Tag: Prom Dresses 2024

Spring Break Prom Dress Progress

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Welcome to the end of Spring Break and the weekly progress report on the Pretty Purple Prom Dresses! Thank goodness for a week off of our normal activities because I needed it to get through a big chunk of sewing of Renaissance’s dress. I think I put in about nineteen hours’ worth of work on this over the past week, which could not have happened if I’d been running around doing all the regular chauffeuring and homework minding that I usually do.

I need a name for Ren’s dress, and I think I will call it the “Celestial Dress” because the colors remind me of the colors of the morning glories in the “Celestial Mix” that I just planted.

I finished up the (third) muslin on Saturday, was busy with Easter on Sunday, felt sick on Monday and got nothing done, and took advantage of the last of the good weather on Tuesday to do some much needed work in the yard. So I didn’t come back to the dress until Wednesday: Cutting Day.

The morning sun was shining through the side window of my craft room and just perfectly caught the color-shift of this “Comet Tail” dupioni! It’s been hard to represent the true color via pictures. After gazing a few more minutes at this luxurious feast for the eyes I got down to business:

I highly recommend a quilt design wall for your sewing room even if you’re not a quilter because you can hang up all your pattern pieces when you’re sewing clothes. Keeping track of these pieces was a headache until I tacked them up on the wall. Bonus: As you finish transferring markings fabric, you stack the used pattern pieces somewhere else and that way you don’t accidentally miss a piece and/or duplicate a piece. Renaissance picked out McCall’s #7091 for her dress, View D, and we’re also going to throw sleeves onto it because the church spring formal has a high level of dress standards (Read: No sleeveless dresses). Sleeves it is.

Happy news: If you didn’t use all of your cans of cranberry sauce and evaporated milk at Thanksgiving, they make fantastic pattern weights. THANK GOODNESS I WAS SICK ON MONDAY and spent the day perusing the internet—I stumbled across someone on some sewing website mentioning that you can’t use regular pins on silk because the holes will show. I do have silk pins that I wisely purchased and had set off to the side for a future silk project, so I busted those out and then used my canned goods to hold down the pattern pieces instead of pinning the pattern to the fabric for transferring.

I also stumbled across the advice to clip your princess seams BEFORE you pin them when sewing and dear goodness, what a difference! My muslin seams were done in the opposite fashion and they were horrific. These ones were almost easy after I applied that information.

Another piece of advice that I had forgotten until Monday was that you need to use a pressing cloth on silk. That wasn’t important until this morning when I actually started pressing stuff, but I had forgotten about it and mention it in case it’s helpful to anyone else.

I needed to order another yard of the dupioni because I forgot that View D was sleeveless and so its listed fabric requirement didn’t have the yardage to also cut out sleeves, and I failed to realize that when ordering. No major worries there, Silk Baron has already shipped it and it should be here soon. I still have the bodice lining and the contrast skirt to work on so I won’t be sitting around twiddling my thumbs as it makes its way to me.

So, as it stands, I have pieced the fashion fabric bodice and inserted the invisible zipper. Excellent progress! Not to where I had originally planned to be by this time, but it’s definitely moving along and I’m thankful for all the extra time I had available this week to work on it.

It absolutely cracks me up that those last two pictures are of the same area of the dress! How the light is hitting the fabric changes the color astronomically, I love it so much!

I don’t know how much time I’ll have to work on it over the weekend; it’s Daffodil Parades tomorrow and I’m not sure if I need to chaperone the marching band for all FOUR parades throughout the entire day. If not, I’ll be in my sewing room!

We Made it to the End of March!

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It only occurred to me yesterday that this will be the last weekend of March. It’s so crazy how quickly this insanely long month flies by! We did it! Whew! I look back on all the concerts and music festivals, coupled with the gardening and the sewing—it’s such a BIG MONTH EVERY SINGLE YEAR.

Top priorities this past week:

  1. Prom Dresses!
  2. Garden
  3. Easter
  4. Girls’ driving practicing

Creativity

I’m still ironing out the wrinkles in Renaissance’s muslin for her prom dress. I look forward to the day when I’m good at making muslins. I’m on Attempt #3 and I’ve finally managed to get the worst problems solved. Now I just need to make sure the sleeve will work, which I’ve been procrastinating because sleeves and I do not get along. Fingers and toes crossed!

Gardening

No work done. I am falling behind on this. BUT it was raining all week, so…meh.

Easter

I’ve made no plans. Nobody’s terribly excited about any part of it this year, and we’ve all got other stuff going on, so I guess it’ll be a quiet celebration, which is fine to happen every few years.

Caring

  • Girls’ Driving Practice: Happened more than usual. Rachel drove Michael’s truck twice and she loves it.
  • Parent Teacher Conferences: I didn’t go because I am incapable of being in two places at once. I feel like I am always finding out about Parent Teacher Conferences only a week or two before they happen—I should make a note to figure this out earlier in the year so I don’t have previous engagements at the same time.
  • Lunch with a Friend: Happened! Oh, it’s such a nice thing to do! And, weirdly enough, a friend from Utah randomly phoned me about forty-five minutes before the lunch date and I got to talk to her, too! Connecting with friends is one of the best feelings. I’m so glad these ladies reached out.

Have a lovely Easter weekend!

A Pair of Pretty Purple Prom Dresses

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Renaissance and Rachel are both going to our church’s Spring Formal with their friends, and I decided to just throw sanity to the wind and make their dresses. I have been looking forward to making dance dresses ever since I found out Emily was a girl, but I’ve never been called upon to make dance dresses because right after Emily was asked to Spring Formal, the COVID shutdown went into place and everything was cancelled. She lost interest in school activities like that, even after things opened back up, and so she never went to any of the dances.

Ren and Rachel, however, are down with the whole formal dance thing and it’s been a lot of fun. I haven’t made any of their dresses yet because I was doing school and had no time for crafty pursuits, so I’m really grateful that I will get a chance to do these two dresses.

Renaissance’s Dress

I am wary of the pattern that she’s picked out because it’s got multiple princess seams all over the place, but if I can figure it out, it’s going to be gorgeous. I’ve already spent way too much time on her pattern because it was only available via PDF download and I had to print it out onto one hundred and twenty seven pieces of paper and then tape them together. It took four hours. I complained, bitterly, on Facebook and I was amazed at how many ride-or-die friends I have who joined me in my fury over the frustration of printing out this pattern.

A day or two later I was reading through Gertie’s newest book announcement on Instagram, and the inevitable comment kerfuffle over her decision to not include paper patterns with the book, when I noticed a comment about how you can send the A0 pattern files to a print center and have them printed out all nice and intact onto one huge sheet of paper like patterns normally come in when they’re sold in an envelope. I felt my heart slow and hiccup as I “remembered” that one of the options for printing out Ren’s dress pattern was A0, not A4 like I thought. And then I told all my friends at church about what an idiot I was.

But then I started writing this blog post and thought I should double-check that remembrance and NO, it was offered as an A4 size, not A0. I’m not an idiot!!! So…prior annoyance still stands. And yes, I do realize that the pattern is out of print and that’s why it’s only available as a PDF file…but really, I’d much rather it not have shown up in Renaissance’s internet searching for dress patterns if my only option was PDF. Something to remember for the future. Printed or A0 ONLY. None of this taping together of letter-sized papers for hours. Aaaand I need to go back to my church friends and recant my idiocy confession.

Ren’s dress is a contemporary pattern and will be sewn up in two different colors of silk—a color shifting indigo/purple dupioni called “Comet Tail,” and a solid orchid purple shantung called “Nolana,” both of which I purchased from Silk Baron. Oh my gosh, aren’t they the prettiest pieces of fabric?!?! I love to just hold them in my hands. And the lining is a gray silk/cotton batiste that I need to buy more of and turn into something I can use everyday because it is wonderful to touch and I need it in my life.

We have also purchased two rhinestone appliques to possibly attach to the dress, just in case the top of the bodice ends up looking too plain. AND I ordered silk thread to sew it all up, which is, weirdly, a really exciting thing for me because I’ve never ordered silk thread before. Whatever makes you happy, right?

Rachel’s Dress

She’s chosen a vintage pattern that just makes me shake my head because it’s so weird when you think about the dates of its publication and all sorts of other historical things that I’ll share with you later when it’s done. As with most republished vintage patterns, the actual sewing instructions are almost non-existent, so I’m guessing how some elements of this dress are going to go together and just hoping that my instincts are good. ‘Cuz that’s always an excellent recipe for success. (Some finger-crossing and optimistic-vibe-sending would be appreciated here…)

She’s picked out a lavender satin taffeta and a lilac organza from JoAnn Fabric that we picked up last weekend, and she’s hoping to add some sort of trim or applique to it. I think this particular dress will need the addition of some petticoats/crinolines to bring it to its full potential, so I’ve already ordered two to be safe. I was thinking I’d make them myself, but my timetable is super tight and I’d rather not stress about something like that.

And that’s where we are. Materials acquired and starting to add coal to the steam engine. Pretty soon we’ll be chugging along and I’ll have more to share with you

I Dream of Muslin

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It really is unfortunate that prom dress sewing lines up with getting the garden started. I’m still trying to figure out how to make both of them work together, with preference leaning towards the dresses because I can always come in a little late on the garden. This week will see that preference leaning towards creating the muslin for Ren’s dress, and hopefully more than that.

Cooking

This week’s meal plan:

  • Saturday: Beef Stew
  • Sunday: Cheeseburgers & Fries
  • Monday: Spaghetti
  • Tuesday: TBD
  • Wednesday: TBD
  • Thursday: TBD
  • Friday: TBD

Clothing

Stay on top of the laundry. I was looking at Nathaniel during church yesterday and I think he needs a new wardrobe because he grew again. I had to buy him a new pair of running shoes, two sizes larger than the last pair I bought him in JANUARY. I don’t know how he is not in constant pain with the rate at which he is growing right now. Also, he’s now wearing the same size shoes as Michael does. Maybe one of my children will actually end up taller than me.

Cleaning

Basic upkeep because of the prom dresses.

Caring

  • I need to buy a wedding gift and a bridal shower gift for one of Emily’s friends who is getting married in the next few weeks. It’s incredibly weird that my kids’ friends are starting to get married. Wasn’t ready for that.
  • Need to figure out what Emily’s plans for the next school year are so she can apply for things at the right times.
  • Driving practice for all three girls so maybe they can take their driver’s license tests over spring break.
  • Might meet a friend for lunch.
  • Parent Teacher Conferences this week. I don’t know if I should even bother going, especially after hearing what quite a few teachers had to say about parent teacher conferences while I was doing my student teaching—the parents whose kids are doing fine are the ones who show up and there’s little to say to them, and the parents whose kid are not doing well and who really need to talk to the teachers don’t show up at all. Conflicted.

Creativity

  • At Home:
    • Renaissance’s Prom Dress: As I write this, I have just finished altering the pattern and cutting the first (and hopefully, only) muslin for Renaissance’s dress. That is the hardest part of the entire process, so I’m feeling good about things today. I taskified the dresses last week and, according to the schedule I have planned out, I’ll be on-track to finish on-time if I’m able to finish sewing up the bodice completely this week, which is totally doable if things go as they should. I didn’t know what to do about preparing the silks for sewing, and the internet had very conflicting information on that subject, so I just gave Silk Baron a phone call and had a lovely, candid chat with whomever answered the phone that just made my day. They convinced me to not prewash and just stick with dry cleaning the silk, and to also really consider using dress shields, so I think I’ll follow their advice on that.
    • Rachel’s Prom Dress: I think we have everything we need, materials-wise, for the dress. We picked up the oh-so-pretty fabric on Saturday and had a lovely girls’ morning together. I love that bonus of sewing for the girls—we have to hang out together to do it right, and it inevitably leads to more hanging out. I have also preemptively ordered some crinolines for her so I can see ahead of time if they’ll be complimentary to the gown as I’m making it up.
  • Van Crafting Sessions™: Not really feeling the wedding shawls at this time. I have more time this week for van crafting, so we’ll see how I feel about stuff at the end of the week. I did feel a pull to start working on the Smitten EPP quilt in the past few days, though—I might head that direction.

Gardening

  • I do not have time for this! Usually I can pop in and out of the house and plant this and weed that, but with most of my time being spent on the prom dresses I’m worried about getting dirt on my hands that could potentially transfer to the dress materials. Maybe I can work to get ahead on the dresses this week and use any free time to go get stuff done in the garden.

Celebrating

  • Renaissance received her acceptance letters from both Pacific University and Linfield College! Now to wait for scholarship decisions. The late FAFSA has been such a headache.
  • Easter’s this Sunday, and I have no plans whatsoever. I don’t even know if I’ll get to the point of making plans. We have a ham and we’ll cook it. Maybe I’ll put Easter treats on the girls’ radars and they’ll take care of it.

Community

  • Band Festival
  • Choir Contest
  • Engagement Party for a lady at church that conflicts with something else that I hope ends up being cancelled so I can go to the party instead. Why is there always something responsible that you’re signed up to do when a party comes along? However, having been on the receiving end of RSVP back-outs because something better came along for the invited guest, I stand firmly on the hill—nay, am willing to die upon said hill—of honoring your previous appointment commitments despite how enticing a later invitation may be because it’s really rude not to.
  • Church Easter Brunch: I’ve signed up to bring fruit. Michael wants to sign up to bring biscuits and gravy, but I am going to leave that entire project to him, rather than commit in my name and have it potentially fall through and embarrass me.

Top priorities this week:

  1. Prom Dresses!
  2. Garden
  3. Easter
  4. Girls’ driving practicing

I Forgot that I Finished the Quilt Top

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Another week of March complete!  There were a few reminders and calendar dates that came out this week that really drove the point home that we’re heading into the last bit of this school year.  Renaissance received her cap and gown on Monday, so that big reminder that graduation is approaching is now sitting on my dining room table and I get a little hit to the emotions every time I walk by and see it.  Bittersweet.

Top priorities this week:

  1. Finish the Latte Layer Cake quilt, photograph it, and write up the various posts
  2. PROM DRESSES
  3. Rachel choir stuff
  4. Garden
  5. Office/Ward Music/Band Parents

Creativity

  • Layer Cake Latte Quilt: The top, as needed for the pattern debut, is complete!  I still need to photograph it and write up its various social media posts for the release date.
  • Prom Dresses: Worthy of their own blog post because we are not off to a great start.

Caring

  • Renaissance and I helped Rachel out this week with her rehearsing and she says it helped.  The choir concert went really well, you could hear the improvements from the last time her group performed these pieces.  They’ll be leaving in a few weeks for an out-of-state competition, so it is crunch time for these kids.  A little stressful for everyone right now.
  • Band Parents: We have a board meeting set up for tonight to deal with some overdue stuff.
  • Ward Music: My predecessor has it set up pretty well and pretty far out.  This should be easy to jump into.

Gardening

  • I don’t think I got out there this week.  Blame the prom dresses.

March(ing) Along

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Halfway through this banger of a month! This week technically has quite a few things going on, but as I look at the calendar I don’t feel overwhelmed by any of them.

Cooking

This week’s meal plan:

  • Saturday: Potstickers, stir fry veggies, rice
  • Sunday: Corned Beef, potatoes, cabbage
  • Monday: Tacos, taco veggies, rice, tortillas
  • Tuesday: Honey Garlic Chicken Sheet Pan Dinner, carrots & broccoli, rice
  • Wednesday: Taco Pasta, creamy green salad
  • Thursday: Thai Chicken Stiry Fry, stir fry veggies, rice
  • Friday: Irish Beef & Root Vegetable Stew, rolls

Clothing

  • It’s all about the prom dresses, baby

Cleaning

  • I repeat: It’s all about the prom dresses, baby

Caring

  • Rachel needs help with rehearsing for her choir concert this week. She’s singing the mezzo line in a very difficult song and it’s hard to sing the middle part on anything, let alone this whopper. Time has been scheduled to work with her.
  • I feel like I need to find some time to spend with Nathaniel. But Cross Country starts up next week and I’ll be spending a lot of time at his meets for the next many weeks, so maybe I can just allow it to happen then?
  • A lot of office stuff needs to happen. We’ve just been really busy and it’s been hard to find the time to do that.

Creativity

  • At Home:
    • Fat Quarter Shop upcoming quilt: It’s called the “Layer Cake Latte” quilt, and it’s coming along. All the blocks are completed and I am in the midst of joining them. All that’s left is adding the skinny border around it and then the top will be done. I had hoped to get it completely quilted before the due date, but that’s not going to happen because I FORGOT ABOUT THE PROM DRESSES and need to sew like the wind on those.
    • Prom Dresses: Yeah, they’re all I can think about at the moment. Ren’s fabric is here and it’s gorgeous. The pattern for her dress was only available as a PDF (boo!) and it’s printed but not yet taped together. Not looking forward to the taping. Once the Layer Cake Latte quilt is assembled I’ll hop right on over to sewing up Ren’s muslin. Rachel has picked out a dress pattern that I crazy, crazy love and cannot wait to tell you about because it’s so cool—it almost shouldn’t even exist—but I have to focus on Ren’s dress first because she’s a senior and that’s how that works.
  • Van Crafting Sessions™: I’ll keep chipping away at designing wedding shawls for my girls. A lot of the kids’ music lessons are cancelled this week, so I might not have a whole lot of van crafting time.

Gardening

  • Set up trellises for peas, reattach trellis netting on France for eventual sweet pea climbers
  • Something with the Delphiniums
  • Sow pansies, violas
  • Put plant markers in by sown seeds
  • Start marigold seeds

Celebrating

  • Easter’s on the horizon, but I don’t think we’re doing anything in particular for it.
  • Nathaniel’s birthday is next month, so I’ll start slowly getting organized for that. Time to pull up the “gift ideas” note to myself that I add to throughout the year and start watching for sales.

Community

  • Choir concert
  • Need to do things for Ward Music
  • Help Ren with her intention to volunteer for the craft show
  • Band is doing their monthly performance at the local assisted living home

Top priorities this week:

  1. Finish the Latte Layer Cake quilt, photograph it, and write up the various posts
  2. PROM DRESSES
  3. Rachel choir stuff
  4. Garden
  5. Office/Ward Music/Band Parents

Cake, Silks & Pi(es)

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I feel like it was a really productive week, which is always nice. My little routine of writing these goals vs. outcomes weekly posts is helping me stay on-track with what I want to accomplish each week. I’m really glad I’ve reinstituted these. Not only are they keeping me focused, but I really enjoy writing them and re-reading them, like a journal. I rarely re-read my handwritten journals, so I don’t learn as much from my writing in those. Blog posts can actually be searched by keyword, for cryin’ out loud. Wonderful.

Top priorities this last week:

  1. Michael’s birthday
  2. Garden
  3. WREF Scholarship application
  4. Prom dresses
  5. Resurrecting music practice time

Celebrating

  • Michael’s birthday went well, there was an adorable “Among Us wedding cake” made by Renaissance, and each of the kids remembered to get him a gift this year. We did not have steak and potatoes for dinner, as I predicted; he requested fajitas.
  • The potentially brewing project died a sure death this past week. I’m bummed because it would have been a cool thing to do, but I’m also relieved because it was going to take a lot of time and effort to pull off. Many lessons were learned from this experience that I can apply in the future when such a situation inevitably pops up again.

Gardening

  • Trellises are in my house, as are some other gardening items.
  • All seeds needed through the month of April have been secured.
  • Rhubarb is still small.
  • I did sow the cabbages, some alyssum, but nothing else.
  • My sweet peas are just barely starting to sprout! You really have to look for them, but tiny little tendrils are pushing out of the soil!

Community

  • Renaissance did indeed submit her application for the WREF scholarship! Oh gosh, the arrhythmias…she submitted it yesterday at 2:15pm or so, and the pop-up that came up to confirm submission stated that it was due by 4pm that day. We had planned to work on it that evening, but something came up and we moved the time to earlier, THANK GOODNESS.
  • Band Parent meeting went well and many things have been scheduled for this last push of the school year. I still have a few office-y things to do for that.

Creativity

  • At Home:
    • Fat Quarter Shop upcoming quilt: Sneak peek video was posted on Friday on Instagram and I’m aware that my videography skills/software need an upgrade. I had planned to finish piecing the top on Saturday and even cleared my whole schedule for it, but some of my children decided to mutiny against their Saturday chores and much time was lost on this quilt because it went towards dialoguing and disciplining. I’m still confused as to why that day went so sideways. As it stands, I’m about 2/3 of the way done with assembling the blocks.
    • Prom Dresses: The fabric for Ren’s dress has arrived and I am so in love with it. It’s GORGEOUS. The contrast fabric isn’t as flowy as I would have liked, but we’ll just have to make do because it was the only kind of silk they had that came in the color we wanted. FYI, Shantung silk is not flowy. Tell your friends.
  • Van Crafting Sessions™: Designing wedding shawls: Newsflash: I’ve not done this before and I’m not good at it. Yet. (#growthmindset) Time was spent wrapping my head around how to actually do this.
  • Resurrecting music practice sessions: Did not happen because I’ve had them scheduled for the evenings, but now that it’s light outside again we’re actually outside during that time as a family. I’ll need to figure out a different time of day for this.

It was a really, really busy week with a concert on Thursday, which was also Pi Day, so Emily made three pies and because we had three pies chilling at our house I invited Ren’s band friends over after the concert and we all ate pie until 11:15pm. Ha ha. I’m generally an introvert who really appreciates a solid sleep schedule and bedtime, but sometimes you just gotta spend some time with friends. It was a good choice, despite how tired it made me the next day.

I Forgot about the Prom Dresses

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I was so proud of myself last week for how well I had cleared my schedule so things could be manageable, and then over the course of one day so many projects came to rest on my plate. At least they’re all projects I’m excited about!

Happy Daylight Savings Time to those of you who are mandated to go through it. I’m feeling it! Hopefully the sluggishness wears off quickly.

Cooking:

This week’s meal plan:

  • Monday: Orange Chicken, Stir Fry veggies, Rice
  • Tuesday: CP Soup
  • Wednesday: Taco Pasta
  • Thursday: CP something, pie for Pi Day
  • Friday: Michael’s birthday dinner, which he has not decided upon yet. I’m going to guess it’ll be steak, baked potatoes, Caesar salad and herbed rye rolls.
  • Saturday: Pasta/Emily’s choice
  • Sunday: CP Corned Beef, boiled potatoes, cabbage, maybe some Irish soda bread

Clothing:

  • Maybe this will be the week that I finally conquer the folding pile.
  • Keep thinking about and making plans for Easter, spring and Rachel’s travel outfits.
  • Materials and supplies are going to begin arriving for making prom dresses for Renaissance and Rachel.

Cleaning:

  • I don’t have a definitive plan set, which I would like to create. Basic upkeep for the next few weeks.

Caring:

  • I’m really struggling to remember what I’d like to do here. I blame the sleep deprivation from Daylight Savings Time. Um, I need to care for my poor sleep-deprived brain by adjusting my sleeping ASAP. I’ve learned over the decades that sleep is #1. You mess with the sleep, you mess with everything.

Creativity:

  • At Home:
    • Prom dress prep—Dates were announced last week and I realized I had no plan whatsoever for making their dresses. We strategized over the weekend, and I think it’s doable. Ohhhh, the girls have picked some lovely designs and fabric. I’m really excited about these dresses!! Hopefully my “adventurous beginner/beginning intermediate” garment construction skills are up for the task…eek!
    • Sewing on the Fat Quarter Shop upcoming quilt—Sneak peek this Friday!
  • Van Crafting Sessions™: Planning out personalized wedding shawls because I’m a person who gets things done years ahead of time

Gardening:

  • Peas, trellises, etc.
  • Seed check
  • Rhubarb watching
  • Plant delphinium
  • Use up the herb jungle
  • Direct sow alyssum, cabbage, pansies, poppies, viola

Celebrating:

  • Michael’s birthday is this week! I hounded the kids to get him gifts, so that’s an improvement over last year. Problem is, I gave them all my ideas for gifts and now I don’t have any other ideas and no gift to him from myself. Sigh.
  • After a quick text conversation with my people last week, I don’t think we’re going to be doing anything for Easter, but I’ll follow-up this week just to make sure.
  • The potentially brewing project I mentioned at the end of last week is dying a slow death. I thought it was dead for sure, but a spark of life was breathed into at the last second. I will follow-up today to find out what is going on.

Community:

  • I am nagging Renaissance about the WREF scholarship that’s due on March 17th. I do not get the feeling that it’s accomplishing anything.
  • Band Parent meeting this week—Many of my concerns from last week are resolving.
  • I was sustained in a new calling for church on Sunday: Ward Music Coordinator. It basically just means I make sure we have music during sacrament meeting. I pick the hymns, make sure the music makers know what the hymns are, and I set up and support the special musical numbers. We have Stake Conference this week, so no pressure for me this week. If I went ahead and taskified this calling, it would make my life a whole lot easier over the next few months as I settle into it. I should also resurrect my own music practice times since I know that I will inevitably have to pinch hit some musical numbers on the fly when scheduled performers cancel at the last minute.

Top priorities this week, aside from sleep health:

  1. Michael’s birthday
  2. Garden
  3. WREF Scholarship application
  4. Prom dresses
  5. Resurrecting music practice time

Much Music and Considerable Clothing Commissions

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It was a week of excess; a week that seemed overwhelming in the beginning and then ended with a smorgasbord of new opportunities on top of an overfilled plate.

Community

All the music went well. The All-District Choir Concert was really, really good; it was the first time they’ve done that concert since 2016 and it really is a special event to see every single choir student in the district performing together in one space.

Wind Ensemble (High School Band) performed at the PLU Invitational on Friday and I went along as a chaperone. They did so good! It was a really enjoyable day hanging out with some of my favorite people.

Jazz Bands (both middle and high school) performed at a swing dance last night. I wasn’t feeling well, so I didn’t go. Michael took good videos and everyone sounded really good.

Clothing

There was a lot of laundry folding, but I’m still not caught up.

I thought a lot about spring, Easter and choir trip wardrobes.

But then Prom was announced and I remembered that it really is a big deal to me to make the girls’ dresses for the high school dances, so everything else has kind of gone out of the window. I almost get my wish of making 1950s spring formal dresses—Rachel is eyeing a vintage Vogue pattern from the 1940s, so close enough. Renaissance’s pattern choice is a gamble that I think is going to work out. I am really excited about both dresses. Since it’s Ren’s senior year, I’ll be making hers from really nice fabrics, and Rachel will have to make do with Casa Collection satin from JoAnn Fabric. I cannot wait for the patterns to arrive in the mail so I can start cranking out the muslins.

Creativity

The Baking Doodle Cowl pattern was finally released on Friday, and there were many nice comments about my particular test knit. Always feels good to receive a compliment.

My knitting queue has been a whirlwind of indecision this week! I spent a lot of time narrowing down a new project and decided to go with finally using a gorgeous skein of spring green laceweight yarn to make a pretty spring shawl. Then I decided it’d look great if I carried a strand of self-striping green mohair with it. I was so excited, and then, after knitting the set-up chart, decided it did not look great.

Which is fine because then I realized that we are in the years where my girls can start getting married, which was brought on by receiving an invitation to the wedding of one of Emily’s friends, which led to some deep discussions about weddings, heirlooms, and traditions, and now I feel like I need to get working on wedding shawls so I can have them already made because LDS engagements are really, really short and I know that I will not have enough time to make their wedding shawls when the time comes.

So I sat down to figure out what patterns I want to use for their shawls and inevitably came to the conclusion that I really just want to design an individual shawl for each girl that weaves together meaningful stitch patterns and symbolism that will carry special meaning for them. SO…I’m going to spend the next few Van Crafting Sessions™ researching and drafting shawl patterns. Which is pretty cool.

Gardening

I accomplished nothing, NOTHING in the garden this last week. Michael and I have started watching the series “Homegrown,” which is about transforming people’s backyards into sustainable gardening spaces, so I’m technically doing research. I learned about mushroom logs! I could grow something in the shady parts of the yard! Except that my family despises mushrooms!

Celebrating

There’s potentially a new project brewing. I won’t say more because I honestly do not know if it’s going to materialize. It would be amazing if it does, but also a ton of work. So I won’t be heartbroken if it doesn’t happen. I would regret the missed opportunity, though. More on that if it gets the green light.

Caring

After months of discussing the possibility, we finally have officially started playing a weekly campaign of Dungeons & Dragons on Monday nights. Michael and I are NOT D&Ders, but somehow all four of our kids love the game. We’ve been struggling to have Family Home Evenings for years, but suddenly it’s not difficult to gather everyone. Hopefully the trend continues.

I was subbing one day last week and one of the teachers actually asked me how our family’s new game night was going. Apparently my kids are really talking about it to anyone who will listen. Whatever works, right? Turns out it’s figuring out how to battle fantasy monsters in Steampunk Victorian England. Feel free to tell your friends.