Les Mis Costumes (what I've really been doing in Cedar City)

At last, you can see what I've been working on. These dresses were mine to build from scratch. (We also did lots of alterations.) Special thanks to our designer Kevin Alberts for being so organized and awesome, which actually made the 250 or so looks in this show actually possible to be ready for our dress rehearsal on Saturday.

This first look is Fantine, played by Melinda Pfundstien. This dress is now finished completely, but I have yet to get pictures up of that.  Now it's down in the dye room getting made to look old and dirty. It has been fun to make something for a lead character!

This is the ballgown I made (making - I'm finishing it tomorrow).  It has been a delight and a challenge to make.  My fabric came in after everyone else so it was a mad dash to catch up with everyone else, but I made it!  In fact it only took me about 24 work hours to go from pieces of fabric to fitting stage, which is what you see below.  I couldn't believe how fast it went together.  Of course, now there's all the time consuming finishing work, but it's still coming together nicely.  It now has buttons on the front and lots of flowers on the ruffle.  She's going to look so beautiful.  I love the lace that chevrons down the front.  I rather want a ballgown myself. The actress that wears this is Sara Griffin.  She was very sweet last week and brought our team brownies to say 'thank you' for making her costumes. 

Pictures taken by Jack Schmitz, our awesome first hand (the person that cut out the fabric).

Sometimes I think I'm a little crazy...

So it's only the second week of the semester and I already feel slightly crazy. Actually, I thought I was doing just fine, until my eye started twitching and I noticed the eczema developing on my hands. Yep, definitely signs of stress.

Pretty sure I need to learn to handle my life better.

Then, once again I am taking 15 credits and working a whole slew of jobs. Yes, a whole slew. Not only am I a sewing TA, I work in Pioneer Theatre's costume shop sewing, I teach two girls voice lessons, and one girl sewing lessons. Oh and I because it was too fun to pass up, I took on some free-lance sewing jobs - one making a prom dress for my cousin and the other is making costumes for a girl in a high school production of Oklahoma. Wow. All my jobs take up about a paragraph. That's kind of frightening. It's a good thing I love my jobs!

Now I just need to figure out how to balance work, school, and a social life...

One last note: Thank you for reading my vent. Sorry to complain. I do love life and am grateful that I do have a way to pay for school, and I get to work in things I love. I am very blessed.

1 Nephi 2:1 is my favorite. Sometimes the Lord says, "You are blessed. Oh and by the way some people want to kill you," all in one breath. But really we are blessed. I believe the Lord when He says "you're blessed" even when it may seem crazy at the time. He knows what He's talking about. Righteousness leads to blessings beyond compare. I'm counting on those.

One very last note: I just realized I'm complaining about my crazy schedule and I'm blogging. Perhaps I need to be a little more careful of using my time effectively...

I'm a TA!

On Monday my costume design professor asked me to be her TA for costume construction. I'm so excited! Yay for helping people learn to sew!

This was a few years ago. But a pictures always make blogs more fun to read, so here's a picture.

Only 4 dresses, 2 suit coats, 1 cape and 31 people's alteratations to go...

Oh and we only have 2 weeks.

Crazy? Yes, slightly. But somehow we'll do it! That's the magic of theatre and I love it! Today was crazy getting ready for photo call, but we made it. Luckily.

I'm exhausted though and feel like it should be Friday already. I woke up (after a restless night) and my eyes were blood shot. I was really tempted not to wear my contacts, but my prescription is old and I just sort of kind of need to see well for my job. (By sort of kind of, I mean a lot). Plus wearing my glasses, just makes me feel tired and like slouching all day and disappearing into a corner. Don't know what it is that does that to me, because they're cute glasses, but it's just better if I wear my contacts.

So I put my contacts in, did some Pilates (I'm trying to get back in the habit of exercising). I tried to ignore the fact that my eyes hurt like crazy, and my throat hurt and my body was just tired. Certainly not my best day at work. But at least the jacket turned out pretty and I could listen to BYU devotionals while I sewed.

This is my favorite lately:http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=viewitem&id=1960.

Brother Williams talks about our yearning for home - our heavenly home and it really hit home. I've been feeling that homesickness for my heavenly home more and more lately. The more I see of the world, the more I long for the world beyond. And the closest we have here is the temple, and that is an hour away. Hopefully there's a temple trip soon! I need a little more heaven in my life.