Keep on the Borderlands D&D Miniatures Painting - started

This is the 2nd time my boyfriend (Kelly) will be attempting to run Keep on the Borderlands, a 1st edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons module I purchased some years ago. Since it is a classic, and we will be running the campaign in-person, he decided to invest in some miniatures (Dungeons & Dragons: Nolzur's Marvelous Unpainted Miniatures) to go along with it! I've been having fun painting them, and wanted to share my in-progress pictures (apologies for the focus):

I am super pleased with how my custom washes on the undead (bottom picture) turned out! The zombies use a wash of 1:1 Guilliman Blue Glaze & Seraphim Sepia Wash over Fenrisian Grey layer. The Skeletons are a homemade wash using Karak Stone layer with a tiny bit of Sepia wash, a few drops of water and a few drops of Flow-Aid paint additive (Liquidtex), over a white primer. (All paints Citadel brand, miniatures are Dungeons & Dragons: Nolzur's Marvelous Unpainted Miniatures)

This last one has nothing to do with Keep on the Borderlands, it is a Harrower mini from Pathfinder I am thinking of using for my Bladed Scarf Magus, but I am really pleased with how the dollar store glitter nail polish enhanced this magic effect:

NOTE: Further Miniatures painting updates can be found on my new gaming blog "Tales of gaming on a shoestring budget"

Sewing for Halloween!

So, my dad got these bright red shiny Nike shoes [source], and decided he wanted a Dorothy dress from Wizard of Oz to go with them for Halloween. I found Simplicity Plus Size Pattern 4136.

Unfortunately, this pattern isn't going to come anywhere close to fitting him, as 1) his measurements are way off the charts, and 2) he's a dude, with a big ol belly. I had "extended" measurements before, so I figured I could probably do it again, but the man belly caused a new sort of problem, since the pattern is shaped for roughly hourglass shaped ladies. I had heard of a "Full Bust Adjustment," so I tried googling "Full Belly Adjustment." Lo and behold, I am not the first one to try to alter a pattern in this manner, unfortunately each source does it differently, so I will need to experiment.

Other bonus to me actually digging out my sewing machine & accessories, I found a BOX of PATTERNS! I had totally forgot about my collecting random patterns I've found at thrift stores over the ages, and most of them were costumes, too! Unfortunately I either wasn't paying attention to the sizes or didn't realize pattern sizing is totally different than consumer retail sizing, so even though I'm pretty slim (36b-30w-41h), there ain't no way most of those will fit me without modifications, either.