out of season

I've been in my sewing room a bit lately. First, to sew up PJ's for my boy, and then later, his robe. (Neither of which were photographed before being sent off. Bummer.) At any rate, having to do those projects got me back into the swing of things where sewing was concerned, and I'm so glad.

Last night, while watching a little Netflix and putting blanket binding on the fleece blanket and pillow case for my missionary boy, I found myself with more time left of the show I was watching, and nothing left to do on the project. I could have turned it off, gone to bed, and finished the show on my Kindle Fire, but, there I was, surrounded by unfinished projects, so I stayed.

Floating near the surface of those unfinished projects was a little Halloween pillow cover I'd not quite managed to finish last fall. I'd done all the stitching, and put on the borders, even chosen the backing. Where I got stalled was in how to finish the pillow. I reasoned that it was going to be easier to store a pillow cover than a whole pillow, so I wanted to be able to remove it when the seasons changed. But how best to do that?

My backing piece was slightly longer than it needed to be, so I'd pretty much settled on some sort of overlapped opening in the back, perhaps tied with ribbons. Good idea, and something I'd done before, but I wanted just exactly the right finishing on the outer edge, and the right ribbon to tie it with. Hence the stalling.

While mulling it over last night, my eyes lit on the exact right color of bias binding, and then a bit of ribbon, just a scrap really, that I thought would do.

Twenty minutes later, I had this:

(in retrospect, I think the ribbons should be a bit closer to center)

And I was done!

I know it's totally off-season, and I'll have to put it away until October. But it's finished, it's no longer taking up space in the sewing room, and I have a cute seasonal pillow cover!

The embroidery pattern is something I've made before, for a friend, and then stitched up for myself later. (Can't find it online at the moment, or I'd link to the designer/source - will update if I find it.)

I like to use a travel size pillow insert for decorative pillows like this. Easy to find at just about any fabric store, and very handy.

For the back, my piece happened to be about 3" too long, so I folded it in thirds, creased it, and cut off one third for the top portion. (I could have cut it in half, but I like thirds.) I then serged the upper edge of the bottom portion, just to make it so I didn't have to worry about fraying (it won't be seen), and bound the lower edge of the top portion with double fold extra wide bias tape. I used a sort of peach/coral color that I thought blended nicely with the Halloween colors on the front.

I overlapped the two back pieces, bias-bound edge on top, making the total finished length to match the front piece, and stitched the overlapped portions together at the outer edges.

Then I took the ribbon, a sheer ivory ribbon, about 1 1/2" wide and, at a guess, about a yard long (it was a scrap, likely from a package someone had given me, and I didn't measure it before I cut it up for this project), and cut it into four equal pieces, each piece being cut straight at one end and slanted at the other. I positioned them on the right side of the pillow back, two pieces to be sewn to the underside of the bound edge, the other two sewn just below these, on the lower portion of the backing.

After stitching them in place, I put the backing right sides together with the front, stitched around the whole outer edge using 1/4" seams, clipped my corners, and turned it right side out.

Slip in the pillow, tie the bows, and there you have it. Cute from either side, and ready for fall. Plus, I can use the pillow for other seasonal covers, and I can wash the cover easily - just untie the bows, slip it off, and it's ready.

Now I just need to hunt up a cute patriotic design that fits the pillow dimensions, and get that stitched up in time for the 4th.

Twin1 on a Mission (part 2)

Just as we're going out the door, he hands me an envelope and asks me to mail it for him. I take it without looking at it, as I'm carrying luggage to the car and trying to hand the other boy the camera so we can get a picture.

After we've done some pics, I take a second to actually look at the envelope, and it's addressed to church headquarters. I ask the boy what it is, and he says that it's his acceptance. I give him a blank look. He says it again, and I realize, he means it's his official acceptance of his mission call.

seriously?!?

We're about to drive to the MTC, where he will begin his training for his mission, and in my hand is the letter telling church headquarters that, yes, he accepts his call. Which, quite clearly, should have been sent ages ago. Flabbergasted doesn't even begin to cover it. For all I know, we'll get him over there, they'll take him in the doors, I'll have driven away, and then they'll tell him there isn't a place for him. Sheesh.
I put the letter in my purse, just in case someone wants to see it. I'll mail it afterwards.

On the drive over, I start to get emotional. I know my boy will be in good hands. I know he'll adjust quickly and make friends and be able to take everything in just fine. But I've just spent the past couple of months working more closely with him than ever before, and he's leaving. For two years. And it's not like sending a kid off to college, knowing they'll be home for Christmas. This is two solid years without anything but letters, emails, and a couple of phone calls (Christmas and Mothers Day). I will not see him again until he comes home. Fine or not, I'm going to miss him.

I tell him so, and apologize for getting emotional. I say that I know I'm not supposed to tell him how much I'll miss him or anything like that, because it could make it harder for him to focus on what he's supposed to do. And he just tells me it's okay. I'm allowed to miss him, and it's okay if I say it, as long as I don't ask him to come home. That makes me laugh, because, we both know, I'd never do that! Much as I'm going to miss him, I know he's doing the right thing, and I want him to have the whole two years, no matter what goes on at home.

We drive into the MTC driveway, and a man in an orange vest greets us, says I have a fine-looking Elder, and puts a blue sticky-note on our windshield. He says to continue down the drive, that I'll be told where to pull over. (As we drive along, top down, he's getting thumbs up, and comments like, "sweet ride", "awesome", and "man, that's cool!" And to think, he didn't want to drive in with the top down...)

A little further in, and we're waved into this spot:

Seeing that number makes us both grin. I say it's a sign, a good omen, my lucky number, and the boy agrees with me. I know it's a small thing, but it makes me feel better.

Two "host" Elders (young missionaries-in-training) approach to help us with the luggage (they let me heft the largest one from the car without stepping in - seriously?), they ask him some questions (do you have your immunization records? any keys? a phone? do you have your ID? what mission?), and then they're starting to walk away. It was that quick.

I call out, "wait! I need a hug!", and both Elders turn, tell him that yes, in fact, that's sort of required. So my boy gives me one last hug - a very tight squeeze, and I squeeze him back - all his bony skinny self in that grown-up suit...it's almost enough hug to last me two years, I think.

And then he's gone.

And I'm driving away with tears in my eyes.

Twin1 on a mission (a family post) Part 1

Last week, I drove to the MTC and dropped off my first-born son. Here's how the day went:

I awoke around 6:30am. I hadn't slept very deeply, anyway, and there was much we still had to do before his drop-off time of 1:20pm. He, however, slept on. I read my scriptures, and hopped in the shower.
While he continued to sleep, I wrote him a letter (to read later, after he was settled in at the MTC) and put away my bedding (we'd slept in the living room - me on the window seat, him on the camp cot), and brought out his luggage and all the stuff we still needed to pack.

I wish he'd get up, so I could put away the camp cot and use the living room floor to cut out his pajamas, which, yes, he would be taking with him. (He'd specifically requested that I make pajamas - wouldn't have store-bought. But then we'd spent the weekend in Manti, camping, so that he and I, and my parents, could attend a session at the Manti temple - his idea. I didn't tell him how that meant I'd have to rearrange my schedule, how that might mean there were items he'd have to wait for, things I'd have to mail him while he was at the MTC. I didn't want him to miss out on such a good experience just because my energy was so limited, and I'd not planned on not having that last weekend to do stuff.)


Having an after-breakfast cone in Salina, Memorial Day.
Twin1 is on the right.

He finally gets up around 9:30, and hops in the shower. This is when we discover he's left his little bottle of lemon juice and conditioner (his preferred "shampoo") at the campground. I hunt up the travel bottle I intended to put conditioner in for him, and he uses that to concoct his mixture, while I go off to find yet another travel bottle.
He doesn't take short showers, so he's been in a while when mom calls, wondering if he's ready for her to come cut his hair. We'd waited to do this final haircut (it had been a couple months since we'd cut it for the photo to send in with his papers - see photo above for how long it was), but then at the last minute, his usual gal couldn't do it, so mom was stepping in. She feels like we've already left it a bit late in the day. I agree, and tell her she can head over, I'll get him out of the shower.

I pack up the camp cot, clear the floor, and get his pajamas cut out. Top and bottom, both, though I only plan to sew up the bottoms before we go. I know I don't have time to finish the top. Just as I finish cutting out, mom shows up, and they go out back to cut his hair. Since she's family, I can leave him with her (he isn't supposed to be alone once he's set apart - missionary rules), and head for the sewing room. About 45 min later, they're done, and I just need to put the elastic in the waist. He hops back in the shower to rinse off the little hairs that always seem to get down your neck from a haircut, and then he gets dressed in his pinstripe suit.

Meanwhile, I continue packing, marking anything I hadn't yet marked with his name/initials as I pack it. I'm packing his pants, straight out of the bag from the store, when I notice that one pair is significantly shorter than the rest. We'd had them in our possession for about a week, but I hadn't looked them over since picking them up after alterations. I have him try them on, to be sure it's not that the others are too long. Sadly, no. This one pair is way too short, and will have to go back, be replaced. No time to do it now - I'll have to take it back later, and mail them to him when they're done. I keep back a pair that's the right length as well, for them to measure by.

By now it's about 11:30, and we're still packing. Not to mention, he needed his garments from the day before washed so he could take them, and mom has rushed off to pick up four more tops for him. The ones he wants were on backorder, and still hadn't arrived, but he had to have something.
My friend calls and asks if there is anything she can do, any errands she could run for us? It takes me a second, but I realize that we aren't going to have time for lunch if we have to get it ourselves, and I ask her to pick up DP Cheesestakes for us (I'd promised we would grab lunch there). What a lifesaver that was!
I toss a few things in the wash, and when mom gets back, I add the tops so they can prewash. Then lunch arrives, and we all sit for a few minutes, talking, eating, trying to figure out how we'll manage to have everything ready in time. Why on earth he couldn't have packed as we went along, I'll never know. Personally, I like to pack at least a week before a big trip - that way, I have plenty of time to get anything I'm missing, or figure out what I don't really need. When you pack the day of, things tend to be messy.

I'm not entirely sure what else I did after eating lunch, besides moving the laundry to the dryer, and then changing it to high heat in hopes it will actually be dry in time. I know there was more packing, (the stuff from the dryer was ever-so-slightly damp still, but I marked it, and then told him to be sure and at least open that suitcase so they wouldn't get musty, just as soon as he has the chance) and putting the top down on the car so it would be easier to get the luggage in and out. Then I changed my clothes, and we started out the door.

(to be continued)