chickens!

when jimmy was in middle school, he was obsessed with chickens. instead of saying "cool!", he'd say "chickens!" (don't ask. i don't get it either.) so, as soon as my job finished on june 30th (!!!!), the end of the fiscal year (i do work in a finance office and all), the first thing i thought of sewing was a dress with this african chicken fabric that i got at the school's rummage sale last october. you may remember it from the christmas birdies post; it was the fabric that was turquoise with dark red chickens. (NOTE: i met up with some friends for a farewell happy hour and it was pointed out to me that said chickens are really quails. but i'm not satisfied with calling this a quail dress, since i've been calling it my chicken dress for a week already. so sorry friends, but CHICKEN DRESS it is!)

i'd been eying the mila dress pattern from burdastyle.com, an online shop with tons of free and cheap sewing patterns. i love how crisp this looks! not a fan of how the front flaps open like that, though. it sort of looks like a boob offering!!! hehei ripped apart this black jumper that i never wore for the coordinating fabric. it's really more black than grey... the coloring here is just a little off and i forgot to take a pic of it before i ripped the skirt section to shreds! (ew, what was i thinking with this dress!)and made this: yes that's me midsentence! notice how the chicken right in the middle under the button placket is complete! i meticulously calculated how to cut the fabric despite the 5/8" seams on both front skirt panels to make sure the fabric continued exactly once i sewed them back together. ditto for the back: it pays to be slightly ocd, huh? (however, i'm not a fan of how i look like a linebacker in these pics. i've been swimming laps at my pool fairly regularly to stay in shape and it's making me broad!) mom and dad are in the town for the nation's bday, so to celebrate i baked banana bread and gingersnaps! mom has a weakness for gingersnaps and often buys them, so i baked her some to prove that i could make them better. and, they were! so she swore to never purchase gingersnaps ever again. ah, unemployment is so sweet! tomorrow i'm going to bake a blueberry pie! however, once next monday hits, i am going to hit the books to lesson plan for next year. lesson planning will be my day job for 8 hrs (ugh!), and of course i will continue sewing at night as my regular hobby!