Design Presents Monday

So currently my mom is living in my sewing room - anyone else, and I'd be getting twitchy about them touching stuff they shouldn't, but she knows better...she's a quilter too.  As such, my design wall is technically empty, but its future is bright.  You see, what I mentioned yesterday is this:

 With the invitation to my bridal shower (which was Saturday), my "aunt" Pat sent out instructions asking for each person to write a favorite story or memory with me, and to select a fat quarter of fabric that goes with the story.  Some people sent back multiple fabrics, some sent more than a fat quarter, and my grandmother, bless her heart, taught herself to print pictures onto fabric and MADE her own fabric out of a picture of us from Mardi Gras two years ago!  I am so blessed!!

My next project, once the wedding/Christmas chaos has settled down, will be to make a wedding ring quilt from all this beautiful fabric.  I haven't even let myself touch it yet, it's so tempting.  I'm still just awestruck that they all did this for me!

 This is the book - I had to sift through the pile of presents to get a picture of it, so pictures of the inside will come later. It's a scrapbook of all the stories, pictures people sent in with the stories, pictures of the fabric, and various other little embellishments Pat added along the way.  I was completely floored and read it with my jaw on the floor the whole time.  It was just incredible.

 To make things even more special, my mom MADE me a garter!  Not just that, but she made it so that it could be used, sometime about 50 years from now, for a headband for our future babies!  She said it counts as "something borrowed" because I'm borrowing it from my future daughter.  Didn't I tell you my mom was amazing?

 Last night, Kini just made herself right at home on "her" quilt.  She didn't seem to think there would be legs under there, so she just jumped right up like it wasn't a thing. 

 She got progressively more comfortable as the night went on.

Until finally, she was just dead to the world.

Grisgris slept in "his" bed with MOTU's great aunt Margaret, who was a nun for many years and has actually probably never shared a bed with a man until Saturday night.  What a charmer, that kitty o' mine.  Sorry Jen, he's a ladies' man, what can I say?

In other news, Mom has been slaving away in the sweat shop with me all weekend, and we got ALL the ceremony programs into a steady state yesterday!  Every last one is assembled and tied, and has the name/date stamp on top.  I still have about 95 to put the leaves on, but if I had to get married tomorrow the date would be wrong, but the programs would look ok otherwise.  :-)

Also, for those of you who are coming here via Design Wall Monday (thanks, Judy!), I had my first Etsy sale last night!  Now, I really need to get cracking on a logo and some branding (maybe even a "made by" stamp for good measure).  I've changed the store name to Tex|Everlasting because I think it looks cooler than Tex, Everlasting lol.  I'm hoping to have some kind of business card (or as Mom suggested, a bookmark) to send along with products soon...but I really need a logo.  Maybe I'll make something out of this:

****UPDATE****
One more reason why my mom ROCKS!!!  (Mai, if you're reading this, stop here!)

I left my mom at home on a rainy day with the sewing machine that was once hers but is now mine, a quilted, squared-off quilt, and a  pile of binding about a mile long.  She did what any natural-born quilter would do...she bound it for me!

This is Mai's Ugly Quilt (to go along with Mai's Ugly Mug, which I painted for her as part of our reward for her reaching her 3-month goals a couple years ago).  Mai was the high schooler I mentored last year, and IS the mature, outstanding young woman who's now leaving for college on SATURDAY!  Time flies!  So this is finished just in time for me to label, wash, and send off with her for her first ever night away from her parents!  Mai, if you're still reading this, a) shame on you and b) I am so unbelievably proud of you!