A Wonderful Time Was Had by All!

A week ago today in the afternoon, my friend, Debbie, hosted a kitchen shower for Catherine. Debbie prepared a lovely 3-course tea which everyone enjoyed so much that the afternoon almost slipped away before any gifts were opened!

The first course included tiny fritattas, delicious chicken salad tea sandwiches with smoked almonds, and cucumber rounds dotted with smoked salmon.

Then Debbie spoiled us with scones that were served with clotted cream, and a choice of lemon curd or strawberry jam.

If that weren't decadent enough, the final course was Swedish cream accompanied by a choice of orange cinnamon biscotti, Russian tea cakes and chocolate truffles.

She also, of course, served several kinds of tea, including one that she found in the International District of Seattle that "bloomed" into something that looked like a flower and was an herbal tea.

A little "spice" was added to the afternoon with two games. First, everyone guessed the total years of marriage represented by the guests. Ranging from 0 (Debbie's 8 year old daughter) to 56 years, the grand total was 345 years! Then Debbie passed around a dozen mysterious baggies of "white stuff" that is used in the kitchen. Oh my, it's a good thing that jars and boxes have labels on them. Interestingly, the guest who won that little challenge with a score of 8 was formerly a medical technologist!

Only then did Catherine get to open her gifts. She received some lovely things, including each guest's favorite recipe. And just for fun, I gave her a paper chain with 34 links to rip off until the BIG day arrives. It should be bit shorter by now!

*The photos were taken by Brent's sister, Susan, and as a result missed having her picture taken. Thank you, Susan!

Better Late than Never!

While catching up with my blogging, I discovered this photo of Chloe, one of my grandnieces. Too much wedding, I guess. I was delighted to see that her mom captured several other moments at the wedding that we missed, including a picture of my sister (the MOB) and her hubby. If you're interested, you can check out Jill's blog. She has lots of other cute photos there of her two little ones.

I've been meaning to show this pattern and fabric which I received from last year's OPAM (See sidebar). Poor Kris had to send it twice which is why I am so late with the photo. Surely these items are among the most well-traveled objects in our house!

While we were gone, I received this award:


Thank you ,Charlene! It was sweet of you to think of me.
These are the rules I was given:

1. Thank the person who nominated you. √
2. Paste the award to your blog. √
3. Link to the person who nominated you. √
4. Tell 7 (6) unique things about yourself. √
5. Nominate 7 blogs and post links. √
6. Leave a comment on your nominated blogs to let them know. √

Seven Things You Might Not Know about Me:
1) I was born in Oklahoma, raised in Wisconsin, taught school in Colorado and California.
2) We have lived in this same house since 1977!
3) I love music and sing alto in our church choir.
4) I have way too many books and too much fabric and yarn.
5) I buy Girl Scout cookies every year.
6) I was an AmeriCorps member in 1994-95.
7) One of my grandmas lived to be 102!

In my blog travels, I have noticed that this award is making the rounds of cyberspace, so I am not going to nominate anyone. Rather, if you feel so inclined, accept it and fill us in on your secrets!

Look what we missed! And then found.....

Can you even believe it? Last weekend in both Chicago and Minneapolis, the weather was springlike. Today, one short week later, this is what Lake Sylvan looked like!

Jill and Michael sent us a few pictures this morning along with the snowy one and solved some of the missing persons problem: (This is a rare photo of Opa, our blog photographer.)

And here's our next bride with her reluctant "ringbear" and winsome flower girl. Keep your fingers crossed!

One Down, One to Go!

We've been looking through our wedding photos, trying to figure out who is missing. Here's proof that we made it to the church. Don't Leanne and Mike look happy? Our family is somewhat unusual in that the cousins have mostly kept to "family names" in choosing their spouses. This is the other Jill with our nephew Keith and their youngest. Here's their youngest again, all ready to go. Of Brian and Katie's family, Dick only caught Sydney, resting after her flower girl assignment. Sophia thought that chair looked like fun and sat in it for maybe 30 seconds. For one brief moment, David and Sophia stood together with Michael and Oma. Where are Jill and Daniel? Brent and Carl were at the wedding too, but this is the only photo we have of them. Where's Catherine? Does anyone recognize this guy? He showed up mysteriously at the reception. Rumor has it that he is traveling the country, promoting a certain choir concert that is happening in May. But where are Jane and Ted, the parents of the bride? Maybe all these missing people is why a professional photographer comes in handy, eh? And last but not least is why so many of the kids are missing. They were dancing the night away and as you can tell, having a blast! Sunday Sophia proclaimed: "More weddings. I want to DANCE." Soon, Sophia, very soon.

Wedding Cross Stitch Revealed

Four sleeves, one sock, and part of a shawl later, we are back home in Bellevue to find sunny skies and our camellias in bloom!

Would you believe we travelled in 2 cars all the way from Chicago to Minneapolis last Friday with our 3 little grandkids who, by the way, are wonderful travelers, their folks, and our son? Our younger daughter and her fiance flew in from Seattle, and it was a grand reunion, the first time we'd all been together since Christmas of 2007. "Through a Series of Unfortunate Events" as Lemony Snicket would say, however, we managed to arrive at the wedding on Saturday just as our niece and her now husband were saying their vows. (Car #2 witnessed the KISS.) Despite that glich we had a wonderful celebration. It was the first time that all of our kids and their cousins had seen each other since 2003 when Jill and Michael got married. And since that day in August, eight children have been added to our family!

A few posts ago, I shared a peek at our wedding gift for Leanne. The cross stitch, a Lizzie Kate pattern, is framed in a Sudbury tray. Hopefully it will remind them of the beginning of their long and happy marriage!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Christmas SAL and Knitting Update

Whew! I've finished two whole letters on my Christmas Sampler and only have 24 more to go. This is proving to be a more daunting project than I expected; all those close colors and tiny stitches are a real challenge to my aging eyeballs. Plus, I am reminded that I don't really like Aida cloth. Oh well, it will be pretty if it ever gets finished.....

Every week when Dick and I head into Seattle to volunteer at the UW hospital, I work on my "car" knitting and have finished quite a few dishcloths that way. The latest is the Citizen Kane pattern which can be found on Ravelry.

I also completed a different type of diagonal scarf and used up a ball of Moonlight Mohair from my stash.

We're in the process of packing for our trip to our niece's wedding, so I need to run. Happy crafting; we'll be back soon.

Let the Wedding Festivities Begin!

This past Sunday I attended a lovely shower given by our daughter's bridesmaids, so I can finally reveal some of my secret wedding projects. While walking with her to the shower, she asked me if I could please make a ringbearer pillow. Little did she know that the requested and completed pillow was in one of the boxes I was carrying. Tada! Here's the frontside with their initials. Except for the cording string and the golden rings, ALL the materials were in my stash!

And here's the back which is the Shaw plaid. Some while ago, Ele sent me the little bear which is perfect. David thought Catherine asked him to be "ring bear" and responded with a growl. Now that he knows he can't wear a bear costume, he's not so sure. Perhaps this little bear will help?

In my recent cleaning frenzy, I found the old (April 2004) issue of The Cross Stitcher magazine containing the purse pattern, located all the required parts, and decided to make a small wedding purse. Since I put in the very last stitch on the night before the shower, I added that project to the wrapping decor.

With CQ in mind, I finagled a small, make that tiny, piece of the wedding dress fabric to use on the back of the purse. Where is it, you say? Remember, I said tiny: It's the teeny, weeny triangle just above the "love " bead!

Meanwhile, here's what we're leaving behind as we travel to the snowy Midwest for our niece's wedding next week. As soon as we hear that her gift arrived safely, that photo will be shared.

Apparently our cats are noticing the heightened excitement at our house. At least Ginger has made it clear that she'd prefer a bit of attention too; Mocha merely growls, "Yeah!"