In love with Love

I'm back from our honeymoon in Italy! It was fantastic - we ate, hiked, rode bicycles, stood in awe in front of ruins and paintings, and enjoyed being newly married. After being away for two weeks though, it's nice to be home.

I don't have much to share right now, as we haven 't gone through our Italy pictures yet and we're waiting for wedding photos from the photographer (I've seen some sneak peeks and they are gorgeous so far!). Right now my house is a mess and filled with registry boxes, a very needy kitty is on my lap (he'd rather I pet him than type this post - he has let me know), and I need to get ready for my first day back at work. But I hope to find some time to sew soon, especially after seeing an announcement in my email box that Amy Butler has done it again - a new fabric line, Love, and some new patterns. Have you seen? I'm loving her new Love fabrics, especially the one featured on her new Liverpool shirt pattern (I like that pattern too):

How very Boden it is! I love it. Hmmm, I might just skip work, ignore my messy house and sew instead today! One can wish...

We're married!

It was amazing - more than I could have ever hoped for. More pictures and details to come when we return from our honeymoon. Enjoy October!

Simplicity 2584

Finally, a non-wedding related post! This post is long overdo. I made this dress earlier in the summer after seeing this beautiful version. It was a fun dress to make too. I actually stayed home sick from work one day, but not wanting to spend the day on the couch, I instead revived myself by cutting and sewing away. By the end of the day, I felt completely renewed.

Two weeks

Yes, I know it's all been wedding wedding wedding around here, but with only two weeks to go until I say "I do," it's hard NOT to talk about the wedding. People keep telling me how calm I seem, but I've definitely had some not-to-proud moments this past week behind closed doors. The small details left to decide and a busy time at my real job have been a bit overwhelming at times.


Everything is mostly in place, however, and we are so excited. The pictures in this post are of the ceremony and reception site. These were taken this summer, so just imagine the leaves with a bit more color.

Let's hope the weather two weeks from today resembles the day these pictures were taken - sunny and warm - rather than today's weather - drizzly and chilly! I'm prepared for whatever happens, however. I know that no matter what, it will be a beautiful (and FUN!) day.

Flower girl Dresses

They're essentially done! Since this picture, I have hemmed them and now just need to add a simple ribbon sash. The color is really off in this photo. The fabric is a beautiful, rich, light purple (not quite lavender) dupioni silk. I found the silk at G-Street Fabrics back in March and knew I wanted to make something out of it for the wedding. After looking for non-white flower girl dresses (call me selfish, but I want to be the only one wearing white on the big day), my decision was made! The silk was easy to work with, though it frayed a ton! I used Simplicity 4647 for the pattern and have nothing but high marks to give it. However, I did omit the layers of tulle it called for as the dress puffs out enough on it's own. I'll show pictures of the dresses in action after the wedding!

DIY Wedding To-do's

Kristen and I are getting married on the same day, exactly one month from today. October 11, 2009. It's been fun following along with her as she plans her wedding. She is also being very hands on and crafting a personal wedding. I'm sure her event will be gorgeous. She asked me this week what is left on my to-do list, and so Kristen, I am happy to oblige.

(At least I can check off one item from my general to-do list: the
August block for the Pieced Together Quilting Bee.)

My DIY Wedding Torture To-Do List:

Save the dates - done!
Invitations - signed, sealed, delivered!
Napkins - done!
Cake topper - done!
Hair flower - almost done
Flowergirl dresses - almost done
Flowergirl baskets - almost done
Directional signs for ceremony and reception site - almost done
Programs
Placecards
Table numbers
Fabric bunting for decor
Bridesmaid gifts
Shrug/bolero for me (I get cold easily and the wedding is outside, in October - please pray for a sunny warm day!)
Guest book (?)
Favors (?)

Goodness, this list seems pretty long considering I only have four weeks to go! I'll share some of these projects with you soon - I hope!

DIY Wedding - Napkins!

I finished all of our wedding napkins - all one hundred and twenty of them. Aren't they pretty?


Now, before I let you sit there thinking that I slaved away this summer hemming napkins in my free time, I'll let you in on a little secret: I only did a proper hem on thirty of them. The rest got trimmed with pinking shears. (Shhhhhh - don't tell Martha!) Why waste time and yardage on napkins that I intend to cut up and quilt after the wedding? By my calculations, I saved myself at least 24 hours of work and three yards of fabric. Those hems add up!


I'm already thinking about quilts to make with these after the wedding is over. Any suggestions?

My little temper tantrum

Oh.my.gosh. Is it really September? I am not ready. No I am not. I'm not ready to pull out my sweaters and jackets. I'm not ready to hear the drone of football games streaming from a tv somewhere. I'm not ready for the sun to set before I get home. I'm not ready for the wedding to be here and gone. I'm just not ready! Tonight I am having an internal temper tantrum about Fall being here without my permission. Perhaps I can find a silver lining in it though in the form of some yarn and needles that weren't quite ready for the summer earlier this year.

On the needles (since February I might add): Francis Revisited

July Block

Yes, late again. Perhaps August will be the month that I finally get caught up. I'm hopeful. For July, the challenge was to do a block that incorporated circles. I wimped out and decided to applique circles versus curved seaming. I hope she likes it! I love the fabrics she sent.

Slow Weekend

If only they could all be that slow. Hope your week is going well!

Format change - more info

Thanks for being so understanding about the format change of my RSS feed. Since several of you asked, I thought I'd give you a little more information on how I found out that my content was being illegally published as well as how to change the settings of your RSS feed to make it more difficult for people to do this.

I found out by accident. I was actually looking up a dress pattern that I had made to see other versions of the dress. I googled "Simplicity XXXX" (I can't remember the number right now) and I clicked on the third site that appeared. To my surprise, I saw it was my post - word for word! There were no links back to my site, and I was not given credit for the post anywhere. I couldn't really understand how it got there. After browsing through the site, I found several other posts of mine on there. The site appeared to have posts from other sewers, though I didn't recognize the other blogs (again, the original posters were not given credit and there were no links to the original blog). I found out who the publisher of this blog was (someone in Singapore), and emailed him and asked him to take down my content. Thankfully, he did. My guess is that this person set up a blog of their own and ripped off other sewing blogs with the intent of getting money from adclicks. I was never given an explanation. The scary thing is that I found this out by accident, so I have no idea how many other sites out there may be publishing my content without my permission.

Changing your RSS feed to "preview" mode makes it harder for people to rip off your posts. In Blogger, click on the Settings Tab, then click on "Site Feed". Under "Blog Posts Feed", click on the "short" option.

I hope this helps.

Format change

Just a little heads up for those reading my blog through Bloglines or Google Reader: You have to go to my blog now to read/see my posts in entirety (including pictures). My RSS feed will only show a preview. I recently discovered that someone was copying my words and pictures and publishing them on their blog as their own, obviously without my permission. It freaked me out enough to change the way I post to make it more difficult for people to do this. So, I apologize for making it a little more difficult to read my posts but I hope you'll still stop by. :)

Hopscotch Quilt

My very good friend, who I've known since we met in Brownies many many years ago, had her first baby this summer. It's a good thing I finished this in time for her shower in May (yes, I have a backlog of projects to show), because little baby Hank surprised us all by showing up a week earlier than expected!



I used the Hopscotch Quilt pattern in Super Simple Quilts #1 and some Denyse Schmidt Katie Jump Rope fabrics. It really was a simple quilt to make. This was the first time that I tried free motion quilting. I'm not one hundred percent happy with the quilting, but it turned out OK. The BSR foot on my Bernina helped it from turning out to be a complete disaster, I'm sure. Practice, practice, practice, they say.



On a side note, I really need to find a suitable area to take pictures of quilts. This was taken in my upstairs hall, which is entirely too narrow to even get a full shot of a baby quilt.

Two months

Yesterday was the two month mark for our upcoming wedding. I've been pretty hands on in the planning process, and while it's been stressful at times (for me and those around me), I think I'll look back on the day and be glad when I see my personal touch in some of the details. I have a lot of thoughts to share about wedding planning. I feel like I've learned a lot in this process. But I'll save that for a longer post. For now, here's a wedding board (one of many) that I have been using as my inspiration.


Via Snippet and Ink

Resolve

June Block 2, originally uploaded by CreativeReveries.

I miss this little space. I want to be here more than I have been. So, this morning I decided I'm going to try and be here more often, no matter what. I don't think I can promise to post every day, but how about every other day? I'm going to try people, I really am. Because I have things to show you. Things I've made (like the spiderweb block I made for Stephanie for the Pieced Together Quilting Bee). Things that have inspired me. Things I just want to share. Also, I miss hearing from you all.

This weekend I took the cover off of my sewing machine and made a dress out of Garden Party fabric. I can't wait to show you (though I have other things I might show you first).

See you back here again soon, ok?

Catching up

It seems like a lot of us in blog land getting caught up in summer. Posts are fewer and far between when there is so much else going on out there, in the real world. I was about to admit that I am enjoying the lazy days of summer, but realized there has been nothing lazy about my days. Whoever came up with that false statement anyways?



One of my reasons for being absent from this blog is wedding planning. It kicked into high gear at the four month mark, and now we are past the three month mark. It's been fun planning, but not until I bought a dress did it become that way. Before that, I devoted every spare moment to making a muslin of a dress and watched summer slip away and my stress level skyrocket. Then, I found a dream of a dress and now I have my life back and can devote my spare time to sewing other things, like these blocks for the Pieced Together Quilting Bee from May! How did I let things get so behind?



There have been other events too: family visits; appendectomies (he is ok now); new babies to visit; friends to be with; Sopranos, Seasons 1, 2, and 3; and the usual life activities. I miss my sewing machine though and I look through my flickr favorites daily, planning my next projects. I hope to be present on this blog more often for the rest of the summer. You may have to put up with some wedding related posts from me, but not even I can talk and think wedding all the time (smile) and so I will have a few non-wedding related projects in the works to share soon.

Summer Dress Week - More from you!

Are you feeling inspired yet? After viewing the pictures from this post, I can't see how you won't be. When I first announced a dress sewalong, I thought only a handful of people would actually play along. To my surprise though, a lot of people joined in. Today I want to feature a few more creations made by you. Click on links below the picture for more information on these beautiful dresses!


1. Peach Dress, 2. my first dress, 3. Vogue 8571, 4. Trapeze sundress, 5. McCalls 5799, 6. McCall 5618, 7. Anna Maria Horner Socialite dress, 8. Juliana, 9. YIP 365.36 :: Spring dress

More to come...stay tuned!

Summer Dress Week - Day 1 - Made by You!

I don't know about you, but when it's hot out, as it has been for the past few weeks, I love to wear a simple summer dress. Comfort and cuteness combined in one garment, how can a girl go wrong? If you're like me and are looking for some summer dress inspiration, you've come to the right place. For day 1 of summer dress week, I'm featuring a few dresses (in no particular order) from the Summer Dress Sewalong flickr pool.



Left: Shear Delight used the Smocked Sun Dress pattern from Heather Ross to make this perfect-for-hot-summer-days-dress. So cute!
Middle: I can't believe the detail and work that Lucky Knitter put into this dress. She knit the top, then dyed it to make a perfect summer dress.
Right: Wowza! Stitch in Dye used some navy linen and Simplicity 2584 to make this gorgeous dress for just $12. Her inspiration dress cost $350!



Left: Costume Divas Dirty Laundry used McCalls 5658 to make this stunner. I love the flower detail on the shoulder.
Middle: Isn't this dress gorgeous! The Real Astrogirl used Butterick 5209 and some batik fabric to make this dress. She even installed the zipper by hand!
Right: What a lucky lady! Her mom, Meg, made this cheery yellow dress for her using the Oliver + S birthday party dress pattern.

More summer dress inspiration tomorrow!

Summer dress week - next week!

This is just a reminder that summer dress week is next week! If you haven't already, please place any pictures of summer dresses you've made in the Summer Dress Sewalong flickr pool. Remember also that you can put pictures of summer dresses in the pool at anytime after next week. I hope it will serve as a great, one-stop source for summer dress inspiration. It has already inspired me! More about that later...

Fabric Scrap Giveaway - Winner!

Wow, where did the past week go? I think I realized at the beginning of the week that my wedding is only a few months away and it's just been wedding, wedding, wedding around here. It's been fun stuff though but I have neglected this space as a result.

First off, I can't believe how many people want scraps! I am going to have to do more scrap giveaways in the future, now that I know they have happy homes to go to. Thank you to everyone who entered. You all had great suggestions! Read through the comments from the last post if you ever need any ideas on what do with those ol' scraps.

Without further ado, the winner of the fabric scrap giveaway is Artsy Momma who said "I am making linen bags for my daughters toys. I would use the scraps for the appliques." Congratulations Artsy Momma!