Organic Cotton Fabrics

Here is a link to an interview with my friend, Harmony. She is the founder of Harmony Arts, and she designs organic cotton prints. I am lucky to live near Harmony, and let me tell you, a visit to her storage room is a real treat! She has huge bolts of beautiful fabrics there! Her fabric has such a nice hand--she has several different types of fabric, including some knits, which are great for baby clothes. So check out her website, and this most interesting interview with her.

Above is one of Harmony's designs, called Whispering Grass.

Check out the interview here:

http://shereesalchemy.typepad.com/sherees_alchemy/2009/09/sewing-with-harmony.html

Wonky House Quilt Block

I call this my "Wonky (yes, that's a technical term) House" square. I made it for a President's Quilt. Each president of our Guild gets to choose a special/favorite block. Then as many members as choose to, make her one or more blocks to the specifications. Some people choose a specific pattern and request certain colors. Some people choose a specific fabric. Some people only give suggestions! This square is for my friend Barbara. She simply gave us a good-sized swatch of fabric and said to do whatever we wanted, as long as it finished 11 1/2 inches square. She offered rust-colored fabric and bright blue fabric. I chose the rust-colored, but had no idea what to do with it. Thought I might do a crazy square. But if she decided to use this quilt, and not just hang it, a crazy patch isn't usually very washable.

But I remembered this "wonky house" that I'd seen in Quiltmaker Magazine (#126, March/April 09). I used the rust fabric for the house. It's a fun square to make, because there is no pattern! You just cut strips and make it all up as you go. I think I'd like to make a whole quilt like this.

After I had the house/grass/sky section made, I wanted to use some more of the rust fabric. So I decided to add some fall foliage trees next to the house. I had this great wood-grained fabric, and just put together some of the smaller rust pieces with some green ones for the tree's leaves. I added a watering can button for the flowers, another button for the doorknob, and some embroidered smoke coming out of the wonky chimney. The last step was to embroider my name on the square.

Not sure if Quiltmaker has this pattern available online, but if you're interested, let me know.

Flower Girl Dress

This is BabyStitches's flowergirl dress for SonStitches's wedding. The dress was bought, then I added the colored fabric to the sash as you see on the right. The color of the fabric is the same color as the bridesmaids' dresses. The cute little flower on the sash was just pinned on like a brooch, so it was easy to remove and sew back on.

This shows the back of the dress, with the bow tied.

And here is BabyStitches wearing her dress, and looking very serious. I'd like to have a photo of her standing, but will have to wait for someone else to send it to me!

I must confess that I needed two tries to get this simple thing right! The photo below shows that my handstitching wasn't very neat. The back looked even worse, with large, uneven, unsightly, maroon stitches marching in two lines down the length of the ties!

So I ripped out my stitches (oh joy) and redid the sash, a lot more carefully this time. As you can see in this last photo, it looks a lot smoother from the front, and the stitches don't show very much in the back. MissesStitches was a lot happier!

Good Show!

Well, this was a first. I was at the Giants game last week, and during the 7th inning stretch we all (of course) stood up to sing Take Me Out To The Ballgame. There is usually some more music played after that song, and since my kids weren't with me (they embarrass easily!), I felt free to continue dancing until the music stopped. When I sat down I heard from a few rows back, "Good show!" I turned around and saw that he was talking to me! So I said thanks, and "I'll be here all week." Well, what do you think of that, KidsStitches. Someone actually complimented your mom's dancing! (Or maybe he was just highly amused. That's a definite possibility.) Hey, I'll take what I can get!

The wedding, September 5, 2009

Here is a photo (finally) from the wedding. It was taken on the steps in front of the cathedral. Oh look! I just noticed that you can see part of Katie's train behind everyone on the right side of the photo! Her train was nice and long--very beautiful, and her veil was the same length.

Anyway, on the left is beautiful DaughterStitches, then me (MissesStitches) and MisterStitches, then the bride and groom, SonStitches and DILStitches, DIL's wonderful parents, and DIL's beautiful twin sisters.

The ceremony in the Episcopal cathedral was beautiful, with so many good friends attending, as well as most of our families. (Poor NieceStitches was busy saving lives as a nurse, so she couldn't come, sadly.) It means so much to me when friends and family come together for a celebration like this. People really do go to a lot of trouble and expense to attend, and I appreciate that.

And the reception was so much fun! I didn't know that I still had enough energy to dance so much! (My body complained loudly the next two days.) Dancing is so much fun, though. We had a big group of people on the dance floor, all dancing together. Little BabyStitches did her share of dancing, too. She was the flower girl, and enjoyed herself quite a bit that night.

More photos to come.....

Mr and Mrs SonStitches

I am so very, very happy. SonStitches got married on Saturday, so now I have a brand new daughter-in-lawStitches! I love DILStitches so much, and have been waiting for this day for a long time. The wedding was beautiful, in Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, and the reception afterward was so much fun. Weddings are always such a good time to see family and friends, who come into town for the occasion. DaughterStitches was a maid of honor, SILStitches was a groomsman, and BabyStitches was the flower girl. It looks really strange to see my son with a ring on his hand! Both our kids are married now, both to wonderful people. We couldn't ask for more. Really.

When I get some photos, you can bet I'll be showing a few off here. Check back later.

Wedding!

I am so happy to be telling you that tomorrow my dear SonStitches is getting married. I don't usually talk about personal, family things on this blog, but the wedding has been very big in my mind, especially the last two weeks.

This is one of the projects that I've been working on for the wedding: ring bearer pillows. There are two ring bearers, and I offered to make the pillows (I'd made the pillow for DaughterStitches's wedding a few years ago). The wine/burgundy color matches pretty well the bridesmaids' dresses.

Our granddaughter, BabyStitches, is going to be the flower girl. I've added some wine colored trim to her little white dress, and made a headband for her to (hopefully) wear during the ceremony (unless she pulls it off)! Photos to follow, I promise.

There have been some more craft projects that I've been working on for the wedding, too, and I will share them with you later.

Family started arriving yesterday, a lot more today, and I can't wait to see everyone!

Suffice it to say for now, that I am very excited about the wedding, and I'm so happy that SonStitches is marrying KatieStitches. She is a wonderful woman, and I love her dearly.