Renaissance Faire 2013!

    So I did not get all the costumes completed that I wanted to this year but I did manage to make the two kids their costumes and they seemed happy with them. I messed up and forgot the camera and didn't remember to take any group photos. I kept making fun of Hubby when he was trying to take pictures and then regretted that we didn't have more. The costumes are barely visible but they were perfect for the day and cost me nothing (well, they did at some point, I suppose) since I had all the material. We spent the day with one of my good friends, her sister and her mother, all of who I have known since she and I were in fifth grade together. Her sister used to babysit my brother and I and her mother was my Odyssey of the Mind coach of my first team. Steven's godmother also met us there and spent some time watching "Julius Caesar: Undressed," which was a riot, if you enjoy overt sexual innuendos in Shakespearean English.
     The entire Faire is very child friendly with a Robin Hood story line that you can follow all day, as well as tea time with the Queen, Maypole dances, live full person Chess Match, Fairy Quest, a children's Knighting ceremony and a Royal Joust to end the day with. All of the people that work the Faire are the absolute nicest people at any entertainment venue that we have been to with or without the kids. They will engage you to the perfect amount without making you uncomfortable to just watch or to be involved. There is absolutely no pressure to dress up in costume, but it is lovely if you do, the actors all will interact with you depending on how you are dressed, especially with children. My only complaint at all (and only a medium sized complaint since the quality is good) is the cost of food. While we did have a large group of people, we did spent well over $100 on food alone. So I would recommend eating a large breakfast, focusing on one food that you really want (turkey legs and mead are the focal points of the Faire, but we made room for Cheesecake on a Stick too) and then having a nice dinner at home. We ended up having peanut butter and jelly sandwiches when we got home, but we were all so tired that it was plenty since we fell asleep shortly after. I would also recommend dressing in layers since it was chilly when we first arrived but soon warmed up. We all even got a little colouring from the sun. All in all, I would give it a score of 9/10, missing that last point for food. At the end of the day we were all tired and had tons of fun.

E during the Maypole dance with her RenFaire maiden partner.
I love that they involve kids so much, it make the day perfect.
You can follow the story line if you want and never be bored. 

My mother, best friend, her sister and I (in the ridiculous pose and purple hair)
waiting for the Maypole dance to start

E spending time with the Fairies. She wanted to be a peacock fairy because
of these wonderful girls that we met last year.
 The Faire added an entire Fairy Story line to follow this year. 

E and G enjoying a little rock climbing
 before the Joust started

Hubby playing with the colour filter on his phone. I forgot my camera and
didn't take a single picture with my phone. I was too distracted by all the fun I was having!
Thankfully, I had him to document the day.

G playing with some of the toys that the Faire has, vendors offer them for sale, but you can play with them too which makes it way more fun. I love how there are no electronics there (except the credit card machines, for sure!)

Lovely Steven who spent the entire day in the arms of someone. With momma, dadda, grandma, godmother and three aunties (family friends) he was hardly ever put down except to take naps in his stroller. Do you see his Doctor Who onesie peaking out from his blanket!?

Renaissance Faire 2013: Boy's Knight Costume

inspiration found here

     Since E's costume is all done and we are just waiting for a final fitting, I have been working on G's costume. We will probably not get to new costumes for Hubby and I this year, Steven and I have many conversations that are much more important than sewing.
     E had wanted her peacock fairy costume, G wanted a knight costume with a red "T" on it. I am assuming that he saw a picture of a Templar Knight, so that it what I used for inspiration. Since I wasn't 100% sure on his size and he isn't around to have fitting sessions with, we made the top of his costume out of old shirts of the Hubby's. A gray one was just cut down and slimmed to fit the smaller body and a white one was trimmed down a little bit with the sides left open to imitate a tunic. It should be nice and light, the weather is supposed to stay warm, while still looking like a costume.

after cutting out the shirt, I cut out 2 identical red cross shapes for the front and back, although
now thinking about it, he probably just needed one on the front. *sigh*

zig zag stitching the crosses onto the shirt in an applique style

playing with my camera effects 

wretched photo that I sent to the Hubbs to show how much I finished while Steve napped

     His pants are proving to be a bit difficult since I have lost the gray fabric that I could've sworn that I had, but if I don't find it tonight, he may just end up wearing black pants and his sneakers. I may also stitch on some armour on the sleeves of the gray shirt. As soon as he gets her on Friday we will doing a full dress rehearsal to ensure it is perfect for Saturday!!!

Renaissance Faire 2013: Peacock Fairy Fantasy Costume

     So after worrying for the past three weeks about what we are going to do for Renfaire costumes considering my limited amount of time, the kids not being here all the time for me to sew around them and a complete lack of idea on a nursing appropriate costume for me, I finally sat down to start sewing this weekend. The week before we are planning on leaving. Six days before I had to have them done. All five costume. One week.

some inspiration pictures were
found on Pinterest and Google

    After the mental freak out on how I was just starting the costumes now, I was able to finish almost all of E's costume, a peacock fairy, with the exception of sparkling up a pair of sandals to match. 

    We were going for a combination fairy and peacock, mostly since I already had peacock butterfly wings from Halloween clearance last year. I am trying to make a point of not needed to go out and buy anything for costumes this year, my stash is a bit unmanageable at the moment so things need to be used. For the top, since I don't particularly like putting in zippers or buttons, I just reconfigured on of her tshirts, making it into a slight peasant blouse with cap sleeves.

before, just a plain tshirt
(not the one that I actually changed,
I forgot to take before pictures)

gathering that I put in the back to
give the shirt a bit of form

front of blouse, with peasant gathered neckline, cap sleeves and flower embellishment

     The skirt was a bit easier, we were going to do a full tutu, and I am still debating just using up all of the tulle that I have to make the skirt more full. Right now, it is a simple circle skirt with three inch black waistband elastic with a tulle bustle sewn onto the back. We added some ribbon and peacock feathers for embellishment and pre-made fabric flowers that I had for embellishment. On this part, depending on what time I have left, I might make some felt peacock feathers for more oomph, but I do worry about putting so much time into costumes that they only wear once or twice. 

fabric flower embellishment on bottom of skirt

tulle bustle with peacock flowers sewn onto ribbon

     While I want them to look adorable and amaze my husband with my crafty wiles, I have to remind myself that as long as we have fun, it will not matter what they wore. The first five times I went to Renfaire, I went in civilian clothes. Once I found petticoats though, it was on. When all was said and done the costume was pretty cute, Hubby liked it, E liked it and it only took me an afternoon. It was definitely a "while the kids are napping" project (by that I mean, the infant was napping while the other children and Hubby were playing video games). It was nice to get behind the machine again, considering that I haven't done any sewing since before Steven was born. I can still see the pile of un-sewn burpclothes sitting on my dining room hutch, staring at me angrily and stressing me.  

     A full picture of the costume on will come on Saturday with a lovely family shot (hopefully) and my family outing score for the New York Renaissance Faire. 

Tuesday Recap: Lazy Day and Curtain Progress

I stalk this kid so much when he sleeps

     Yesterday was James' kind of day off, he started the new job on Monday and then texted me half way through the day telling me that he would be working an overnight shift Tuesday into Wednesday. When Steven first came home, James had to work a few overnights and I stressed thoroughly about being home alone with him at night. Last night went so well, that it definitely was no different then when James has a day shift.

milk coma face

     We spent most of the day just hanging out, I try not to create too much of a crazy honey-do list for his days off, although it does happen and as soon as he wakes up from his nap, he will be on today's list. It was nice that he and Steven were able to spend some not-crying time together. There are days where I start to worry because James only sees Steven during his nightly temper tantrum about falling asleep. We then ran out to the post office before they closed where there was junk mail and a lovely letter from James' mom thanking us for mailing her pictures of the baby and telling us that she will be coming over towards the end of September (soooo much pressure!!!). We then went to the dollar store too look for more stationary, I am surprisingly running out, stopped at McDonald's so I could get a caramel frappe and then came back home in time to eat dinner and watch a few episodes of How I met Your Mother before James had to start getting ready for work.

where I sew now, thank you dining room!

naptime! Video games are hard work

     Steven had fallen asleep on him and when James got in the shower, I nursed him and he went back to sleep. My younger brother then took him while he was watching tv so I could get some sewing in, but he complained that Steven was too sweaty so I laid the baby down in bed and finished hemming one of the panels. I kept checking on Steven because he usually wakes up to eat and then freak out that he is too tired to fall back asleep, but he was quietly sleeping away. I ran into a stumbling block trying to design the curtains so instead I crawled into bed with him and fell asleep watching Alphas. Steven slept from 7pm until 5am, he woke up nursed, I changed his diaper and we stayed up for two hours, playing and talking. I made my morning coffee (almost four hours earlier then usual) so when he fell back asleep at seven thirty, I had a really hard time and ended up zoning out to BBC's Robin Hood show. Steven woke back up around 930, ate, diaper change and I cleaned up a bit, walked around aimlessly (because I can't do anything too involved or loud and because I can't remember what I am doing all of the time) and then James finally came home around 11am. Steven and I met him outside, still in our pajamas where we stared at our pumpkins for awhile and then we came in to make hamburgers for breakfast and spent some of Steven's awake time playing Capcom vs Marvel on the 360, which was pretty fun. They both then fell asleep, when I stealthily took many pictures of them, posted them here and on Facebook to ensure that as many people as possible saw how cute the two of them are together. Since they fell asleep, I took out a turkey to defrost, caught up on my blogs to read, checked up on Pinterest, found a perfect pattern for a RenFaire chemise and drank more coffee.
     Hopefully, they will wake up soon to take a walk and pack up some things to go into storage before we watch Supernatural tonight and I can get some more sewing in. Tomorrow, Baby and I both have doctor appointments so we will update about that and see how much of an argument I get into with the doctor over not vaccinating the baby.

This is why younger brothers should not be trusted with small babies, I asked him to hold Steve during our yardsale and turned around to see my sleeping infant cuddled up in a old copy paper box. *sigh* I did leave him there until he woke up, I wouldn't have done that a month ago!

Renfaire Conundrum

     Every year since I was in middle school, I have gone to the NY Renfaire in Tuxedo, NY (except the year I lived in Texas). Last year, I wasn't pregnant yet, so I had made a gorgeous costume, green taffetta dress with a black and gold tapestry weave corset. I had also made Eve and Griffin their own costumes, which they definitely will not fit into this year, and Hubby was less then enthusiastic about his Tudor style outfit. So with only a month before out normally scheduled attending, I have now five outfits to make if I make any. I would have to make a newborn savvy outfit, two growing kids, a nursing outfit and something that is more masculine for Hubbs. And it tends to be super hot whenever we go, but it also could be in the fifties, so layering has to be an option. Completely unsure if this will happen in the next month, especially considering that we are also redoing two bedrooms, having a yardsale, prepping for an In-Law visit while still having Baby. A very large maybe.

Ensemble found here

     I am seriously considering just chemises and overskirts for us girls. Even with elastic, which I try to stay away from because I am sometimes snobby when it comes to my period pieces. But this year will be an exception. I also need the flexibility of an elastic top to be able to nurse. Note to self: check if Motherhood Maternity has peasant blouses and save yourself some grief. Eve has looked at some fairy costumes so that may be a slight influence if I can get her to commit to an idea, I will have little issue with it. Last year, our faire had a whole fairy glen that she seemed to like, but we will see if she is still into it this weekend. Mostly I just need someone to hold a fussy baby for a couple hours out of the day so I can sew. I am getting much better at leaving him alone and not having to carry him everywhere (thanks you Hubby, who always gives me the stare that I am coddling my poor infant). But something easy to make and easy to wear, I still have hot flashes, its still humid as all get out here and I sweat profusely, so sleeveless is also an idea.
     For Hubbs and the Eldest son, I am potentially feeling a little more of a Viking vibe, if either one of them wants a costume. That will definitely be fine for Baby but again this will entirely come down to a time management decision. So putting that on the back burner for now to muddle over for a bit. Updates to come!!!