handmade holidays #12: better late than never!

spent all Christmas Day putting this together for my mom, fitted it (straps) two days later, and voila! Now, I just have to mail the finished piece to her:

I made up Colette Patterns' Cinnamon slip dress in Vera Wang hammered silk charmeuse in chartreuse (chartreuse charmeuse! fun to say!). In this fabric it's definitely a slip or nightie, not a dress. I really don't enjoy sewing a delicate, slippery silk like this; the fabric is so tricksy. I do nothing but worry and second-guess myself the whole time, but phew! I think it came out alright! The credit really must go (once again) to Sarai's beautiful and thoughtful designs.

Sorry I couldn't get a better photo; it was blowing like mad outside today and dark inside: folded on the bed was the best I could do. I still have a few gifts to get together. ahem, sorry ladies. And an orange skirt I'm finishing for myself that I need to post, before the nightmare that is winter quarter absorbs me (I am teaching and taking 20 credits - twice a full load for doctoral students). Ugh. I'm starting to feel too old and too tired to be excited anymore. Then again, I always feel this dread before returning; I just have to remember that I will enjoy it when I'm actually back in classes again. At least this quarter I have a slightly better schedule (eg, I've managed to get a full weekday OFF from campus - haven't had that in three years!) and have purchased all my books online on the cheap - or at least, all the ones I know about. That should offset the cost of having the beautiful gray boots my mother in law bought me on sale taken in at the back.