Lady of the Thread's Sewing Basket

Gung Hay Fat Choy! Happy Chinese New Year! ^_^

I was lazy and didn’t do fanart this year plus the pictures my brother took of my Twelve Kingdoms costume the other night aren’t ready, so instead you get a Count D photo since he’s Chinese. ^_^;



( ramblings about tweaking the pic above in Photoshop )

So, despite it being freezing out yesterday, I went out to the botanic garden for their Lunar New Year Celebration. A couple of people on cosplay.com had told me they might come when I was trying to see if there was interest in a gathering but no one actually showed. Oh, well. I assume they probably changed their minds because of the weather. It was so cold out that ( the pond in the Japanese garden iced over. )

I brought my Chinese dress to change into after I got there. It worked out pretty well since I was able to roll it up and put in the huge bag I use as a purse and it was easy to change my sweater for the dress because it was a wrap style. I didn’t bother to bring my Count D wig since my brother didn’t want to go and I wouldn’t have anyone to take pictures of me.

The event was only being done for the first time this year but I guess it might have been more popular than the garden anticipated. They had performances in the Palm House, a glass house that they usually rent out for weddings and such, and the place was completely filled. I was only able to get in for the Chinese folk dance performance; I missed the Korean group and the Chinese opera group because the space had filled and they couldn’t let any more people in. More space in the future would be good but I don’t know if there’s much they can do without moving it outside which is less than ideal in mid-winter.



( more Chinese dance pictures (Warning: lots of photos!) )

I also walked around the conservatory which I hadn’t explored much before. The flower market part of the event turned out to be rather small and really just consisted of several tables selling plants and flowers in a tent.

( Bunny Ears, a Bald Old Man, and other assorted plants. (Yes, I actually found plants with those names. XD) )

This week is probably going to be crazy since there are Chinese New Year’s sweets to be made and they can be rather labor intensive. *crushed a can of peanuts today and expects to spend tomorrow stuffing dumpling wrappers with them* I should be cleaning, too, but I never have much luck with that part of new year’s preparations because I’m very lazy when it comes to cleaning. >_>;

Plus, my brother is finally planning to start shooting for his portfolio for FIT this week and wants me to model for some of the pictures. I wish he’d let me know exactly which outfits he’d like me to wear so I can make sure I have all the pieces ready. I don’t know if he really knows what he’s planning to do, which isn’t good considering I’ve been nagging him about it for weeks. >_>

I have a Petshop of Horrors drabble idea I've been meaning to write, too. Have to see if I can squeeze it in this week since it connects to Chinese New Year.

The weekend wasn’t as productive as I hoped. I did go out to get a new tracing wheel yesterday but only got the hairtie done for Ayame. It’s black with black/gold lace overlay to match the shirt and came out well. But I threw my wig on last night and tried pulling it back into a ponytail and it didn’t look that great on me. Maybe, it would be better after I fix up the wig a bit. But if not, I suppose I could just have it for craftsmanship judging and take the tie out afterwards.

Hmm… Actually, thinking about it, Ayame would probably be more recognizable with his hair loose since it’s usually loose or in a braid. That one chapter is the only time I ever recall it being in a ponytail.

And…

The Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s website now has more info posted on their Lunar New Year Celebration, including a schedule: http://www.bbg.org/vis2/2007/lunarnewyear/index.html

It looks like all the events are indoors so fewer worries about cold weather. ^_^ Anyone around here other than shinei interested in going to check this out? It’s a Saturday, February 10th, so garden admission should be free from 10AM to noon. I tried making a thread on cosplay.com over the weekend, too: http://forums.cosplay.com/showthread.php?t=101825