One. Two. Three.

8.28.2015

First there was one.


Then there were two.


And now there's three.


Three people sporting octopi covered shirts that is.

You know what they say "the family that wear octopi together, stays together."  Or something like that.  In any case, 3/4 of our family is now fully outfitted with an octopus-themed garments.  Ben was feeling a little left out so he made his own handmade octopus shirt.  I told him not to quit his day job.


O's dress is from her birthday and my shirt is an Archer that I finished just before starting school in June.  I didn't get to wear it from a couple months because it was blazing hot around here for several weeks.  On the day of our midterms, though, it cooled down to a reasonable temperature and I broke out the octopus shirt as a little good luck charm.  It turns out that is was just the ice breaker that people needed in the middle of hours of tense exams.  I mean, who could be stressed out when the woman in front of you is wearing a button down shirt covered in octopi?  It's simply not possible.


As for C's shirt, it's the Class Picnic Blouse from Oliver and S which makes a great little top and I'm thinking that, with some lengthening, it would also make a great little dress.  I'd be hung go for making it except that C has returned to her natural state of being a mostly ungrateful recipient of handmade goods.


Ah, three year olds.  So stinking cute.  So stinking fickle.

The Things We Make For Our Children

8.25.2015


For the past two months I've been telling my youngest that when I get done with school, I'm going to make her a cat dress because if there's one thing that can actually get this kid to smile, it's a cat.  And because I'm a total sucker for this kiddo, I'm usually pretty happy to indulge her cat obsession...which has led to her having cat shoes, cat tattoos, and now a cat dress.    She may be only three, but she's definitely on her way to crazy cat-lady status.


But let's talk about this dress.  You know, the one made out of what is possibly the world's ugliest fabric.  You see, when I told C that I would make her a cat dress I imagined a little less literal of an interpretation.  In fact, I found a darling little fabric at the store with cat prints on it and I spent a good five minutes trying to talk her into that fabric and when she wouldn't give I roped Ben into trying to talk her into that fabric as well.  It turns out that you can't talk C into anything  (including smiling for these pictures).


When she gets an idea of what she wants, there's no getting that idea out of her head.  (I wonder who she gets that from?  Ha!)  So a dress covered in cats it was!  Actually it was kind of fun to pick out which cat would have a starring role on the front of the dress (I let O have the honor of picking out that cat).  And, if I'm being honest, I kind of love the way this crazy looking dress came out.  It really captures a moment in time in C's childhood and I can't really ask for more than that.


Also, I'd be remiss if I didn't add that this dress (once again) is made from the Hanami Pattern.  I made her a straight size 3 although based on seeing some other gorgeous Hanamis around the internet I chopped about 3/4 of an inch off of the length of the bodice and I also added some width to the skirt.  I decided to go with some flutter sleeves this time around and I have to say that I'd forgotten how cute flutter sleeves are on a little girl's dress.  And, of course, I had to throw in a little piping around the waist because it turns out that there's no overdoing it when you're wearing a dress covered in cats.


Meow!

One Quarter (Almost) Down. Two More Years To Go.

8.13.2015


Tomorrow is the last day of my first quarter back in school and I have to say that I beyond excited to be wrapping up this quarter.  These past two months have been an incredible amount of work and while I expected to have my nose to the grindstone a lot of the time, if I'm being honest, my nose was to the grindstone a lot more than I was hoping.  Needless to say, Ben and the kids have been absolute champs in adjusting to this new period in our lives.

The last two months have also been incredibly humbling as I went from being a competent professional in one line of work, to a completely incompetent student.  I'm not going lie - there were many days that I missed feeling "good" at something.  Fortunately, those days were offset by the ones where I felt pretty bad-ass at learning something new.  And if I have many thanks to give to Ben for picking up the slack around the house, I have many, many thanks to give to my sister who constantly reminded me that learning is a process and to cut myself a little slack in that process.

Lastly, the last two months have been reassuring.  When I left my job I felt pretty unmotivated and I figured that obviously the problem was me.  I thought that this was just my new normal - tired, old, and unmotivated.  I really worried that once I got into something that required a much greater time and mental commitment I was going to find that I just wasn't up to the challenge anymore.  Fortunately, as it turns out, I was wrong.  I'm not an unmotivated person; I was just in a job that I had outgrown and because of that it was hard to muster up motivation at times.  In fact, I've been pleasantly surprised by my motivation over these last two months and the amount of work that I've put in to this 3rd go-round at college (3rd!!).


And with that, it's back to the books for me.  One more day of studying and then a couple weeks of doing nothing but hugging my kids, giving Ben high fives, enjoying life, and, of course, sewing!