The Marry Marry Month of May

So - June is supposed to be the big month for wedding, but we had two to attend in May! Both were special (aren't they all?), and lots of fun.  But it did add to our extremely busy month of May!

1. Casey & Beto's wedding (see below)

2. Evan & Natasha's wedding in Virginia

3. Memorial service in Minnesota for Scott's mom

4. Had our hardwood floors redone in 4 rooms, had to remove EVERYTHING from those rooms, to somewhere else in our very small house.  Lived in the basement bedroom for the duration. 

5. Our doggie got sick while we were in Virginia at wedding #2. 

Bridal shower for Casey - pretty blonde girl on the couch next to her blonde mom, Cindy.  Many years ago, when I had my first baby, I stayed home and did day care to help with the bills.  Casey was one of my charges - so she is very special to me.  I also had her as a piano student for many years.
Casey is a brilliant girl, and a good person.  After graduating from DePaul University, she served in the Peace Corps in Paraguay.  After that, she vacationed in Central and South America before returning to the states.  While in Panama, she met her love - Beto (Roberto). 

Casey coming down the aisle with her dad, Scott.  I love this picture.  Casey absolutely looked like a princess.

The happy couple!  The wedding was at a lovely restaurant and museum near here.  The rain moved the ceremony indoors, but they had a nice room in the museum and it was just such a sweet wedding - performed by her grandfather, and her uncle - both clergy.  Congratulations, Casey and Beto!

Grandma's Trousseau

I had some fun today, looking at my Grandma Johnson's wedding trousseau - which I am lucky enough to have. I've looked at these pieces before, but with my oldest daughter getting married in September, and another daughter newly engaged - these clothes carry special meaning.   

Here it is - her wedding dress.  Myrtle Grife married Richard Johnson on November 26, 1916, in Watertown, Minnesota. Wow - almost 100 years ago!

Lace detail at the neckline.  The pearl edging, as well as many other details, was all applied by hand. This lovely was handmade.

Cuff detail on the dress - satin ribbon hold the pleats in place. 

And this long gown, with embroidered trim? I think this is a nightgown.

Neckline detail on the nightgown.

Elegant underpinnings! Cotton petticoat, with eyelet and ribbon trim, and silk camisole.

This is a hand-crocheted man's necktie - and that it my grandparents' wedding picture in the background...and I do believe my grandfather is wearing the tie.

Here is the dress, complete with the satin cummerbund.
Grandma was a beautiful bride!

Clematis Garden Tour and One Alien

Oh no, another long gap with no blog post....time to play a little catch up, I guess!  I could play the "I've been busy" card, but I'd be preaching to the choir...who's NOT busy these days?  

So - no excuses, just get on with it - and try to post more frequently.

 Clematis #1, in my back yard near the patio.  Truthfully, our yard doesn't really have any 100% sunny areas, so I have to be creative with my gardening.  This clematis was just planted last year, so this is its first flowering.  I think they look like pink stars.

This used to be my favorite clematis - the classic deep purple variety that my mom used to grow - but it is just tiny and frail this year.  It seems to be having an "off" year, like so many sports teams.  But the sweet yellow (the leaves are yellow) iris are lovely! They were a gift from our dear neighbors, Peg and Jim, in memory of our first yellow lab, Maggie.  The iris variety is sweet and yellow, just like old Mags was. :)

Easily my most robust clematis plant, this one can be cut back and it still burst forth with vigorous growth.  This one has deep purple flowers, but it blooms later in the summer.  

And how about this stunner? First summer blooming for this beauty, too - a nice, pale lavender, adding some interest to my back fence.  I have to cross the back yard to see it, but those cutting through our alley (and many  neighbors to so) get to enjoy it daily.

We have quite a few alium or, as Scott likes to call them, "aliens", out front.  I am old enough to think of Sputnik when I see these 4-foot tall lovelies.  

Everything old is new again

Finished first project - but how did I end up here?
First, I started with two things:  a pile of antique dresden blocks, bought in Indianapolis about 30 years ago, and with a baby quilt I needed to make.
The mom-to-be has registered for all gray and white nursery items, very soft, and very modern.  But - I got the idea to use these blocks, because I bought them while visiting the mom's parents, years ago - when SHE was just a baby! And I know she would appreciate it.
I wanted to make a table topper first, and machine wash it, to make sure the old fabrics could take the wear and tear.  The quilt came out of the dryer looking great, no problems.

Check out these fun vintage fabrics! 

More fun fabrics, on a gray fabric - thinking of using gray and white fabrics with the dresden blocks, to suit the mom's color scheme.

I love all of those old fabrics, all colors, all together, looking great! But how to use both gray and white fabric? One for background, one for sashing? But then I saw the following quilt on timquilts.com (see his blog, here).  I love how he used black and a red polka dot fabric with his string pieced melon blocks, alternating every other one.  And the border, with those scalloped edges? A perfect finish! (Tim does beautiful work!)

I love that edging, but I don't think I will be adding that to my baby quilt.  I've got to finish this quilt in the next month or so!

Check out the frugal piecing of this seamstress! She used the tiniest scraps in her design! And such beautiful piecing and pressing, these blocks have passed the test of time.

It was hard choosing just 9 blocks for the baby quilt.  (More to come on the baby quilt later.) But first, I had to see if these old fabrics would hold up to wear and tear.  First, I hand washed the blocks in some quilt wash and cool water, air dried, and gave them all a good press.  Then I made my table topper, adding an appliqued center of hand-dyed green fabric.  

Another vintage touch - I used my grandma's china dish to cut my perfect circle shape. 

Finished table topper, before washing.

After washing and drying.

Finished table topper! Now - gotta get that baby quilt made!

QuiltCon - Austin, Texas

We just visited our daughter, Emily, in Austin, Texas (more on that later), and while there, we went to...QuiltCon!  Here are just a few pictures:

Modern Mojo by Linda Thielfoldt
Love all the negative space quilting on this one, beautifully done.

Ad Libbing by Linda Hungerford
The artist was describing her quilt, and pointed out that she used pale aqua thread rather than white for all of her amazing quilting.  Great idea.

Detail of Bauble by Emily Cier.  Great quilting on this also.

Lost in Translation by Victoria Findlay Wolfe.  

After the quilt show, Emily and I went shopping and happened upon all of these quilt-inspired garments in the upscale department at Nordstrom.  This one in particular looks like it could have been displayed at QuiltCon.

Notice the zigzag pattern on this dress.

This dress was not just inspired by pieced quilt designs - it was actually pieced! All of the details are pieced!

Round Robin Quilt - Christmas Angel

This quilt dates back to 1996 - almost 20 years ago!  My quilting bee group decided to do a round robin challenge.  Each of us started with a different center, of own choosing, and then passed the center block to the next person (5 of us, total), to add a border.  My center block was the appliqued angel - from a commercial pattern, sorry I do not remember the name of it - plus the narrow gold border and piano key border.

Sue added the first border - the wonky star blocks, with that fabulous swirly blue fabric.  The stars turned out to be a recurring theme, in each border.

Linda added the folk art applique border - also from a commercial pattern, which I have forgotten, sorry! Note the buttonhole stitch edging.

Barb added the 9-patch border - always love the basic 9-patch - and more stars fabric helps my angel to float!

Lori added log cabin blocks - and see, more star fabrics!

Finished quilt - I just echoed the narrow gold and piano key borders.  I love this quilt, and I am always happy when Christmas time rolls around, and I can display this quilt once again.

Round Robin Quilt - The Swing

It's Round Robin Quilts today!

My friend, Sujata, mentioned something about Round Robin quilts the other day, so I thought I would tell the story of a couple of my quilts.  This was a guild challenge, done in 1993 with my partner, Linda Brzykcy.  We were given a set of coordinated fabrics (the floral print, and the stripe - maybe one more, I honestly don't remember! It was 22 years ago, forgive me!
We had a size limit, but that was about the only rule. 

I created the center block, inspired by one of my children's books (see below).  The book features silhouettes, so I started with that - in black, and a black piping. I added lots of different fabrics to frame the center image, and a narrow black border.  

Then I passed the quilt to Linda, who added a 9-patch border, made of two different beige prints - which provided me the perfect backdrop for the floral applique.  One more black piping before the binding, and I was done.

Finished quilt.

My inspiration piece - my mom used to read to me out of this sweet book.

This poem is also a song - which my mom used to sing to me, and I used to sing to my girls, as I pushed them on our backyard swing.
Lots of nostalgia in this quilt project.