Wednesday, February 27, 2013

I'm back! / February review

I am finally back from the hectic back stage of the community theater kids' musical. Sorry for such a long absence from blogging. I took a deep breath after sending my girl to school this morning. I had so much fun with the event but coming back to a normal life cycle feels kind of nice too. Today's post is my photo review of February.

This was Nina's first experience of acting in the musical. There were so many (sixty eight) really talented, enthusiastic young people in the production. We had a devoted, professional crew behind the show. And since it was a community event, there were many parent volunteers supported the event. We had forty rehearsals and eight shows in five days! My girl was tired every night after rehearsals but she really enjoyed her experience. She earned a lot from this production. It was a great experience for all of us.

The show was "Disney the Little Mermaid. Jr". Nina's role was a tentacle of the bad sea witch Urusla's. In the photo above, the second from left is my girl. I did all the tentacles hair-do for every single show. Nina designed the hair style she wants to have for herself and I made that for a dress rehearsal. Then the director liked her style and made it an official style for all the tentacles! They looked cute with the same hair-do!

She succeeded in making one evil tentacle in the show!

But she got back to my sweet little one after the show. Smiling with flowers and a little yellow gift from an audience.

I worked on some costume sewing for the show (about seven costumes for the sea creatures...). Preparing costume for sixty eight actors is not a easy job. The costume crew was also awesome. They work hard and fast. There was some impressive work I saw there in their work shop.

Outside of "Under the Sea", I finished  the second pair of pants for Nina. The same design as the first one but different print for the flaps and waist band.

I made small pouches and coin purses for Valentine's day to sell at the local store. These purses have crocheted red clovers with heart shaped four leaves.


And crocheted heart key fobs too.


This black crochet work is still in progress.

I cannot believe that tomorrow is already the last day of February! Well, it also means Spring is just around the corner. I hope you all had a wonderful February!

Friday, February 8, 2013

Nina's Lesson Bag

 We are a busy family. Especially Nina is very busy. If Nina was busy her mom inevitably gets busy as well. Since an year ago, Nina has two after school activities a week regularly. Piano lessons and ballet classes. Occasionally she gets some other events going at the same time. In December she had her ballet production "the Nut Cracker" and it was a bug hustle for all three of us (probably not much for Tim). And right now, Nina is rehearsing for the civic theater's kids' musical "Disney the Little Mermaid Jr.". The production will be opening on February 22nd and there will be eight shows through Feb 26th. I will be helping the costume sewing (I raised my hand to volunteer and am waiting fro the call from the theater ). The time management is a big part of my job and I am not very good at that kind of job so my life has been a mess these couple weeks and until the production gets over. But we are enjoying these kinds of activities so much. Since Tim and I both majored in theater. ( I was a dancer and he was an actor!) All the processes are familiar to us and seeing it makes us remember our good old days!

In such busy days, I am still sewing and  making. I made this bag for Nina. This is designed for carrying her stuff for her lessons.




When she goes to the rehearsals she can store her script, a notebook, pencils, a home work from school, and a water bottle. There are some more room for her ballet shoes and also for some snacks. Her piano manual fits perfect in this bag as well.






The badge on the bag is Nina's handmade. I put a set of badge making kit in her Christmas stocking and she made a cute kitty badge. There is a large outside pocket and the handles are made with an used belt which I fond at a thrifty store.



I love this vibrant colored polka dots fabric. It is cute but doesn't look too childish. The size seems very versatile. When I finished this bag, I really thought I have to make one for myself!
Nina is trying to make her role in the show shine and she is enjoying the process of building a show with other people. We think that is a great educational occasion and we hope to support her and the production as much as we can.

Thank you for reading! Have a pretty weekend, you all!

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Tutorial / Mini Heart Brooch





Finally I finished editing the tutorial for making Mini heart brooches for St.Valentine's day! It is a super simple project so I hope many of you will enjoy making them and give them to someone who you love!

You can find the free pattern here. And the tutorial with a lot of pictures is here in my Flickr set.

The heart measures about 4.5cm wide.

I tried it on my everyday sweat shirt. This brooch looks fancy on my nice wool coat as well. It could be worn on hats, purses, and as a pendant head with adding a chain or a string.

You can make them in different color schemes and put your own messages on it.

The red heart became a perfect accessory for my smocked yarn tote.



I would love to hear from you about making these cute heart brooches. Leave comments if you made them!