Eva's Pageant Dress

I've been working at improving my quality and workmanship in the things I create over the past several months. One of my friends was looking for a pageant dress for her little girl but couldn't find just the right thing. She asked me for help and I readily accepted the challenge! We talked about designs and searched online for similar dresses and we ended up with a combination of a couple garments we found. I hand drafted the dress (using my new skills learned from my college class) and we went shopping for fabric.

Here's the final product and the happy Eva in her dress....

Time for an Update!

These past 5 months have really flown by! As this year is winding down, I thought it was time to get back to writing. I'm trying to slow down a bit, get away from the speed of social media, and take time for myself, to think, feel, and create again.

Family

My sons are both doing really well. My youngest, Jameson, is now 6 and in Kindergarten. He's bright and eager to learn and has picked up reading quickly. My older son, Ian, is almost 13 (I know, almost a teenager!) and in 7th grade. He has shot up so fast the past couple of months that he's outgrowing the clothes and shoes before we get the next size up. Ian will be going on his first solo hunt this weekend. He hopes to get the 8-point buck we've been seeing around. It'll be a great prize and will help fill up the freezer. He's also still an active member of the boys scouts and is slowly working towards the eagle scout level.

My husband, Justin, will be heading in to shoulder surgery at the end of this week. The doctor understand his pain and is going in for exploratory surgery and to look for something specifically wrong which hasn't/isn't showing up on any x-rays or scans which he thinks is what's causing the problems. The chronic pain is real and we are hoping, wishing, and praying that this fixes it.

College

I've been attending college full time this fall semester. I originally was signed up for 15 credit hours but dropped a class so I had a more bearable schedule of 12 credit hours. I've been taking flat pattern, tailoring, textiles, and internship. I drive 2 hours, round trip, 3 days a week to attend classes. I really enjoy the classes but even at 12 credit hours it's too much when you throw in driving and are also trying to run a household and business. I plan to not take any classes during the spring semester to get my business built back up. After that I'll just take a maximum of 6 credit hours until I complete my degree. I'm already doing what I love and the degree is just a bonus. I've learned from this semester that it's not as important as keeping my stress level down and maintaining my already full plate. I still plan to graduate, just on a longer time table.

Work Projects

With college taking most of my time, I just haven't been able to create on the level of intensity that I used to. However, with my Internship, I'm required to work about 12 hours a week- and as a self-employed seamstress I can pick when I get to work. I tend to do more secretarial type work within those 12 hours-- answering emails, running my online businesses, organizing projects, prepping things for my workers, shipping, etc. I have been able to create a couple of dresses, hand dyed yarn, make a backpack, work on a T-shirt quilt, and design some dance costumes. (I'll share photos in future posts.) I also changed a regular T-shirt into a T-shirt dress for a customer. I took the sleeves off and also lowered the neckline. 

  

Personal Projects

Most of my time working on personal projects has been squeezed into an hour here and there. I hand dyed some yarns for myself and for a sweater while I was dying the yarn for work projects. Before school started I completed a knit shawl and a caplet for myself and I also knitted an easy scarf for a birthday present and a surprisingly quick sweater for my younger son. Most of my projects have been hand-work so I can get away from my office for awhile. I'm also participating in a Mystahhhhry Shindig, hosted by my sister. I'm behind but there will be plenty of time to work on it when classes end in a couple weeks.

That's it for now!