Bridal Stuff

One week ago Saturday, Lydia's friends came together for her bridal shower. We live in California without any relatives, but you wouldn't know it.

We had 60 sweet friends there!

From her work and mine...

by the way, this is little Zoe with her Mommy, Dawn!

From Jeffs' family...

from our church friends...






and friends that are like family.

Mrs. Ginny Bakan brought a lovely devotion on the making of a home, and her speech was seasoned with scripture, jokes, and gifts to go along with each point, and there were a lot of points! Two baskets full from Ginny! Carrie was playing "Vanna" for her Mom....

We were blessed by the whole day, thank you dear, dear peoples!

Lydia and Stephanie worked hard on this beautiful wreath, and Lydia has some smaller wreaths for table toppers. The flowers on this wreath are some of her felt flowers....


These are fabrics I'm using to make table runners for the big day. I completed 2 for the shower, but I still hope to get 2 or 3 more....

uh, forgive the clean clothes on the folding table...

And, finally a peek at the wedding dress. It has a finished bodice, and this is a picture of the bell sleeves, also attached! Up next, the neckline, then the skirt....

Happy Creativity, whatever it may be!
Love, Pokey

John Deere ...Pink!

~I think this is one of my favorite flowers~

These two twin quilts ~

were designed ~

~& made with love ~




~by me . . .

~for these two precious little girls!~

Big brother received a John Deere "Green" tractor quilt from me, so what's a quilter to do?!?

On The Wedding Front: Lydia's bridal shower is Saturday, we are on a schedule, girls...!

Happy Quilting!
Pokey

10/10/10, There's a Whole Lotta Projects Goin' On ~

Our daughter Lydia is getting married on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We have been working towards the preparations...somehow it seems the "to do" list is never ending. There is progress being made, but oh, so much to go!



She has made bracelets, earrings and necklaces for her bridesmaids; it is a joint effort to get the zipper bags done for each of them as the gift bag...




...also, she added pearls and pearl buttons to their sweaters they are wearing during the wedding. The bottom bracelet is hers, it's not done yet...but it is so pretty!


This week, she has been turning buttons into boutonnieres for the guys. She has her bouquets done....

These aren't finished. Do you see the little purple "light saber?" Jeff loves Star Wars...!


On Saturday, Larry cut the slits in the wedding announcements, yes we made those, too, my Larry is a graphic artist by trade! Lydia and her matron of honor punched snowflakes, threaded ribbon, folded, addressed and stamped envelopes-whew!- for about ten hours!

And "the dress" is still in this state as I write this:

Still more to do, and this one's on Momma's list. . .Oh, yeah. That's me.

Her bridal shower is on Saturday. One day at a time, right? Breathe deep. . . !

Hope your days are productive!
Blessings,
Pokey

Antique Quilts (That I Wish Were Mine!), and Binding

At quilt class Monday night, the teacher brought some of her quilts to show the different methods of binding, or finishing. These are beauties!

I especially liked the hexagon one, the maker placed black triangles at each point of the hexagon "flower", and it was a great design call.


The Double Wedding Ring was very creative in its design, too. Each solid color of the ring has an appearance in the print next to it. That took some planning!

I was sharing with friends my method of binding. Life is too short for me to do hand stitching. Come on, "Pokey" is a well earned name, I tell ya. :-}

Today was Little Zoe's first birthday. Here's some final pictures of her quilt, and the binding is machine finished.

Even at machine stitched, sewing the binding took about 3 hours to complete. I attach mine like you hand stitch-ers do, but I attach onto the back so that my finished top seams are spot on.

If it gets off a bit in the back, I'm okay. I'm pretty picky, so I make considerations on thread color and the contrast, but usually after the wash and draw up of the quilt it is all good. I only pin at the corners, because I want those neat mitered corners!

But, I've found if I don't pin the long sides I'm able to get my seams on the binding on the back by trying to match the seam line the bobbin shows. Is that clear?

You know, I deeply appreciate the fine hand stitching of others, it just isn't reality for me. I joke that if our ancestor quilting mothers had the wonderful sewing machines we have, we probably wouldn't see the quilting done by hand.

I know, I have friends in class that say I'd get marked down in competition, but hey, most of my work is love driven, not competitive. BTW, I have won two blue ribbons and a third place in county fairs, in machine quilting...just saying it is possible....
Now, I'm only sharing this for those of you who want to try, I am not criticizing anyone else's practices! I find it a joy to sew, but I always have. I hope you keep creating and enjoying it, too.

Oh, and I'm happy to add, the "Our America" quilt raised $275 at auction! Amen!!

Happy Quilting!
Pokey