Poor neglected blog…

I feel like I’ve been in survival mode for the past several weeks. Nothing much getting accomplished and creative inclinations waning.

We did manage to pull together a birthday celebration for Lizzie. We invited two of her friends from school to see a play with us. The play was Heartbeat of the Drum and was written by Sara Dejoras. Sara teaches taiko drumming at school, so the kids (all of whom had been in taiko club) were pretty excited to see the play. It was a very pleasant way to celebrate and was far less stressful than a big party in our tiny house. This may have to become a tradition.

Despite the lack of crafting mojo, I did manage to make a nightgown for Lizzie’s birthday. I was not thrilled about the style, but then again, I don’t have to wear it. It went together pretty well and I accomplished all the gathering without breaking threads. When it came time to attach the yoke to the gathered body of the nightgown, I pinned a lot and hoped for the best, meanwhile ignoring the direction to baste. Having tempted fate by not basting, things got a bit wonky.

At this point I had one of those shoulder angel vs. devil dilemmas. Apparently my craft angel and devil have been personified by Abby and Sarah. The imagined debate went something like this:

-It’s a nightgown, no one is going to see it.

-You’ll see it and it is going to bug the crap out of you. Admit it.

-That part is gathered, how can you tell it is wonky?

-Go ahead, rip it. You know you want to.

-Don’t listen to her, it is fine and Lizzie will love it.

-Wanna borrow my seam ripper?

I’m not really sure which one is the angel and which one the devil. Regardless, we’ll call it a draw. I ripped out the worst offending areas and left the majority intact.

The most tedious part ended up being the button closure. The pattern called for making a thread loop. I’m a little surprised I was not rendered permanently cross-eyed after that. Next time, I will just use a loop of elastic.