Samantha at the Eastern States Expo

 Here we are at the Eastern States Exposition, or locally, the Big E.  Because New England is too small to have a state fair for each state, so it's all combined into one.

First stop:  the butter sculpture

Butter is, in fact, delicious

Animatronic milk, however, is creepy

Cows are kind of cute though

Decorative gourd season is the best season.

Giant creepy vegetable

Giant non-creepy gourds

 Giant gourds, on the other hand, are the best things ever.  The best in show was also a new fair record at 1770lb.  Which is only 600lb less than a Clydesdale, for comparison.

 A break for a snack, and then onto the Avenue of States, where each New England state has a building to show off cool things and try to encourage tourism.

Massachusetts:  we live here.

RI: Thinks it has regions.  All three blocks of it

Vermont:  cheese and maple sugar

The maple candy machine in action

So many caramel apples...

Connecticut: We swear it's more than an NY suburb

But you have taffy...

...and LEGOs, so it's cool

Snack break #2!

 There was an adorable plaza of historical buildings (with house tours) and all the old-timey handicrafts.  Alas, it was too dark to take pictures of the building interiors.

 We stopped at the handicrafts and sewing building to look at all the quilts and needlework and crochet.  And doll clothes, only to discover that there were no competitive doll clothes contests here.  

 That is, in fact, no moon.  But it's an awesome quilt that makes me wish the human would pick up quilting as a hobby.  Or maybe yarnwork so we can have BB-8 to go with our R2 unit.

Last stop at the midway, where we also stumbled into watching the parade.

PONIES!   ....I mean...CLYDESDALES!

Now with lightsabers (Free Star Wars doll clothes patterns)

Lily and Shepard here.  We're evil twins.  Or evil clones.  Or something of that sort.  (Only since Shepard is such a renegade, I think I might be the good twin by definition.)  But we're both persuasive, and in this case, we convinced the human to finally do something with the giant pile of old clothing in her sewing room.

With all the talk about the latest Star Wars movie, and the fact we *already* own a droid, it was only fair that the human should make us Star Wars costumes.  I'm dressed as Rey, and Shepard is dressed as Luke from 'A New Hope' (desert planets are pretty much the same, right?)

 Shepard is wearing a modified Japanese hippari and monpe made from an old gi.  Turns out there's no better way to get the weathered and worn look than actually using weathered and worn fabric.  The leg wraps are a pieces of woven brown ribbon, and the belt is a piece of nylon strapping with a buckle.

And I'm wearing a tunic and a pair of shorter monpe made from the same gi fabric.  It's a lightweight twill.  The sash is a piece of vintage Japanese cotton 3" wide by about 45" long.  The belt is all one piece with two buckles.  The arm wraps are the same woven ribbon as Shepard's leg wraps.

Download the patterns here!

These is a modified and resized version of the Little Darling in Japan patterns offered by JenWrenne.  Her instructions for making a hippari and monpe are here.  The pants have elastic waists.  Rey's tunic closes in the back with velcro.

Also, you can buy the lightsabers at the Museum of Science store here.

And now for some more pictures! (Yes, the lightsabers actually light up when we hold them.)

Dual wielding!

LIGHTSABER DUEL!

This should be a book cover pose.

Doll Cosplay

Nothing much.  Just finishing up a project involving old gi pants and scrap cottons.  New free patterns for doll cosplay coming up when it's not 11pm and I have time to set up lighting.