not much, you?

So I have no pictures to post, or much to say, only I know it's been awhile and Mom might be wondering what's happened to us.  Let's see what I can dredge up...

Elise started private acting lessons with a family friend.  She's met with her twice, and I stay to take notes so she knows what to work on between times.  Her teacher is absolutely amazing, and she is really learning a lot.  Weekly rehearsals also started for the play she is in this spring, and she is having a good time with that.

Albin has been playing Magic with friends or the local store, and doing things with Minecraft, and other logic computer games. 

Karl knocked out some stuff in the basement this weekend, in his quest to make the storage room in the back more usable.  He, too, is enjoying computer games (mostly Chicktionary on his ipad), and will probably clean up the trains in a few days.  I think that the next time we set it up, we should just plan to not have use of the dining room for a few weeks, and put out a really good (i.e. bigger) layout.

I have been obsessed with sewing.  I'm going to make a Victorian ball gown for a friend, and it needs to be done by the end of March.  I've done oodles of research, and with my sewing-genius friend's help, I think it can be done.  I just sent up a muslin of the corset for her to try on (yes, I get to learn corsetmaking, too), and also finished a chemise muslin this weekend.  (I think those armholes are going to have to change, somehow.)  I'm still searching for the cheapest source of silk taffeta.  So any spare time I have for awhile is going into dressmaking of one sort or another.  A picture of the sort of look we are going for is here.

So that's life in our house for now!