Wedding Weekend!

Well - my niece's wedding was this Saturday and it was glorious (if I say so myself!) The weather was perfect. The chapel was outstanding. It is located now in a retirement home, but the building started out life as a Catholic Girl's school, then a nunnery. Mother of the bride in pale green and grandmother of the bride in black and white were both lovely, and .... the bride herself was gorgeous! Her dress was perfection, strapless with beading and lace and just a hint of a train. Her flowers were all white Lilies and mums. Doesn't her dad (my b-i-l) look thrilled! 

Her theme was Grey and Yellow and Love Bird, and was tastefully done, not too much - just enough! A cute idea she had was this tree poster in place of a Guest book. Everyone was instructed to sign a leaf, and there were 2 wee yellow Lovebirds - do you see them? That's the fun of going to weddings right ladies? Finding out all the new ideas!!

The tables were lovely, grey napkins with the yellow and grey Lovebird cookies on top. even the chairs were grey! Wow! Dinner was salad, prime rib AND chicken with roasted potatoes and veggies. The ladies were given Crème Brûlée and the men got a lovely chocolate mouse cake for dessert! 

 And of course the wedding cake topped off the evening, carrying through with the Lily flower theme. 

Sunday many of us gathered for brunch then back to Greg & Lisa's lovely home for some gift opening .... and yes ladies, they LOVED the quilt!!!! Yeah!

TTFN

One Week Away

Hi,

Well, the wedding is one week away - geez,  you'd think it was my wedding - or my daughter that was getting married. I'm sooo excited! Just thought you needed another pic of the shower table :) you know - with the once in a lifetime tea service being used !

 Ok, risking that my niece may actually read my blog ..... here's a pic of what I've been tres busy with this past week - getting the wedding quilt finished. I am soooo glad I changed my mind and decided to stipple the applique blocks. I think it's the finishing touch. Yesterday I made a cloth bag so they have something to store the quilt in and I attached a cloth envelope to the bag with "scraps" from each fabric - just in case the quilt needs repair sometime in the future (you never know ...). Next on the list is altering my dress for the wedding and hunting up a pair of nylons (!!), and oh, do I have dress shoes? where are they??

My white Irises have decided to flower this year - YEAH.
TTFN

Bridal Shower! :)

Here comes the bride .....

 

The Bride to be was happy and relaxed, and all the preparations proved worth it.

The table looked lovely (if I do say so myself ....). The floral arrangement was pink and white Hydranga - my favourite flowers, with white rose petals strewn on the table. The guests, family and friends talked and laughed and ate and I think everyone enjoyed themselves!

Mother of the bride (centre) with friends. Cousins, aunts and Great aunts also attended - many from out of town. THANKS for coming ladies. I was very happy to finally use my tea cup holders. We tiered two cake plates for the cupcakes, which were a big hit! We got out the Limoge China,  and served tea in the silver tea service from Lisa's Great grandmother B. One of her great aunts presented her with a memento, a tea cup from her great grandmother on the S side of the family, a really lovely and touching thought! We even had "fancy" pinwheel sandwiches - woohoo!!

 I used cupcake fabric and made a pie carrier as part of Lisa's gift. Of course I inserted a pie plate (minus the pie) in the carrier. I used insulated batting when making the carrier so it would hold the heat well. I never actually learned how to make a pie myself - maybe Lisa will be a better baker than me!

P.S. For those who read this blog regularly an update: Cotton by Post responded positively to my email re the "blank" gift card and honoured the card, so I got the three metres of fabric I had picked out! See ladies - it pays to complain - nicely!!

Another Septimana Horribilis !

So, this has been another septimana horribulis, aka horrible week. It started out on Monday with very strong winds. My neighbour's door was caught by the wind and slammed shut so hard our common wall shook violently.  A piece of decorative wood which sits on top of my over-mantle (see April 1st blog entry for pic) fell, knocking over the chimney for my hurricane lamp and my electric lamp, breaking both the glass chimney and the lampshade! Above is a pic of the replacement lampshade - it is no longer a matching lampshade to it's sister lamps, :(.
By Tuesday that creeping feeling I had on Monday morphed into the cold it threatened to be .... so, two days off work being a sickie :(.
Friday evening I was overjoyed as I put the last stitch in the wedding quilt. I tore it out of the frame and laid it out on the living room floor in order to view my efforts. Opps - I really need to add more quilting to the centre applique blocks. DARN! I'm not sure if you can see it in this pic, but I have started hand stippling in the four applique blocks. I hope, hope hope this will only extend the project by a week or two, as I really really want to take it along with me to the next guild show-n-tell. It may be my only opportunity to show it off!

To end the week off, Saturday I happily drove off to one of our local quilt stores in search of binding fabric for the wedding quilt. I took along my Christmas gift card and a few of my spinning four patch blocks hoping to get some fabrics to also finish off this project. Imagine my surprise when the clerk in the shop informed me that my gift card, which had been happily sleeping in a drawer since Xmas, was "Blank". Yup, that's right, zip, nada, nothing, zero!!! HOW CAN THAT POSSIBLY BE??? This is a traditional gift from my sister/brother-in-law for several years now, usually with no problemos. Could she check the computer and find out how much the card was worth ? - no. Could she call the owner to see what we can do about this? - no.

 WISH ME LUCK on this one ....

I finished off the week by starting a pie carrier for my niece for the bridal shower we are holding next weekend.  Here's the beginning of this project. I got the fabulous cupcake fabric at the Ye Olde Quilt Shoppe in Stratford (cupcakes are all the rage right now). As you can see I am following a fabulous online tutorial by Dixie Doodles. I'll take a pic and show the completed work in next week's blog entry. That is if next week turns out better than this past week, although they are calling for that four letter S word (snow), which does not bode well for our Spring flowers, YIKES!
TTFN

Quilt Show season!

Well, tis Quilt show season and myself and two friends managed the Shedden Quilt show this past Friday. Thank you retired ladies for accommodating to my work schedule and going Friday after work! Ahhhhh, it was so lovely to walk about and view the fabulous hand, and machine work of sister quilters.
Above is a pic of this month's postcards I made. In between the two postcards is the mini clothes peg where I got the flowers from (dollar store ya know). The pic doesn't show true colours as what looks like beige is actually a lovely vibrant green! They were fun - as always!
As we all know this year is Charles Dickens' 200th anniversary. I got hooked immediately on the PBS airing of BBC's Great Expectations

FABULOUS!!
I must read the book.

This week I must admit I've been hooked on all the Titanic shows on PBS and the National Geographic channel. Ah well, the hand quilting is coming along as I sit and listen to the TV, could be worse, I could be sleeping in front of the TV instead ;)!
TTFN

Happy Bunny Day!

I wish I could say this was my quilt - but I must be honest, it is not :(. It's a pic of a pattern sold by Quiltville?, but it's cute! One of these days I will make myself an Easter quilt (yeah right).
I also wish I could say the wonderfully curative powers of sunlight was working for me. I sat on my patio for 2.5 hours on Friday, and have spent three - fabulous mornings in my sunlit kitchen. I'm still exhausted to the bone. One more month and I'll have some true vacation time (one whole week) - YEAH. I think I'll spend it sleeping and not answering the phone ;) Now if I can just get through May without being a Perhaps the restorative power of cake will help? . Which one? Cinnamon or Spice ? Doesn't matter - let me eat cake - yummmmm.
TTFN

Workshop - Yeah!

So, last weekend I dug into my Xmas/birthday dollars and bought my first Kijiji purchase. I got a new to me antique washstand, seen here in front of my antique over-mantle. It has taken me years to find a washstand I really like at a price I felt was fair. This one, although a wee bit wider than I wanted, was expertly refinished and is in good condition. I wanted a washstand for my living room because I need the drawers/cupboard to hold all my crafty stuff ! As you can see I already have my remote control holder hanging from the towel rack on the right side - very handy.
So this weekend was the much anticipated re-scheduled workshop from January - Spinning 4 patch. It's a variation of the Stack n Whack technique, but simpler (thank goodness). Other than the Herculian task of dragging your sewing equipment down and out to the car and down to the church basement, then back up to the car and finally up and back into my sewing room - PHEW! I thoroughly enjoyed this workshop! I took the pink/beige floral fabric (on the left) with me but was concerned it wouldn't look good. So, J (the lady giving this excellent workshop) sold me the black Japanese print(on the right). I got both fabrics cut and made all the blocks in the pink and 6 of the blocks in the black print. YEAH . I've included a few of the actual blocks for your viewing pleasure ...What else have I been up to? Remember these Eastlake chairs ? and my woes because the vintage porcelain casters didn't fit? Well, on second examination I determined just a wee bit of effort would get these puppies into place - and voila!! The chairs are complete :)
And here's Iris trying to decide whether or not to go outside. She likes the Daffodils but thinks the warm sunny weather has disappeared for a wee bit!
TTFN

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Spring has sprung in my neck of the woods,
and I am awash in yellow! One bunch of Daffodils have bloomed, hopefully the rest will follow soon. The Forsythia have exploded on the scene, yeah! Iris was not impressed - I moved her bed up onto the sewing counter so she would be next to the window and can enjoy the sunshine and flowers . Didn't seem to improve her mood!Speaking of moods - seems everyone I come across these days is cranky - including myself. You'd think the wonderful weather and lovely sunshine we've had recently would have cheered us all up. Seems not. Maybe we are all still sleep deprived, I know I'm terribly time deprived. Just too many projects, too many chores, too many demands on my time at the moment, and it doesn't look like it will let up, at least not in the short term. Ah well, Easter is coming and that means a long weekend - YEAH!
For those following "the Quilt" here's a pic of it on the frame. I have completed the inner portion and am now quilting the outer edges. That takes longer than you'd think. None-the-less, when I get the chance to quilt I am enjoying the hand work immensely. Maybe that's part of my crankiness - I've not had enough time just sitting quietly and quilting!I'm currently listening to CBC and they are talking about the book "Going Solo" by Eric Klinenberg. His thesis is that more and more people are choosing to live alone. (Yeah - Uhuh), and that they are NOT lonely, but are actually more social, and more happy with their lives. According to Klinenberg "more than 50 percent of American adults are single, and 31 million—roughly one out of every seven adults—live alone" The subtitle of his book is "the Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone".

Finally -recognition that being alone is not the same as being lonely! I remember the day one of my 'quilting ladies' asked me (oh so innocently) "Don't you get lonely living alone?" - umh, REALLY ? Talk about perpetuating an age old stereotype! ...  sometimes you can't win
TTFN,

Wahhh Sleep deprived!

So we turned our clocks forward this weekend - the weekend I'm working .... so I'm not only sleep deprived, but today is sunny and 14+ C degrees! NOT FAIR. I was just getting used to waking in the morning to the sunrise - yeah, and now we're back to getting up in the dark. Who's bright idea (pardon the pun) was this daylight saving thing anyway? Never mind, I saw a Robin yesterday so I'm happy, Spring is near .

At our last guild meeting the speaker talked to us about creativity and inspiration. She spoke about how women all too frequently say "I'm not artistic, I'm not creative". Really?Last week we celebrated International Women's Day. OK ladies, it's time to stand up and   MAKE SOMETHING FOR YOURSELF 

Just for the fun of it!
That's what my next project will be!

Elder Schadenfreude

I learned a new phrase this week - Elder Schadenfreude (pronounced elder-shod-un- froyd-uh). It means a secret pleasure of hearing about aging parents that are even more impossible than yours. Like! I am part of the sandwich generation - even though I have no kids - still, I'm a 50 something, working full time and dealing with aging parents. My "job" requires me to exercise a fair amount of patience, and I find I'm lacking the required patience once home and dealing with the parentes. I need to strive harder. I have been fortunate so far, as they are in reasonably good health. When my time comes I hope to go out swinging ;)
The wedding quilt is on the frame - WOOHOO! I have a full sized quilting bee kinda frame, but I don't use it much. I prefer to use a hoop and quilt from the centre out. What kind of frame do you use? I've had this quilt hoop for - oh, 30+ years (OMG!) and it still does the trick! I can fold up the quilt on top of itself when not quilting and tuck it away. When I am quilting I can pull it up to my favourite chair and and watch TV as I'm stitching. Nothing more relaxing than hand quilting.
TTFN

Bridal Shower

So here's the bride to be - my niece.
First bridal shower I've attended in many many years (decades ?) Glad the mater and I made the effort as my sister (mother of the bride) is in Portugal on holiday so we represented "the family". The ladies on the right are 2 of her 3 bridesmaids. I can safely inform you that showers haven't changed much over the years - still the same food, games and gifts, yeah! And, for those still interested in my wedding quilt saga .... here it is with borders on. Currently it is sandwiched and 1/2 basted. I expect to be hand quilting it tonight as I watch Downton Abbey
TTFN