A Sunny Day in December

We live in a wonderful community. A community full of friendly neighbors, lots of kids, and a great collection of parks. We have a pretty small yard so it's really fun to be able to walk to so many parks- it keeps life interesting! 

The park closest to our house used to be tiny and old and dirty. However, after some hard work from some neighbors, the city revamped it- replacing the equipment and redoing the entire layout. We spent a lot of time walking to the park just to sit and watch the workers build, and now each trip to the finished park is an adventure. Everything is just soo new and fresh! 

There are two big pieces of playground equipment- one for children ages 2-5 and one for 5 and up. There are swings, mushroom stools, spinning leafs, climbing tree posts, a dragon fly seesaw, and the best part - lots of slides. 

A Rose in the Garden

With as warm as it was for Christmas, it was equally as cold at the beginning of December when I was trying to take photos for our holiday cards. The photo of Cordelia and Pig I ended up using was taken inside because she doesn't look very happy in these. As I was editing I kept telling Brendon "these are perfect blog photos but they suck as Christmas cards!". He didn't quite get it, but I had a vision!

That being said, I do love these photos- Cordelia did  good job rocking this dress like a very prim Alice hunting in a garden for the white rabbit. 

I used Simplicity 1508A with the side swoop option. I'm really digging the side swoops but I ran out of fabric so the back underskirt pattern is half as big as it is supposed to be. I don't think you could even tell that I shorted it but one day I want to make the full version to compare. 

She picked out a simple strand of jet beads and a teal hair bow to go with her dress. I made her wear the long sleeve shirt underneath so she didn't freeze. 

The fabric is from Joann Fabrics, I bought it on a whim because I had an extra coupon and I fell in love with it. I kinda want to go back and buy more so I can make myself a dress as well. It reminds me of the costumes from Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. The roses are so vibrant and surreal and the blue is very soft. I kept making the comparison when talking to my sister about the dress and she didn't see it so I admit that it might just be in my head- but that's ok. I was thinking Tim Burton when I picked the black and white diamond trim. Lastly, I added ball fringe to the swoops because Cordelia and I have a ball fringe obsession- and wanted to make those swoops really stand out.

Cordelia will always be my little Alice in Wonderland with her never ending imagination and curiosity.  

Christmas Sparkle

I really enjoy making special occasion dresses for Cordelia. I love a good theme, so normally I'm pretty traditional. Hearts on Valentines day, shamrocks for St. Patrick's, bunnies on Easter, velvet and sparkles for Christmas. Originally I had planned on green brocade for Christmas, however Cordelia has been really into long dresses and I wanted to make her some that she could wear every day and give them to her as Christmas gifts. I figured that once she opened these she might not want to wear her "special" Christmas dress. SO I ditched the original dress idea and just made these two.

Taking these photos with Cordelia was a lot of fun. We took them on the 26th of December and we had unseasonably warm weather which made everyone really happy. Cordelia was singing at the top of her lungs and dancing the whole time. 

This dress is made of 100% cotton Batman print fabric. Batman look especially aggressive in this print so I wanted to balance that by adding a lot of girly princess like details- like the puff sleeves and the ric rack. The appliqued Batman logo is Her favorite part of the dress. I used a commercial pattern- Simplicity 2463 in a size 3 with a size 5 length. The dress has a pretty hefty sized hem in it because she grows out of the length of things sooo fast. I followed the pattern pretty close except for adding the sleeves and a side patch pocket. Over all it's a pretty nice pattern- the instructions are clear and easy, but the neck is a little low for my taste. 

I was very anxious to see which dress she would pick to wear first. She picked Batman, which is the one Brendon thought she would go for- because it's fancier. 

The second dress is a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle print gown. Also made from 100% cotton- but I can't give you a link because it looks like it's out of stock. This dress is kind of the opposite from the first in the fact that I wanted it very simple. The print is pretty active and I wanted her to be able to accessorize it however she wanted, without it being way too loud and crazy. 

I used Simplicity 1508 A in a size 4 with a 5 length. I don't have nearly as much to let it down but I have more in the body so I might have to make this a short dress before it gets retired. I pretty much kept to the pattern except I didn't line it I just used bias tape to hem the neck and arms- and I added a pocket because every girl needs a pocket! 

I love the fit of this pattern- the higher neckline just seems easier to wear, and the waistline is just in the perfect place. 

I tried and tried  to cut down on photos so this post wouldn't be crazy long! But alas, I failed and so here is one more.

Merry Christmas!

December often feels like a giant check list, and with having the first week and a half occupied by school I feel like the month was way too short! There were Christmas cards to be made, gifts to be sewn, lights and decorations to be put up, cookies to be baked- I even have one more thing left on my holiday to do list (well actually a couple of things if you count the unfinished gifts I wrapped and gave out and now actually have to finish). Everything that has gone on this month has left me feeling more than a little exhausted and lifeless. But despite the total fatigue, I feel like we had a pretty happy Christmas. 

I think this is the first year Cordelia really "got" Christmas. She always comes into our bedroom and wakes us up- we almost don't even need an alarm clock she is that reliable. However, yesterday morning she got out of bed very quietly and went to the living room. We expected her to come running back to our room to tell us that Santa had come. After waiting and waiting we realized something was up and called for her- she came running in to tell us that she had gotten a whole bunch of surprise eggs. She was soo excited her eyes were sparkling. Sure enough we went out to the living room and she had torn through half of the surprise eggs that me and two of my friends painstakingly made her the night before. She was too happy for me to be exasperated at her- even though I did really want to watch her open ALL of the eggs. 

Cordelia has been extremely obsessed with watching unboxing videos on youtube. While I don't quite get the appeal she would watch them all day every day if we let her. So in addition to the surprise eggs we also picked up a punch of blind bags to go in her stocking- which made her one happy little girl. 

Christmas is a pretty busy affair for us. Every year we try to make it simpler and this year I think we got it about as simple as we will ever be able to get it. We opened gifts at our house and ate breakfast with my hubby's grandmother. Then we went to my mom and dad's house for more gifts and lunch, and then we did dinner (and even more gifts) at Brendon's Mom's house. This picture is of Cordelia at my mom's house- she was very eager to try on her shoes as soon as she unwrapped them. There were a couple of unfamiliar faces there this year so Cordelia was a little shy, and it wore her (and me) out- thankfully the day wasn't packed as tightly as normal so we were able to take a nap before heading off to dinner! 

Cordelia always has soo much fun at my mother in law's house. Brendon has a little sister and brother who are a good deal younger then him and Cordelia sees them more like kids. Kids who are a lot of fun to play with. Last year they all had a mine craft sword fight after Christmas dinner- this year they had a nerf gun war which ended in me getting pegged right under my eye!  

  

I hope you all had a great Christmas, and I hope if you are just as tired as I am that you had a very relaxing boxing day! 

The Nightmare Before Christmas

I'm not sure if I have mentioned it before- and if I did, you still might not know because I am lucky enough to have gained a few new readers!!! My Birthday is December 24th. It's my own Nightmare Before Christmas- I know, that's a little dramatic, but for so long I really hated my birthday. However, it's part of me and I'm learning to accept it and love it (which also makes it very Nightmare Before Christmas) 

I am such a procrastinator that I'm always left with a ton of work to do in preparation for Christmas- I hope I am not the only one up late baking and wrapping presents on December 24th, it's just super stinky because it's my birthday! Anyways, as part of my procrastination my full Sew Geeky outfit isn't finished- hopefully it will be posted later this week. Actually, because of the Holidays you can expect to see Sew Geeky from now until New Years! Which I think is fantastic because this month is one very near to my heart because it's Tim Burton month!

 I adore so many of Burton's films that is has been very hard to focus on one movie and one outfit. Sweeney Todd, Corpse Bride, Edward Scissorhands , Alice in Wonderland, Sleepy Hollow, and Nightmare Before Christmas are among some of my favorites. Cordelia loves Nightmare Before Christmas and went through a period where she wanted to watch it twice a day. She always tells me she wants the scary thing to live under her bed. So when I realized I wouldn't get my big project done for today (and I really really wanted to post something today) I decided it was a great opportunity to finish up a dress that has been sitting on my sewing desk for well over a month!

I had originally intended on making this dress a short dress- but I accidentally cut the skirt portion too long. However, Cordelia has been obsessed with long dresses and she refused to let me trim it more! 

The body of the dress is a t-shirt I picked up from Hot Topic ages ago. The stripe knit is from Girl Charlee - It was too light weight for the project I bought it for, but it worked well for this! I used Kitschy Coo's Skater Dress as the base for the dress. I let the size of the print on the t-shirt dictate the length of the bodice which meant it ended up with a drop waist- which I'm really digging! Cordelia's favorite part of the dress is the uneven hem- she loved how it twirled and swings when she moves. 

I normally don't take photos inside, but it has been sooo gray and rainy it's yucky and I love rain! I did manage to snap this one in our very short attempt to get outside photos- I love how happy she is. It is fun to be able to make things that are totally what Cordelia is in to at the moment, especially since she often likes things that aren't totally "normal" for her age and gender. Anyways be sure to check out the Sew Geeky Blog to keep tabs on all the other awesome Tim Burton posts (i'll try to add links to this post as other bloggers post too). Right now you can check out an awesome post over on Amelie and Atticus - I am absolutely in love with her recreation of Katrina Van Tassel's dress from Sleepy Hollow. It's one of my favorite dresses and she did an amazing job with it!  All right guys- have a wonderful and Merry Christmas!!!