Enjoying the lazy days of summer…it seems to be going more slowly than normal, which I like. My eldest daughter sang with her previous choir teacher at Balloonfest today.
I made many of these costumes for our Annual Madrigal Dinner. This year, we are putting on Once Upon a Mattress, and I am super excited. I am inspired by the TV movie and Carol Burnett’s Queen….so you will see that in my costume versions.
I will be starting on this crown before the end of July! I love it!
Filed under: Costuming Madness
Well, I have completely overbooked myself, per usual. I am madly dashing about finishing up Madrigal dinner costumes, trying to wrap my head around set dress for “It’s a Wonderful Life-The Musical”, working a new job giving presentations about cyber safety to K-8th graders, oh and the ordinary laundry/dishes/childcare thing.
I interviewed for a part-time Language Arts position one town over, and I am their top candidate!!! This makes me so happy; I have waited for a contracted teaching position for so long.
Project on the mannequin:
I found a great (but really expensive) ‘velvet’ with gold cording pattern at JoAnn’s. I coupled this with a deep gold velvet curtain panel from Salvation Army ($1.50!) and some creamy gold chiffon. Pics when finished for a lucky 8th grade girl!
Filed under: Costuming Madness
as you are making other plans, yes? I am completely in the midst of this little saying right now.
We are in the 4th week of school–the sweet and the bitter.
The sweet:
1. I am totally in love with my 6th graders–they are funny, fun and still eager to please. I also have the nicest 7th graders, too. They have good senses of humor and pretty good work ethics (so far).
2. I do love to teach.
The bitter (far too many of these for my taste):
1. I do not have a “real” job. This is depressing on many levels. I believe that I have shown my worth to the principal, I tend to have a great work ethic, I do what is asked of me and more, blah, blah, blah.
2. We have switched schedules, and so now teachers don’t always have common planning periods. The planning time we do get is so short, that I never actually feel that I am accomplishing much. I have never felt so isolated in my building before.
3. My time management skills and/or motivation have not improved with another year of life. I find that when I should be doing A, B, or C, my heart and body are pulling me toward X, Y, or Z. I love to make little lists and schedules, but I rarely find that I follow them as well as I would like.
Now, what am I doing?
Well, planning on Thoroughly Modern Millie is still on the brain, but the most immediate sewing news is our annual Madrigal Dinner. I have a HUGE 8th grade Royal Court! I have plans for all of the dresses that need to be made (oh, and the boys, too). I would love to pass the costumes on to others, but I don’t know if anyone has volunteered. Also, I happen to be a control freak, as well as a fudger of details, so that I might *improvise* with fabric needs, seam allowances and other stuff. So sending out those costumes where I am playing it by ear only spells frustration and disaster for everyone!
Le sigh!
I have not been motivated at all lately to do much of anything, especially those things that I know I must do. I am starting as a long-term sub for an English Language Arts position for 6th and 7th grades on Tuesday. I have been trying to get “my” classroom organized, but even that is not very motivating to me. We have done some things lately though:
This is a duck that my 3rd grade daughter made (with lots of Mommy help). We used the instructions from Mariska’s blog. It was fairly easy, though I would change some things for a new sewer, like the pattern size (bigger), and make sure that we used felt (no unraveling), instead of stash fabrics.
We are also gearing up for our middle school Madrigal Dinner. My 8th grade daughter will be participating in this, so this is the dress that we have started for her…although, if she gets the Half-Man/Woman part in the Madrigal play, it will be a moot point.
And a detail of the beading….I have been on a beading frenzy lately.
Notice the BE–YOO–TIFUL dressmaking dummy that one of my bestest friends, Kelli, gave to me! I have named her Bianca, and the sad, yet beloved, Minerva (my duct tape dummy) has been moved to the pit that is my basement.
I did decide to join the Sew Retro blog (if they will have me). Their August/September challenge is to make a dress, from vintage pattern and/or fabric. I will do this!
Right now, I am working on those flapper headbands. I made great progress on a peachy orange one during a viewing of Chocolat, but I got bored with the peach beads, so I started another piece. This one is a hip decoration, ala this:
(click for full-size)
I am really excited about how these are turning out. I tried to bead a purse for someone an number of holidays ago, and I wasn’t crazy about my technique. This time I am beading directly on Aida cloth, used for cross-stitch. The beads are sized–1 bead=1 space on cloth, so this makes it slightly easier to estimate how many beads I need for each section. I will put some pics on real soon!
