Monday and Tuesday Leading Up to the Jury

Monday was Sewing with Muriel, as usual. I worked on my dress and wanted to get it done by the end of class. First, I finished hand-finishing the hem, and then Muriel showed me how to attach it to the front of the dress so that it wouldn't be seen. (It was the same technique that I had used on the hem of my pants.) I worked slowly, and halfway through, Muriel came to check on how I was doing. It turned out that I was doing it incorrectly (surprise, surprise). She showed that I needed to make each stitch a bit smaller than I had been doing. So that's what I completed during the morning.
Earlier in the day, Tenzin had gone around the class, saying that a bunch of people were going to take Muriel out for lunch that day and inviting people to join. I said yes, and Tenzin said that we would be going to a Tibetan restaurant that her uncle runs. So I couldn't wait to try it.
Lunchtime rolled around, and I quickly got my purse from my apartment and headed back to school. The group was Tenzin, Tu, Beliz, Po-Lan and I, along with Muriel. The restaurant was right off Rue Saint-Jacques, about a 10-15 minute walk. We sat down, and I was between Beliz and Po-Lan. We decided to try a variety of dishes. (Tenzin, being Tibetan, was of course the authority of what was good.) We got water, and Muriel and Tenzin got what looked like milk. I tried a sip of Muriel's, and was not a fan of whatever it was. (Tenzin told me that it was fermented milk, and I remarked that it must be an acquired taste.)
The food came, and it was really yummy! We had gotten a variety of dishes, and all shared. There were some breaded balls with melted cheese inside (which Tu really likes), some doughy soft shells with spicy beef inside, chicken curry (I had voted for that one), and something resembling vegetable tempura. There were different kinds of dipping sauces as well, like a yellow one that had mint in it (says Tenzin) and a red spicy one that I really liked. There was also rice, and some really good bread (I had about 3 pieces of that). It was all so good! Unfortunately, I didn't get the names of any of these dishes (save for the chicken curry), but I'm sure I could pick them out on a menu, given a description.
We walked back, and Muriel pointed out a Tibetan store that sold clothing and jewelry. It turns out that it's run by Tenzin's other uncle! We stopped in and looked around for a few minutes, and then continued walking back to school. On the way, we ran into Ashley and Liz, passing us in the opposite direction on their way to BHV. We got back to school around 1:45 pm (class usually starts at 1 pm), and looked at the interior design students' work, displayed for their jury. Then, we went upstairs and started working. I finished the hem, and Muriel showed me a way to hide the shoulder seams. So I worked on that, and after Muriel approved it, I was finished with my dress!
I had to go to Montmartre (near the fabric stores) to get a cheap suitcase. (I had packed my 2 bags so tightly coming over here, there was no way I'd be able to fit all the things I've accumulated/created into them both.) On my way out, Tenzin asked me to look in a specific mercerie for bag handles for her. I said I would, left and caught the metro up to Marche Saint-Pierre. I first looked for the handles, seeing some similar ones but not what she had specified. Then I went looking for a cheap suitcase. I looked at a couple and saw a promising one, and then left to comparison shop. I passed a place that sold postcards, so I got 12 for 2 Euro for Grandma of places in Montmartre. I also got Grandma and Grandpa Ewald a miniature Eiffel Tower in (pseudo) bronze. I also stopped in a small clothing boutique and bought a pair of long black pants, in a material similar to my gauchos (which I love). I didn't see any more suitcases that were as good as that first one, so I walked back and bought it. It's as bit as my biggest bag and only cost 25 Euro (as compared to the others being around 50-55 Euro). So I then went back, finished sewing Jen's bag (as in sewed up the hole in the lining and put in the snap by hand), and cleaned and packed a bit (a very little bit).
Today (Tuesday) was our last class before our Jury. Susan mostly looked at what everyone had done. I showed her my revised flats, and she had a whole host of suggestions, mostly centering on fixing the hands. She also talked about erasing some of the color (she has no idea how much time I spent on that part of it), as well as adding in hair and maybe an ear. There was also talk of adding shadows to the skin and facial features (so that my heads don't look like they just have red lips stuck onto them). After we talked, I worked on my pants from the first half of the semester. I wanted to add snaps to connect the overlong lengths of the gloves to the pants. I had sewed in 2 of the complete snaps (which includes 2 parts for each, which comes to 4 parts), and then tried to snap them together. After all that, I found out that I had put them in incorrectly (parts that should've been facing out were facing in, etc). (I was just glad that I hadn't put in all 4 snaps before I realized this fact.) So I ripped them out and began again, this time being more careful in my placement of the snaps when I basted them to the pants. I finished putting them all in by the end of class, and then pressed the pants, and I was done!
After class, I went back to the room, took a nap, and had lunch. I was going to start putting together my stuff for the jury, but realized I needed more plastic sleeves and another binder. So off I went to BHV, picked up those things, as well as a couple of postcards for Grandma. (I FINALLY found a postcard of the Lapin Agile for Grandma! That was the only one I'd seen, and it was the only place I'd been to in Montmartre that I hadn't found a postcard for. It was also the last one on the rack, and it was mine!) Then I went back and began organizing my work, putting stuff in plastic sleeves, rearranging the order, mounting fabric etc. I took a break around 8 pm to eat dinner, lounged around for a (well-deserved, I must say) break and then worked on my illustrations for Susan. I really didn't have the energy to redo arms and/or whole illustrations, so I concentrated on putting in shadows on the body and face. Then I worked on the hair. I was very pleased with the way the hair of my illustrations turned out. I hope Susan gets so hypnotized by the hair that she neglects to see that the arms weren't fixed. (I'm so glad this is over, in that I'm so tired at looking at these drawings. I really need a break from them.)
So tomorrow morning is the jury, and then we're done with school!