Small Finish

This is the Madeira pin keep for a retreat weekend after next. Just imagine the shape of a compact and it will give you a better idea. It's done over one with Lakeside Linen and Gloriana Silks. First time I've used this particular brand of silks - very nice to work with. Next is the biscornu; then I'm off to work on my Mom's Travel Sampler (that she has asked me about recently - yikes). Looking forward to this retreat at the beach. Should be a blast and plenty of stitching!

"Wedding" Finish, Season Premieres, and Mom

Yay!! - happy dance here. I put the last stitch in "Wedding" for my DD and her DH tonight while watching the much awaited season premieres of NCIS, The Mentalist, and Without a Trace. I'm not a huge fan of too many programs, but I absolutely love NCIS with its wit and humor. I was totally impressed with the new show "The Mentalist". Engrossing and I've always loved WAT.
I'm pleased with how Wedding turned out & I hope they like it (looks like there's a shadow, but it's just the lighting). Hope to have it framed soon. I'd ordered the mats and frame before the wedding, so I'm hoping it won't take too long. Now off to stitch on the retreat pieces. :)
My DH is out of town this week, so it's just the dog, the cat, and me. It's busier than expected. I've gotten right much stitching done, and ended up taking my mom back to the dr. today - fluid build-up that started affecting her breathing. He's getting her straight, so she's feeling better. Tomorrow should definitely be easier for her. I thank God for good doctors and health personnel - just like any other profession, you never know how it'll be.

Wedding Bliss & Nostalgia

We had a wonderful dinner at a local Italian restaurant here, Biaggi's. Truly delicious food! Here's the soon-to-be couple...

At the rehearsal...

My three with their loved ones...

My DH and me...

The day dawned bright and clear and off we went for all the preparations. Hair done, make-up on, dress on...Yikes, a problem the dress, but with help, the dress was repaired and she walked down the aisle on time. We're so happy for her as she's marrying a wonderful man, whom we love. Much happiness and blessings to them both!

Bridal portrait...

My DD and me...

Three generations...

Brother and sister...

With her grandmother...

The proud dad...

The ceremony...

They're married!

The family...

The bride...

The reception...

The happy couple!

Now on to the next one... At least it's not until March and I'm the groom's mother this time. Definitely makes it easier.

I'm feeling a little nostalgic today. My oldest DD is now married, my son is engaged, and my youngest DD is nineteen for the last time today. I will have no more teenagers as of tomorrow. Feels strange as an era of my life is now over. Of course, it really changed when the last child went off to college last year. But my house seems to have changed from week to week until now. We had no children in the house except when visiting, then in May we had two again and people coming and going in and out at all times. Now, we're back to no children and this house is empty. It's not all bad, it's more adjusting to the changes in life.
On the good side, I have time to stitch once again. I'm finishing up Wedding - hope to have it in time for them when they return from their honeymoon, but I doubt the frame will be quite ready. Then I start on the Madeira Tin Project for our retreat in a month. After that, hope to get back to my mom's sadly neglected Travel Sampler, and throw in a few Christmas ornaments.
Always good to have goals.

Down to the Wire

Well, the big day is fast approaching, and we're almost ready. We've all reached the point where if it doesn't get done, than so be it. I refuse to stress this last week...well, at least only a little. :) We had something really awesome happen. My next-door neighbor came by to drop off a present and chat. Her extended family is dealing with sickness and they're going to be gone this weekend, so she offered her house to us to use for the nine extra guests we have. Normally, I'd say thanks, but no thanks, as I wouldn't want to intrude on them; but this time I'm really considering it, at least for one night for some of them. It's DD's last night at home with us and it would definitely help with the number of bathrooms needed for the wedding day. We'll see how it goes. Wasn't that sweet of her?
Still stitching on Wedding - not done yet. Hope to be soon - I've figured with the time frame now that she and her DH will receive it as a welcome back gift from the honeymoon!

Retreat, update, and whew!

Here's the progress picture of Wedding. Almost halfway through. My goal is to finish it this weekend, but I don't know if I'm going to get it done or not. Depends on how much time I can stitch, I guess.
I'm going to a Pals retreat in about 5-6 weeks. We're doing the cutest little Madeira tin, pinkeep, and biscornu. Just got the patterns for the smaller items in the mail to stitch. They are so pretty. Check them out below. Jane Timmers of Fancy Work is teaching the class. We're all looking forward to it!

And lastly, the whew! is that my camera is back to normal at no cost. Camera guy told me what to do and I know now what I did wrong :)

Best laid plans of mice and men and all that

Well, my plan was to include the update on my Wedding stitching for my DD. Something has happened to my camera and I can take a picture, but I can't upload any. I hope to find out what's wrong tomorrow. The design is coming along fairly well; I'm about halfway done. My goal is to finish it by the end of the holiday.
My SIL threw a bridal shower Saturday for my DD at Mimi's Cafe. If you have a restaurant like this near you, then go to it. The food is phenomenal and they were so nice. Everyone really enjoyed it. We did dessert, muffin and drink for whomever. A small hint - their desserts could feed at least two, if not three. But boy, they're good. Came home and had family dinner for DS's birthday. Sunday, had portrait session for DD. The wedding day could not possibly be more stressful than it was (truly).
The stylist who'd fixed her hair did a messy job and we were calling around trying to find someone who could fix it. This same stylist had fixed it the past week to show DD what it would look like and it was fine. This time it wasn't even similar. So an hour before the portrait session I'm calling everywhere. Did I mention it was Sunday? Found someone who fit her in and she did a fantastic job. Just beautiful. Forgot needing flowers; don't really have to have them, but nice to have a choice. While she's getting the repair job, we're off to Harris Teeter for flowers & found the perfect ones for $17; can't get better than that. Off to the Rose Garden where she has to change under sheets & I have to lace this 90 foot thing (ok, 2 feet really - it just seemed like 90). So she's trying to change into the necessary underclothing and I'm in the sheet with her. Dad and future DIL are holding the sheets and it was 92+ degrees. It was hilarious! We left the crinoline at home and forgot to put the jewelry on, so it was a comedy of errors. Long story short, she had perfect earrings on already, didn't really need a necklace, flowers and hair looked like we'd planned it six months in advance. Pictures turned out beautifully. End of story........for now :)

Where the Green Grass Grows

Smell something suspicious? This is not my normal kind of blog entry, but I feel led to share this cultivating (hehe) event. It's amazing the things we learn in life unexpectedly. I was educated yesterday - more than I wanted to be, actually - in septic systems. Yep, fun things. We aren't on a city water system, so we have one out in the back yard. For those interested (really?), these have to be pumped out periodically or dire results could happen. I won't go there....Did you know that these tanks have not one but two compartments that are to be pumped? If someone should tell you it isn't necessary as the second one is just water, they are trying to gyp you. The side of the tank is hidden about six inches underground and has to be dug up to get to the lid, if your system is older than 1999 in NC. Who knew? Not us and obviously not the last people who pumped it out. Case in point to my septic system buddy. So I've been informed and shown it all too. He wanted me out there to see what he was talking about. He was so nice and earnest about it, I didn't have the heart to tell him no.
Interesting point - do you know what it's like outside while they're pumping it out - you get the picture? Not as bad an odor as it could be, but I felt that I'd been around it a little too much, so after getting ready for work one time, I repeated the process. Nothing like being paranoid.....but at least I didn't worry about smelling bad. Glad we don't have to do this very often. But we saved the day for my neighbor. Being fully educated, I had to spill it all to her. He ends up pumping hers too, and just in the nick of time to stop those dire results I was mentioning earlier. We called it divine intervention. :) So for those of you that were dying to know more about these pesky old sewer systems, hope this blog made your day.
Haven't had time to stitch as much as I need to finish this little pattern for the wedding. So I need to pick up speed here now. Wish me luck!

Who knew how much fun a blog could be??

I have been experimenting with different additions to blogs. Thanks to Meari and Nancy for the ideas and links to the visitor map and playlists. I'm still playing with that one. :)
A special thanks to Dawn for nominating me for a blogger award. I love reading her blog and so many others. My bloglist with my favorites and nominees is on the sidebar, even though I need to add some others. I know that most of these blogs have already been nominated at least once, but that's ok - I'll just add my two cents worth. If you haven't already, take some time and read some of these blogs. They all come from different internet groups/friends and have tons of entertainment, tips, hilarity, and so much more.
In case you don't realize whose blogs are whose, I'll give you the names in order:
Kelly, Amy, Chris, David, Dawn from AZ, Gabi, Meari, Vicki, Malinda, Nancy M, Rene, Judith, Kathy, Cameo, and Dawn from NC. Enjoy!

Olympic Fever

Yes, I admit it, I'm an Olympic junkie. I can watch it till the wee hours of the morning. Speaking of the Olympics, did anyone see the swimming relay 4 X 100 freestyle Sunday? It was absolutely awesome. It was so close, no one even knew who had won until the officials put it up. We were all screaming and yelling, because the US anchor man-Lezak was behind until the last 5 metres and just poured it on. Then yesterday the men's gymnastics did so well and the US swimmers were unbelievable. Pretty cool to watch.
Hearing the stories behind the athletes and seeing them all compete is so inspiring. Hearing our national anthem played is very moving to me. Go USA!
I've included my progress pics on Wedding and Quilting. Seems to be slow going. But I keep stopping to watch the athletes - what can I say? :)

Moving On - Quickly

My secret sister graciously posted a picture of the stitched piece I sent her as I forgot to get one, so I can now put it in my blog. (TY, Kathy) This was done on a stiffer piece of linen than I normally use; I thought it would work better, but a softer piece would have been easier. It was still a fun stitch. I didn't have time to work the biscornu, but it's a great sewing set by Fancy Work.
My DH and I celebrated our 29th anniversary Friday. How can this be? Surely it hasn't been that long. Making plans to do something really special for next year's, but for right now, we're just concentrating on the two weddings!
Time is flying by so fast, my head is spinning. My DD's bf will be here Thurs. and they'll be going back to college the next week.
On the up side, I found my mother of the bride dress. I've not been looking forward to it, as I really wanted to lose a few pounds (ok, a lot), but the older you get, the slower it is! I just happened to be in the bridal shop and decided to try a few. Voila! It's a little dressier than I would have really imagined, but my daughter liked it, too, and it's done. Yay!!
My other DD did choose a pattern she'd like for her wedding (I had "several" to choose from LOL). Glory be, she didn't choose the Sweetheart Tree I was scared she would. No offense to the pattern - it's gorgeous, but it'd be forever and beyond before I finished it. She chose one of the easiest ones - My Big Toe - Wedding - Two Became One. I'm stitching it on white opalescent and using the blue combinations listed as alternative colors. Stitched awhile last night on it - quick - so it shouldn't take long. Also working on Quilting at Mon. night stitching - nice little series.