Long Leggz progress...

I think I promised a picture.. this is the piece I started to celebrate Mabon 2 fridays ago. She's not getting a lot of attention since I have an RR but she's gotten a little.


Unfortunately I made a boo boo but I think I can work around it so I don't have to undo so any more. I'm okay with leaving mistakes in :)

Now that Brisingr is out I'm re-reading Eragon and Eldest - it's taking up my evening time - but I'm looking forward to getting more and more stitching done as wedding stuff wraps up (last night I finished putting all my photos into albums for wedding and honeymoon) - all I have left is a few more thank you notes to write out!

The wedding! I know this post is long overdue (well not a month yet at least). I have finally gotten my wedding pictures all posted on line. To be fair, my blog is quite public so I have blotted out faces and taken interestingly cropped shots to show things. That way the only person you will see is me.

And without further ado...

First up - the garter - made by my grandmother from my mother's dress - plus some blue!
The gardens where we got married:
4 of my 5 flower girls - these dresses should look familiar - no fitting issues at all!
The front of my gown - the bottom front is where I had to move all the applique when I hemmed it a few inches!
A view of the back of my dress where I luckily did not have to do any alterations!
A good view of the bustle that I did.
This view shows the necklace that I made (earrings too but they're hard to see).
And we're married!
Our Cake!

We're back! And by "we" I mean me and my husband! Wow how weird is that!

Anyway - proper posts are in progress, with pictures. I'm just getting back into the swing of things at work so it might be this weekend before any posts go up.

Quick update though - the wedding was great! The honeymoon was even better! Hawaii is awesome! We had such a good time! My reading blog is going to be swamped with all the books I read!

Glenna's NRR!

Only about a week late in uploading the pictures :) I stitched Ladybug House by Elizabeth's designs for Glenna - here's my house:

And the whole RR so far - only one spot left!:
I thought I'd be stressed out about this RR since I'd be busy with wedding things but it turned out it perfectly filled some free time I had while house sitting when I couldn't be in my sewing room anyway! What a pleasure to stitch.

In other news - I've continued the go to bed at midnight and get up at 6am ritual so even though I'm working 11-12 hour days at work, I still have a good 4 hours in the evenings to do things around the house. My big project this week has been my wedding dress - I did the bustle on Sunday and I started hemming it Wed night (pinned it up), Thursday night I hemmed the underskirt of the dress and also the separate undergarment I wear to puff out the skirt more. Tonight I will start the actual dress fabric hemming - yikes! The length is perfect though - 2 1/2 inches I have to cut off !

My deadline is to get the dress hemmed and the applique put back on the bottom before Saturday night so I can bring it back home with me!

Peaceful Silhouette framed -

finally a picture!

This is the piece I stitched for my fiance for his law school graduation, he bought the kit and I stitched it. It is now happily framed and awaiting his new job in September where he will hang it. No point in bringing it to his current job with only 4 more weeks to go.

I am continuing the schedule of getting up 6, working till 7, going home and staying up till 11:30 (asleep by midnight) - this gives me a couple of good hours in the evenings to get stuff done and I'm excited.

I've decided to redo the zipper on the green flower girl dress - so I will be doing that this week hopefully and finally fixing the ribbon on the purple one, then they will be ready for hemming. Lots to do but I think I can manage it - less than 5 weeks to go!

Last flower girl dress is finished!!!

I finished it up last night. I'm a little mad at myself for not being more careful when basting before attaching the zipper as the seams don't match up as nicely as i'd like but it's really not that noticeable and I was too lazy to fix it. I just know it will bug me now though :(

All i have left to do on the girls' dresses now is to hem them and fix the first dress that doesn't have the ribbon like the other two. It's a pretty easy fix, just unstitch part of the side seams on the top, add the ribbon and stitch back up. I may try to do that tonight if I get a chance but I also have to make some veils tonight so we'll see how it goes.

I think i officially have less than 6 weeks now - and of course work is just insane right now so i'm working long hours and sleeping less and really looking forward to the weekend even though it will be packed!

Shower this weekend.. both kinds :)

My sister threw a bridal shower for me this weekend, she did such a great job hosting a large part (about 30 people showed up with the potential for 40). I got to talk to lots of people I hardly knew but knew me (I grew up in a small town) and lots of people I haven't seen in a long time.

And I got to give the bridesmaids these gifts I made (here is the final necklace with earrings that I made):
And my definite favorite of the gifts was this quilt that my Mom, Grandmother and sister made for me! I got to pick the fabrics so I already knew I'd love it but this was just beyond expectation. Here it is on my bed (as soon as I got home!):
Here is the patch my grandmother stitched for the back!
And my grandmother made me a matching runner for my dresser! She also made me matching pillow cases (not shown) - what a surprise!
She also made me another table runner to replace my christmas one she made me since I told her I leave that out all year, here it is on top of the christmas one. I love it - the bright colors are definitely "me".
I was overwhelmed by the generosity of my family and those that will become family in just under 10 weeks time! I can't believe how close the wedding is, so much to do but yet so much is already done, I really feel like it's soon now!

I also finished the 4th flower girl dress this weekend and left it with my grandmother who is going to hem it. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture because i finished it the morning we left Friday to go back home. It's the same as the purple one I did but it's in green :) One more to go!

Very hot and humid!
We spent the weekend sweating it out - not turning on the A/C just yet (turned it on today though!). So the weekend consisted of activities I could do in the livingroom and diningroom under the fans!

So I've almost completed making a dress form that exactly matches me - pictures to come after I finish it hopefully Tuesday night. It's my height with my heels for the wedding on, since the goal is to use it to hem my wedding dress. If it can hold the weight of my wedding dress that is... it's a bit flimsier than I'd like.

I also worked on thank you cards, making a design I like for the shower thank you's and cutting all the necessary pieces/colors for the card (about 60 even though i hopefully won't need that many).

I also made the earrings to match the bridesmaid's pearl necklaces and I'm very happy with them, so I made up the little boxes with matching cards to give them at the shower this coming weekend - wow - it's coming up so fast! I just have one necklace left to finish and one bridesmaid won't be at the shower anyway so even if I don't finish it until the following weekend i'm fine!

The unbelievable part is that I didn't read at all this weekend, not until last night before bed when I started "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" which I bought at BJ's. I've been on a reading craze lately, maybe it's good I slow down and get other things done for a while and read a more serious book in my evenings.

It's going to be a busy week with friday off to go back home and help my parents around the house (for the wedding) - I swear every third word out of my mouth is wedding - i can't wait until it's over and life can resume normalcy!

Wedding Stuff...
Finally - the wedding invitations are almost finished (I just need to print the important information stuff and attach) but the outsides are all done.. here's the basic layout:
And here's my stack of 120 invites! The "happy" is embossed in white, the swirly pattern is stamped using versamark ink and the rest is pretty self explanatory.
And as of last night I have 2 of the bridesmaid's necklaces finished. These are knotted pearl and amethyst necklaces. I even made the adjustable chain closure so I'm pretty happy with these. I've finished knotting the third necklace and just have to make the chain tonight before I start on number 4 (there are 5 total plus earrings I still have to design!)
So wedding stuff is moving along! I'm hoping to get some sewing of flower girl dresses done this weekend and some more thank you notes made for the shower. So much to do!

Where is April going??

I'm doing a slightly different schedule with work, trying to get home earlier and run which means I have to get in earlier, which means I go to bed earlier - it's rough but I think it's working out so far. And I even finished my project work for my class tomorrow (last class!!).

So now i'm going to start a new book and snuggle in to bed after a quick crafty update:

I've been working on the invitations for the wedding slowly, got all the embossing done tonight as well as the ribbons cut! All that's left is putting them together and figuring out how to word the inside and then print those!

As for flower girl dresses - I cut the pattern for the fourth dress and then the main fabric but I haven't yet cut the lining or started sewing. I'm hoping to find some time this weekend around traveling back to NY to work on it a bit.

Jewelry - is on hold, waiting for supplies to arrive that I have ordered and then I think i'll be ready to start making some pearl necklaces! I can't wait.

Well that's my life - besides work.. trying to keep the balance of getting things done for the wedding and getting sleep and exercise! Better work on the sleep part now :)

Gifts and Treats!!

First - is a lovely birthday surprise from Carol! This arrived the day before my birthday with Wendy's RR. It's my very first needleroll and so perfectly done, I love it! Without further ado:
When I was in CA, my two friends out there gave me a wonderful birthday/wedding gift- it's preciously made by hand! It's a purse - dupioni silk and ribbon flowers and pearls on the front. It's so exquisite, I can't believe they MADE it!
Even better - inside was this antique handkerchief with pulled thread work - in blue! How perfect!
And as a birthday gift to myself while I was in CA, we went to a quilt shop and I splurged a bit on fat quarters:
I would have posted this yesterday but it wasn't a very good birthday, I got to work and got inundated with cruddy stuff to deal with, it was a crappy day overall. Plus I had class at 4pm which luckily ended early (the only bright spot to my day) and i came home and relaxed and talked to my mom for a few hours! So it ended well at least.

And now i have a busy busy weekend coming up but first a busy day of work at home and then cleaning around the house - yeah :)

Flower Girl Dress #2.

This is for the 3rd flower girl - so it's in the style of the younger 3. The skirt will be cut and then hemmed closer to the wedding and being shorter will hang a little nicer over the netting but to be safe I kept it long (in case she grows a lot).
I added rick rack around the bodice bottom and ribbon for a bow in the back (mostly so it can be tightened if it's too large). This dress had some very difficult parts - mostly dealing with the underskirt of netting attached to lining. Then that also made adding the zipper a bit more difficult. After a bunch of ripping out stitches I think it came out well and I know my flower girl will love it!
The next flower girl dress will be the second Eyelet one (with purple lining) - I'm hoping to get a start on at least cutting the pattern and some of the fabric and lining and starting the basting process which takes quite a while!

Pictures Finally! The first Flower Girl Dress!!

Here are the pictures of the first dress I completed last month. It's a Girl's size 10 for my 8 yr. old cousin and it looks wonderful on her - a little big but that's room to grow and it has a tie if it's still too big in August.

Here's a picture of the back. The green bow is very large but mimics the bow that i have on my wedding gown which I love so I thought it would be cute if the two oldest flower girls had matching bows.
And here's a close up of hte top of the dress. The fabric is white eyelet with a green lining. This is going to be my favorite dress since green is my favorite color and I've always been partial to eyelet dresses!
I can't believe how long it took me to get pictures of this dress online -- I've already finished dress number 2 which I'll post next!

Wow - where did February go???? I've been very neglectful of my blog :( Work has been just crazy the past few weeks, it probaby won't let up but at least the stress should reduce considerably now that my code has been fully integrated and I'm on to just bug fixes.

For the non-geeks out there - how about some sewing news.. I can't believe I have not taken pictures - I promise to post pictures soon but I must share anyway.

Last weekend (friday night and saturday morning specifically) I finished the first flower girl dress! I even did a temporary hem so I could try it on my cousin and it looks beautiful! I really do promise pictures soon. I ABSOLUTELY love how it came out and I can't wait to make the second one!

I also fitted the mockup dress on my other cousins and determined which sizes to make them (I have sizes all set for 4 out of 5 flower girls!). Of course I need to adjust patterns because 2 of them are between sizes on me - that will be an adventure!

I also stitched some more on Deb's RR - getting close to finished on the actual house, then just all the rest to do - one month to go before I need to mail it so I need to get on it.

Oh and I designed my invitations for the wedding which I am officially making now. My close friend and sister helped and I have lots of offers of help but first I need to wait for an order of paper to come in for the perfect color. I'll show some pictures when I do invites too... so much fun stuff to do!

and since it's Feb 29th - Happy Leap Year! I might as well do my goal wrap up for the month:
Sewing:
1) Finish one flower girl dress YES
2) Start second flower girl dress Not quite - did another mockup dress!

Stitching:
1) Start Deb's NRR YES
2) Finish 1/2 of the outside of my needlecase piece Not quite but I do have the silks for this now!

Knitting:
1) Start the knitted lamb for coworker YES
2) Finish green scarf for me YES
3) Start green hat for me Nope - i started it but then decided on a different pattern so i need to restart. Other priorities go in the way!

As promised here's a progress picture! I finished the actual house on Karen's RR last night and I'm going to be working on the greenery now! I'm doing Daisy Lane cottage with modifications (I notice Leslie is doing the same on Carol's right now - great minds think alike! :) )

And the skirt in it's finished state. I did manage to finish it friday night but I could not wear it saturday as I'd hoped, i have nothing to wear that goes with it! So I bought some patterns of tops I like, but I did not have time to get coordinating fabric as yet. I will do this soon!
The weekend was a good one - Saturday I bought my wedding dress! It was definitely more expensive than I had hoped but I'm very happy with it and I know I made the right decision. So if i can save money by doing alterations myself with a friend I think it will work out.

Plus with the dress done I've now settled on colors for the bridesmaids! We're going with a light honeydue green and lilac accents! So now i'm on the hunt for fabric to make the flower girl dresses (5 of them!).

Sunday and today i've been plagued by migraines but i seem to be doing better now and our new treadmill arrived so it's back to running daily and getting in shape! I hope to post a little more regularly as well. I'm going through my pictures, uploading, ordering prints and planning my scrapbook as well as I've really lagged behind (a year and half behind!) and I don't do that much scrapbooking, just a page per event!