Preparing for summer

In the office, desultorily cleaning (mostly: sorting out papers and throwing the ones I no longer need in a box for shredding, and putting books away).

One bit of good news: we are all (well, everyone employed as of May 1 of this year) getting a 1.5 % stipend on our base salaries with our end-of-May check. For me, this works out (based on the 2017 W-2) to just under $800, though I'm not sure how much will remain after the bite of taxes and the other various deductions I have.

But at least it means I've got a little money to play with this summer. Plans at this point include getting a new hall light fixture and ceiling light/fan in my bedroom (yes, I never replaced it yet since the motor burned up in 2014. A big part of that was never having time to clear my bedroom out to the point where I was comfortable having someone in).  I also need to call the piano tuner some time.

But I also feel more OK about going to Whitesboro and going shopping on Wednesday. I might just get a bunch of cash and plan on paying cash for everything; I like doing that for that kind of shopping because it limits me from real impulse buying.

My big thing right now is wanting to try to get a piece of 90" wide backing that will match with those fabrics I posted last night so I can easily have it quilted when it comes time. For longarm quilting, they usually like the backing to be between a foot and 16" bigger on all sides - so for a 78" square quilt, that means sewing together two lengths of 42" wide fabric won't do it; it takes more piecing. So instead of 5 yards of 42" wide, it would take something like 7 1/2, and fabric gets expensive. (Or all kinds of higgledy-piggledy piecing, which I dislike doing with big pieces of fabric because they're harder to manipulate).

With a 90" wide backing, 2 1/2 yards would mean 90" all ways, and that would be enough. Or I could get slightly MORE than 2 1/2 yards just for safety, in case one dimension runs big.

I did also work a little on Heartthrob last night. One of the fun things about these G1 ponies (and G4-izing them) is that I really have no backstory for them other than the snippets I've heard (I have read that Heartthrob was in some ways a bit of an inspiration for the G4 Rarity, and also that she spoke with an exaggerated Southern accent, so I am headcanoning her as a Southern-lady pony). I'm going to do her eyes somewhat like my Maud Pie's eyes - shadowed (but Heartthrob will get blue eye shadow) and with visible eyelids. But they'll be a bit more almond-shaped, like my Luna's eyes. (Wow. I've been doing these for a long time, even though it doesn't seem long. Fluttershy was the first and she was fall 2011 - almost 7 years now.)

So my Heartthrob is going to be excessively feminine, sweet, will speak (in my mind - yes, I imagine voices for these) with kind of a "Dolly Parton" accent, generous, and just generally appreciative of flowers and eyeshadow and sweet tea and those kinds of things.

And Waterfire is next up - I found yarn in my stash that is close enough for her body, and I have the glittery yarn for at least part of her mane and tail (I might mix them with another shade of reddish orange if I have the right one). Waterfire likes to read and go to the beach and likes being out in nature, but also likes quiet.

And Surprise is kind of like Pinkie Pie, only not as outgoing, and she does have a grumpy streak to her. Maybe like partially-flat-hair Pinkie. Or maybe like a happy exterior over barely-controlled rage? (Yes, I may be letting some of the fanstuff influence my headcanon here, but I kind of like the idea of this apparently bubbly cheerful pony who is internally screaming into the abyss. Maybe a little bit like Aggretsuko?)