Last night was a wonderful break from the daily ins and outs of my life. For just a few hours, the kids were left at home and I had the opportunity to reconnect–to wonderful mentors and professors, to other alum, to my innermost Giftie.

If you aren’t a Giftie, the rest of this might not make sense…

It amazes me that I can walk in to a room almost 14 years after graduation, and my professors still call me by name. Not just that, but Dr. Art can recall where I went to undergrad and Ms. Gleason was quick ask me how the town of Zwolle was after all this time. With the passage of time, they are so much the same: Dr. Delery, Mr. Allen, Dr. Findley, Mr. Ebarb, Ms. Sharon. Conversations are what you’d expect. Do you live here? What are you doing now? How are your children? How’s your Addie? (Dr. Findley has an Addie too.) Have you started piano lessons? Your children are the right age for Suzuki. How’s Jane? (Yes, Ms. Sharon remembers our friendship. She just laughs when she learns that we talk daily.)

And that’s just the pre-gala reception.

At 7pm, we moved into theater. The crowd was small, but perhaps only a few could truly understand the talent, the labor, the passion, and the drive that was to be on display. And then it began. For the next 2 hours, I was transported to a world that only lingers in my memories. The performers might have been students from the Classes of 2008 and 2009, but I wasn’t seeing them. I was watching Trish and the dance company and remembering the bruises that girl would come back with after hours and hours of rehearsal. I was watching Alex at the piano. I was reliving Matt and Randy and “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”. I was listening to the beautiful voices of Tanya and JoAnna. I was at Jane and Jill’s senior recital, purple daisies in hand. I was remembering the days of Valley food, Caddo Hall and Social Hour; of Calculus and Chemistry and World Religions and Brit Lit. And somewhere in it all, I remembered me.

Where could the time have gone? Where ever it is, it has with it the creativity, the expression, the enjoyment of art. Those things have been replaced with the daily, the ho-hum, the dancing dinosaurs and little red fuzzy monsters.

Kudos to Dr. Widhalm and his faculty on a wonderful evening. The talent was exceptional, and the students were professionals. We expected no less.

Oh my goodness! These pants!

I found 2.5 yards of a beautiful white linen aging in my stash and knew I immediately that I needed white linen pants for Easter. (Keep in mind that this was Friday night and Easter was Sunday. If you know me, you aren’t surprised.) I also knew just what pattern I wanted to use. So, I pulled out Simplicity 3688…

As my waist is one size and my hips another, I’ve never done real well at fitting pants. I decided to do it right this time. I first drew the pattern off onto white broadcloth. I increased the seam allowances to 1 inch so I’d have room to work with. I put the muslin together with very long basting stitches. The only real fitting change I needed was to move the crotch point to increase the crotch depth. I altered that on the front pattern pieces and the fit was great! It took a while, but I think it was worth it. The muslin fit beautifully.

So, with great fear and trepidation, I pulled out my white linen (and, for the sake of modesty, I pulled out some white lining also). I put the lining together first. It fit great! Then I started with the linen. The darts looked great, the linen was pressing beautifully, and I was so excited. Then…
I got a little too careless with my serger. One guess where the hole is. Needless to say, I threw those dumb pants on the floor and stomped off to bed. My sweet husband picked up the pants, hung them up, and then came to bed. Then he said the one thing could motivate me, “I don’t think you can fix those.”

Well, not being one to back down from a dare. I got up immediately and started thinking. I sewed and pressed and top-stitched–all while texting a friend who was at the vet with her 70 pound monster that stumbled upon a huge bag of Easter candy! What you see are the result:

Not a beautifully tailored, high-waisted, well-fitting perfect pair of white pants. Instead, they are a much more casual white linen pant with huge patch pockets. Oh, and they fit well.

I will definitely make this pattern again. Next time, I will be more careful and I won’t sew while distracted. Yeah, right.

These are replacing the white eyelet skirt in my PR Wardrobe Contest storyboard. That means I’ve finished 5 pieces and I have 6 to go and I’ve sewn 14.5 yards! I might actually finish!

NOTE: Duke, the dog, is okay too!

It was a beautiful weekend. We fished, we flew kites, we ate yummy foods at Popos, we worked puzzles, we learned that the Little Man floats!

He was just back from a boat ride around the lake. Standing on the dock, he tried to toss his life vest back into the boat and then SPLASH!!! The longest half-second of my life! Then he surfaced and tread water until my hubby and my dad pulled him out.

I am so grateful that God protected his little 3-year-old head. With only about 24 inches between the dock and the boat, it is only God’s grace that he didn’t bust his head!

As for the swimming, well, thank you Justin and Leah!!! The folks at the Swim School are worth their weight in gold!

And in only his special way, he offered this: “I didn’t get to feel any fish.” I think he was disappointed.

As for my Big Girl: she learned to fly a kite!

You can always count on the Little Man for a bit of perspective. The conversation went something like this:

“I wish I were a frog.”
“You do. What would you do if you were a frog?”
“I’d catch waterbugs with my tongue.”
“That’s sounds yucky.”
“But you wouldn’t have to fix me breakfast anymore.”

What can I say to that?

Yeah! I’ve finished 4 pieces! I have 7 to go!

Here’s my purse:

I had originally planned to make Simplicity 4178, but…I decided I wanted something with a little sparkle. I told myself I would only create this wardrobe from fabrics and patterns I already owned. Unfortunately, I only have 2 handbag patterns in my huge pattern collection. So, I broke my own rule!

This is McCall’s 5340. I haven’t decided if I like it yet or not.

The purse is made in a silvery-gray linen. It calls for hair canvas as interfacing. Since I don’t have that in my stash (not really sure what it is actually), I used some left-over light weight denim. I really like the drape of the linen when interfaced with the denim, but the facings are almost too thick. It is lined with the teal satin that I also used on my jacket and one of my tops.

The pattern calls for 17 mm beads. This might of worked with wooden craft beads, but I wanted something a bit “blingier”. These are 14 mm beads.

The beads also cause another problem. The patterns instructs you to thread 3 strands of 1/16-inch cord through the beads to create the handle. Even 1 strand wouldn’t fit through these beads. I wound up stringing the beads of the handle on microfilament and knotting the microfilament to the cord.

And another problem. Even braided, 3 strands of 1/16-inch cord makes a very skinny strap. I’m afraid the purse will cut into my shoulder.

All that said–I think this is a really cute purse. It coordinates nicely with my wardrobe plan and I think I’ll enjoy using it this summer.

Just to keep track, that’s another 1 1/2 yards out of my stash. That means 8 1/2 total!