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!"

My Purse Came Home!

Just about a week ago the mailman brought my CQ purse back from its visit to Janet's house in Colorado. Oh my, what beautiful stitching she did! It was fun looking back at my "before" pictures because I couldn't remember how it looked and what I had done, so I will show both here. My next step is to sew the pieces together and line the whole thing. Another project!
My Stitching on the Front

With Janet's Additions

My Stitching on the Back

Janet's Additions

A great little shopping adventure with Sharon inspired me to put the finishing touches on Janet's purse, and she let me know that it arrived safely back at her house this week. It was really fun to finally meet Sharon, and besides boosting the economy with our visits to THREE stores, we enjoyed getting acquainted.
Janet's Purse

My Additions

This was a very fun swap, and it is really nice to see another person's stitching up close, especially Janet's as she's a pro!