compulsively creative

MIWW (make it with wool)

warning this post somehow turned into a novel

The Junior division TN winner, me (senior division winner), Pre-teen division winner

I know it's not the best picture, but I have to give credit to my sweet husband. Somehow he was able to keep both the kids happy for 5 hours during the competition, and even take a few pictures.

I think MIWW is sorta like SYTYCD of the sewing world. There are two reasons that the connection is there in my mind, one: because people really do refer to it as MIWW, two: you sew something made with wool and then it's judged and critiqued in front of a panel of judges.

I decided to enter the competition the last day possible, which was only one month before the competition day. I knew this was going to be stressful and I even warned my husband that I'm sure there would be plenty of late nights, a messy house, and tears* occasionally. But, being the supportive husband that he is, he encouraged me anyway and told me he was sure if anyone could do it I could.

*Doesn't it seem like sewing is so emotional? Sometimes you are excited and on top of the world about your project, then you mess up, sometimes you can fix it sometimes you can't but either way you just want to cry, or you do. I usually do if it's a really big mess up.

Well, little did I know that those warnings I gave him were just the tip of the iceberg. Here is what happened.

Yes, I was busy as expected, but things were going along well and I wasn't spending too much time sewing in the middle of the night. And then the Monday before the competition this happened:

I know it's not a great picture, but I cut a HOLE in the collar. Seriously, did that just happen?!! I was so frustrated and stressed that I did that. Of course I didn't have time to redo it so I decided to keep sewing on other things and when my nerves calmed down a bit I would somehow fix my mistake.
Sadly, however, by this point my brain was so fried I should have just called it a day and given myself a break. Instead I made another mistake. This time it was much worse. When I was making my bound buttonholes I skipped one small little step and completely blotched the front of my jacket. (Somehow I didn't cry. I think I knew there wasn't time.)

That was Monday. Monday night I decided to START OVER on the jacket! That's when my somewhat organized house turned into this:

I will say this, my husband is so sweet, he made dinner, bathed the kids...everything (except the dishes and other housework stuff, although he did do a lot of it. It's just so hard to keep up with!)

Then, Friday afternoon I finally finished! Right after this picture we loaded up in the car and drove 3 1/2 hours to our hotel for the competition the next day. (do you see the mess in the background? I cropped out most of it, but there is just so much of it, that I couldn't get it all)

I wish I could say that was the end of the craziness, but little did I know it was just beginning. We got to our hotel and after a little difficulty with our reservation, we finally had a spot to rest our tired bodies. It took Everett a good 2 hours to fall asleep (uggh) I think he was just too excited to be in such a new place and have mommy and daddy in the same room!

Saturday, we woke up early, I pressed my outfit, we were all ready to go with PLENTY of time to spare. We drove for about 30 minutes when we realized we were not seeing signs for the town the competition was in. Our hotel was only 17 miles away, so why had we not seen any signs? Well, because we went the WRONG direction!! Seriously. We turned around only to find that traffic going the correct direction was at a complete stand still.

That day was the trail of tears motorcycle ride and there were roughly 100,000 motorcyclists travelling through town. Fortunately they were going the opposite direction, so why were we stopped? I decided to be pro-active and go find out. I walked up to the front of the line of cars only to find a woman talking on her cell phone and smoking a cigarette, just enjoying watching the motorcycles. Okay, that's nice, but I DID NOT HAVE TIME FOR WATCHING. As calmly as I possibly could, I asked her to please keep driving. She did. I was thankful.

Erick drove 90 mph in the rain, in 45 mph construction zones, just so we could get to my competition on time. We finally made it to Fayetteville and the competition started in 15 minutes. So, my nerves calmed down quite a bit. We were actually going to be there, exactly on time.

I was wrong. The directions we got from google to get to the actual competition took us to an empty field. Literally. (still, no tears from me miraculously). We stopped at a house and asked a gentleman for directions. 5 minutes later we were back on our way. Only, his directions didn't quite get us there either. So, we stopped 3 more times just trying to find this place. Finally we got there, I ran inside, found the director and was ready to beg to participate. But, thankfully it didn't come to that. She told me they were running behind and not to worry about it. Hallelujah!! I couldn't even believe it!

We finally made it. When I got my dress out of the car it was wrinkled!! I had spent the morning pressing it to perfection, and now it was wrinkled?!! (now the tears were welling, but didn't quite escape) Erick was so sweet and so encouraging. He told me even if it was wrinkled it still looked so good and he was sure I would win. I definitely needed that. Even despite all the drama of the whole process, I didn't even cry. Not once. What a blessing.

The competition was pretty straight forward. Model your garment in front of judges, they ask questions, look at your construction techniques and quality...and in the end, I won! Now it's onto nations in Nashville, TN =)