My Girl ...

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... is EIGHTEEN today!  We love and adore her and are so proud of her!  She's a stunner, too, isn't she? My best and dearest friends tell me she looks like me, but I don't believe it!  
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Adults and Camille's friends often remark to me how lovely and kind she is.  I'm always saying, "Everyone loves Camille.  Everyone doesn't love me (I can promise you that), but everyone loves Camille."  She is such a sweetheart and, though we used to worry about her gullibility, has quite the head on her shoulders and is a straight-shooter.  Not too much drama at all. 
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A couple of months ago at a special dinner honoring Camille's class at church, the youth leaders shared a few thoughts about each person.  After commenting on her loveliness and kindness, one of the leaders said that the most surprising thing about Camille is the girl is bold.  She stands up for what is right and doesn't let wrong happen around her without lovingly but directly pointing it out and attempting to deal with it.  My heart just about swelled out of my chest.  I have to say, she inherited that directness and quick discernment of folks and situations from my mother and me.  However, the Lord has blessed her with the grace and kindness and beauty and love of others that softens her boldness and draws people to her.  Magnificent! 
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That said, card shopping is not my favorite thing to do.  Often, the verses are too sappy, too stark, too ridiculous.  However, my people do like to get their cards.  Upon walking into Hallmark and straight to the 18-year-old section, this verse appeared before my eyes: 

18

You've been so beautiful since the day you were born. 

No one could have imagined then how lovely and how loved you'd be now. 

Everywhere you go, happiness simply happens.  You just shine. 

From the inside out, you are so beautiful ... and so loved. 

Never a truer birthday tribute for my girl. 

(and her father loves her, too! -- but this is MY blog!)

Sweet Daisy Wedding

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My dear friend, Leslie, has a daughter getting married next month.  An outdoor, daisy-strewn event has been planned, and I offered to create the ring bearer pillow and garter.  Simple white linen, a bright pink gerbera daisy, and silky ribbons create a sweet pillow for a little man to walk down the aisle.  There is a wide satin ribbon across the back that he can slip his little hand through and hang on to the diamonds! 

A Whirlwind of Summer Block Piecing

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Toward the end of 2009, I joined a second quilting bee, the 2010 Round Robin Quilt Bee.  At the time, I didn't have so much "real" work on my calender, so it sounded like a great opportunity to learn more quilting skills with the pieced block designs that were coming my way. 
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However, have things changed!  My work calendar has filled up since the late spring, and my bee work fell a bit behind.  There was a bit of a glitch with the round robin schedule, and I ended up with five blocks to piece in May and June.  I'm new at this traditional piecing, and the prospect of sewing each block -- five! -- with the members waiting on me was quite worrisome. 
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Along with figuring out each bee member's instructions, I must coordinate fabrics, and you know how I worry over getting fabrics just right.  So, all my free creative time the last six weeks has been spent bee block piecing.  The one at the top of the post was my May block for the One Block Over bee.  Carol's batik block above turned out stunning!  I don't think I could do that again. 

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You might notice a common theme among several of these blocks -- half quarter squares -- triangles!  I've got my game on now, though, especially since noticing a lovely little stitch option on my machine called "1/4-inch." 
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My goodness, I've been tediously marking out 1/4" lines to guide me for the last six months and not quite getting a perfect block.  How long have I had my machine??  Well, things are looking up on that seam requirement now, as it's an automatic function for me.  The snail's trail block came out exactly right. 
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This Christmas star block finished up the backlog but had me in fits, even with the new found stitch option.  Two of the corner blocks were cut and sewn three times!  Things were so bad, I nearly ran out of the neutral color and had only small strips.  I sewed a couple pieces together to create a 3" block just so I could have new triangles for the "bear claw (?)" corners.  Please see the lovely closeup below for a sweet ending to my mad summer of piecing!  Next up:  A paper pieced block for Doris.  The skills building continues! 
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Fabulous Fourth!

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What a great weekend for our family!  For once, we were all in one place, of one mind, and having fun.  It's a good thing!  As promised, the weather was gorgeous.  No humidity and in the low to mid 80s.  Fantastic for South Carolina! 
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This is how our weekend began:  A lakeside wedding at sunset.  Isn't this a pretty wedding scape?  This young bride planned the wedding herself, and nothing could have been more perfect.  Her grandparents have a lovely place on the lake designed to handle crowds, and everything went so smoothly. 
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Here is the pirate-themed garter on the bride, and my girl caught the bouquet -- but we are saving her wedding date for hopefully at least a good five years away, not that there are any beaus on the horizon at the moment. 
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The sweet couple.  At the top of the post is the sun setting low after the ceremony, and then the fireworks kicked off at dark. 
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And then we had a marvelous Fourth of July afternoon and evening at another family friends' spread.  Along with a big BBQ, the couple brought in a local chamber orchestra to play for us (like we were at the Boston Pops!) and then choreographed a private fantastic fireworks show!  It was just lovely! 
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Camille and I fit in blueberry picking on Friday.  The blueberries taste wonderful and have been washed, dried, frozen, and baked in two different desserts:  The crazy blueberry breakfast cake we love and a blueberry-studded lemon meringue pie.  Going back for more later this week! 
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On a cherry-berry note, a cherry-embroidered tea towel was ordered this week by a favoite blog friend.  This was my sampler towel to test out the colors in the design and is now in the shop.  Looks Scrumptious! 

Linen Love

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Gosh, I'm head over heels for linen!  I've been picking up linen-mix pieces over time and using it for monogrammed pillow covers and aprons.  However, this week I bought 100% natural linen.  The heft and the silky feel at the same time is so lovely.  As with all my fabric, I ran it right through the laundry, dried, and ironed it to get the shrinking done with.  It took a while to get the hang of mitered corners, and I don't quite have an exact 90-degree angle, but who cares??  I now have lovely linen towels hanging in the kitchen.  A little twill across the top corner makes the hanging handy. 
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The Mouse at a Tea Party embroidery design is so darling.  The design worked out on the grayish-creamy fabric just called for aqua and red. 

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I have a few unembellished linen towels as well.  These are just right for someone who wants to hand-embroider a design herself or the towels can be embellished or personalized by me as desired.  I'm thinking monograms for that vintage, used linen look (without the antique linen to worry about) or a cool sleek font for the modern kitchen.  Napkins next, I think, and maybe some pillowcases. 

Hey!  I just noted Blogger added back the spell check!  Thank you, Blogger! 

More...

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Wedding garters!  Making these is like scrapbooking.  Once you get started arranging and stacking embellishments, it's hard to stop.  Plus, all the stuff was out and I was supposed to be working on PAID orders, so, obviously, I was creating something else!   The chocolate brown satin and organza embellishments are so lush together. 


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And this one ... Black, White, And ... Glitz or Kitsch?  Just in case someone is in the market for a piratey garter with the jolly roger button like I made yesterday, I've got another one ready.  However, I wasn't going to add that embellishment permanently yet.  There is an option here to go Glam with a black ribbon, satin yo-yo, and rhinestone button.  Talk about dressing up or dressing down!