Amanda Takes Off...

Having Sister here for a few weeks was eye opening. I've never seen Good Man and Sister interact for an extended period of time without one or both of their parents around.

Hand in the Photo

In Williamsburg, I saw Good Man try to stick his hand in Sister's photo. He does this to me all the time, and I thought he was doing it just to annoy me. Now I know he does it to annoy Sister, too. I'm not sure if that makes me feel less annoyed or extra annoyed on her behalf.

Sister Laughs

Good Man does this weird thing with his hands where we can individually move each joint at a time. He claims he broke his fingers multiple times while playing basketball. I'm not sure about that, but it's creepy and alien-like.

Well, Sister can bend her fingers way, way back. They're extremely curved. While I was taking photos, they decided to give me Vulcan fingers in honor of how much Good Man looks like Spock. I should have taken some video of their creepy hand tricks.

Spock Siblings

I got to see how Good Man and Sister interacted, but we also created jokes only the three of us would understand.

When Sister completed her apron and was working on her skirt, I picked Good Man up from the subway station. "Look," I said, "[Sister] worked really hard on her apron and you will compliment her! No 'ung'ing. You will say, 'Good job, that looks really nice.'"

We got home and Good Man stopped in front of her apron. Sister showed him. "Good job, that looks really nice," he said.

Sister narrowed her eyes. "Why did you respond like that? That is weird. You are not my brother."

Good Man pointed at me, "She told me to say it."

"What are you, her robot?" Sister laughed and poked him.

"'Good job, that looks really nice.'"

The rest of the visit, we would poke Good Man from time to time so he'd say what we wanted him to say.

After completing her first apron, Sister went on to make some clothes during her visit.

First up, she did Simplicity 2224, a cute little pull-on skirt with pockets. She learned how to cut up the pattern, do pleats, attach a patch-style pocket, and make a casing. She also learned how to line up "friends," which is what I called the notches since I have no idea what they're called in Korean!

She used some quilting cotton. Some people think quilting cotton should only be used for quilting, but once we washed out the sizing, this fabric had a really nice hand and worked out very well for this skirt!

The skirt was huge! We took slightly deeper seams because it was soooo big. But it looks great on her, and she finished it Friday morning, so she could wear it in Williamsburg. It was a quick project, and very appropriate for a new sewer.

S2224

When we got back from Williamsburg, Sister made a shirt, Simplicity 1969.

This is a part of their Sew Simple line, which are repackaged, simplified patterns, offered in a limited range of sizes. This pattern appears to be one view of 2594 (view E without the lace trim). The patterns are inexpensive because of how much cheaper they are to produce.

Sister learned how to sew a facing and gathers (which sort of ended up more like pleats), and we both learned how to do a yoke. She also learned how to do top-stitching and got a lot of practice.

I think this shirt would look pattern in a fabric with more drape. The armholes are really low, and you need to wear a cami if you don't want to show your bra. But it looks great!

S1969, Front

S1969, Back

Finally, Sister made Butterick 6625, an out-of-print skirt with a drawstring in the back that makes the back bustle up. I actually sewed this pattern ten years ago for myself. With this pattern, Sister learned how to make buttonholes.

B6625, Back

In ten years, I had forgotten what made this skirt not very wearable. The back of this pattern looks great, but in order to get it to gather, you have to really yank on the drawstring, which pulls the skirt very tight against the front of the body. Sister will probably end up using it as a beach coverup.

The fabric from this pattern was a black and white striped fabric picked up at the $2.97/yard table at G Street. We dyed it this really pretty green-blue using Rit dye. We also dyed a piece of fabric I picked up a royal blue. The next day I went to school with zombie-colored fingernails...

Those were all of the sewing projects we got done together. Sister alternated from "this is fun!" to "this is hard," which made me laugh, because I'm the same way. I'm glad I got to teach her a little bit about sewing. It gave us something to do together in the evenings, and I learned some new skills, too.

A few days ago, I found a huge pit in one of my pots of bulbs. Some creature had dug a large hole in the pot, and had gnawed on some of my plants.

Thursday the 15th, I planted onions (probably too late in the seasons), two kinds of beans, two kinds of peas, and squash.

By Tuesday the 20th, I had some tiny sprouts and came home to find some peas thrown out of the pot, a giant hole, and chestnut bits in the bottom of the pot.

Peas Out of the Pot

Chestnut

I will find this awful squirrel, capture it, and then talk at it until it repents for eating my bulbs.

Then Awful Squirrel will go away and tell its Awful Squirrel Friends to avoid the Crazy Talking Lady.

We're having a very, very early spring, which makes for a lot of pollen, a screwy growing season, and some great photography opportunities.

It also means Sister got to see nearly-peak blooms over two weeks early at the Cherry Blossom Festival today.

I, however, did not get to go to the festival today since I was at work. These photos are from Williamsburg.

Magnolias

Pansy

Early Spring

Blooming

Purple I

Purple II

Driving home from Williamsburg, I-95 was a complete mess. At the exit for Thornburg, we decided to take a break, and we went to Stonewall Jackson's Shrine.

Good Man was entirely excited by the whole idea, as you can see.

Good Man

The shrine was a small home, with the original deathbed, death blanket, clock, etc. It was interesting enough for a break.

Blue Skies