I am enclosed in a box so things can not be stolen ( the 2 birds in the feeder were stolen this summer) and I could still be seen.

I have a Siamese cat named Light Bulb (duh).  The next big project is for me to get a Jeep followed by a camper, she shed, and a 2nd floor with a bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom.

I got a swimming pool this summer, you may have seen me kicking back on Facebook or perhaps Instagram.  My dresser is not on Instagram but you can catch me periodically on her FB page or ScrapsKC FB page. 

Stay tuned for my further dressings, events, etc.

My model only has the body but my dresser knows how long the arms and legs are.

Me chillaxing in my pool which is really a very large coffee mug with styrofoam peanuts in the bottom with a piece of foam covered in scrapbook paper for the water.  

(Side Note:  my dresser has been wanting to do another yarn bomb so this is her somewhat version of yarn bombing, satisfies the need for her brain to be be busy)

National Coloring Book Day

 So August 2nd is National Coloring Book Day.  Since I live at ScrapsKC my "dresser" decided to make it a day to try and sell crayons and color books and just do something fun.  So she made me a yellow dress and headband (picture to come later) and found a Smurf Coloring Book ( her dad's favorite comic) and made a basket with crayons and boxes of crayons (these are buttons in her stash--you should see her stash in her craft room. I could get lost in there and have so much fun).  Anyway I think I am going to take over her blog as she does not post much anymore or maybe I can prod her to post more.