Wordless Wednesday: Aqua Edition

Wedding Pics, Part One

Even though it's been three months since the wedding (wow, really?), I still haven't edited all of the pictures. I also haven't finished my thank you notes, which I really, REALLY need to do. soon.
But let's not focus on the negative.
Instead, here's a few snippets of the best day.


Us


The venue, Treebeard's


Handmade napkins


The cutest kid ever, now my nephew


Yellow shoes and flowers, turquoise sash and earrings (earrings made by Amanda!)


Cupcakes: banana, strawberry shortcake and marbled

So, there's a little peak into the day. I'll share more details with part two. The comment we heard over and over from guests is how relaxed and simple the day was, which is exactly what we hoped for.

Wishing you love, friends!

Handstitched things

I'm feeling a little behind on sharing over here, and today, I want to show you some fun handstitched projects. First up, Amanda made me an amazing wedding gift.

She even included CJ, even though he isn't presently living with us. How fun! I absolutely love it, and am trying to decide where to hang it so I can enjoy it daily. I love that she used a, Anna Maria Horner Good Folks print for the matting, too! She used a custom pattern by wee little stitches.

I also completed a little cross-stitch on the retreat. Nicke bought me this pattern for my birthday (ahem, half a year ago), and I finally stitched it up. It took no time at all, and I just love it!

It's from Shaun of the Dead and you can get the pattern here. Kaelin is pretty crazy about it, so I'm going to mail this one off to her, and stitch it up a second time for me.

There's one more handstitched project to share today.

I finished my reverse applique needlebook in Rachel's class! I love how it turned out.

Rachel supplied the felt as part of the optional class kit, and I used this Amy Butler Lark print. I mimicked the print in my applique cutouts. It was fun and quick. I may make a second needlebook!

I haven't made any progress on my Modern Medallion. I hope to work on that sometime this week!

A wedding quilt

I've been meaning to blog about this for just over three weeks now. Trouble is, I didn't get around to taking pictures, and I hadn't received the wedding photos. And this is the kind of thing you need pictures of, because words just aren't enough. So, first, a picture:

Each block in this quilt was made with different hands. It's a lengthy list, but I want to individually mention each person involved in this project:

Amanda
Amanda
Amy
Beth
Betty (my grandmother
Bryanna
Chawne
Chris
Cindy (my mom)
Fi
Freida
Gabriella
Jen
Jessica
Jill (my sister)
Jules
Kaelin
Liz
Maureen
Melissa
Nicke
Paula
Rachel
Robin
Safieh
Sally
Sam
Sara
Tammy

I cannot thank you all enough for making this quilt for us!
It's so beautiful, and when I opened it at the wedding, I was shocked, touched, and overwhelmed.

The colors are, of course, PERFECT! And the stars. oh. the stars. I love that each quilter shared a little piece of themselves in this quilt.

Nicke organized this endeavor, and quilted it! We've had so much fun enjoying each block.

Jules made the binding, and Nicke shipped it to Amy, who surprised me with it. Kaelin has devilishly named it, "The Babymaker". My mom especially loved that!

Thank you, friends! It means so much that you would do this for us, and give us good wishes for our marriage.

One last photo: this is CJ, Elliott's adorable dog, who is living with his parents for the time being. Since we will be living at my townhome (with no yard), he can't stay with us. We'll be visiting him often, though!

Thanks, mom

I see my mom almost every day. We work together, and although I have moments of frustration, I know I'm lucky to have so much time with her.

Remember the pillowcases she made me? Well, I finally got around to taking some detailed shots of her embroidery and thought it was a perfect time to share, right before Mother's Day.

Just look at those lazy daisies. Incredible!

Mom is so busy, between work, and building a retirement house in the country with her sweet husband.

I know she spent hours on these pillowcases, getting them just right before the shower.

She has crafty aspirations, but never seems to find the time for execution.

I've already got them on our bed, and enjoy looking at the stitches in close detail.

Thanks, sweet momma!

It's done!

Hello, hello!

I feel as if a lot has happened since I posted here, and it has! Let's see... I got married, for one thing, and I went on a honeymoon!

I don't have wedding pictures to share just yet, but in the meantime, I thought I'd share some of my favorite pictures from Vancouver, BC.

Truly? I would move there. It's a gorgeous city, with good food, friendly people and their idea of rain is a tolerable mist.

We enjoyed our short stay in downtown Vancouver, and ate many delicious meals around the city.
Public transportation is easily accessible. I know that might not be very exciting to some of you, but Houston is so spread out that a car is pretty much required. I love visiting cities with trains, subways, taxis and buses that are maintained well.

Here are some Vancouver highlights.
We visited Stanley Park, the aquarium, Granville Island (and their brewery) and even the casino!

I am not cut out for gambling, I know that much! I have only been a few times, and I'm always so cautious.

We had a lot of fun, though.

Here's a favorite image from the park. You wouldn't believe the blooming flowers everywhere! Tulips, daffodils, and lots of other gorgeous flowers. The roses weren't in bloom yet, but we didn't miss them!

I feel sort of, all over the place, but I know the dust will settle soon!

I actually have some crafty finishes to show you, so I'll be back soon. I also have a few shots from Seattle to share. And of course, wedding pictures! I should have them in my hot little hands in the next week or so. Last, but definitely not least, I have an AMAZING gift to share with you. And a giveaway.

Wedding Shower pics

I finally sat down to pick out my favorite pictures from the wedding shower, given by my sister, mom and good friends. The party was fun, with lots of good fun, fun people and only one game. I'm not big on shower games. My friends really did an amazing job putting together a super fun day!

You can see all of these photos in my flickr photostream.

The center picture is the inside cover of the recipe book that they compiled for me. My friend Julie did all of the graphics and editing. It's such a special book, with lots of family/friend recipes to enjoy for years to come.

I also wanted to share the pillowcases my mom made for me.

My mom HAND-embroidered these beauties! She did an amazing job, and I just love them.

After the wedding, I'll be sure to share more pictures of the recipe book!

From Ayumi

We are in the final countdown for the wedding!
Elliott and I had a very productive weekend, but still managed to find some fun.

And I had some very fun mail arrive to get the weekend started!

A couple of weeks ago, I was perusing etsy, and found myself in Ayumi's shop. I saw the cutest little pincushion, and truly couldn't resist, so I bought it.

I didn't realize, but I guess it hadn't been in her shop for long, so I really lucked out!

It arrived, and look! It's just so fun. I love Ayumi's style, and of course, I covet her stash! She packed so many gorgeous scraps into this little cushion.

So, the package seemed a little heavy for just a pincushion, and that's because Ayumi made us a wedding present!

Look! It is so freaking cute! Ayumi used the new pattern from Sew-ichigo, a venture by Penny and Kerry. I'm not sure I'm quite up to the challenge of this pattern, but I'm going to give it a try soon!

I love Ayumi's gift. It's so fun, and I love that she even made the mixer match mine! The stamping is my favorite little detail, though!

Thanks again, Ayumi!

I have a few things to share this week, and I hope I can find the time to make that happen! <3

Catch-all

Hey hey!
Thanks for all your kind words on the shawl that Rachel and Rue knit. Every time I see it hanging with my wedding dress, I get excited!

The wedding is just around the corner, and I've been crossing things off the list pretty steadily. I also opted to eliminate a few tasks I'd set for myself. I knew trying to get everything done would make me crazy, and I'd really like to avoid that.

Forty napkins are completely finished. The rest of them are made, but need to be washed and have labels sewn on.

I managed to finish my April Wonky Bee blocks this weekend, for Jessica. She's working on a quilt-as-you-go log cabin quilt, and sent along scraps to use. I added a few pieces, and really enjoyed making these.
A log cabin is always happy-making.

I also finished my first charity quilt. The Houston MQG has chosen the Star of Hope as our 2012 charity.
Through fabric donations, we've set a goal of 100 quilts for the year.

I supplemented the fabric I was given with solids and the DS print on the back. I really think it turned out great, and I was happy I was able to finish in time for our first donation date.

So, I've also been working on two non-obligatory projects.

Gray Plum, a new knitting project, from Veera Valimaki's Summer Plum. I'm knitting this KnitPicks Palette and I love it so far! I plan to take this for honeymoon knitting. Veera is also the designer of Stripe Study.

My other fun WIP is a project with one of my favorite lines, Echo.

About a month ago, I had this:

After this weekend, I have a mini quilt top:

. I assembled the back, too, and I love it as much as the front!

I'm awful about measuring quilts, but I'm going to try to remember to do that from now on. I used several other scraps to supplement/compliment the Echo. This one probably won't get done until after the wedding, but it's been a nice distraction!

I also obviously won't be sharing a finished Swoon anytime soon (hey, that rhymed!).

I expect to post pretty sporadically over the next couple of weeks, but I look forward to sharing wedding photos with you very soon!

From Rue and Rachel

When you are regularly order things online (for a wedding and maybe some occasional fabric), it's hard to keep up with what packages you should be getting. The other day I got one in a small flat rate priority mail box, that puzzled me upon arrival.

It was something from Chicago. Then I recognized the name and was even more puzzled.

Rue and I had already completed our swap, so what was she sending me?

Apparently, Rue and Rachel conspired to surprise me with a wedding gift.

A handmade shawl, to be exact.

Not only did they share knitting duties on this gorgeous shawl, but the yarn is handspun, by Rue.

Incredible.

I wish I could really show you the depth of this color, but the yarn is a gray with subtle flecks of blue, green, pink.
And soft. So soft.

The sneaky girls perused my ravelry favorites and saw that I enjoyed the Citron shawl, but I haven't knitted the pattern.

I love this shawl, because it was knit with love and hope.

I hope the wedding venue is chilly enough that I can wear this that day, and remember how each stitch was knit by my friends, Rachel and Rue.

Thank you both. You are incredible!
As soon as I can, I'll share a picture of me wearing it.

Hopefully, it will be from the wedding, which is less than three. weeks. away!

Gifts from HMQG

How was your weekend? Some of my favorite girls took me out for sushi and karaoke. We belted out some eighties tunes, and had a blast!

I wanted to share with you the surprise gifts I received at last week's guild meeting.

Surprise doesn't even begin to describe it! I've only been a member for a few months, and I was touched by the generosity and thought that these ladies put into gifts for our wedding.

You know I love to cook, right?
The girls made things that we can use in the kitchen!

From HMQG March 2012

Chi made me this reversible apron (also, my face is another confirmation of silliness).

Here's the other side. I can't pick a favorite!

Amy made me these napkins and dishtowels, and also included some yellow bowls and mugs!

Pam made me this table runner; she included Insul-Brite, so it's a functional trivet!

Mona made me these adorable potholders, one granny square and one argyle.

I love the back of this one; she thought my wedding colors sounded like a weather forecast. It's so fun!

And finally, Robin drew my scraps in our guild swap.
In January, members brought in a bag of scraps to swap with another member (blindly). We then had two months to sew up the scraps into an item for that member.

Robin made me this dishtowel and potholder. I love them!

I drew Beth's scraps, and I made her this tote bag.

I must admit, Beth's scraps didn't really grab me, but I added the scribble print and the blue solid. I really like this bag now!

I've got some bee blocks and improv to share soon!

Weekend Progress

After a seriously busy weekend, I am feeling pretty accomplished. Although, at the same time, I feel totally behind. There's a lot of changes going on, and I can barely catch my breath.
But let's not focus on that. As an eternal optimist, I'll just show you the happy progress I've made.

First off, wedding invitations are in the mail! I ordered these from Ruby Press on etsy. Her shop is closed for updates right now, but I highly recommend her shop. Ruby was responsive and helpful during the proof process, and worked with us to get the invitations just right.

In other wedding news, I (and now my mom is helping!) am making napkins for each guest. This is the first batch. I'm really happy with how they're turning out, and I'm excited to be using some stashed fabrics.

I also finished two of my March bee blocks. These blocks are my first for the Bee a Modern Swapper group. We used a Freshly Pieced tutorial for Mosaic Blocks. This color combination is definitely popular right now. My group for do.Good Stitches is using a similar palette this month.

The Houston Modern Quilt Guild is making charity quilts this month using (mostly) fabric donations. I finished quilting this over the weekend, and just need to apply binding. We expect to finish at least twenty quilts before April.

Sometime around Christmas, Rachel and I were chatting about dishcloths, and she was shocked when I said I'd never knitted a dishcloth. I guess I skipped that step when I was learning to knit. So I ought some Knit Picks Dishie, and got down to business.

I'm using the tried and true Mason-Dixon Ballband pattern. Just a few rows here and there, mostly at night when I'm winding down, but I'll have a finished washcloth soon!

Linking up with Megan!