Another Week, Another Illness and Another Swamp Boat Tour...

It seems we have a pattern developing around our house. Every two weeks my children succumb to some sort of illness just in time for the arrival of visitors. A combination of illness and out of town guests causes Grayden to miss multiple days of school, completely throwing off our routine, which leads to a total meltdown of his behavior. All of this creates a very frustrated mother, longing for just a taste of solitude and calm.

Last Wednesday evening my parents arrived for a one week visit. About an hour before we headed to the airport I discovered Grayden curled up in the guest bed sound asleep. I should have recognized this as a sign that something wasn't right, but didn't catch on to the fact he was ill until we stopped for dinner at Darwell's and he didn't want to eat anything. By the time we got home he was running a high fever and complaining of a stomach ache. Next morning the fever and stomach issues were still there and my dad was able to put his rusty vomit catching skills to the test with a quick thrust of the barf bowl just in the nick of time to save the couch. By this time Audrey was also running a fever so I knew the fun had truly begun. Over the course of the next five days both kids had ups and downs with fever, cold symptoms and eye infections.

After a trip to the doctor Monday I was glad to find out that neither had strep, but Audrey had another ear infection and both needed antibiotic ointment for the eyes. Because Grayden barely ate anything for five days he managed to lose two pounds and by Tuesday his brain was going haywire causing multiple tantrums due to lack of food, a lack of routine and grandparent overload. He unfortunately takes after me in his inability to function or be civil if he hasn't eaten properly. Unfortunately the last 24 hours of the parental visit was soured by Grayden's continued fits and my fits in response to his fits.

May flies, also called swamp pixies.

We did manage to squeeze in a little bit of fun this week. Sunday we went out for yet another swamp boat tour. Even though it was my third time in six weeks I still enjoyed it as there is something different to see each time. The swamp has changed a lot in that short time, with different flowers in bloom and a different crop of insects to contend with. On a previous trip the boat captain had pointed out the cocoons of an insect called a May fly on the tree branches. This visit we were "lucky" to be there just as they were hatching. Apparently they all hatch at the same time, mate and die over the course of two days. They are the size of a large grasshopper but fly like a hummingbird and have strange back legs that look like a tail trailing behind them.  At one point we disturbed a bunch of them and they swarmed the boat, causing Grayden to freak out for a moment. After he calmed down he enjoyed observing them.

On Tuesday I got to take Grayden out for a date; lunch, a trip to the dollar store and a movie. It is nice to spend time alone with him. It is strange that we spent much of the first two and a half years of his life one-on-one but since Audrey was born we rarely get that time together. I also appreciate the time I get to spend alone with Audrey while Grayden is in school as she gets a little bit of my undivided attention. She is changing so quickly and I'm constantly shocked to realize she is a toddler now and not a baby. My mom made her several cute outfits, including the blouse in this picture made from an antique dresser scarf. It is really cute and fits her perfectly. She managed to cover it in rice and gravy later that day but luckily it washed up nicely.

My parents left Thursday and and now the countdown begins for our trip to California and Hawaii and our short reunion with Joe. Eight weeks has really gone by quickly and I hope the passage of time continues at the same pace.

The Project

•  Fabric: skirt 1: 2 yards of hand dyed cotton (with a touch of spandex) from Promenade Fabrics in NOLA, $22; blouse: 2 yards of yellow rayon from Hancock, $4; skirt 2: 2 yards of cotton stripe from Costal Sew & Vac, $8. 
• Patterns:  Simplicity 2451, Simplicity 2570 $1 ea
• Notions: 3 zippers @ $1 ea.
• Time to complete: skirt 1, about 3 hours; blouse, 4 hours; skirt 2 way too long!
• Total cost: $39 for three items!

As I've started sewing more projects for myself I've been trying to seek out some style inspiration online and in stores. I really have not done much shopping over the last two years and living in Mississippi and I'm a bit out of touch with style trends. I also find it hard to figure out what is appropriate for women my age to wear. I am surely not ready to embrace Chiccos, Coldwater Creek or J. Jill, but just can't get imagine wearing anything from Hollister or Abercrombie. On my recent visit to New Orleans with Emily we walked by an Anthropologie store and she asked, "Why don't you shop there? It seems like you should." I had been in the chain a few times and really like their styles but have found the prices to be off-putting. $100 for a typical blouse. Really? I'm just too cheap, unless I'm buying shoes!

Since then I've been checking out their website and have found inspiration in many pieces and have decided to try an replicate a few items for my summer wardrobe. Their skirts are especially cute and are something I do not have a lot of in my existing wardrobe. In the past I've shied away from them because pairing them with comfortable shoes is hard. Since I walked everywhere in DC I had to make sure I wouldn't end up with terrible blisters so tended to pick my shoes for comfort rather than cuteness. The weather in Mississippi is perfect for skirts and since I now drive instead of walk I have more liberty in wearing shoes that look good with skirts.  The pieces from Anthropologie pictured to the right are my inspirations this past week.

With my mom in town I wanted to take advantage of her expertise in guiding me through some challenging sewing projects. I had already completed a skirt (inspired by the a-line print skirt above) when she arrived and was working on a top to go with it (the same yellow as the top above). The zipper in the blouse was causing me problems so I appreciated her help in getting the zipper in along with the arm and neck facings. Some how the neck facing was not fitting the neckline so she artfully rearranged the pleats at the neck to make it fit. I used Simplicity 2451 for the skirt, modifying view D so the skirt was more a-line then pencil. I also had to add some extra room to the pattern since I bought the wrong size. In the end I think it is a tad too big but maybe it will shrink a bit when I wash it. It was a very easy pattern and I really love the pockets. The blouse came from Simplicity 2570. I like the seam details down the front and toyed with the idea of adding piping out of the skirt fabric along the front. Since the rayon is much lighter than the cotton it wasn't laying well so I nixed the idea. The skirt fabric came from the fancy fabric store in New Orleans called Promenade. I believe it is a hand dyed cotton with a touch of spandex for stretch. The background dye has an almost tie-dye effect with the multi-colored dots mixed in. At $11/yard it is one of the more expensive fabrics I've used but well worth it and much cheaper than the cost of $88 for the inspiration skirt.

After completing the first outfit I was inspired to take on another skirt project. When I checked out the Anthropologie website I realized the striped skirt above was a perfect match for some fabric I bought at the shop where I'm taking my sewing lessons. I used the skirt pattern from Simplicity 2570 as it has the big box pleats like the inspiration skirt. My mom suggested creating the waistband with a chevron pattern so I used the waistband from 2451 to complement the shape. It proved to be very challenging to match the stripes on the waistband, adjust for the size difference and modify the pattern pieces to fit each other. I did a lot of seam ripping on this project and redid the zipper several times, finally cutting it out and starting with a new one when I realized the skirt was too big! The resulting skirt is really cute, but I think the style and fabric selection of the the first one is more flattering. I definitely look slimmer modeling the darker skirt. Maybe shortening it a little could help but I think I'd need to take the length off the top which means disassembling the whole thing (ugh). I also need to figure out a blouse to go with it as I am not to crazy how the yellow looks. Maybe something white?