Day Job - Days 3 and 4

No photos today, just a quick update...
Last night I took my boys over to see Toby Mac on Main Stage. My oldest son had a fever of 102.7 but he really wanted to see Toby's 10p.m. set on Main Stage. So, I gave him some ibuprofen, grabbed our stage passes and some earplugs, and took him and his brother to the stage. I didn't really want to be there. I was exhausted and a little worried about the Sick One, Chase, but I wanted to do something special for him. I am super busy and distracted during the festival, so the best I can do is hang out with him and do what he enjoys when we get the chance.
Anyway, because of my job, I have the ability to get up on the stage (any stage, any time, really), so I took the boys up, parked them on some unused monitors, and watched the show from behind. At the beginning, Toby was directly in front of Chase. Chase kept asking, "Where is he?" and I would point, and he would completely miss seeing him. It was hilarious. He was 2 feet from the person he came to see, but didn't recognize him at all. Eventually, he caught on, once Toby grabbed the microphone and started his set.
And, despite the exhaustion, and the fact that I am not a fan, I had a good time. It was a very good show, with breakdancing, crazy lights, and good musicians. But what really got me was seeing thousands of people singing along, absolutely thrilled to be there, and knowing that they were having a great time in part because of the work I do. Sometimes there is a lot of drama involved in this job. But in the end, it is a privilege to be able to give a gift like that show to people who enjoy it so much. Even people I will never meet. And, of course, giving the ability to sit on the Main Stage to my boys is amazing, too.
How weird is that?
When we left, my golf cart was stuck in a deep rut and we had to be pushed out by a helpful stage hand. That's Cornerstone, too.

Day Job -Day 2

This glorious structure has been the focus of many hours of contemplation today and yesterday.
It is the pump which supplies water to the entire festival grounds. Normally, it is only about 3 feet tall, but this is what it looks like when some one is digging it up out of the ground. Again.
On the first day of the festival, yesterday, the water for the grounds went out. We called the pump company and they sent out a team. The team worked until 2 a.m. and put the pump back in the ground. Then they discovered that it still didn't work. Today another team came out and spent all day re doing what they had done yesterday, and the water is back on. We have some very easy to please campers out here. I have literally heard no complaints about the showers being out. They are amazing!





Here is Main Stage, all finished. It was christened in its new spot today by Switchfoot, in a special kick-off concert. The new location is working out well. People spent all afternoon playing frisbee in the grass by the stage, even during sound checks.
The photo above gives a better idea of the space around the Main Stage. It's a lot of room, which is something we all worried about. Lots of people fit, though.

There are some photos I haven't been able to post, but were the hi light of today. We had some enormous boxes of granola bars donated for our volunteer staff. The boxes are 4 feet by 4 feet by 3 feet high, and full of individually wrapped granola bars. We have two of them out here. It was a lot of work for me getting those bars picked up, stored, and finally delivered to the fest grounds. I wanted to get a photo of my boys in the boxes with the granola bars because I thought it would be cute. We went over and I let them climb in, and started snapping pictures with my camera phone. (How many kids can say they got into a giant box of granola bars?) Another person standing there thought it was adorable, and asked if she could take a picture, and we were all set for some memory making. Then, one of our volunteers came up and started telling my boys to get out of the boxes, horrified that they were in boxes with food.
It was one of those moments of truth. I meekly told the boys to get out of the boxes and we left. I could have, for once in my life pulled out the old, "Do you know who I AM?" line. I hear that line at least once a festival, and I absolutely hate it. I could write a whole post on hearing that line! I have always promised that I would never, ever, use that line on some one, and so I didn't today. Maybe I could have said, "They are individually wrapped in plastic." But I didn't think it would go over well. Honestly, I left the tent and started laughing. What a weird situation. Me, miss by-the-book, getting yelled at for letting my kids be a little unconventional! Must be Cornerstone!

My Day Job

Quick post today about nothing sewing related...
My day job involves helping to organize a big music festival held each year in central Illinois, between a corn field and a soy bean field. We have gotten crowds of over 25,000, but lately with the economy barely chugging along, we get a few thousand less.
It is a wonderful job. For some reason, all of the craziness and chaos is also a lot of fun.
This year, the Main Stage arrived 2 days late. We have one of our biggest shows tomorrow night, and no one is sure that there will be a stage to play on, let alone power, sound, or lights. But I think it will be.
This is the partial Main Stage:

Today is the first day the gates have been open. Already we have been picketed by Baptists who are trying to save our souls from Hell because we listen to Christian rock music. They gave up around noon, which is a pity because I always want to get a photo with them, but each year they go home before I can. Apparently, if you are not saved by noon, you are a lost cause.
Last night at 7 p.m. I drove to the Front Gate and counted 49 cars waiting for the gate to open. It wasn't the longest line I've ever seen, but it was great to see so many people excited about the festival. They all were here 24 hours early.

I have the cutest little golf cart this week. Most importantly, it works.






And, my kids are having a blast with their friends.

Blue Dress -OR- Is Simplicity Trying To Kill Me?

***Snark Alert!***
If you do not like to read snarky comments, please do not read this...

This is the pattern envelope for Simplicity 2363:

Normally, I do not buy Simplicity patterns, and I especially do not buy Simplicity patterns that advertise themselves with a picture of someone wearing a lovely mumu-type dress clearly made out of her grandmother's old shower curtain (view E).

However, Simplicity patterns were a dollar at Jo-Anns yesterday, and I liked view B. I am always looking for cute summer dresses, and this one looked like it could be cool in the heat, and even a little retro, if different fabric were chosen.

So, I bought the pattern and decided to get started. The back of the envelope says that the finished measurement for the bust for a size 6 is 35 inches. The tissue markings confirmed it. That would have been about perfect, so I made that size. There are no other finished measurements given anywhere else - just that bust measurement, and the length.
They don't give a finished hip measurement.
They don't give a finished waist measurement.
These measurements are standard facts every sewer needs to have.
Clearly, this is a pattern for people with a gambling addiction.
Anyway, like the risk-taking fool that I am, I plunged ahead and made the dress.
The finished bust measurement was 41 inches. 41 inches and supposedly made for someone whose actual bust measurement is 31 inches. What, exactly, were they thinking? Why would any pattern company design a dress with 10 inches of ease in the bust?
This is why I do not normally buy Simplicity patterns for women. Their kids patterns are clear, easy, and the size you make is the size you get at the end. Even their kids pajama patterns, like 2738, which I made last night, have a hip measurement. Not so for their women's patterns! They do not give enough finished garment measurements, and the ones they do give are not even close to accurate. Did they draw the one finished measurement they gave for 2363 out of a hat?

Anyway, I took the top of the dress apart, shaved off 3/4 of an inch from four panels, put it all back together, and finally got the dress I was hoping for.
Here it is:
And again:


A little loose and breezy, but wearable in the Chicago heat.
So, I don't know if Simplicity Pattern Company is trying to kill me, but I plan to treat their patterns as if they were.

Weekend Sewing Frenzy

This weekend, I made three things. Well, actually, you could say I made 5.8 things.
First, I began a new dress. Here is a preview:
It is Simplicity 2363. I have a lot to say about this particular pattern, and Simplicity patterns in general, but that can wait until my next post. This unfinished dress is the 0.8.

Next, I made some curtains:

I made two of them, but the photo of the other one didn't turn out as good, so you'll have to trust me that I have two. I needed some sheer curtains, and the color is almost a turquoise color. I like to look at them blowing in the breeze and imagine that I am somewhere in Greece, not in Chicago, listening to car alarms and sirens and skateboarders thunking over every flaw in the pavement. (Normally, I don't even notice all of that noise, but someone's car alarm went off for over an hour right outside my window and the fire department was called. -Not by me- Two engines were sent, and the firemen poured out holding axes and equipment. The noise just stopped and the fire trucks are gone now. Car alarms are illegal in the city. Probably because your neighbors want to shoot your car full of holes to MAKE THE NOISE STOP.) Anyway, I imagine that Greece has less incidents of things like that happening. Do they even have skateboards there? Who knows.
Back on track now!

Here is one of the three pairs of sleeping shorts I made the boys:
They have been sleeping in shorts that suddenly got very small on them, which was adorable, but they are getting to that embarrassed age, so I made some larger ones. I actually made all three pairs in the amount of time it took them to take showers. It's Simplicity 2738, and there are only two pieces, so it wasn't really that hard.

So there ! 5.8 things in 24 hours! Not too shabby.
Here's what my sewing area looked like after the frenzy:
Time to go clean...

Baby Dress

This is son # 2 helping me to get a good shot of my latest project, a baby dress for a friend of mine. It seems like a lot of people I know are having babies right now!

Here is what is inside of the little garment bag I made to hold the dress:
I had to make a little kerchief for her head because that is something her mom will LOVE, probably even more than a bonnet.
Here are the bloomers:

They seem really huge to me, but with a diaper underneath, they might be all right.
The flowered fabric is soft, 100% cotton voile, and the off white fabric is unbleached muslin.

I enjoy sewing for babies, and something about a teeny tiny garment bag just makes the dress even more special. (Plus, it's so easy.) Now I just need a big, brown bow to finish it off.

Somebody clean that windowsill!

Cow Skins Transformed!

I got a little more leather, and decided to make some more wallets, this time for a craft bazaar on Saturday. I have a love/hate relationship with craft bazaars, so a friend of mine said she'd sell them for me. I want to make enough money to buy a really nice swim suit, though I don't think they sell those old-fashioned, to-the-knees ones any more... I may have to make one.
I just burn too easily!