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This week I've been working on a young friend's bridal finery. She is having an outdoor wedding Saturday. Thank goodness a big rain is wiping out the humidity as I write, and I understand we should have some lovely summer days through the 4th! Here's hoping; this is South Carolina, so it can be quite muggy. The bride is young and cute and forgot that the rest of us might not hold up to lovliness for the duration of the wedding in the heat and humidity. That and mosquitos! I think I'll be wearing one of those new clip-on bug inhibitors. Maybe if it's embellished, no one will notice.
Back to the bride: My creative help involved embellishing the veil by handsewing floral lace with little pearls all around the edge and then a coordinating string of rhinestone flowers across the edge of the comb. Very simple and so sweet. The bride is a little thing with a mop of red curly hair. She doesn't need much embellishment herself!
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The wedding decor is lovely in teals and white, but for the groom, all things pirate are in order. So, here and there will be little details of the piratey sort. Thus, the garter. Isn't it great? I had just discovered this little jolly roger embroidery when the bride told me her idea. How perfect!
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Big doings at our place this week. First, a little bartering and DIY with a contractor friend brought us this fantastic tiled backsplash! I'm thrilled with it. I've waited so long. Following the plan for my INSPIRATION KITCHEN, the cabinets will go cottage-white next. When that will happen, I'm not sure, but I'm forging ahead the best I can.
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Maybe a new router for the workshop along with a swank pink toolbelt, and I'll be cutting out new cabinet doors! We'll see. I'm loving the dark gray tiled floor in the inspiration kitchen link above.
Mary Engelbreit's Fan Fare Cookbook arrived with my recipe inside (page 144)! The publisher sent two signed copies, and I immediately sent one to my friend, Lynda, who originally shared the recipe with me. At the top of the post is a closeup of the mosaic backsplash and a view of the cherry cheese danishes I made from a recipe in the book. Very yummy!
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Also, they chose to include my little story and description of the recipe, so "my words" are out there in the world. We also have M.E.'s artwork included on "our" pages. It's so sweet that the drawing is of a dark-haired girl, as Lynda's oldest two kids were adopted from Korea. When Lily was little, I used to send Lynda the paper dolls M.E. put in the back of her magazines, one of which was an Asian girl. So, this is quite the special surprise!
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One of my favorite blogs to land on is Ravenhill, and Emily is having a lovely little giveaway party of luscious twine in cool, summery colors as well as one (or several?) of her little pieces of art, scrappy embroidered hearts.
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You'll have to stop by and comment on the giveaway post for a chance to win, but then go back and scroll through her blog and read and see the beautiful descriptions of her area of Norway.
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Where in the world might you find some calicodaisy? In about a week or so, in Dordogne, France! Fabulously French stopped by calicodaisy handmade and ordered a custom embroidered numbered pillow for her little inn called Maison No. 20. Well, if I can't get there myself, at least something from my hands can! You'll have to check out her blog and site to see what lovely company of linens this pillow cover will join.
Eymet, France:
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Did I mention my son is moving to Germany next year for his junior year of college? We plan to visit, and I'm thinking a little train trip to SW France will be in order where we might stop by a sweet little inn, look into one of the rooms, and say, "Hello! I know that pillow cover!" Who knows? And if you get there before me, please tell her I sent you and take a picture for me!
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No alarm woke me this morning! No, no. Summertime is here, and I'm not required to make the two roundtrips to the high school everyday anymore. You know, my girl is 17-1/2 and still not driving. That should change over the summer with a license and driving school. I hope, anyway. Considering her age, I'm not exactly sure how long she'll have to wait for her "real" license. Actually, I don't want to know right now because I might be disappointed to find I'll be tripping it to the school for a few months in the fall! I'm going to stay in blissful ignorance on that subject for the moment.
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Looking back over the last six months, I noticed a few glorious starts to a month where I had such a great outlook and blogged my joy and hopeful plans. Each time, reality set in and dashed those plans! Not this early June! Last weekend I got busy downstairs in the apartment and blue studio room (old photo above) putting things back in order and planning cottagey paint colors for the apartment. I made it back to the sewing room and created the batik squares and triangles block for one of the participants of the 2010 Round Robin Quilt Bee. There are two more bee blocks to think about and finish this week, though the envelope with fabrics for one of them must be located under a mountain of mail!
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A couple of weeks ago two of my bridal garters were purchased the same day from my "the handmade fair" shop. I am so pleased that brides from different ends of the country chose my bridal confections for their big day! I'm anxious to make more now.
So, I'm getting prepared for a little break this weekend. A dear friend is visiting, my oldest friend since 9th grade. I did a little personal beautification yesterday at the salon. The hair is a lovelier shade of blonde, and my toes are painted a coral-pink color named "Meet Me At The Deli." Absolutely appropriate, as I make a double run to my Brueggers each morning for my bottomless DC and often meet friends there! Of course, there's housework to do and some business to tend to through tomorrow, but the outlook for a fun and carefree weekend spent with a good friend is quite motivating!
Earlier this month, I needed a name badge for a Chamber of Commerce event I attended. The idea has been on my to-do list for a good while, but there's nothing like whipping out a new project 45 minutes before leaving the house. I came up with this test logo a few months ago and worked up an embroidery design. The daisy isn't just right, but it was available in my flower stock. Anyway, the badge shows off both my business name and a small bit of my machine embroidery work. The logo is arranged inside a "patch" frame. In steps, the machine creates a sort of applique, and then on the final step, I added some coordinating fabric under the hoop, the last set of stitches catches it all, and I trim away the excess fabric. That machine and software are amazing!
On that note, I need new fabric labels for my goods. I would really like the kind that are double-faced and fold over, so that when sewn into the seam, the label pokes out and can be read from either side. Any suggestions?
