And the total is....35!

We cut the last batch of costumes for HMC today; with the additional costumes that will belong to the program, and counting the costumes that I made for my own kids, our total costuming effort stands at 35 costumes...of which we still have 13 (I think)left to put together.

The good part is that it has demonstrated very well how inefficient it is to sew without a designated place...and another good thing is that this should be the only time we'll have to crank 'em out like this. Next year, everyone will know well in advance that they'll need a costume and we can designate the month of August to make them, with a definite cut-off date. Plus, only new incoming students will need them from now on...so this should be the tail end of the bulk of it.

Whew.

While at church, Miss A and I scouted around one more time looking for a place to set up Ye Olde Dress Shoppe. There is one area we hadn't considered...the large open area used for our fellowship hall has a balcony or mezzanine area...over the bookstore and some closets...that isn't used. The only problem is that it is only accessible via two metal spiral staircases. I had rejected it outright, trying to imagine manuevering an ironing board around one of the staircases, but today one of the associate pastors mentioned that we *do* have an hydraulic lift unit that is used to replace lightbulbs and such...we could, just possibly, use the lift to move stuff up there. It certainly wouldn't be ideal, but it just might get us through this season. There are enough outlets on one end of it to support several sewing machines, so it would be possible.

We'll see....