An Unfortunate Sign Of The Times

On Friday, we had tornadoes near by.  We didn't know it.  The wind had been crazy all day.  Meri had headed off to a town an hour away with a friend to see a movie.  On the way home, saw a semi that had been flipped in a ditch due to one and then roads to her friend's destination were blocked off due to downed trees.  The power went off at our house for a few hours as well.  I got tired of playing Sudoku on my phone and plugged it into the night-time cord just in case the power came back on. 

It finally did around 10:30 or 11 that night...

And then ALL the lights in the house were suddenly on.

On Saturday, I did some work on the suit and dress again.  Mostly the suit.  I made my first tie!  There wasn't enough of the eggnog satin, so it's not done correctly but will serve it's purpose.

Matching Meri's dress.  It has the peach overlay on the tie also.  A bit of shimmer!

It rained all day Saturday, but that evening, Meri and I headed out to the local college Style Show that we attend every year.  We sat with several of our ASG sewing friends to enjoy the show.

We got home JUST as the rain turned into snow and by Sunday night had two inches of snow coverage.  As I've said before...

If you don't like tornadoes, wait until the next day when you can have a blizzard.

Any time together with Meri is great!  However I wasn't too impressed with some of the entries in the show.  Maybe we were seated too closely, but I saw bad zippers, poor construction and pornographic outfits on some.  I mean really...  Was that necessary? 

ANYONE can tape string to dixie cups and call it a top! 

I am deliberately not posting that pic.  PLUS it didn't fit her very well either.

I will post this one.  From where we were sitting, we admired it.  Wow...  a close fitting sparkling gold dress!  NOW we're getting somewhere.  

But then she turned to look toward us and gasp!  It's entirely see through with nothing on underneath.  Yeah...  I'm not making that one after all.

Meri says I'm too judge-y.  Ummm  NOTHING wrong with that.

There were some very cute kid's clothes.

Some suits where I nudged Meri and said, "SEE???  NONE of these suits have more than one button!"  She has agreed now that we only have to do one button on Briar's suit jacket...

PLUS since I've only got enough matching fabric for one patch pocket, 

I was trying to convince Meri that one pocket would be good.  She wasn't buying it...  

SEE how cool that matched up with the Caribbean?

However I don't have enough at the base of Africa for the other side...

And I "MOMMILY" pointed out, "SEE?  College students are only doing one pocket!

So we've changed our strategy and will do slit pockets instead.

and students are also apparently doing short vests...

There was a tribute to Alice in Wonderland.  I knew it before I looked at the program!  The back of Alice's bodice is open to the waist.  Kind of cute.

 I don't remember what this one was.   But I think it was in the conceptual section of the program.

And the girl on the left's wings moved up and down.

And I have no idea what concept this outfit was.  But some of his sudsy (foam) hair bits fell off onto the stage for the following models to kick around.

Meri like this one especially...

The following entry inspired Meri and we may have to make a hat now for her prom dress...

I REALLY don't want to make her horns.

So anyway...  Meri still loves the style shows, so we'll still attend, and I'll hold out hope that next years has less burlesque-ish-ness and more creativity.

Am I getting old?

Triple Dots Galore. REALLY?...

I actually got to spend some time with Meri this weekend!  I KNOW!!!!  

The days are a blur so I'm not sure if I had her try on the prom dress on Friday night or Saturday morning...  I'm thinking Friday before she dashed off to see some friends who are more important than us or nap on the couch.

On Saturday, after a couple garbage runs, because... free weekends are rare...  and my van stinks now...  she and I worked together on a special project for about five Malcolm in the Middle episodes.  

Then she ran off with some friends to see the Sing-a-long version of Beauty & the Beast, while I stayed home and sewed in a zipper into her prom dress.  With any luck, at least one of her hems will be done today.  The lace will require some special touches...  So that waits for another day when I have a clearer head.

On Saturday night, she and a friend came back to the house BRIEFLY to eat a little something then she, friend and myself went to the local college's annual style show.  While it was interesting and the sewing friends we went with were fun, it wasn't as WOW as in previous years.  If the future is as bleak as the guest designers designed for, we're in trouble...  The student's designs were intriguing though.  Not as many gowns this year.  bummer.  But there were several cute little timid kids walking the runway, so that was cool.

I don't have the selfie that she took of us on Saturday yet... 

so here is the one from last year.

updated: HERE it is!

The girls and I ditched just before the awards because it was getting late and my hands hurt from clapping.  Since Meri was driving, it was good to beat the mad rush and traffic jams at the VERY end when EVERYONE came out to their cars.

So we hit up a local joint for their desserts menu, then headed home.  

It sucks to be relegated to the back seat, but you know... priorities...  

AND how many Hamilton tunes did we listen to??...  a lot...

Now I know why I like to be the driver...

80's channel or NOTHING BABY!!!

AND I forgot my camera sitting next to the door when we left!  Meri took a few pics, posted them on some site that I'm not on, for me.  So that was nice...

I was planning on working more on Meri's dress on Sunday and I guess I did for about 30 minutes Sunday evening.  The inside handwork is 99% done.  I'll finish the rest before the fair.

I mostly lounged around Sunday afternoon but did a little housework and moved some tires into the garage.  Oh yeah, I helped Meri clean out her car and trunk too.  That may have been Friday.

Getting paged at 1:30am this morning was lousy too...  Because then I couldn't get back to sleep.  Hot flashes suck...  And just when I thought I COULD get back to sleep, Leon came in whispering loudly for a cup of milk...  and for me to tuck him back in...  The last time I remember looking at the clock was around 3:30.  So when the alarm woke me up at 6, I reset it for 7.

It's going to be a long day...

Targeted for Ice Cream

Being home last night was a luxury!  So I vegged and watched me some murders in Midsomer...  

I should have sewed but I wasn't feeling creative or productive.

Just tired.

On Saturday morning, I hung out with Leon for a while until a performance at Meri's school.  The high school was hosting a small ensemble group competition and Meri was in 4 of them.   I attended the first one with my MIL, then went back as a volunteer for the afternoon.  

After getting in a wee bit of trouble for not reading my volunteer email more thoroughly, I enjoyed the afternoon being in control of the timer for one of the performance centers.  Only one soloist was under the 2.5 minute minimum by a mere 2 seconds.  She must have been nervous and rushed.  And no one went over the maximum time limit for performing.

Meri came and hung out with me a little and someone covered for me when Meri sang in another room so I could see it.

That night, Meri and one of her friends, who is attending college nearby, went with me to the annual Fashion Show.  

We sat on the edge of our ASG sewing group area and had a good time.  

Meri and I getting our annual Fashion Show selfie, the old fashioned way.  With my bulky camera, holding it facing me.  I have a dumb phone...

We actually got it centered enough to call it good  on the first try!

Meri and Hope.

As usual, I took pictures of every entry, except the ones that I thought were totally inappropriate.  In which case, Meri took a photo with her phone and stuck it on Snapchat...  With captions like, Prom dress idea, or Fashion??

I'm thinking prom with this one... What do you think?

Here are a few that I especially liked.

  

 Then the more unusual ones.  The Post-It note outfit.  Would you wear it? and where?

I think there were some duds in the bunch, a few kind of drab... but over all, it was inspiring.  I even felt like sewing but I haven't had a chance to follow through with that yet...

Afterwards, I took these two goons out for some ice cream.  We went to a favorite BBQ place where we never have room for the desserts after dinner so this time we just ordered desserts.  Well, except for Hope who hadn't eaten since breakfast...  She got a burger AND dessert.

I mean to take a pic of my dessert before I ate it.  Oops.

It was a banana split type thing with a funky name that I can't remember.

What melty thing did you eat this weekend?

Show Me Some Style!

I'm headed to the annual ISU Style Show this weekend!!!  WOohoo!  Meri and a friend are going to come along with me and I've had the tickets for a month.  They're looking forward to it too!

So I went back through every April picture folder that I have and a flood of memories came back.

This was two years ago because I either forgot to download them from last year or they were misfiled...  I'll have to look again.

So...  2014.

Meri went with me.

and a model/designer got a proposal on stage.

2013.  A LOT of my friends from my ASG sewing guild.

 and each year of course brought other events that played heavily in my life across those Aprils...

Prom photos and the prom dresses!  This was the last prom dress I made for Maddy...  Well, so far. 

 2013, Senior year

She'll be a teacher...  but of elementary school ages. I guess they don't have proms...  

The 2012 prom dress that was inspired by the movie Tangled.  She took a sophomore.

I'll still be sewing things for her.  Still do!  Just not prom dresses.  She came to a few of the style shows with me too.  I just don't have the photos to prove it.

2011 prom.  When she was asked by an upper classman.

And you can't have an April in my house without PUPPIES!!!!

Well, NOW you can because that just ain't happening here anymore!

Then that one year that Meri brought a friend 

and even Ryan wanted to come along!

 

Those were the days!  I love getting inspired by these shows!  Someday I'll get all the hundreds of photos I've taken of the styles and put them into an inspirational sewing book, so I can just browse without wifi.

The first year I ever went was in 2009.  I took more video than photos that year.

It's going to be fun!!

Have a great weekend!

PYP - Puppy Yard Proposals

Got a lot of work done in the yard over the weekend and took two loads of leftover leaves and yuck yard stuff out to the land fill.  Not done by a LONG shot...

The puppies got to go out into the yard for the first time!!!  

Leon loved it and towed them around in his wagon.  

They're in the bucket...  Otherwise they try to climb out.

Saturday night, Meri and I went with my ASG group to the ISU annual style show!  Such fantastic creativity!  As usual, I took pictures of almost every design to be used for inspiration later.  

Meri found a few that could easily be her prom dress someday.  She's now scoping around to find out who she can make ask her to prom her freshman year...  The one on the right was a favorite.  LOVE that hem line!

Can't pass up a selfie with my Meri!!!

And get this!!!  At the tail end of the style show, the last model in the final lineup/parade/whatever it's called, got proposed to!!!  I almost started bawling!!    "We've been on so many adventures together..." he had a microphone. "Would you do me the honor of going on the next biggest adventure with me?"  

Or something to that effect! 

Found out right after this from someone squealing behind us, that I've actually MET this girl!  She modeled some of her designs at our December style show for my sewing group!  We're so happy for her!

 

Oh!  She nodded yes through her tears by the way.