Best Wishes Mr. and Mrs. Quinton

The past 3 weeks have gone by in an absolute blur, but the dress is finished the wedding is over and BD#2 and her new husband are off on their honeymoon.  BD#1 and her husband were the most gracious hosts and allowed us to use their home as a base for all of the chaos.  The wedding and reception were lovely, and it was great to see some old friends who came to share the day with us.

Now that it's over, it is time for a much needed rest, and then perhaps back to some of our normal activities.  At least, I hope so.  I have missed quilting and swapping and following the exploits of my blogging friends - as soon as I catch up on some much-needed sleep.

I FINALLY Remembered to Take Pictures - A Bridal Shower Story

Last Saturday, our friend Bonnie gave BD#2 a bridal shower.  We had so much fun!  

The food was wonderful, and there was a ton of it.  We ate and ate....

We looked at photos of BD#2 when she was growing up....

The bride got some great gifts...

There was lots of love shared....

We added a little bling (sorry Mitch, but this one is BIGGER)....

And we laughed and played dress up and just had a lot of fun (wasn't she a good sport?)  Check out the "LOVELY" garbage bag wedding dress, complete with sleeves and a bow in the back...

Thanks, everyone, for a memorable day!

Lucky, Lucky Me!

Several weeks ago, when life was somewhat less crazy, I was flitting around blogland when I ran across a fun giveaway at my bloggy friends Renee and Yvonne's blog. You might know them in Flickr-land as Nellie's Niceties and Nellies Niceties Too.  I just know that if I met these ladies in person, we'd be fast friends in real life.  Anyway, they were having a giveaway, and the giveaway items were fab-u-lous!!!  I immediately fell in love with the pillow Yvonne made from Aneela's Sherbert Pips.  (I have a bit of this fabric, but haven't had a chance to play with it yet.)

You know, I often say I never win anything, but this year I have, in fact, won a couple of things, including some Aurifil thread from my friend Leona's giveaway (that I haven't had a chance to try yet either) and the above FAB pillow cover - or cushion cover, as Renee put it.

This pillow is perfect!  Totally fun fabric.  Hexis.  Gorgeous hand stitching.  Cheerful colors.  And a perfect size to fit the only pillow insert  I own.  Oh - and the back is as fun as the front.  Now how perfect is that?

Check out Yvonne's wonderful hand stitching!!

And here's the back of this gorgeous pillow!

I truly love the hexis on the back.  I'm often too lazy to embellish the back in any way.  By the time I get the front put together, I just want to BE-FINISHED-ALREADY, so I just slap the back on it and call it done.  Not so this little lovely.  You can tell that a lot of care went into crafting this beauty.

So thank you Yvonne and Renee.  I am, as y'all say in England, "chuffed" to have won such a beautiful cushion cover!

And Yvonne, I wish you a speedy recovery!

Fun Bloggy Stuff

Hey y'all!  Did you see what my talented daughter created???  Yes, I'm the proud mama and I just have to share.  Isn't this gorgeous?  It's Tula Pink's Prince Charming which is pretty darn yummy fabric (I know.  I've been playing with it myself lately - when I'm not playing with wedding dresses...)

Anyway, want to win a charm pack of Prince Charming - or another charm pack of your choice?  Head on over to Leona's blog and leave a comment (or four).  One lucky winner will be able to choose a charm pack from BD#1's Etsy shop.

See, I told you it was fun!

Make Mine Modern

My Make Mine Modern Swap package is in the mail.  I've actually had it ready for awhile, but the mail date wasn't til the 10th.  Since BD#2 and I are sharing a car, I didn't actually mail it til Saturday.

The package actually consists of the pillow, done pieced square in a square fashion...

A little zipper pouch, that would be great for holding things like crochet hooks or seam rippers, or maybe even a little travel sewing kit...

A little embroidered hoop...

A pinnie...

And of course, the purpose of the whole swap, 1-1/2 yards of fabric, which in this case is 6 fat quarters of Tula Pink's Prince Charming, purchased from my fave web shop, Westwood Acres.

Partner, I hope you like it!

So Why Do I Never Remember to Take Pictures? Part 2.

You would never know it from this picture - because I forgot to take a new one yesterday when she tried it on and it fit!!!  I finally got the courage to cut off the excess and sew it back together, and when she tried it on, it was perfect!  One step down, several more to go, but still...  progress.

I nearly wimped out after she tried it on last Friday, and I called two alterations people to see if they could do it.  The first, my friend, gave me some wonderful hints, but said she just couldn't do it at this time in her life.  I do understand, and I appreciate her honesty.  The second was a "professional" and boy was that adventure a little mistake.  She hemmed and hawed and drew little pictures, and MADE AN INK MARK ON THE DRESS,that I have to figure out how to remove without leaving a spot.  And finally, she said she couldn't do it.  The good part about this adventure is that it made me so mad I came home, sat down, and made it fit.  Even the corset fits (thanks for the hints, Gloria).  And to top it off, I even have a pretty good pattern for the top.

So now, the next puzzle.  I have just one piece of fabric - a matte satin .  It has lovely weight on its own, but I don't want to mark the embroidery design on it, and I'm afraid to just be random.  So do I leave it whole and embroider it?  Cut it out and embroider it?  Or do I add the pieces to the dress and embroider it?  What is the best stabilizer to use?  Is there a stabilizer that I can mark the embroidery lines on that can be removed cleanly without leaving residue or little tufts of paper on the fabric? Anyone have expertise in this area they can share? 

So Why Do I Never Remember to Take Pictures?

My dear friend Bonnie has kindly offered to give BD#2 a bridal shower, so yesterday she came over to make invitations.  She has a Cricut with a paper doll cartridge.  I haven't ever used a Cricut before, and it was a blast (I really think I have to have one of these gizmos!)  And of course, I have enough stamps, ink, embossing powders, paper and ribbon  to start a store.  Truly a match made in heaven!

We had the best time making little bride paper dolls, embossing and stamping.  It was very fussy, and a ton of work (we commented several times that we hope BD#2 knows how much we love her - we wouldn't go to all that trouble for just anyone!) but we laughed and joked and carried on, and basically had a wonderful time.  She made little brides until her fingers stuck together (glad it wasn't super glue).   I stamped and embossed and printed until I had writer's cramp.  The afternoon was over all too soon.  Bonnie took them home so her girls, who are 9 and 11, could help glue the little brides onto the invitations.  I sent the ribbon home with her, since we didn't quite get to that part.

These little invites are going to be so cute!

We had such a great time!  Why didn't I think to take pictures?