Bad news, project update, and an early birthday present

For those who know me, or follow my Facebook page, you probably saw that I lost my brother this month. Death itself can be a hard thing to work through, and the circumstances behind my brother’s death were very hard to take.

I decided that the stress of trying to finish my current gown project in time for an event in mid-November just was not worth it. Not only is my mind wandering and not thinking straight, the gown itself is a little different than what I’ve done before, and I was not sure if I would have trouble finding the rest of the items I needed. I just wanted to take my time and enjoy the process. I can always wear something old if I need to.

My birthday is on Halloween, and my husband wanted to know my plans about the gown so he could make a decision on my present (it also helped me to make that decision so I could stop stressing about it and kicking myself when I just couldn’t do any work on it). I guess the minute I made the decision not to finish it by that deadline, he made the purchase…

And he surprised me with something I’ve been wanting for most of this year. Thorin Oakenshield’s sword, Orcrist! I even got to open it about a week early, and he loves it as much as I do.

We had so much fun taking photos of us opening the Key to Erebor, that we decided to do that for this one. Unfortunately, I took *so* many photos, I decided to make up a separate page for it.

I’ve seen a lot of replica prop collectors doing this, and it’s so much fun (especially on those expensive items you know you’ll probably never get to own) I kind of want to at least try to do the same for each item we purchase like this.

>>>> Click here <<<<  to see the photos and read about the United Cutlery Orcrist Replica.

I don’t really do reviews, but it’s nice to have an idea of the sort of things you purchase, especially if you’re like me and get nervous ordering things you can’t buy in person.

I have not really had much of a chance to start working on the dwarf costumes. It’s going to be a while, still — I’m hoping to start getting some books and learning a few things soon. Since I have been purchasing a few items and making a few things like accessories, I figured it would be handy to start a section for those costumes and items on my costume page.

Thank you SO much to my sweet husband, Christopher. He is my best friend, and I am so happy he is there for me through it all — good times, and bad.