Monday, December 31, 2012

Winter Wedding: The Last Few Finishes of 2012

All marriages are made in heaven. But then, so are thunder and lightning. –Craig Clyde

My youngest brother got married a couple of weeks ago to a very lovely girl. I used my new iPhone to snap a few photos after the ceremony. Don't they make a beautiful couple?

As a side note, doesn't my new sister-in-law have the most beautifully perfect hourglass figure? I mean seriously. And that dress? Amazing.

When they got engaged, I started thinking of ideas for quilts. I wanted to use some Asian fabrics from my stash, but it just wasn't working, so I decided to make something using Ellen's favorite colors, pink and green. I wanted to have at least the quilt top finished for her first shower and then get it quilted for her second shower, which was a week later. We kind of got snowed in and I didn't make it to the first shower {never mind that the top wasn't finished} and I was out-of-town for the second shower {top still not finished}. Then my plan was to finish it in time for the wedding. That didn't happen either.

You see, my brother and his then fiancée wanted all of their family members to dress in their wedding colors, honeydew melon green, robin's egg blue and grey. I knew I would never be able to find such springy colors in the dead of winter without much difficulty. The easiest course, or so I thought, was to make skirts and blouses for LadyBug and me. As the wedding got closer, I realized that I wasn't going to have time to finish everything while still maintaining my sanity. I re-evaluated what I could do and I decided that I'd finish the quilt and just make blouses for LadyBug and me. We could wear black skirts we already had. They were close enough. And then, with only three days until the wedding, the borders to finish quilting, the binding to put on, and not even a start on the blouses, I decided that LadyBug could wear a dress that she already had {which she was totally OK with; she's not that into new clothes and especially not anything that is girly or fancy}, the quilt could wait and I was going to make a blouse for myself to wear to the wedding.

It was probably a little bit of a selfish decision to make myself a blouse and not finish the quilt for the bride and groom, but when my youngest sister got married, I made vests for all the little boys and dresses for my sister and sister-in-law, but not for myself because I ran out of time. I felt out of place and kind of bad that I wasn't wearing something fun and new in the right colors and I didn't want to feel that way again.

If the blouse {and my hair} looks like I had a nap in it, it was because I did. I was up until 3:30 am the night/morning before the wedding, and up by 5:00 am to make it there on time. Apparently, people took bets on whether I'd be late. In spite of the snow, I made it with plenty of time to spare and even a few minutes before one of my sisters. Between the wedding luncheon and call time for photos before the reception, I had a nap {and a migraine :rolling eyes:} on my mom's couch.

I used a blouse that I've had for several years as a pattern. I've always loved the fit of it, but not particularly the print, so when it frayed at a couple of the seams I decided I could live with cutting it up to make a pattern from it. I love how it turned out {I didn't even make a muslin; as a matter of fact, I'd never heard of making a muslin until I started blogging. I always just measure the person really carefully and then alter the pattern to fit the measurements} and plan on making at least one more top using this pattern.

More fun with the iPhone camera. I love those shoes I'm wearing. If you've ever read The Wizard of Oz, you'll know that Dorothy's shoes are silver {and not ruby}, and my silver shoes feel a little bit magical.

I finally finished the quilt for my brother and his wife last night. I love how it turned out. Please ignore the man behind the quilt. The snow was over a foot deep and I didn't really feel like trudging through it to get to my favorite fence for quilt photographing.

Here's a close-up of the quilting I did in the nine-patches. I used a design from the book 501 Quilting Motifs, which Mr. Bug got me for Christmas and which might have fallen open accidentally after it arrived in the mail and before it made it to the secret present stash.

I think my favorite part is the cat's eye pattern in the sashing. It came out rather nicely, if I do say so myself.

As usual, I did an embroidered tag, half of which I have to blank out so as not to give away too much information and get my identity stolen.

I'll drop this in the mail as soon as the post office opens on Wednesday. I'm so glad to have it finished and on its way.

Today's post brought to you by:
My 2012 Finishes

8 comments:

Barb said...

She was a beautiful bride. Love the blouse you made and quilt!

Impera Magna said...

What a lovely quilt and the quilting is fab! I'll have to check out that book... thanks for the tip!

Your blouse looks great and you look wonderful in it too! Great photos of the gorgeous bride and your family!

I too have been up all night trying to finish stuff... God bless you! Hope you've caught up on your rest!!!

Happy new year!

Paulette said...

Hooray for getting the quilt done! It is wonderful and in the perfect colors. Nice job on the blouse too! Love the family photos. Wow, the bride and her gown are stunning.

mom said...

Not to mention that stunning young man next to the beautiful bride! He is pretty good looking too if I do say say so self. The quilt is wonderful and great to have done! just a little side note, I finally finished,rapped and gave my friend that quilt hanging for christmas that you quilted for me last spring.(must run in the family) she loved it along with all the stories behind it. I love the pictures you took! what more can I say? You are always busy and always do a beautiful job!

Shay said...

The bride looks beautiful and so do you! Your top is lovely and that colour really suits you.

Great finish with the quilt. It looks fabulous. I love the idea of a wedding quilt that a couple can start married life off with.

regan said...

Your blouse is beautiful! And the quilt you made is fantastic! I'm sure they will treasure it!

I have to say.....I'm so glad to see a beautiful bride with some modesty in her dress choice! She looks stunning in it! I'm truly saddened to see these wedding dress shows where every bride is showing WAY too much! Everything is bare shoulders, tons of cleavage, and they usually look like tramps!

Your new sister-in-law is a lovely and tasteful girl! Blessings to the new couple!

Jean C. said...

The quilt turned out wonderful... and so did your lovely blouse. Too funny about the people taking bets on whether you would be late or not... we also have several in our extended and our own family that tend to have those problems.... good for you on showing them up! LoL...
It's hard sometimes... to get everything done we want to do... the list gets pretty long sometimes.
Hang in there... I've got like 5 wedding presents to finish up... for people who go married this past year! You do know of course that Miss Manners (whomever that is...) says we have up until a year after the wedding to get a present to the couple and it's not late! With that said... I need to get to work! LoL

Bente-I like to QuiltBlog said...

Beautiful couple, beautiful quilt and you looks beautiful too. Lovely pictures, thanks for sharing.
Fantastic how you managed it all in such a shot time.