Indulgence - Friday Fave Five Version

Man, what a great day!!!  What a great week!  If you don't regularly follow my blog (welcome FFFers!), check out the two or so posts previous to this one...if you're not smiling by the end, you need a hug!

On with it!

1. I can't believe it was earlier this week, but Mom was here! She helped me get a lot of wedding work done, and was in town especially for my shower...

2. ...which is number 2 because I had 2 showers this week!!  One was a complete and utter surprise!  My coworkers, Lisa and Maryrita, organized the office (mostly boys, so this was a feat!) and had them turn the August birthday party into a birthday party/shower!  I was completely caught off guard!  The first shower was on Saturday, which was also amazing...you can see the rundown here.  Suffice it to say, I have some pretty covetously awesome friends and family.  You should be jealous.

3.  Indulgence!

At lunch I ran out and got MOTU and my marriage license!  That's right folks, the state of VT is letting us get hitched just 4 weeks from tomorrow!  And wouldn't you know it, but between the library (where I'm working today) and the town clerk, there was a quilt shop!  If that's not divine inspiration, I don't know what is!  They had all their fall fabrics out in front, just waiting for me to rub up on them and hold them in stink-eye-inducing ways.  The four on the right are for the tables at the wedding...I'm going to cut them into 18x18 blocks and hem them, so now I don't need to collect leaves for that.  I still need leaves for the flower girl to throw though.  The one on the left is for the wedding rings quilt I'll eventually make from all the fabrics people gave at the shower. I got enough to make a border, to tie the whole thing together (it's going to be VERY colorful...)  After the wedding, the 18x18 blocks will magically turn into napkins.

4. How could it get better than that?  It's just a glorious day out.  I went to a deli in town and got a freshly made sandwich with good quality meats and local veggies on it.  I sat outside the library and soaked up the sun until I had to resign myself to coming back in to work.  It's maybe low 70s out, not a cloud in the sky (except the pretty white puffy ones but those don't count), and I'm in small-town VT.  It is a damn good day.

5. Foreshadowing: tomorrow I'm going to get my hair and makeup trial done for the wedding, then we're meeting up with some friends at the fair.  Then, we're having a second engagement shoot done, at the fair!  I cannot express how much I'm looking forward to that!  MOTU has been tolerant of this whole thing, and I know he'll do his best to grin and bear it like last time.

What the heck, it's been such a good week, let's throw in an extra:

I finished and shipped out two quilts this week, got all my thank you notes for Saturday's shower done and sent, and had my first etsy sale! Nothing can stop me today!  Nothing!

Another Send Off

It's been a particularly busy week...I can't believe my mom was here 2 days ago lol.  Last night I had a meeting for work at 1030 at night, so I needed to keep myself occupied until it started.  I put the finishing touches on the surprise quilt (which I've posted below, since I'm fairly certain momma has better things to be doing right now than reading my little ol' blog), then tried my hand at making bibs (MOTU's coworker's wife just had their first baby - a boy). 

This was SO much more fun than I expected!  I'm finding myself actually putting in the effort of pinning and marking stuff now...and it's really paying off!  See how straight those lines are! 

I bound it with this blue stuff I had lying around, cut on the bias (the second time I've ever done that...first was on the surprise quilt below).  It really is pretty stretchy that way.  I think it turned out pretty well!  Just need to put on some velcro and this one is done!

The other side.  I've got one more of this fabric, then two of this adorable dinosaur stuff I found as well. Though I also have some green terry cloth that I'm debating using as the back (or front) for those, so maybe I'll end up with 6.  Bibs are a great way to use up my batting scraps stash...that was getting out of hand.  It's also a great way to use up the flannel I can't resist buying...it's so cute!!!

The big reveal!  This quilt was a lot of firsts for me...first time I'd done letters, first time I doodled a pattern on the quilt then followed it, free-motion, first time cutting fabric on the bias (did not go well the first attempt...I have a 2.5 inch wide Charlie Brown strip now...), first square quilt (ok that's not as big a deal, but still). 

Here's the back...you can't really see the quilting, but it's there.  I did a flower in two squares, a heart in two squares, and outlined the letters in three squares.  The other two I left empty.

Here it is all boxed up and ready to go!

*sigh* I always feel like I'm sending a piece of me when I put these things in boxes.  Am I the only one who aches a little every time a quilt leaves home?  It's even worse if you don't get to see any sign of whether or not the recipient even got it (let alone if they like it)...it's like a lack of closure.  I guess that's better than finding out that all your time and love and effort was wasted on something the person never even uses...I won't specify, but I'm pretty sure at least one of mine is in someone's closet somewhere, on a stack of "too many blankets".  Ouch.  Won't pretend that doesn't hurt a little.

Anyway, moving on.  I posted this quilt on Etsy as well...well, not this specific one, but a custom one.  I'm sure no one reading this (since most of you are quilters yourselves) has any need for it, but it's up there.  It was so quick and fun, I think I could get one or two done before the wedding if they were ordered.

Oh!  In completely other news, once again I was blindsided yesterday by how crazy awesome my friends, family, and coworkers are!  The two wonderful women I work most with banded the office together (keep in mind that I work in the tech industry, so this is mostly guys we're talking about here) to throw me a SURPRISE bridal shower at work!!!  I had no idea!  They caught me completely off-guard - I almost worked from home yesterday, even!  They got a bunch of lovely things for us, including a picture frame I've been coveting from afar for a while.

I cannot express (which makes thank you notes hard) how completely awe-struck I am at the uninhibited outpouring of love and support MOTU and I have been experiencing.  I had no idea I'd made enough of an impact on people for them to band together like this and be so unrelentingly positive.  It's really beautiful.  This wedding has taken on a life of its own, and it has definitely had some stressful moments, but overall, I am SO excited to spend the day embraced and surrounded by people who genuinely care for us and genuinely want us to succeed.  It is just amazing and wonderful to feel so completely loved.  I have never been so at peace, so content, and so filled with joy, even during the most mundane moments of my days, as I have been the past week or so, and will continue to be knowing these wonderful people are in our life. 

I almost forgot!  I got the stamp for the programs, so here's what the covers look like now (well, 20 or so of them...I still have about 80 or so to put the leaves on).  

The stamp came from this lovely Etsian, who was extremely responsive and very quick with her work and the shipping.  Soon I should have pictures of our napkin rings, and when I do I'll post a link to that shop as well.

I hope everyone's feeling at least a fraction of the love and happiness I'm feeling today! 

Shh Don't Tell!

Last night I made my first attempt at making letter blocks for a baby quilt for a dear friend who's having a girl next month.  From that, if his wife reads this (I don't think she does), she'll know who it is...so if you know who you are, knock it off and go read something else!  :-D

Anyway, a sneak peek is all I'll give until it's safely in the arms of its owner to be:

I have to say, I have simply LOVED putting this quilt together.  Maybe it's the softness of the flannels.  Maybe it's the genuine joy and "you SO deserve this"ness I feel towards the new parents.  Maybe it's the pinks, maybe it's the little hands, maybe it's just because it's a nice quilt.  But regardless, there's just such a good soul to this one.  (Am I the only one who thinks quilts have souls?  Maybe I'll expand on this tomorrow.) I keep getting images of momma and baby in a rocking chair, and that little girl is just SO loved.  I think the love you put into a quilt magnifies it and gets passed on to the recipient, even if they don't recognize it as such.  I adore this little girl's parents so much, I keep getting giddy at the thought of them raising a child...they are just such *good* people, just genuinely, to the core GOOD people - and that's a rare find anymore. 

Anyway, enough.  I'll show the rest in a week or two when it's safely at its new home.