Spring Lineup

Spring semester is upon us. That's why we just got eight inches of snow, I guess.

Anyway, it's going to be hectic around here for the next three months or so.

On Mondays and Wednesdays I have Digital Patterning. I guess I'll be learning to use a computer program to make and scale patterns. Cool. Required. Probably not anything I'm going to buy (the program). But it should be interesting.

Monday afternoons will be Illustration 2. The teacher is pregnant, and due in February. I wonder how this class will go?

Wednesday afternoons I'm taking Millinery! Finally! Already my kids have made requests: Brandon wants a cavalier hat (think Three Musketeers) and Michael wants a bowler hat. :-)



What do you think?
Brandon?



Michael?

Thursday mornings I'll have Fashion Portfolio.  Really, I can't imagine why that is a three-hour class, but OK.

And on Friday afternoons I'll have Outerwear—learning to make coats.  I wonder if this will be more cost-effective than buying coats?  We buy a lot of them in our house.

The hard days will be Mondays and Wednesdays.  Taking public transportation, as I do, means that it's pretty close to an hour-and-a-half each direction.  So for my 9:00 a.m. classes I have to leave home around 7:25 to catch the bus. My afternoon classes on those days start at noon on Monday and 1 p.m. on Wednesday; there is no time to come home between classes, and I won't get back home for the day until 4:30 or 5:30 p.m.  Loooooonnng days! My plan right now is to attempt to do ALL my homework during those between-classes hours. That way I can be home when I'm home.

And, just to make the mix more exciting, Bruce has been accepted into a master's program, and is starting next week. He's going for his MFT (marriage and family therapy) license.  We're pretty excited about this—a chance to move forward, at last! But I'm a little nervous too; we will be trying to run our household with both parents in school.    Thank goodness we have big kids who are capable and immensely helpful!

Bruce's classes are on Tuesday and Friday evenings from 6:00 to 10:00, and a few 8:00 to 5:00 Saturdays. This means I should be home when he's not. I went to his student orientation last Tuesday night and his classes—his whole program—sound teeeedeeeeous. Bleh! Better him than me! Bruce is in a rigorous, strict two-year program (meaning he takes the classes when they tell him to. Period.), so he should finish up about six months after I do. That will be awesome!

And, yes, I have finally made up my mind that I really will finish my program. I've hummed and hawed for so long that I am now three-quarters (or more) of the way to my degree anyway; I might as well do it. Only eleven classes left! I will try not to moan too much when mid-terms come around.

So that's what's coming up for the Norths. Wish us lots of luck!

And She Does It Again!

Mwah-hahaha!

Finals

It was a stressful two weeks, but my final projects are finally finished.  They were finally finalized at 1:30 a.m. Monday night/Tuesday morning.

"What does Robin Hood have to do with this?" you ask.

For 20th Century I had to choose one design element from one decade of 20th century fashion and use it to create three contemporary designs, choose fabric swatches for the designs, and illustrate them front and back.  I had to mount a historical picture of the design element I chose, the fabric swatches, and my drawings on a black foam-core board and do an in-class presentation of the whole thing.  I turned this one in yesterday (Tuesday, Dec. 4).

For Illustration I had to draw three original designs in full color (this one was due today).

For History of Costume I had to choose one design element from one period of historic fashion—from 3000 B.C. up until 1970—and use it to create three contemporary designs, choose fabric swatches for the designs, and illustrate them front and back.  I had to mount a historical picture of the design element I chose, the fabric swatches, and my drawings on a black foam-core board and do an in-class presentation of the whole thing.  (Sound familiar?)  This is due tomorrow (Thursday, Dec. 6). There will be a written exam for this class, too.

Now, if I had realized that Janet (my History and 20th-Century teacher) would let me use the same work for both classes I wouldn't have chosen an element from the Middle Ages for my history final; I would have definitely saved myself some time and effort and done 20th-Century for both classes. But I had already started on the Middle Ages project. Oh well.
At least I was able to use my History final for my Illustration class final. Yay!

For 20th-Century I decided to use Jackie Kennedy as my inspiration—partly because it sounded easy, but mostly because I realized that I already had fabrics I could use for the swatches.

 My designs mimic Jackie's style with slim, sheath dresses, and boxy jackets with 3/4-length sleeves.

A creamy silk/linen-blend sheath dress topped by an aqua jacket with beige embroidery.

The same sheath dress paired with a pink jacket. The jacket's hem, sleeves and lapels are trimmed with the cream silk/linen, and edged with self-fringing.

A brown tweed sheath dress with a reversed shawl collar in cream crepe-backed satin.

Janet really liked these; she said if she were a buyer looking for this style, she'd buy the whole line. (!) And she said I had beautiful illustrations. :-)

For my History project I chose dagging as my design element.  Dagging is that squared edge you see on the sleeve of Robin Hood's tunic. ("Aha!" you say.) I did choose an orginal 14th-century source picture, as requested; I won't be showing Errol Flynn to my class.

This guy is wearing a dagged cloak (with a chaperon, which probably also has a liripipe).

I came up with all kinds of great names for my dagging collection:  The Dagged Edge (prounounced like jagged)—or maybe The Dagged Line.  Or how about Well I'll be Dagged! (not prounounced like jagged); or—this one is great!— Dag Nab It!

Well, anyway, here are my designs:

Here we have a blue suede skirt with dagging at the hem, a cream blouse of crepe-backed satin, and an orange silk scarf with dagging on the ends. The shoes and narrow belt are of burgundy leather.



This model wears a tiered blouse in varying shades of orange; each tier is edged with dagging. It is paired with an A-line skirt of a soft brown wool herringbone, and the look is completed by brown leather boots topped with burgundy dagging.



This look begins with a pair of jeans and the cream-colored blouse. A brown leather jacket trimmed with burgundy dagging and an exposed zipper finishes the outfit.

I already showed the dagging collection in my Illustration class today. Tomorrow I present it to my History class, take the written final exam and I am finished!  NO school for a whole month!! Hooray!!!!

Pedals for Hope

If you are someone who reads my blog regularly (there's about six of you), then you might remember that I write about Pedals for Hope every year in May.  Pedals for Hope is one of my very favorite things about Entheos Academy—I find it very exciting.  But after last year's ride, I heard a nasty rumor that they may not do it again. And, truthfully, last year's assembly fell a little flat, and I never did find out how much money the kids raised.  I wonder if the problem is that it has become more a school project, rather than a student project. I think it would be very sad if they dropped this activity, and I believe that the excitement could be revived if they wanted to do it.  But what do you think it would take to bring back their enthusiasm?

Well, anyway, I wrote this paper for my English class last summer, and I've been meaning to post it here, since I never did write about last year's ride.  This is kind of a cumulation of my past years' Pedals for Hope writings, along with interviews of some of the people who got it going to begin with.  I hope you enjoy it. :-)

PEDALS FOR HOPE

Pedals for Hope assembly 2010
Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

The air of Entheos academy is thick with anticipation and an eager buzz comes from the classrooms. In the large common room a few teachers wait, setting up chairs and making last-minute arrangements for the upcoming ceremony.  Soon children, teachers, and parents fill the room; the teachers are hard-pressed to keep their students quiet in this atmosphere of palpable excitement. When the main student body is seated, one teacher and twenty-three students, ranging from kindergarteners to ninth-graders, boldly march across the room and take their seats in front of the eagerly waiting crowd, where a man and a woman stand, their hands poised to slash with clean, sharp blades.  They are all about to witness human sacrifice.

Working quickly, the man and woman cut ten-inch ponytails from each girl's head; they shave the heads of three boys who have been growing their hair for a year in preparation for this day.  As they reach forward to cut the teacher's hair, an aide is in tears, "I can't believe Ms. Tere is cutting her beautiful hair—I love her hair!"  With each snip, with each shorn head, with each tail that is held high to the crowd's view, the room explodes with shrieking, chanting and cheering.

It is not a pagan ritual.  It is not an Entheos rite of passage.  It is the celebration of their annual cancer fundraiser, Pedals for Hope.

Entheos Academy lists Excellence, Service, and Leadership as its first values, and Pedals for Hope is their culminating service project every year.  In the past four years Entheos students have raised over $20,000 for cancer research at the Huntsman Cancer Foundation.  It is even more impressive that this annual fundraiser was spearheaded by sixth-graders and continues to be propelled by the students.

Pedals for Hope was conceived in 2008, when Entheos sixth-graders did an expedition—a two month long, in-depth study—about cancer.  Their teacher, Kathy Millar, had set up a similar program in Michigan, and wanted to encourage her Entheos students to start a cancer fundraiser.  She explains, ". . . even though I had the idea and the structure, part of that structure is giving kids the freedom and opportunity to own it.  I don't think it is possible for me to say, 'This is what we are doing,' and then [expect them to] do it.  Kids wouldn't buy in.  So . . . we started at ground zero and let the kids make the decisions."

Google Images

Ms. Millar arranged for field trips to the Huntsman Institute for Cancer where, besides learning about the progression of the disease, the students learned that 550,000 people will die of cancer in a year—literally a person every minute.  Visitors were invited to the school to tell kids of their experiences with cancer.  Lindsey North, an Entheos alumnus and one of those original sixth-graders recalls, "The thing that caught my attention the most was that people said they couldn't believe that it was their family member lying on the bed. It didn't look like the person they knew. 

"It surprised me, and made me want to help."

The more the children learned, the greater compassion they felt for cancer victims and their families.  "We wanted to learn more about how to help," Lindsey said.  "We didn't know how to do it, we just knew we wanted to do it. And our teacher, Kathy Millar—she told us about a place called the Make a Wish Foundation."  Ms. Millar took her students on a field trip to the foundation in Salt Lake City, where they were introduced to the magical fairy-tale room that Make a Wish uses to begin their process of granting one wish to children, up to eighteen years old, who have life-threatening diseases.

After that field trip the Entheos students really started brainstorming ideas to promote cancer awareness.  "We toyed with the idea of selling T-shirts, or bracelets, or necklaces," Lindsey said, "but it didn't seem like something that we could really go very far with.  We heard that other people did runs or bike-rides . . . and so we decided maybe we should do something like that instead.  We came up with the name [Pedals for Hope] because we wanted something to do with bikes, and we wanted to give hope."

That year the sixth grade set a goal to raise $3,000 for the Huntsman Cancer Foundation.

"After we chose [a bike tour] we started looking at, 'How can we get money for this?'  We heard that other groups just went out and found sponsors," Lindsey said.  So with help from their teachers, these eleven and twelve-year-olds began looking for supporters.  Together they composed a letter, which they sent to some local businesses.  Later they called those businesses, and some of the kids even visited them to ask for donations in person.  Kathy Millar recalls, "[The kids] got dressed up and went into town to solicit sponsors—this was their idea and they took it so seriously.  It was beautiful."

Other students spent extra hours after school to make more phone calls.  They followed up with their potential sponsors until the day of the bike ride.  They found a business that would donate T-shirts to Pedals for Hope, and they looked for others who would donate bikes and helmets to use for their tour.

But they had another obstacle to overcome: some of the kids didn't know how to ride bikes.

shutterstock.com

So the students made bi-weekly visits to the Salt Lake Bicycle Collective where they learned all about bicycles: what all the parts are called, how they work, how to make minor repairs, bike safety, and the students who didn't know how to ride learned how.  "We took our bikes to school to practice for the bike ride," Lindsey remembers.  "That year only the sixth grade [participated in the bike tour], so it was important that everyone knew how to [ride]."

The students did get discouraged, but at any given time there was a handful of kids who were excited enough to keep the project moving forward.  Lindsey relates, "As we got nearer to the bike ride everybody finally realized that, 'Yes, it's going to go well, and it's something to be proud of.' And everybody's attitude just changed."

The Entheos students planned a two-stage, two-day bike ride, with a campout on the interim night. But the race got rained out, and after a tumultuous night in the tents leaders decided it was too dangerous to continue; they had to go back home.  Ms. Millar said, "Virtually every kid said something to the effect of, 'I feel like we are letting cancer patients down,' or, 'They go through worse times than this.' At that point I knew they got it—it's not about getting out of school or riding the bike; it's about helping. Their empathy was true and their understanding genuine—I was so proud that day!"

Pedals for Hope assembly, 2009

The next day, May 21, 2008, the weather quieted and the Entheos sixth grade finished their tour on the Jordan River Parkway.  They rode their bikes fifteen miles, sporting bright yellow "Pedals for Hope" T-shirts to show their support for cancer research.  Nine girls had heard of Locks of Love, the organization that makes wigs for patients who have lost their hair.  These girls pledged to donate their hair if they reached their $3,000 goal.  They not only reached the goal, but almost doubled it, earning $5,411 that year.

The entire school was so excited by the success of Pedals for Hope that it has become an annual event.  They extended the bike-riding privileges to the whole middle school; now students have the choice of riding from ten to fifty miles, and several parents and teachers ride with them.  Some middle-schoolers who don't want to ride wait at posts along the trail to give small snacks, water, and, most of all, encouragement to their bike heroes.  The rest of the student body participates in the annual Penny Wars—a competition throughout the school to see which grade, K through 9, can collect the most pennies to contribute to the Huntsman Foundation.  The Penny Wars alone have earned more than $1,000 every year, and the Locks of Love donations have become a highlight of Entheos' annual celebration of Pedals for Hope.

"Beautiful things [happened] at Entheos," Ms. Millar remembers.  "[One year] the kindergarten class raised over $400 in our Penny Wars; they wheeled out two monstrous jars filled with pennies to surprise us after a day [of] riding—it was awesome.  I loved the way the whole school came out, built an arch with their hands, and gave the kids high fives as they returned from their riding day.  [The kids] could feel the contributions tangibly.  More important than what I feel about the money the kids raise is the way they feel—I will never forget the day we unrolled that first amount.  The sheer joy and pride on their faces was contagious—students believed in the cause, worked hard, and in the end . . . they felt empowered.  And that is what this is all about—empowering kids to do good."

Pedals for Hope bike ride, 2011

It is a beautiful morning; there's a cool breeze, but the sun shines warm on the Jordan River Parkway.  Forty students in matching T-shirts stand by their bicycles, hands on the handlebars, ready to go.  They are getting instruction and encouragement from their teacher, Matthew Edvik.  "The other night the Huntsman Center held an awards ceremony to honor those who have helped them," he tells his kids.  "Entheos is one of only five organizations who received a special award from them."  And with cheering, high-fives, and high hopes, the bike ride begins.

Uh-oh, Spaghettios!

Bruce and I haven't had health insurance in years.  I'm not complaining; just stating a fact.  So last week I took advantage of SLCC's Student Clinic and had a physical.  I had a physical, a pap test (oh, hooray), and some blood labs done.  I was a big girl and I did not cry.

Anyway, they called me with the results of my blood tests yesterday.  Everything looks very good—all normal and healthy . . .

. . . except that my cholesterol is high, my bad lipids are high and my good lipids are low. :-(

I am not terribly surprised by this.  Actually, I wasn't surprised at all—I am slightly overweight, not super active (you know . . . outside of being a mom and full-time student), and have been going through a phase of craving—and indulging in—rich foods for the last eight months or so.  Nothing is "you are a prime candidate for a heart attack tomorrow morning" high.  It's more like, "Keep an eye on this and fix it before it gets bad" high.

>sigh<

OK then.  I can do that.

I told my family yesterday that if I gotta do it, then they gotta do it!  So it's limited red meats (doable), limited eggs (which I don't especially love anyway), and limited dairy (with which I have spasmodic love-affairs—except for ice cream, which is an ongoing affair). Plus we need more veggies and fruits (which I really love but never eat enough of), and more whole grains and brown rice, etc. (which I also really love), and more seafood (which I love discriminately). And less salt, but I don't use much salt when I'm cooking anyway—except on French fries, which are mostly a no-no. That doesn't seem so bad. The trouble is that my kids are getting older and gaining some kitchen skills and they frequently make yummy treats (like two to three times a week), and I'm supposed to cut back on that stuff, too.  Oh, sad day.

Well like I say, if I gotta do it, then they gotta do it.  Sweet treats once a week. And who knows?  Maybe I'll lose a few pounds along the way.  :-)

8:20 p.m. All right.  I've been to ballet class tonight; it's the first night we dressed for class.  I was right—I am probably the only one who's had as much ballet training as I have had.  The teacher knew my name by the end of class.  But I don't know if that makes up for my body.  Bleaaagh.  I feel like that ballerina-hippo from Disney's Fantasia.  >sigh<

So, I embark on another a new adventure! We'll see how this goes.

Obsessing

So, I woke up this morning and guess what? I knew how to solve at least two of those stupid test problems! I didn't study last night; I didn't copy the questions in question and try to figure them out. I stayed home pouting about how badly I'd done, and watching a fairly dumb movie. But this morning I woke up knowing the problems (and I mean exact numbers) I was given to solve, and knowing just what to do anyway.

Stinky Problem #1:
Some stadium or other sells 33,000 seats; some of them are general seating for $4 each, and some are reserved seating for $13 each. They bring in $222,000. How many general seats and how many reserved seats did they sell?

Could I solve this yesterday afternoon? NO!!! I just sat there freaking out because I knew I should know how to do it, and trying everything I could imagine, and then finally left it unfinished.

I wake up this morning and, Bing! Here's how to do it:

G = general seating; R = reserved seating —OK?
So, G + R = 33,000 (general seats plus reserved seats equal the total amt. of seats sold).
4G = 13R = 222,000 ($4 per general seats plus $13 per reserved seat equals the total amt. of money brought in.)
To use the process of elimination I will get rid of the G from each equation. So I multiply the first problem by - 4, getting - 4(G + R = 33,000), or - 4G - 13R = -132,000. Follow?
Now I add that new problem I just created to the second problem and I get:
- 4G - 4R = - 132,000
+ 4G + 13R = 222,000 and the answer is:
9R = 90,000 or
R = 10,000

Since I now know that R = 10,000 I can figure out that G = 23,000 pretty easily. So the answer is:
They sold 23,000 general seating tickets and 10,000 reserved seating tickets. (And, yes, it checks out.)

See!!! I can do this! And it was easy besides!! And I could shoot myself for not being able to do it on the test yesterday! AAARRRRGH!!!

Stinky Problem #2: You row downstream with a 4 mph current at your back and you travel 94 miles. You come back only 47 miles in the same amount of time. At what rate do you row in still water? (Although I think saying "still water" is making an assumption.)
This morning I realized that I was three-quarters there with this problem, and if I hadn't been so freaked out I could have solved it.

Stinky Problem #3: A deep sea diving bell, traveling at a constant rate of speed goes down 600 feet in 8 minutes (which sounds like 75 feet per minute, but apparently isn't). It goes 1500 feet in 40 minutes (this sounds like 37.5 feet per minute). How fast was it really going?

Stinky Problem #4: A gas station sells 4289 gallons of gas at $1.35 per gallon; they sell 3570 gallons at $1.40 per gallon. How much could they sell at $1.19 per gallon? (A lot, nowadays!)

I'm still stuck on problems 3 and 4, although I'm sure I got close to solving them too, end even now the solution is tickling the edge of my brain.

I won't trouble you by solving problem 2 here on my blog. But getting 1 and 2 done would have been the difference between B- and A- on this exam. I really could shoot myself!

Can you do them?

If April Showers Bring May Flowers . . .

. . . What do May showers bring?

I still haven't taken any pictures of my fabulous, "A"-earning projects because I have no place with some good light in which to model them. And you're really missing out because I was going to model the fabulous muslin jeans too! If the rain ever stops, I'll still post the pics.

In the meantime, here's what's been happening around here:
Ryan was nominated for Student Council Treasurer at Entheos, and Brandon was nominated for Historian. Brandon made it through the preliminary election and is waiting the final election tomorrow—next Monday (the 23rd) we'll know who won.

Kaylie and the entire fourth grade have been rehearsing and rehearsing a play about pioneers; they are performing tomorrow night. (If you want to see their play, leave me a comment and I'll tell you when and where.)

Rachel's class has been reading The Tale of Despereaux; yesterday they had "Soup Day" in their classroom. All the kids donated something to put into their pot of soup (they made three crockpots full of different soups). Rachel really liked the "Courage Soup" that she helped to make.

Jessica's class went swimming yesterday.

And Brandon and Lindsey are gearing up for the annual Entheos cancer fundraiser, Pedals for Hope. They are still collecting donations, so if you want to help, leave me a comment. Lindsey will donate her hair for Locks of Love at the assembly tomorrow, and Saturday is the actual bike ride—hopefully the rain will stop before then!

In other news, at the beginning of April Bruce accepted a new job. On April 10 he and Michael drove away to Colorado to work for Vivint, selling home alarm systems. After two weeks in Colorado they moved on to Fort Wayne, Indiana, where they were supposed to spend the rest of the summer (until August 27). For reasons I won't go into here and now, we had no intention of telling our families about this job decision. But after one month of being very vague as to Bruce's whereabouts ("He's at work . . ." "He's working 24-7 these days . . .") I was wondering just how long I could really keep this a secret.

Michael decided the job really wasn't for him after about three weeks, and he came home via AMTRAK. He enjoyed the train ride; he said it was really interesting—especially crossing the Rocky Mountains. The downside of the 36-hour ride was that he couldn't afford any more than just a seat on the train, which meant he had to sleep in his chair. But it taking the train sounds pretty cool—I think we'll have to try it some day (except for the sleeping in the hard chair part).

In early May I was spared trying to come up with creative—yet still true—excuses for Bruce's continued absence. After much thought and prayer, he decided that working for Vivint in Indiana all summer was not what he should be doing. He was willing to stay there and work if it was the right thing to do; but he truly felt that it wasn't. So he came back home, arriving here on May 8. Yay!! I was pretty darn miserable with him gone, and at the prospect of a whole summer of him being gone still ahead of us.

After he got back home he got another job offer so quickly that we are certain this was the right decision. Yay!

As for me, I had an entire week-and-a-half off from school, and now I'm back at it again. This semester's agenda is Math 1010 (algebra), English 2010, Cardio Fitness, Flexibility for Fitness, Zumba, and Corset-Making. And yes, I have to make the corsets for myself (I need a model to fit them to every week). We are each making two corsets, and I really don't know what I'll ever do with them after the class is done. Hang them on the wall as art? That will be a busy class, but fun. Algebra will be a busy class, but I don't know about fun.

Well, that's about all. Soon (I hope) I'll post the pictures of last semester's projects, and I'll post about Pedals for Hope, too! Fun stuff!!

Crazy-Busy!

School is keeping me extremely busy right now. Every week I make a new pattern of some kind—right now we are working on sleeves, so I make two different sleeves and a bodice to put them on—and then I have to cut them out of muslin and sew them all together. Yes, I do something like this every week for this class. I'm working on a jacket for Adv. Sew, my coat for Tailoring, and three more patterns for Pattern by Measurement. The P by M patterns are finally drawn; now I have to cut them from lovely fabrics and make them to fit me (and hope that they really look nice enough to wear).

Plus all my school and all the kids' school entails a lot of running around, and our van has been out of commission for three weeks. Ben and Tami have been far, far more than extremely generous and kind to us, and have let us use their van all this time. (I think a catered dinner with a lovely dessert is in order for them.) Hopefully our van will be out of the shop tonight—or tomorrow morning.

On top of all that, we have BIG family things in the works that are . . . a little stressful. But I'm not ready to divulge more than that right now. It's just that things here are crazy, crazy-busy!

p.s. Send me a poem for my contest! I could use the break. ;-)

Four Point Oh!

Check this out:

Yay, me!

Before I get back to Life As We Know It . . .

. . . I'll show you the rest of my school projects. Yes, I am done for a whole month! I really liked my classes, I think I did well in them, and I am ready for a well-deserved (I think) break. Now I can get back to the relaxing business of doing dishes all day long, and washing 32 loads of laundry a week. ;-)

But first . . .

In Intro. to Fashion I had to design a fashion accessory, using old stuff that I had around—or stuff from a thrift store—and without using my sewing machine. Oh! And it had to be something I would actually use myself. I decided to make shoes that would match the outfit I made for my Patterns class. So I hot-glued the matching fabric onto a pair of size-8 shoes (too big for me) that I found at the D.I.

The red fabric on the toes is pleated, and it has the little pleated circley thing to match the belt on the dress. Too bad the shoes aren't half-size to really match the dress. Would I wear them? Yes, if I had the matching dress. I don't know what else I'd use them with. The instructor, Jill, said that was the best shoe-covering job she'd seen. Actually they do look pretty good from across the room. On close inspection you'll see a lot of hot-glue mess, and the frayed edges of the fabric—which I fudged over with paint.

I think I'll give these as a white-elephant gift tonight

In Int. Sew I had to make a pair of perfectly-fitting jeans. I had no confidence in this project, and was already feeling a little burned-out by the time we started. So I didn't even try to make them look nice—no fancy stitched pockets, no nuthin'. I don't even particularly like the fabric color (although that's not my fault—they were not that color before I pre-washed them. I was amazed at how much color washed out). Too bad, because they really are a perfect fit! Next time I'll actually make them look nice.

And in Textiles I made my gorgeous swatch book. I won't include a picture, because I don't think a photo online would show how really cool this book is. But if you don't believe me, you can ask Melanie. And for my final, final project in that class I had to design and make a fabric and design three outfits that would use the fabric as their central theme. At first I wanted to make a Batik because it sounds like a really cool process. But that wasn't going so well, so I decided that embroidery would be easier. (When I told this to the class during my presentation, Janet was very surprised that I thought embroidery was easier than Batik. I thought about it after I sat down, because that does seem like a crazy thing to say. I guess what I meant was that I knew I'd get the results I wanted with embroidery, while I wasn't so certain about the Batik.)

Anyway, I made my fabric—about 10 to 12 hours of work for an 8 by 8-inch piece, which makes this "hand-made-in-the-USA" fabric about $2,000 a yard (minimum wage; wholesale). But once the embroidery was done, I realized I really didn't know exactly what clothes I'd make with it; bridal, obviously, but what?


In reverse order, here's what I came up with:

For the third outfit I was completely stuck. First I thought a vest of the embroidery with a skirt or slacks in a dark olive-green, and a cream-colored blouse with bishop sleeves would be nice. When I drew it, it looked fantastic—for the 70's.

too 70's

Then I thought a "mother-of-the-bride" suit, in the olive, with a collar of the embroidery would look great. And my colored picture was great, but I re-read the assignment and realized that a collar could hardly be called "central" to the outfit.

mother of the bride

By now it was 3:00 a.m. on the day the project was due. I finally just drew a little-girl's dress: embroidered bodice, silver skirt with "toast" organza overlay, and organza sash and organza puffed sleeves. Kind of a cop-out, and not original at all. But I was too tired to care about creativity at that point.


Second, a little prom-type dress. The skirt is the embroidered fabric, the top is the same fabric without the embroidery, and the little flower-things on the neckline are made of organza that matches the embroidery thread colors, with little diamond-thingies in their centers. Very cute, I think.


And the first design: A gown . . . ball-gown? red-carpet dress? This dress is also made of the silver fabric without the embroidery; the shawl-collar and the poufy, bustled train are made of the embroidery. I really like this one.


My presentation went very well. I was the only person with embroidered fabric—there were lots of Batiks; so I was glad I'd made that change. And Janet told the class they should all have a look at my embroidery before we left that day. I think I love Janet!

After the presentations . . . the final exam. And now I am freeeee! For a month. And then I'll be doing Advanced Sewing, Patterns 2, Tailoring, Fashion Illustration, and Pattern by Measurement—the class I'm dying to take. Oh, and a Cardio-Fitness class.

But, for at least one month you won't have to hear from me about school—at least, not my school. Hooray for the holidays!

Ah, Sweet Success!

I have finished my biggest school projects (and they are marvelous!), and it's as if the weight of the world has been lifted. I knew I was stressed out about all the work I had to do, but I didn't entirely realize just how stressed I was until it was over with. I feel so good, and happy, and . . . light now!

So let me tell you about the projects:

In Patterns I had to design an outfit that had a skirt or pants and a blouse/shirt; I had to change the darts or shape of the pattern from the original slopers; I had to include a collar or facing on the top and I had to do sleeves—also different from the original slopers. (Slopers are basic patterns without seam allowances on them.) We also had to turn in an illustration of the outfit.

As soon as we got the assignment I started thinking of what I might want to do. At first I thought I'd like some kind of dressy blouse with a flouncy ruffle that went around the neck and down the front opening, with 3/4 length sleeves and a flounce at the sleeve hem. I thought that if I could continue the blouse-ruffle down the skirt somehow, that would be cute. But my pictures all looked pretty stupid—like pajamas, at best.

Yes, I sat in my other classes and doodled pictures

Then I thought that instead of a frilly ruffle, I'd make a pleated, stand-up neck ruffle; I liked that. My next thought was to make a full, pleated skirt and a little belt to go with it. Closer, but still not right. So I thought of adding a pleated peplum to the blouse—which would make it more like a jacket.

Finally decided that to get the look I'd really like, I'd do away with the full skirt and make a straight skirt with a pleated ruffle at the hem; I wouldn't pleat the peplum; and the bodice was a lot cuter if it was cut down almost to the navel. Hm. I guess this means I need a blouse under the jacket now. So I decided to make a sleeveless, scoop-neck blouse with French darts. And then, the very last evolution was to make it a dress, instead of a skirt and blouse, with the jacket and belt. This was really overkill—much more than I was assigned to do. But I couldn't help it; once I had this great idea I had to finish it!

I spent several hours making the patterns, but couldn't decide on colors. Finally I decided to go look at Wal-mart's bargain fabrics; the fabric textures I liked would determine the colors. Now, I would never really make clothing out of any of these horrible fabrics; the suit was drapery stuff, the pleats a stiff, polyester home-fabric, and the blouse a cheap costume satin. But I did achieve a great look—the textures are lovely, and I love the colors.

And when it was all made, I realized that I'd also made an "day to evening" outfit: Take off the jacket, replace the belt and you're ready to leave the office and go on a date. ;-)

Here are my swell drawings (I can trace a body off a pattern envelope as well as the next girl):

check out my drawing of Jamie Lee Curtis! ;-)

And here are pictures of the outfit itself on the mannequin at school:

day . . .

. . . to evening

I have to admit that I love my little dress—I'd wear it myself (then I'd have a designer dress! Haha!). Janet (the instructor) said it was a lovely design, she loved the colors, and she said it's a very marketable design. :-) The girls in my class loved it too. Everyone presented really cute stuff on Wednesday, but they went nuts over my dress—they even told Janet that she should give me extra credit for it. :-) Janet said, "What good would that do? She's already at the top."

I flew home on clouds! Who couldn't have a stupendous, happy day after that?

Final Projects

I swear mid-terms were just yesterday. Really! And now I've been heaped up with final projects. In two weeks I am supposed to:

• Make a pair of perfectly-fitting jeans for myself. That would be cool. (Intermediate Sewing)
• Design an outfit that has a skirt or pants, a top with sleeves and a collar or facing; make the patterns for that outfit, draw the outfit—front and back— and sew it in half-size to present to the class. (Pattern-Making)
• Design and make a fashion accessory using recycled stuff (anything from clothing to garbage) but without doing any sewing, and present it to the class. It has to be something I would use myself. I'm open to suggestions on this one. (Intro. to Fashion)
• Create a fabric, and design three outfits that would use the fabric, illustrate all the outfits—front and back—and present it all to the class. And have a swatchbook with 91 different fabric samples and their written descriptions in it. (Textiles)
• Put together a personal health journal/notebook, including five researches on health/nutrition. (Body Image)
• And learn a dance, choreograph the last 16 measures of said dance, and perform it (with my group) for the rest of the class. (Belly Dancing)
  

And, on top of all that, I still have final exams and quizzes to study for. No more than a college student should expect, I suppose. But I am so busy that my head is spinning! If I ever get it all done, I'll take pictures of the projects and show them to you. Except for me in my new jeans. We'll have to see how they really turn out. :-)

Can she do it?

Phase 3 . . . Complete? Oh Dear!

I was going to post about how I'd finished phase 3 of the kitchen; the counters. But I've en-"countered" a glitch.

I did actually paint the countertops with a product called Giani Liquid Granite. Although I wouldn't really say they look like granite, they do look awesome! But just before I went to bed last night I saw a terrible thing! A little hole has peeled away right in the middle of my "snack bar." Oh, dear. Well, Giani guarantees 100% satisfaction. I just barely wrote them and let them know that I'm not feeling very satisfied right now. :-( So I'll let you know how that all turns out.

In the meantime, I'll tell you about our adventure, and I'll still post the before and after pics.

First, before I worked on the counters, Bruce fixed up the whole microwave thing. So phase "somewhere down the road" really is finished. To get the microwave into the right space he had to take out the center cabinet and move it higher. Then, you'll recall, he had to do some re-wiring and put in an outlet for the microwave. I'd thought it would hard-wire into the house, being a wall-mounted appliance, but it has an electrical cord on the top. So Bruce also had to put the new outlet inside the newly-moved cabinet, and make a hole in the bottom of the cabinet for the plug to fit through. He did a fantastic job; I have an awesome husband!

gotta love a man who'll work in the kitchen!

As for the counters, I ordered my "liquid granite" at the end of August—right as I was starting school. So I was impatiently waiting for fall break, when I'd have 72 solid hours to work on it (it takes about two days, with all the drying time).

First I had to use their awesome black primer. Just the primer looked pretty cool on the counters, but that would really be a lot of black in my kitchen, wouldn't it? Then I sponged on the other paints, and finally added the topcoat. It looked really terrific! Until it—probably got a chip somehow—and peeled.

:-(

I'm sure the company will do something to help me out. They are fairly new, and they want people to love them—as all companies do. But I wonder if I'll have to start the entire process over again? Because, yes, I am fairly determined not to revert to 1990's mauve counters.

before

after

before

after

The Great Kitchen Project, in Progress . . .

Last weekend I did finish phase 2: the painting of the kitchen walls. And I went down one side of the hallway as well. And, on top of that, Bruce finished phase "somewhere down the road," too. Unfortunately, that phase needs to be redone. I'll tell you all about it:

At about the time I started on the kitchen, our microwave totally pooped out. This isn't such a big deal—I pretty much grew up without a microwave, and didn't have my own until after 10 years of marriage, after all. Hmm. It was very convenient for re-heating leftovers though.

Well, last weekend Bruce and I were shopping at the D.I. (the local thrift store) for a much-needed bookshelf. They didn't have the bookshelf, but they did have a white, over-the-range microwave oven for $10. We took it to an electrical outlet and discovered that it worked, and also that it still had a Corelle plate with a paper towel and a chicken nugget in it. Yuck! Then we saw another one that looked even newer and better (but no chicken nuggets inside) and it still worked too! So we bought it, and Bruce installed it. This was a bigger job than you might think, involving adding a new outlet and moving the cabinet above the stove up a little higher. But he got it done, it looked lovely and it worked. For 24 hours.

See, our house was wired by idiots. Seriously. The living room, all the kitchen lights, some of the kitchen outlets, the front yard light and, I think, Brandon & Ryan's bedroom, and maybe the garage door-opener are all on the same circuit. This means that if, say, in the winter-time when it's dark in the evening, we decide to vacuum our house while someone is cooking dinner, all the power in the living room and kitchen goes out. Well, guess which breaker the microwave ended up on?

So while we were working in the kitchen, and Kaylie was watching TV, and Rachel was coloring in the living room, someone decided to reheat something. It tripped the breaker—twice. The third time it just blew the fuse in the microwave.

Undaunted, Bruce went to get another microwave. He is going to find a different way of wiring it and get it installed this weekend.

And I will be working on phase 3: counter-tops. "But, wait a minute," you say. "Paint? On the counter-tops?"

You'll see. Exciting things are happening in my kitchen!

Fall Break

Fall break officially started yesterday for Michael and me. Michael has taken advantage of this break by sleeping in, reading, and playing games. I am taking advantage of it by mixing paint for my kitchen !!, spray-painting a vase to cover the color I didn't like (not sure if I'm making things better here), and doing lots of homework and mid-term projects.

I'm pretty excited about the kitchen paint. A month or two ago I sent out a call to all my friends for leftover whitish/creamish-colored paint that they may have. My sweet friend, Bethannie, has a sweet husband who is a contractor. They had lots of leftover paint. So I took the paint she gave me and mixed it with some caramel-colored sample-size paints, plus some rust-red paint that we had, and I've come up with 2 1/2 gallons of a color that's very similar to the paint-chip I picked out at Home Depot. Yay! Today I'm painting all the walls that touch my kitchen counters. We actually only have three walls in the kitchen; I'm painting two. The third wall extends into the living room and will be painted an accent color—probably the rust-red. I guess this means I will be painting my living room, too. Darn! ;-)

Anyway, the plan is to slap a coat of paint on the kitchen walls this morning, then do homework while that first coat dries. I'm hoping to have all ten square feet coated and re-coated by the time I get the kids from school this afternoon. Cool, huh!

More Updates . . .

Well, I've been in school for three days now. So far all my classes look interesting; the least exciting is Intro. to Fashion—an overview of the fashion world. Actually, the lecture was interesting, but the 50 minute fashion review video (lights out, sound too low) was not so great. Weird clothes on skeletal women. Nice. But I'm excited about my pattern-making class, and the body image class sounds like it will be fascinating.

AND

Now I have more pictures of
THE GREAT KITCHEN PROJECT
(Can you just hardly wait?)

To paint the front of the cabinet the right way, I had to remove the back panel first (so the dishwasher door wouldn't be in the way) . Not very attractive. But it's all back together now, and quite lovely.


before . . .

in progress; I did do some drawer repair. Yay, me!

all finished!

So, it's coming along! Next up: Repairing and painting the walls.