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Wednesday, November 26, 2014

6 Years and Counting

Pipe Weekend Anniversary

October eleventh, two thousand and fourteen marked the hubby and my six year wedding anniversary. Six years married, eight years together, roughly one fourth of my life. In fact, that doesn't even sum up our time together because we dated when we were just babies (thirteen and fourteen). So we remember each other when we were at our most awkward. 

It seems that these days you can't open up Facebook without a some form of Buzzfeed/Huffington Post/Psychology Today article telling you how millennials are getting married later in life, or don't have any interest in marriage or divorce quickly, or yada yada yada. All very interesting, but I'm very happy I got married young because I wouldn't trade my husband for anything. I'm sure you are wondering what on earth any of this has to do with pipes. 

Pipe Weekend Anniversary
This year for our six year wedding anniversary my husband took me to a pipe show. He didn't really plan it that way, it just happened to be the weekend the pipe show was. He is a fairly new pipe maker (you can check him out here) and this was his first show. Many nights with small amounts of sleep, and many days full of lots of anxiety for the unknown, led up to that weekend- which is why he looks soo exhausted in this photo. He worked hard in preparation for that weekend, In fact we both did- him making pipes and me sewing pipe bags and designing and ordering business cards and the likes. 

This wasn't our first time staying up late to get things done, there were countless nights in the past eight years where we worked hard as a team to get things done- and many other nights where Brendon stayed up way past his bedtime in solidarity while I crunched to make a deadline. We have always done our best to wake up at the same time and go to bed at the same time. We have always done our best to do things together.

Marriage is hard at any age (or so I would imagine since I've only ever personally experienced it at this age) it's not always fun and it's a lot of work. But I love having a partner, I love that we always tackle things together. Through long hours of studying for college classes, late nights up with a fussy baby, financial restraints, new jobs, lost jobs, and life decisions. I'm grateful for my Husband, I'm grateful for my partner, I'm grateful for the father of my wild little munchkin because she takes a village some days. 

Pipe Weekend Anniversary 
And in case you were wondering, I didn't spend my whole weekend at the pipe show. I spent some time shopping, and reading, and enjoying the quiet- which was the best part because life is anything but quiet when you have a three year old. 

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Sew Geeky: Epic Fantasy, Alanna the Lioness

Sew Geeky: Alanna

Hey guys, it's my favorite time of the month- time for Sew Geeky! I had to bow out last month because Cordelia changed her mind about what she wanted to be for Halloween, and I ended up with nothing to contribute! Making me extra excited for this month's post.


November is Epic Fantasy month, and it was soo hard to pick just one thing to sew- and I only had time to sew one outfit! I love epic fantasy- Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, fairies, dragons, wizards- I love it all. Really my love goes back to when I was eleven and asked my mom to buy me a book called Alanna: The First Adventure, written by Tamora Pierce. 

Sew Geeky: Alanna
Alanna is a girl who doesn't want to be a proper lady, she wants to be a Knight- but girls aren't allowed to go for Knight training. Unhappy with the situation Alanna disguises herself as a boy, trades places with her brother (who wants to be a wizard and not a knight), and becomes a legend. There is magic, sword fights, and talking cats. I was hooked, and I remain hooked. I still read every new book Ms. Pierce puts out, and I re-read the entire series whenever I am particularity stressed and need a "vacation".

Sew Geeky: Alanna
Alanna is fierce, independent, and determined. All qualities I see in Cordelia, so it was fun to tell her stories about Alanna as I was sewing this outfit for her. (She isn't old enough for the books yet, but I can't wait to read them with her)

Sew Geeky: AlannaSew Geeky: Alanna
Cordelia's leggings are self drafted out of brown velour, and some sort of stretchy gold velvet-ish fabric (I've never worked with anything like it, and I should have written the name down). Her tunic is an upcycled burgundy sweatshirt , with more of the gold fabric- to emulate armor. The tunic I made using the Bimaa Sweater.  I sized up to account for the limited stretch in the sweatshirt fleece, and I sloped the hem to make it longer in the back. This is my first Bimaa, and I'm convinced I put the cowl on backwards, so I'm anxious to try another one to see if I can do it correctly! 

Sew Geeky: Alanna
The cover art for the books often show Alanna wearing gauntlets, and plate armor shin guards, and so I thought the color blocking was a nice way to give that look. Stitched to the front is Alanna's signature Lioness- not my best stitch work, but I think it still sort of looks like the picture of her shield.


Sew Geeky: AlannaSew Geeky: AlannaSew Geeky: AlannaSew Geeky: AlannaSew Geeky: Alanna
Cordelia especially enjoyed sword fighting with a giant- using the awesome crocheted sword my sister made her. She lost some fights. . .

Sew Geeky: AlannaSew Geeky: AlannaSew Geeky: AlannaSew Geeky: AlannaSew Geeky: AlannaSew Geeky: AlannaSew Geeky: AlannaSew Geeky: Alanna
and won some! Taking these pictures were soo much fun!


As always please go check out the other amazing women sewing this month- you won't regret it because they made amazing things!



Saturday, November 22, 2014

Pumpkin Picking

Pumpkin Patch

To continue my October in November posts, I want to share some pictures of our pumpkin patch trip! In years past we have bought our pumpkins from side of the road farm stands and from nursery's so this was our first trip to an actual pumpkin patch. Brendon's Dad and Step Mother invited us out to one right near their house and we (Cordelia especially) had a blast! 

Pumpkin PatchPumpkin PatchPumpkin PatchPumpkin Patch

Summers Farm was a fun place filled with mazes, animals, slides, corn pits- lots of things to climb and touch and do.   

Pumpkin Patch
Pumpkin Patch
Pumpkin Patch

Brendon has a four photo limit for smiling- or at least that's what it seems because he really did enjoy himself, I swear. 

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Cordelia especially loved this little short maze- I'm not entirely sure she understood how the maze worked, I think you were only supposed to make right turns but she loved running in circles inside of it. 

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And in her mind you never can go wrong with a pony ride.

Pumpkin Patch

Or a bumpy dusty barrel ride! Looking at these pictures Cordelia went off on a whole speech about how much fun it was and how much she wants to do it again! 

Pumpkin Patch

Grandma Sherry walked Cordelia all the way out to the far ends of the pumpkin patch to find her a pumpkin her size which I think meant a lot to Cordelia. 

Pumpkin Patch

We made out like bandits- they had a great selection of pumpkins- we even got our first white pumpkin which was really cool (I carved him up to look like Jack Skellington).

Pumpkin Patch

It was a good trip, with lots of memories made, and I think we are fully converted pumpkin patch people! 


Trick or Treat

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Halloween is by far my favorite holiday- I mean, how could you go wrong with costumes and candy? This year was our first year giving our neighborhood a shot for trick or treating and we were not disappointed! So many excellently decorated houses!!!

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Cordelia was a trooper. She walked and walked and walked and despite being soo totally excited she bounced off the walls ALL day, she wasn't too big of a grump. I was impressed by how fearless she was of the people dressed up as skeletons, zombies, and mad scientists- she even walked up to Michael Myers sitting in the dark to get candy ( I might have skipped that- house because they scared me!). I know we don't really want our kids willing to walk up to strangers and take candy, but the funny thing was that she was petrified of  the plain clothes dressed people- one nice guy even made her cry- so I don't think I have to worry too much about her willingly wandering off with a stranger. 

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Our biggest struggle was keeping her warm! It was such a cold night- normally I make her costumes big enough to fit multiple layers underneath it but it had been such a warm October I decided I didn't need to. Well I won't be making that mistake again!  

Friday, November 21, 2014

Pretty Pink Princess

Pink Princess Dress

Life is often overwhelming. The sink is always full of dishes, I feel i'm always behind on studying, Cordelia is slowly giving up her naps so she has been extra cranky, and my depression has reared it ugly head making it hard to get out of bed. The week before Halloween I was feeling particularly overwhelmed and decided I wanted to make something pretty just because it was pretty and not because it was on my "to do" list. I stayed up way too late- two nights in a row because at first I made the bodice too big, but I am really happy I took the time to make the dress.  

Pink Princess DressPink Princess Dress

I was able to make this entirely from things I had on hand (thank goodness because I really have to sew down my stash-I'm running out of room!), and it was soo heartwarming to see how happy the dress made her- she wore it every day for three days before I could get it away from her to wash!

Pink Princess Dress

I wasn't sure how they would come out because of the sheer fabric but I am exceptionally fond of the sleeves; they turned out so perfect and dainty! 

Pink Princess DressPink Princess Dress

Perfect for twirling.

Pink Princess Dress

Perfect for fun.