Oh, it is so good to be back here!  It was difficult to leave Instagram, but now that I have, I feel peaceful and content with that decision.  

Here we are four days from Christmas and I am no where near to being ready...I hope to decorate our tree tonight, I did manage to get three types of Christmas cookies made (nothing fancy!) as well as some Oreo Cookie Bark, some orange slices were dried, and almost all my Christmas cards are mailed.  Maybe someday I will be one of those organized people who mail theirs out right after Thanksgiving.

I did fit in some knitting for my new granddaughter Aurora ~ the Small and Clever hat and mittens from Pickles.  They actually knit up very quickly and are perfect for this holiday season.  Soon I will post a picture of the sweater I knit for her also.

Just a quick post here as now I must get decorating that tree!

Take care,

Deb

making a wedding

This past summer our daughter was married and, since someone asked me to share more about the wedding,

and, since some of you might have an interest in some of the details

as well,

I am sharing a bit about it here today.

All the beautiful photographs were taken by Lydia Maybee Photography.

Welcome sign hand-lettered and painted by the bride.

It was decided early on that this would be a very hands-on affair, as in the bride had a lot of ideas for decorating, etc. that we could make and do ourselves.

The setting was a beautiful old barn that is now a venue for weddings and receptions.  

Pom pom garlands were made with lots of help from the bridesmaids, friends, and family on both sides.  A good tutorial can be found here.

They made a lovely back-drop for the wedding ceremony.

The loft railing was decorated with a bunting I sewed using fabric scraps...

The bride and her attendants made all the bouquets and boutonnieres as well.

Flowers were sourced locally and many were ordered from Blooms By The Box.

I really loved watching all the girls as they carefully put together their bouquets the day before.

Some old sap buckets were painted, filled with roses and baby's breath, and placed at the end of the rows of chairs...

Of course this special Golden was part of the big day, bow-tie and all.

My large supply of canning jars came in handy for the table arrangements,

lace-wrapped and filled with flowers...

The father-of-the-bride cut log slices, which the bride numbered and glued together for the tables.

The Cake

Although I lost no small amount of sleep worrying about making this wedding cake, I am happy to say that I DID IT!!  

{Right after assembling the layers and receiving some much appreciated help with the decorating, I breathed a huge sigh of relief. Then I found out that, in my haste to get said cake layers to the venue, I had forgotten my bag packed with my dress and shoes to change into.  As guests were arriving, I was frantically driving home to change my clothes...}

At the bride's request, the bottom tier was chocolate and the top two tiers were vanilla--for the vanilla layers I used the Basic 3-Layer Yellow Cake recipe from Simple Bites; the chocolate cake recipe is from Alice Water's The Art of Simple Food.  Both these recipes are delicious, and I appreciated that they were simple to put together.  All the layers were filled with homemade chocolate ganache and raspberry filling.  Because the cake was to be under a tent on a sunny, 80-some-degrees day, I chose this Crusting No-Melt Vanilla Buttercream.  It uses a combination of butter and shortening--I never use shortening--but when I found some non-hydrogenated, organic all vegetable shortening at the store, I decided to give it a try.  I ended up very happy with this recipe, which held up perfectly.  

The world-traveling couple fittingly chose a globe for their guests to sign.

Succulent favors also served as table assignments for the guests.  I was able to order these on Etsy from SucculentPartyFavors.  Shipped all the way from California to the east coast, they arrived intact!  We wrapped them with kraft paper, tied with twine, and added flags that had each guest's name and table number typed on using my vintage typewriter.

The bride made a CARDS banner and used a decorated, vintage wicker hamper to hold wedding cards on the gift table...

I am so thankful to have been a small part of making their wedding day special.

Over the Fourth...

It was a good July Fourth weekend here with great weather.  We had a wonderful dinner with the kids and then headed down to the lake to enjoy the sunset.  There just happened to be a sailboat race taking place, which {along with the swimming geese} made the view especially picturesque.

One morning we got up and decided to take a bike ride along the canal towpath.  

I really miss having my own yard and gardens!, but being a renter has given us a little more time for recreation--and Mother Nature can be counted on to make some beautiful wildflower gardens...

I took advantage of some Joann Fabric sales combined with coupons and bought some fabrics for a coverlet and pillows.  It has probably been well over 15 years since I made our current duvet cover out of some Ralph Lauren fabric, which I still love but felt it was time for something new.

I really like this double-faced, diamond quilted cotton, that puffed up so nicely after being washed and dried.

I also made a new dog bed cover, with enough fabric left over for a couple sofa cushions.

Our basement for the new house is still on hold, with a tentative date of July 20.  The inspection hole alternates between being filled with water and being almost empty, depending upon the rains.  According to the local weather, there were only two days in June without rain...we're hoping for a drier July!

Easter, rum cake, and sewing projects...

I hope your Easter was good.  A new tradition here is a holiday tablecloth that I started last year--everyone signs their name and maybe even adds a comment or drawing, which I later embroider.  I hadn't actually done any stitching however, so last week I pulled it out, selected a palette of embroidery flosses and got caught up.  Sunday we added a new section of memories and had fun looking back at what we wrote in 2014.

For our gathering, I made a ham dinner.  For dessert, I thought about making a lamb cake, but since the lamb mold is somewhere in storage limbo, I decided to try a rum cake instead.  I wanted it to be from scratch, and so I used this recipe for the vanilla pudding mix.  It turned out moist and delicious, and I'm enjoying the leftovers with a cup of tea.

This week I've pulled out the patchwork I pieced for the baby quilt, made a quilt sandwich with cotton batting and a blue & white dotted flannel backing, basted with pins, and started to quilt.

After going back and forth as to whether I should machine or hand quilt, I decided to hand quilt using perle cotton.  The larger stitches are going fairly quick, and I'm really enjoying that time in the evening when I can sit down and stitch away.

Some new bags for the Shop are also coming together; the latest

is this striped shoulder bag using an Indian-style striped blanket and recycled belts.

For today, a flour sack tote is in the works...so back to work,

Deb

Have a happy New Year!

Hope you are enjoying the Christmas Season. This year we hosted a simple Christmas Day brunch and dinner.  For brunch I tried out these bacon, egg & toast muffins, fresh fruit, and homemade panettone and cinnamon rolls.  The kids voted for lasagna, so a lasagna dinner it was, with meatballs, sausage, salad, and homemade bread. 

The only handmade gifts I managed were the French cross hat and a cowl; the details can be found on my Ravelry page here.  This last week I've started knitting a hat and scarf, and crocheting an infinity scarf.  Though we had a warm, green Christmas, the weather has turned very cold and snowy here--perfect knitting weather.

If the light cooperates I will be getting pictures of several new totes, drawstring pouches, and zipper pouches to add to the shop.  My goal is to also complete some recycled book cover journals.

Thank you to all of you who visit, encourage, and share...I hope your New Year is a happy and healthy one!  

Deb