I'm Back!

*haphazard swishing with a feather duster*

Oh hello there, it's been a while, hasn't it? Usually when a female blogger with a steady significant other takes a long-ish break from blogging, I begin wondering if it's because she's pregnant, and then I resign myself to lots of baby clothing posts, but just in case you're wondering, that's not my situation! Rather than finding myself in the family way, I've found myself in an...academic...way? School started and hit me like a ton of bricks this year, especially since, for the first time in almost a decade, I am not only a teacher, but a student as well! But more about that later.

I really wanted to make a quick blog post earlier explaining what was going on, but I had no energy to write and I really didn't want to be one of those bloggers that just posts five times in a row, but each post just says sorry I'm such a bad blogger I promise I'll have more to say soon! So I waited until I had more wherewithal to actually write something of substance. In the meantime, my last few weeks have been absolutely packed to the brim with:

• Well, speaking of packed, there's been lots of packing and unpacking; we finally moved to our new apartment in Castro Valley! It's so nice to have our own space again! Especially since my sewing stuff is in a fantastically large room! Mr. Cation and I decided to make the guest bedroom our bedroom, and use the master bedroom as a joint office/sewing room, so now we can work on things in the same room and there's lots of space on the floor for me to actually spread and cut things out. No more scrambling to put things away and checking the living room floor for stray pins when guests come over!
• Before we moved out of my parents' place, I mended/altered things for my family. My dad had a couple of button-down shirts whose sleeves were too long, and my sister had a dress that was too big. I also fixed a lot of my own hooks and eyes and buttons that had popped off, or dresses whose necks needed fixing to prevent gaposis, and those sorts of things that one never gets around to when there are shiny new projects to sew!
• Teaching and prepping and other miscellaneous school duties: besides my three AP classes, I've also taken over a lot of the science department head's duties since the previous one retired and nobody's been selected as a replacement. Ordering the year's supplies, mentoring the new teacher, and general curriculum overhauling, you know, NBD. And of course there's readjusting to standing and talking in a projecting sort of voice all day. I'm sad that the vagaries of block scheduling mean that I no longer have one whole day free for sewing/picture-taking like last year. 
• I've spent a good deal of time sorting through my fabric and figuring out what I want to make next. Ever since I started sewing three years ago, I've never taken such a long break from sewing! Besides the bits of mending and altering here and there, I haven't made anything new for over a month...so I had a bit of sewasaurus' block. I still have my half-finished blazer, but I left off at a tricky place and I don't feel like going back and trying to figure it out just yet. And I know what I want to make for my next HSF project, but since the deadline passed already I'm having trouble finding the necessary motivation. Thank goodness for the Sew Weekly Reunion's helpful guidelines and deadline, or I might still be hemming and hawing! Not literal hemming, though. 
• As for being a student again, I've got semi-exciting news: I've decided to go back to school and get my Theater Costuming certificate! After last summer's blogger meet-up at Canada College, I started dreaming and saving for their Fashion Department's classes. I don't know how long it will take me to complete all the courses, but I'm super excited even though I've only had one class so far. I really love learning (if I could be a professional student I totally would!), but to be honest, I'm a little scared that I've forgotten how to be a good student. I showed up for the first day of class without my textbook, reader, or even a binder or notebook...if I were my own student, I would've given me a stern talking to about being prepared for class! Thank goodness for breaks, so I was able to run out and buy my materials, but let's just say that it's going to be an adjustment, having to study for tests instead of just writing and grading them. 

We learned about fiber cross-sections and how they can affect light reflection, and therefore the general sheen or lustre of the resulting textile, among other things. Our instructor warned us that students have complained in the past that her textiles class was too much like a science class, but I was secretly thinking "what's wrong with that?" At any rate, I was just eating up all the information; I can tell I'm going to like this class!
[picture source]

Here's what I haven't been doing, though -- learning about my new serger! I'm so incredibly grateful for all of you who took the time to give me helpful advice, but I'm embarrassed to say that I haven't felt mentally ready to tackle all the learning I feel like it requires. I even chose to entirely line my next project so that I don't have to think about finishing any seams...I know, so sad, right? Still, at least I'm sewing again; my latest project just needs some buttons and then I'll be ready to reunite with all the good folks over at The Sew Weekly!