And Six Years to Post Photos

Goodness, so much has happened since the last post about Susan's purple dress! But now that I've logged back on, I feel it only appropriate the finish that post with a few pictures. The dress isn't exactly like the one in the movie; I simply couldn't find the right purple material, with the right stripes, spaced correctly, etc, etc. **Now you see why it took me 10 years to get started ;-)** And I didn't have the funds at the time to specially design and order 8 yards of material. Maybe if I were to sew this dress again that may be something I could consider doing. Or I could sew it up in lovely shades of deep green. Now that I mention it, it does sound like the good start to a Ithilien ranger inspired outfit. Hmmm, now my brain is racing. As if I don't already have enough projects on my sewing to-do list. Lol! Back to the purple dress. I did finish it satisfactorily enough for my tastes. I completed it just two months before getting married, so hopefully anyone reading this blog can forgive me, especially since I had to immediately jump into rush-sewing my wedding gown. :-)

And now here are a few of the not-so-great-quality photos I have of the long thought out dress, inspired by Susan's purple dress from the movie Prince Caspian. Enjoy!

     I did adjust the bodice pattern for my wonky shoulders. If I had done the back neckline like the original, I would have been constantly tugging and readjusting it. Not a fun thing to have to do when you're just trying to enjoy your latest completed sewing endeavor. :-)

     I really like how the silhouette turned out. :-)

10 years in the making

So I've been wondering.............is it perfectionism or a fear of failure that makes someone wait 10 (TEN!) years to make an outfit? I'd like to say it's a combination of both. 😊 I've wanted to sew this ensemble since I first saw the movie Prince Caspian in theater, back in 2008. But for once in my sewing career I wanted it to be exactly like the original. Usually I put my own twist on it. Change something in it to make it *mine*. Sometimes that simply means doing it in a different color. But for this dress I wanted it just like the one Anna Popplewell wears. A square necked, light blue under-dress, over which is a well fitted bodice done in purple, a daffodil motif appliqued on the front. Tight sleeves with slashes below the elbow (she is an archeress, and needs the room to draw her bow), with scalloped peplums. A princess seamed, floor length skirt with a opening in the center front through which you can see the skirt of the under-dress. 

As you can see, there are different elements to this dress. As I studied it I found more details, which I liked. It's the little details that make something unique and different. I also realized it wasn't going to be the quickest, or easiest, outfit to sew. But that was ok. Just so long as it looked like I'd stepped out of Narnia when I wore it. :-) As we walked out of the theater my brain was already working through the whole sewing process. I never thought it'd take me this long to complete it. Better late than never, right? 

So just as this dress took plenty of time to make, it's going to take several blog posts to cover all the different parts of it. Consider this the intro. 🙂

Long time, no blog :-)

Ahhmmm. Hello. Yes, I'm still alive. ;-) But no blogging since 2015?!? Unacceptable! So now we are going to remedy this sad state of affairs. First off is a very brief and quick overview of the last 3 years.
1) As you know from one of my last posts, Gracie and Aaron got married and are living quite happily in their itty bitty world.
2) The market that Dad & Mom started in 2015 is going strong and constantly growing.
3) Dad has gone back to school.
4) Mom has graduated and started grad school.
5) All of my siblings have grown.....a lot!!
6) I've met the man of my dreams and am going to marry him in 70 days, 17 hours, and 18 minutes!!!!! (as of when I typed that 😊)

As you can see, it's been a hectic, crazy, busy, blessed 2+ years. 😃
Now I am getting ready to start a new chapter of my life. It will certainly be a big adjustment. So many things will be different. Small things such as getting used to cooking for two people rather than twelve, and bigger things, like living several states away from my family, and getting used to a house with MUCH less noise in it.😉
Hopefully I can keep up with my blog as Jonathan and I start our lives together. But I ain't making any promises! Lol!

But I'm certainly going to try. :-D

So Excited!

I'm so excited! Grace is engaged! I'm very happy to be able to call Aaron brother. They are perfect for each other.  �� I remember the first time that we met the entire Jones family, almost 11 years ago.  I wasn't too pleased with Aaron then.  All he and Isaac wanted to do was hunt for frogs and toads. Yuck! Thankfully he is over his toad and frog fascination. Now he is about to become a member of our family. :-D So happy!!! He is getting a beautiful, kind, upstanding young lady with an amazing God-filled heart. She is getting a sweet, generous, understanding, hardworking young man with a God-filled heart, who would go to the ends of the world for her. They have shown each other respect and caring all through their courtship, doing all with a mindfulness towards honoring God. I have great respect for these two wonderful people. I hope that when I am in a courtship to be as honoring and upright as y'all have been. I know it can not have been as easy as y'all make it look. Congratulations Grace and Aaron!!! May your marriage be filled with love, and may the best years of your lives be those that y'all spend together!

Hello! :-D

Oh my! This poor blog. Abandoned for almost two years. :-( Well here I am, picking it up again. :-) I shall keep up with it, I shall!! I am determined. So what has happened at the farm during that time? Alot. The farm is continuing on, despite quite a few setbacks. Mom has gone back to school to study creative writing. Dad is in the process of starting up new a farmers market in Houston. Katie is working at Central Market, Grace is remodeling moms bathroom. The little kids are as rambunctious as always, Linnea continues to milk the goats and make the cheese. Emma is dreaming of being a volunteer firefighter, while Sara helps out wherever she is needed. While I, I am in Costa Rica. X-) The first full day of a three-month long trip. I'm SO excited! I'll be staying with some dear friends of mine and helping out where ever I can. So I figured that now would be a good time to pick up my blog, dust it off, and use it as a way to share my experiences. So please join me as I embark on this new adventure! :-D

O_o

Well those of you who know me well will laugh when you hear what I got for Christmas. I was given a tablet for Christmas. Yes. I Christin, who was quite excited when she got a 150 year old sewing machine for her 21st birthday, is now the pleasantly surprised owner of a tablet. This will definitely be a learning curve for old-fashioned me but it promises to be a lot of fun. :-D

Legoless

*****WARNING!!!! Facts of life are herein discussed. Viewer discretion is advised.*******

Fact of life # 1- We live in a fallen world. Been that way since Adam. Things happen that we do not like because of this fact.

Fact of life #2- Because we live in a fallen world things get hurt. People, animals. It happens.

Fact of life #3- Animals will eat other animals.

Now that we have that out of the way I will tell you about my duckling named Legoless.
Legoless is from the first batch of ducklings to ever be hatched on our farm. Their mother was a gift from a friend. Almost all of our ducks are to one degree or another wild. They do not get messed with by people that much. They are here to add ambiance to the farm. But of all the ducks that we have, this particular duck is WILD! The other day we were pleased to find out that she had hatched 8 ducklings. We  were determined to give them the best chance of survival. So we got our largest rabbit hutch and proceeded to make it as predator proof as possible. We managed to get all 8 ducklings in the hutch but catching mother duck was a whole 'nother matter. When we got close enough to dive in and grab her she took to flight. We could NOT catch this duck!! So we decided to wait a couple of hours until it got dark and catch her once she went to roost. Then we would have ducklings and duck in a safe place were they could grow up fat and happy . Good plan right? We thought so. But mother duck did not go to roost. She hung around the general area but whenever we went out to get her it was the same story. She had absolutely no intention of being caught. At some time during the night one of our numerous farm cats decided that she/he wanted duck dinner. When Linnea and I went out to give the ducklings to their mother (we figured they had a better chance of survival "in the wild" with mom more then if they were cooped up in a cage without her, not to mention both parties were stressing out) we found a duckling without a leg. We brought it inside,cleaned the wound, and put golden seal powder on it. Some time during the process Linnea quipped that "well now we have Legolas." The name stuck. That was early on Tuesday morning. Legoless is now settled nicely in a box in my sewing room with two of his siblings that we managed to obtain for him as his companions. We have discovered that he does NOT like rollie-pollies or black caterpillars. He loves the green variety though and he'll eat flies when we can catch them. We kept him out of water until his wound formed a scab. We did not want him to get sick from the wound getting infected from dirty water. Earlier today we allowed him to go paddling around with his two buddies who we have named Gimli and Aragorn. Any one noticing a theme here? ;-) Legoless has a very healthy appetite and like most youngsters he finds the greatest enjoyment in messing with his boo-boo. We will see how he does with just one leg. As was hinted at gently by my mom we are not sure how he can live a very long life with such a handicap, while my brother was a little more blunt . "He's gonna die." Now I know that there are some people out there who are thinking "It would have been more merciful to put him out of his pain". This was also said to me by a member of my family. But we are told quite clearly in the Bible that we are to take care of the creatures, as well as of every thing that God has given us. The way that I see it is that if God wanted this duckling to die early on that Tuesday morning and thus end the duckling's pain then He (God) would have allowed it to before Linnea and I found it. And it is likely that Legoless might die in the near future. Due to complications appertaining to his wounds or from any other occurrence. Only God knows what is in store for this little creature of His. But in the meantime God has given me this charge to take care of to the best of my abilities. And I will.
I enjoy taking care of animals. This duckling is no exception. So this is the story of Legoless the one legged duckling thus far.

                                                        

Legoless.