Multi-Stripe Gilbert Top and Momiji
November is almost over which means I start to wonder:
“Do I have time to post every clothes I made this year before the end of the year?”
(The answer is usually no, but I still try every year!)
What I’m going to share today was finished back in August. But due to our move, I haven’t had the chance to photograph it until now.
New place is bigger than our old place, but it’s still tricky to find a photo spot that:
Gets tons of natural light but not the direct sunlight
Has a simple and clean background
Can provide enough distance from the backdrop to set up a tripod for my camera
I’m gonna have to keep experimenting for a while to find the right spot!
Fabric: Amalfi collection—a collaboration between Cotton+Steel and Rifle Paper & Co.. Cotton lawn
Pattern: Gilbert Top by Helen’s Closet Patterns
I had been wanting to use this fabric for years.
I was initially planning on using a dolman sleeve pattern, but I ended up choosing Gilbert as I think the regular sleeve setting looks better on me.
I made the pocket with vertical stripe to add some interests.
I added approximately 1.5 cm length to the sleeves, however, I accidentally folded the sleeve ends wider than I should have.
I might re-do the sleeve hems later, so that I can have more relaxed longer sleeves (which seem to be more trendy right now.)
Just like my previous Liberty Gilbert, I added some gathers to the back to give it more ease. I like this hack; it makes it a lot easier to move around my arms.
You probably can’t tell much from those photos above, but the buttons are really cute resin ones!
I’m not sure how durable/long lasting resin buttons usually are. Since these don’t include any bigger parts inside, I’m hoping they’d hold up well in the wash.
They are colourful yet delicate; I really love the look of them!
I don’t have any photos of me wearing this top, but you can see lots of photos of other Gilbert Tops I made in the past!
Our doggy, Momiji, is now 15 years old (will be 16 next month) and she has recently developed some new medical conditions/symptoms such as:
Her eye sight has worsened (one of her eyes is almost blind)
Arthritis (her back legs especially, her back and tail are also stiff)
Possible cognitive disorder
On top of that she’s been taking a medication and supplements for her liver/gallbladder for some years as well.
We’ve known that her eye sight has been declining little by little over the years and we’ve noticed that her mind is slowing down a bit.
So the news weren’t exactly shocking nor unexpected. But her symptoms have become a tad more noticeable recently.
She can’t really walk backwards anymore, nor go around the objects. We’ve been rearranging our house so that she doesn’t bump into things and hurt herself, or get stuck somewhere.
She used to be well trained about her bathroom (she was both indoor and outdoor trained) but she’s been missing the pee pads lately quite often. Sometimes she needs an assistance from us when she tries to go as she can’t fully support herself in that position.
She gets anxious at night before going to sleep, so we’d gently pat or pet her and talk to her to let her know she’s safe until she falls asleep.
Our lifestyles have changed in the last few weeks to fit the new needs.
She doesn’t constantly need help 24/7, but neither she nor we know when she needs one, so one of us has been staying with her at home all the time now.
Some days, it feels like everything is working fine because she looks so energetic, and other days, it takes a half hour to put her to sleep. (To give you a context, she never had this problem until recently. She used to put herself to sleep on her bed and would sleep solid until the next morning.)
We’re still adjusting many things but one thing is for sure.
Her cuteness keeps growing each day.
I honestly didn’t know how adorable senior dogs could be.
I used to think “all dogs are cute but puppies are especially adorable”.
Of course puppies are unbelievably cute and special, but senior dogs are even more magical in my opinion.
with each passing day, I think to myself “she is the cutest today”.
It’s not just the way she looks, but the time we spent together makes her irreplaceably cute to us, I guess.
That being said, there’s one thing I want to be clear in case you never had a dog before.
To take care of and be responsible for a life is a lot of work, and that’s a fact.
Especially when your dog needs an assistance from you.
Like I said earlier, it’s been difficult to leave the house for us, we’re waken up in the middle of the night sometimes, we’ve been rearranging our house.
Momiji can’t go to the bathroom outside anymore, and she’s been missing the pee pads inside, so we have to clean it often daily.
She can’t use the stairs anymore, so we’d carry her up and down. But she’d get too confused if we brought her up and down stairs too much, so one of us try to stay downstairs with her during the day. We’re really thankful that we both work from home that this is all possible for us.
If we had a bigger dog, it would have been a lot more demanding physically for us. (Momiji is only 4 kg / 9-ish lbs.)
I wouldn’t be able to safely lift up a huge dog to go up and down the stairs on my own.
I love love big dogs (especially the huge ones), but I’m not sure if I have what it takes to take care of them, physically.
Maybe if we lived in a single story house or in a accessibly designed house…
“Aging” can of course be sad, challenging, and/or anxious and sometimes it comes with a lot of hardships.
But above all, senior dogs are adorable and sweet.
I’m biased now, I can’t talk about how cute dogs are, without mentioning how cute old doggies can be.
I feel like, through Momiji, I’m witnessing the journey of a life.
The body that used to be so small, young and full of life is eventually going to reach its matureness and then slowly grows old.
I’ve been thinking a lot about what it really means to “grow old”.
We had a nice long autumn here this year, and were able to take full advantage of the weather and went for walks a lot.
She was truly enjoying the new neighbourhood and lots of our new neighbours talked to us because of Momiji.
From many reasons like her eye sight, cold temperature, arthritis, cognitive disorder…It’s been hard to take her out for a walk since the snow fall.
She can no longer tolerate her winter boots that she used to wear (both physically and psychologically), so when there’s snow on the ground or when the ground is really cold even without the snow, she can’t walk outside much at all anymore.
Even on the warm day that she doesn’t need boots, it takes a while for her to get adjusted to outside.
I think, she gets really confused or even shocked sometimes at first and has no idea where she is or what she’s doing. So I try to hold her or pat her, or talk to her to let her know I’m there with her.
After a while, she sometimes realizes “Oh I know this. We’re outside and going for a walk.” and then starts walking on her own.
If that happens, we’d go for a short walk.
We’re not sure if any of this is the “right thing” to do.
On some days, I think that maybe she wants to stay inside where she feels safe and comfy.
But at the same time, if she can, I want her to move her body even a little bit and get stimulated mentally too.
We’re still trying to figure things out each day.
This picture was taken on the day we were able to do a small loop around the neighbourhood!
I might do more detailed post about her conditions, I think that might be a good idea to document it for myself.
If you had/are having similar experience with senior dogs, I welcome any tips on how to maintain their QOL as high and as long as possible.
Dogs live in a moment.
They don’t have future goals like “I want to make it to certain age” or “I want to be around until…”
But us humans are a bit more greedy that way, aren’t we? I want her to become 16 years old next month. I want to her to be here when the new year arrives.
That all seems easily possible at the moment as she still has plenty of appetite. (All things considered, despite the ups and downs, she’s still doing ok in a lot of ways.)
But anything can happen anytime. We’re cherishing every moment with her and will continue to do so.
Nov 28, 2022
