Getting ready for the trip.

And I have helpers!  I leave for Kansas tomorrow!

Cutting and marking uniform dresses.

My good technique of what to do with material after you take out out of the dryer, but before you are ready to cut it.

I tried rolling it to preserve the matched selvages.  It was a so-so solution. Sentinel supervises.

Laying out the material.  There are two pieces because I didn't buy enough the first go-round leaving me nervous for the next few days until I could get back to the fabric store.  Happily, this is a very nondescript fabric, so it was still there.  Also, in the longer strip of material, I have marked a point in the fabric with two clothespins.  This was because I didn't notice one of those little plastic tag things (the kinds that carry the price tags on most clothing) before I washed and dried this material and said little plastic thing caused a huge snag.  So I had to work around that.  It was fine, though.  I had enough.

I am trying a new marking tool this time:  The Clover Pen.

My review?  Best marking device I've come across. And I've tried a lot.  It's full of chalk (you can get blue, yellow and pink, plus refills) and at the bottom is a tiny little wheel which rolls along the fabric and spits out a fine line of chalk.  It would get clogged at times, because of the fabric, but I couple of good taps cleared the clog.  This will become my go-to marking pen for the foreseeable future.

Laurel finished. And my eye is already on other projects.

This picture makes me think I'm a midgit.  But it's just a weird hanging height.  I'll take some pictures wearing said Laurels later.  I can't believe it took me almost a year to finish this project.  Too many things going on.  But let me say, these dresses are COMFORTABLE!  I really like them a lot, though their length means I have to squat like a lady while at work.

But yeah.  The projects have stacked up.  In addition to materials bought to make another apron (I kind of want to do a new one every summer) I also succumbed to the siren song of knits that Colette patterns has been sounding of late.  The material on the left is so I can make a Moneta of my very own and, if the pattern is as simple and flattering as people say, I may make three more uniform dresses so I can have a new uniform this year.  The material on the right is for curtains for the bedroom window.  I bought them on sale at Lowe's and I have plans to make them work better than they do now.  

And, of course, I bought material to make a roller shade for the door-with-window in my bedroom ages ago. The colorful fabric is from Ikea.  The border/backing fabric might look familiar to you, it's the leftover fabric from the uniform project. I've layered the two together with a picture of said roller shade so you can get the effect.  The not-quite-blue curtains I purchased at Lowe's will be integrated with the room by cutting out birds from the excess Ikea fabric (I have enough, I checked) and sewing them on triangles of the uniform fabric and sewing those on the curtains.  I also have plans to run a red ribbon across the curtains, (and possibly on the back of the shade?) to tie it into the red of the comforter.

As you can see, Sentinel is quite excited by this project.

Early release due to SNOW!!!!

It's been very cold (for here) all week, with the temperature hovering in the 20s during the day.  Usually when it is this cold, it's sunny and too cold for snow.  But not today! Today we got snow.  Here's the view at work at about 12:15 pm.  The school district called an early release of 1:00 by 10:30 in the morning, so for the first time, I got to experience the process of getting all the children to leave in the middle of the school day.  It went smoothly and everyone was gone by 1:30

I was home by 2:15, stomping the snow of my Doc Matins on the way in.

The kitties were very interested in the snow.

Colette Patterns' Laurel: Ruffles and necklines. Also, starting the first apron.

These are the millions of threads it's smart to cut off before attaching the ruffle.  Also, notice the spools of thread on the sewing machine.  I've sewn through two spools of thread for the three shirts and I still have two more dresses to go.  Back to the fabric store I went for more thread.
 

A realization I had more than once while working on this project:  It's time for a new ironing board.  This one tends to randomly collapse.  Plus, I think my loyal readers are a bit tired of looking at the stained floral pattern.
 

But look!  Uniform shirts finished!
 

And we are continuing on to the apron.
 

With my trusty assistant.
 

Packing

I'll make it fit!  The kitties are observing my packing from a calm position, having no idea I will soon trap them in their carriers and drag them over to my Aunt's house.
 

On the way home from dropping off the cats, I stopped by my mom's and got an important item for the drive to Boise:  Kenny Roger's 20 Greatest Hits.  That was the tape (it was a tape then) that my mother played every single time we made the drive. And 20 songs last a very long time on the road.

Note from the future.  I played it and I can report that the word "greatest" is perhaps a bit overstated.  Maybe they should have stopped at 10 greatest hits.  The "Scarlett Fever" song was particularly hideous.  But I did get to sing along to "Lucile," "The Gambler," "Ruben James," and "The Coward of the County." So who cares if I skipped the last three songs on the disk?

What I did on MLK Day.

Three gallons of milk, a large pot and various small bowls of things. What else could I be doing but:

...making cheese!

I made my first pressed cheese: queso fresco. After it presses for eight hours, I can eat it.

When I wasn't actively making cheese, I planned this year's growing season. Sentinel helped.