i have no idea what to call this post

Next week school starts, which is of course the Big Topic around here, at least for parents and teachers. Those of us with first time kindergarteners are both anxious and excited. Since Anya will be in part-time preschool this fall as well, I might actually have a little time to get some things done...maybe.

I had hoped to be able to pick up some more paying work accompanying, most likely at the UW SOM (school of music), but today as I thought through our weekly schedule for the school year, I realized that I won't have much time at all. For one thing, those of us parents who don't work a full-time paying job outside the home are expected to put in some volunteer hours. I am not at all opposed to this, of course, because I believe parental involvement is really important for a successful educational system. With one kid in elementary school and another in a separate preschool, this means I'll have to put in double the hours. On top of that, the education system in Wisconsin has borne the brunt of some pretty severe budget cuts, which means cuts in staff and programs, so the schools are more dependent on parent volunteers than ever.

What it comes down to is this: I'll be lucky if I end up with more than one part of an afternoon every week to get any work done. This is very frustrating to me and makes me wonder if I should just give up on the idea of ever finding paying work in my field that is worthwhile. I ran into a friend of mine today who has two kids roughly the same age as mine (one starting kindergarten, one starting preschool) with the same school schedule, and we were lamenting the lack of free time we'd actually have and I said, "Maybe I should just drop the idea of trying to find work and just go running instead," to which she replied, "Well, that's my whole plan."

Equally frustrating to me is the feeling that with the economy being what it is, I should be grateful for what I have and just keep my pretty little mouth shut about my own problems. I have two beautiful children, a roof over my head and a husband with a stable job, so what right do I have to complain? I do, honestly, feel guilty about this, because I suppose there are people who envy my position. But here's the flip side: I'm 32 and all I've ever been in my adult life is a student and a mother with just enough actual professional gigs to make me almost a grown-up. I'm starting to feel like my chance to have my own ambition and career and adventure is past and gone and now it's time for me to move aside and do what I can for my kids and hope they turn out okay. It's a frustrating and lonely thought.

And now that I have bared my soul to the internet, I'm going to switch gears completely and get back to the crafting. Which is something I do in all that vast free time that I have, you know.

I want to do some sewing this fall. Summer kind of took some of the knitting mojo out of me for some reason (we had a couple of hot spells, so maybe that was it), and while I didn't stop knitting entirely, I did slow down a little. I am, however, working diligently, if slowly, on a sweater for Anya, as per her request. She wants "a brown sweater with a zipper," and because she is my sweet daughter who loves everything I make for her, a brown sweater with a zipper she shall have. Here it is so far:



I've got about 1.25 sleeves, plus the hood, i-cord edging and a zipper installation to go. If I don't get distracted with other knitting projects, it ought to be done by the time she needs it for cool fall weather.

Next on the laundry list (yuk yuk):




Corduroy and flannel, flannel and corduroy. I love a good corduroy. I bought some in a couple colors to make Anya some pants, and enough red to make a jacket for me, which is probably waaaay ambitious, but if I want to learn to sew for myself, I've got to learn somehow. The flannel is to make PJ pants for Daniel. I've just given up on finding acceptable PJs for him, and until he asserts a stronger opinion about wanting to wear branded (re: ugly) pajamas, I'm going to buy plain undershirts and make the pants myself.

What's on your to-do list for fall?

towels

I made these towels today.



They are a gift, and haven't actually been given yet, so I probably ought not post this yet, but if I don't do it now, I'll never get around to it. Plus, I won't mention the intended recipient, but I'm pretty sure she doesn't read this very often. In any case, I'll take my chances.



The nice thing about sewing projects is that they often go quickly. I made these from start to finish today.



The sucky thing about sewing projects, for me at least, is that the only place I can set up the machine is on my kitchen table, which is usually covered with things like dirty dishes, sticky jam smears, half-eaten snacks and the like. Finding a block of time when I can work uninterrupted is truly a challenge, and since we sit down to eat at the same place I sit down to sew, well, it's just very inconvenient. Today, oddly enough, my children not only got along with each other, they were also not very demanding of me (usually I spend most of my time breaking up arguments, fetching snacks, and assisting with whatever game or building project they have going with the couch cushions), so I was able to make these towels in a couple of hours, and only part of that was while they were parked in front of the TV. I don't expect my luck to hold.



Anyway, back to the towels. I got two yards of white linen/rayon fabric and cut it into six pieces roughly the same size. The only waste was selvedge and raw edges I had to trim off. I'm not sure how big each towel measures out to be, maybe 20"x24" after hemming.

For the appliqués, I found fabric with a really large, wild print design at Stitchers Crossing and just cut out around the designs. The coffee-themed fabric in the top picture is leftover from some project several years ago, but all the other appliqués are from another fabric.

The idea isn't mine originally. I have a sewing book with instructions for appliquéd kitchen towels with cupcake and fruit shapes, but I thought following the lines of a large print would be easier. I followed the same basic instructions, though. For the appliqués, I used this peel-off iron-on paper and it worked quite well. You iron the paper on your fabric, sticky side on the fabric, cut out the shape, peel the paper off, place the shape on the background fabric (the linen towel, in this case), iron again, then stitch around the edges with a tight zigzag. It's like making giant stickers out of fabric. The result is a little stiff, but not nearly as stiff as double-sided interfacing, so hopefully these towels will actually be useful and not just pretty (well, I think they're pretty).



I'm really quite pleased with how these turned out. I hope the recipient likes them!

did you miss me?

Lordy Lordy, it feels like I haven't had time to sit down all summer. First, there was the rush of finishing up the basement and moving everything down, and then we had visitors for most of July, Stuart was out of town for work for a couple days, and last weekend we said good-bye to some long time friends moving to Ohio. In a few days we're driving to Kansas, where we'll spend a week visiting family and going to my cousin's wedding, which I am doing all the music for, not that I've had much time to practice.

Alas, knitting has taken a back seat to everything else going on. I finished the Liesl tunic a long time ago, but I still haven't blocked it. I was hoping to take it along on our trip, but the tunic is so loosely knit I'll need to wear a camisole underneath. Since it's been 100+ degrees for the last 36 days (once as high as 114!) in central Kansas, I'll probably just leave Liesl at home. What a shame! I've also been working on a fall sweater for Anya, and I'm about halfway done but have no pictures. I do need to figure out travel knitting, though. I find it's a good idea to have at least two, if not three, projects along on a long car trip in case I finish/get bored with/screw up one of them.

But enough of my life and excuses for not posting. Let's move on to an actual project, shall we? Last week, after realizing that Anya has grown several inches since last year and no longer fits the one dress she owns, I went shopping to find her something to wear to the wedding. No luck. Everything was too ugly, too fancy, too expensive, or all of the above. So I made her a dress.



She loves it, and this is saying a lot for a child who normally refuses to wear dresses.



She probably loves it because it's yellow.



She also loves it because I made it for her.



The first thing she did when we went outside to take pictures this morning was pick a tomato out of our front garden and start eating it.



I sure hope this dress makes it to next weekend.

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More details, for those interested:
Pattern: McCalls 5838, view B
Fabric: some quilting cotton I got at a sale outlet in Newton, Kansas last fall when I was in town for a performance, and I used pretty much every last bit of 1 and 5/8 yards (partly because I made a mistake cutting out one of the bodice pieces)
Comments: Anya usually wears a size 4 in store-bought clothes, but experience with giant patterns wizened me up to sizing issues - finally - so I looked closely at the listed measurements and decided to make a size 3 from the pattern. Wouldn't you know, it worked! The dress fits her pretty well. There's not really room to grow, but that's okay, because she really needs it for next weekend. (After that, she can wear it and eat as many tomatoes as she wants.) The only sizing problem was that the length was just right when she tried it on before I hemmed it. A regular hem would have made it too short, I didn't have enough fabric left over for a ruffle, so I made an evening trip to Joann's to get that wide eyelet trim for the bottom. It fancies up the dress, which is nice, and I think now the length is about right.

If I'd had more confidence in my sewing abilities, and if I'd had time to look for better fabric, I would have chosen something lighter like a batiste or cotton lawn. This quilting cotton is fine, and it certainly wasn't expensive, but the bodice and midriff sections of the dress are lined, and with the gathers and extra layers, it came out just a little on the stiff side. I'm sure if I'd been using more expensive fabric, I would have had some unsalvageable screw-up, because that's just how it goes, right? As it is, my zipper installation was less than stellar, and I had to improvise a little bit on the straps, so it's good that I had a practice run.

I have a little more confidence now, and I'd like to sew some other things for Anya, hopefully with results as good as or better than this dress!