Delaney and Track-Thursday's track meet at Home. Getting ready for the 4x4 relay- Delaney's final event.
Shot Put event at Branson HS.
Delaney running the 4x4 at Branson HS.

So, Thursday, I had to take my quilts (3) to a gallery in Jefferson City. The only time I've been to JC was chaperoning the 8th grade Honor Society trip to the capital. (I've done that twice and hope to do it again if Delaney gets in) Anyway, It's a long 4 hour drive there and I found the gallery easily enough and was allowed to drop off the art work early so I could drive back and catch some of Delaney's home track meet. I only got to see her last event - the 400x 4 (4x4) which is a relay race and each girl runs one full lap around the track. I was sitting among the other kids and was cheering, "go delaney!" when all of them turned to me and said, "don't yell her name! she doesn't like that. It distracts her and makes her run slower!" Seems like a control issue to me. I asked her about it and she said, it's not bad at the track meets, but at practice, it really distracts her, so she asked them not to yell out her name. The thing that really amazes the kids is that she's not even winded after she finishes the race. She runs the entire race with her mouth closed.

She's doing well, I think. She's doing 4 events, both running and field events. At the home meet, her 2x4 team came in first and her 4x4 team came in 3rd.

Prom Dress Makes the News-
Maura received an email from a news reporter asking to do an interview about here Prom dress. They wanted to set it up for Friday, hopefully, at the school. Maura went in Thursday and asked the office if it was possible, but it wasn't until they called the school directly that it was set up for Friday at 11:30.
I went into the school, with the dress, and hoping I didn't have to be interviewed. Luckily, they chose to just speak to Maura and her Principal.
You can view it here:
http://www.ky3.com/news/local/91097659.html

Prom-2010

I think it might be fitting to show this picture, Maura and her Principal, first- I know he was very gracious about her dress last night and got quite a lot of teasing from the others there. He did say he wasn't going to under estimate Maura again.
Before Prom, most gather at the Branson Landing to take photos before crossing the street to the Hilton. Maura attracted a lot of attention of all ages. Several people wanted to take her picture, a few people even wanted to touch her dress. Here, Maura is getting her picture taken by a woman who went on to tell her she should put it in the paper, it was SO newsworthy.
Here is Maura with her date, Jacob. I've got to give him props. Not everyone would be willing to go to Prom with a girl in a Dorito dress. Notice his flower is also from a Dorito bag. We go all out, or don't go at all. LOL!

Prom Dress 2010-

Maura, my daughter, has all the makings of a VERY creative person. Last year's Prom dress was all about the cutting edge of a fashion movement (Goth Lolita) that just didn't exist as a shopping option here. With the help of my sister, we pulled it off by putting a couple different patterns together and two days of Marathon sewing.

This year's dress began with the announcement, "I'm going to make a dress from Dorito bags". Our response? "hmmm.. ok. How are you going to do that?" Her answer was "Don't worry. I've got this". (her typical response to most of our questions actually. Truthfully, she usually DOES have it, so I wasn't too worried.) As time got shorter, however, I did begin to worry and consider how I would go about doing it. Finally, Maura asked for some help and we discussed ideas. This is what we came up with.

Dorito bags are rather thin so we used a fused plastic technique and sandwiched the bags between a bottom layer of black garbage bag and a top layer of thin painter's drop cloth plastic. The benefit of this was that she could "collage" the bags rather than sew them to each other and that she could make smaller sections (that fit each pattern piece) rather than make one large piece of "fabric". We purchased a pattern that allowed us to do smaller sections rather than large pieces and one that allowed for the stiffness of the plastic fabric. (She'll have no need of a tulle underskirt this year!)

At first, we thought the gathered layers would have to be made as "pintucks" instead of gathering, but we were able to gather it using a technique of zigzagging over a cotton yarn, which makes the whole gathering process much easier when you are using thicker fabrics. (and in this case, plastic) The bodice is lined with black cotton fabric and the under skirt is also of fabric. I believe this makes it more comfortable and breathable.

There can be no mistakes making this dress. There is no ripping out stitches. I think the zipper could have looked better, but given that it was the first time we'd put in a zipper and the plastic is a slippery thing, it's not too bad.

I would be remiss if I didn't also document that we had some opposition to this dress from the school administration.

Basically, the Principal heard of the dress and said "well, that's not going to happen." and that statement was relayed to Maura via a teacher. She was very upset and so were we on a couple points. One point was that he was condemning the dress without ever asking about it or seeing it. The second point was that they use Maura's photo at the school to celebrate the (desired) character quality of "uniqueness" and then were condemning her for it.

My husband went to the school and talked to the Principal for quite some time. The final upshot was that she would be allowed to try to enter the Prom with the dress, but if it did not withstand the dress code, she would not be allowed to enter. He also apologized to her for dismissing it out of hand.

We are completely satisfied with how things stand. We are happy that she is allowed to try to bring her vision to reality and that she is not singled out by having to conform to a higher standard that the other students.

We are rather pleased that she has this kind of creativity and aren't about to squash it.

This dress will not be the most elegant and probably will be considered a bit garish to some but it is certainly GREEN and forward thinking and creative, so I think it's ok it's not elegant. I also think it will catch a lot of attention everywhere she goes.

We plan on documenting the dress in stages and as a finished dress prior to Prom. Thank goodness her date is fine with the whole thing! He's a good friend to do this.