I love/hate my longarm

Well, I achieved all my goals for yesterday, and beyond. I got the quilt not only loaded, but 2/3 quilted. It was going along great when, for no apparent reason, the tension went wonkey. And, of course, I didn't notice until I advanced to the next row. So, now I'm going to have to do some ripping. Grrrrrr. I'm going to finish it up. but then leave it on the machine, and unroll it to the section that needs fixing. I'm hoping it is only small sections, in which case I can just take out the section that needs fixing, redo it, and bury the knots. If there is a lot to fix, though, I'll end up having to rip out the whole row. Once again, I say, grrrrrrr. Becca called a couple of days ago and said that their wedding photos would be ready for pick up today, so, I'll take Scott to work this afternoon, pick up Becca and go get them. We'll probably throw a mother/daughter dinner in there as well. Maybe take home dinner, so we can eat and look at the pictures at the same time. The photographer at the wedding was just fabulous, so I'm really excited to see these pictures. So, I'm off for a second cup of coffee, the good stuff I picked up yesterday, and some more work on this quilt.

A few wedding pictures

I've added in a few wedding pictures, but I have yet to figure out how to add comments beside each picture, so I'll have to list what each picture is here. The top left pic is myself and Susan. It was so wonderful to have her here to share the wedding and all the before and after with. Top right is my son, Noel, and his wife, Laurie. Second row, left is my son Noel, and my new son, Matt.  Second right is my daughter (in-law), Laurie. So, now I have 4 children. What an easy way to have kids, no labour pains, no terrible 2's, no teenage angst. Fully grown, wonderful people. Under the picture of Laurie is a picture of the table, showing the napkins that Becca and I made from the fabric left over from the bridesmaids dresses. The bottom picture on the right shows the bridesmaids during the ceremony. And the rest of the pics are of the glowing couple. It was a beautiful day, and worth every second of all the work that went into it.

The wedding is finished

The wedding is finished, and it was wonderful. It was a beautiful day, if a tad hot and humid. It rained for 5 minutes, and then stopped, although it looked a couple of times like it was going to pour down rain. But, lots of prayers and begging of the Lord, and it held off. Becca was a beautiful bride, and Matt a handsome groom. They were absolutely glowing! The ceremony and the dinner and the party afterwards went off with hardly a hitch, and everybody seemed to have a good time. Noel was assigned to the camcorder, and he documented almost the entire day. Scott, Susan, who arrived from the nether regions of Alberta last Tuesday, have watched it through twice, so far. There is so much on it that we weren't there to see. He basically followed Matt and Becca wherever they went, along with the photographers. He did such a fantastic job with it!  It was a good day, and I had a great time for the past 2 years planning it, but I'm glad it's done, and I can get back to my real life. I haven't had my hands on anything quilty in over a week, and I think I'm about to go into withdrawal, but I'm too tired to do anything about it. We're probably going to have to spend tomorrow restoring order out of chaos in the house, and then Susan and I, who is going to be here for another week, can get down to the serious business of some girl time, with, hopefully, some quilty stuff thrown in there. I have to be the proud Mama and throw in a pic of the gorgeous bride, and handsome groom. I'd add in more pics, but for some reason, I can't get any more to upload. But. I can guarantee that this proud Mama will be adding more as I get them.

Done, done, done

The dresses are done, 100% complete. See me doing a happy dance around the room. WOOHOO!!!!! The napkins are done, 80 of them. Becca helped, which is a really good thing. And I must confess to getting awfully tired of that particular shade of blue. But, they are so pretty. They look much better on, than hanging up, of course. The chair flowers are almost done. I would have gotten them finished yesterday, but I ran out of ribbon, and discovered that the new stuff I bought was the wrong size, so back to Michael's craft store I go today.  The alterations on my dress are done. And, other than packaging the fudge up for the favours, everything is done, with 2 weeks to spare. WOW. So, the only major thing we have left to do for this wedding, is figuring out timelines, and who is doing what and when. Oh, and I forgot the programs have yet to be done, printed and assembled,but Becca is doing those, so they don't really count on my to do list. Other than, I'll end up helping with the assembly. After this weekend, I'm officially on holidays for around 3 weeks, maybe more. And best of all, Susan arrives from the Edmonton area in 12 days. See me doing another happy dance around the room. A wedding and seeing my best friend all at the same time, ah, bliss. Becca has her last fitting this afternoon, at 2, so, I think I'm going to use the time before leaving to sew some more of OBW together. 4 rows done,  17 to go.

A lot happening

There's a lot happening here, and not much blogging going on. The bridesmaids dresses are done, except for hems on 2 of them. Yippee!!!!!!! What a relief!!!!! And 3 weeks to spare. However, Becca got this idea, and I confess it's a good one, to use the leftover fabric from the dresses, and there is a lot of it, to make decorative napkins for the tables. 80 of them, 14 inches square, all needing to be cut and hemmed, so they can be tucked into the wine glasses and give a lovely splash of colour on the tables. We got 22 of them done yesterday, 58 to go. Yikes. But, after this, the only sewing I have left to do is to alter my dress. I have to take up the shoulders in it. The hardest part of that is likely to be taking it apart, especially the lace part of it. The limo company needs the itinerary and timeline by the end of the week, which Becca and I will have to nail down while making napkins this afternoon. Nicole is coming this afternoon to be measured for her hem, and maybe we'll draft her to cut ribbon for the chair flower arrangements. The ladies at the church gave Rebecca a lovely shower last evening. I was astounded by the amount of love in the room, all directed at my daughter. WHile we were there, I got a chance to finally try out the flower arrangement that will be on the aisle chairs, and it works, so there are those to do. They are very simple, tho, so won't take long to do. But, sitting here typing is not getting any of this done, so, off I go to make another cup of coffee, and back to more napkins.

Bridal veil update

Becca and I went out today to buy the rest of the supplies to make her veil. So far, the fabric, an ivory organza, cost $5.95. The lace and the beaded trim to go around the edge, cost $8.95. So, total cost for her bridal veil so far is, wait for it.............. $14.90. I still have to get the comb that it attaches to. So, she'll get a veil, probably for under $25.00. The bridal store wanted $250.00. Something wrong with that picture. I have the lace pinned on already, but then had to leave to go to work. I'm hoping to get the lace sewn on tomorrow, at which time I'll post a pic. Her bridal shower is on May 1st, at which time I'll be able to post pictures of her wedding quilt, which I'll be giving her then. My son, Noel, and his wife, Laurie, are coming down for the day of the shower, and it will be so nice to see them have the whole family together again. The last time we saw them was for Noel's Grandma's funeral, so it will be nice to be together for a happy occasion. I also got the decorations for the chairs on the ends of the aisle, for the ceremony,  figured out, and I'll post a pic of those tomorrow too. The wedding  is getting so close, and getting really exciting. Seven weeks to the wedding. Six weeks until my dear friend and sister in the Lord, Susan arrives. She says she has to be here to keep me sane, although it is questionable whether I am sane now. (giggle). She has also promised to stop me from climbing the walls, and generally falling apart. And, if I do fall apart, she'll help pick up the pieces. I haven't seen her in almost 8 years. We talk all the time on facebook chat, but, it's not the same, although it's a whole lot better than the years of expensive long distance phone calls and waiting for "snail mail". We are "kindred spirits" and I miss her terribly. She'll be here a week before the wedding, and stay for 2 weeks after. YIPPEE!!! We can talk, and have tea, and sit in the yard, and sew and quilt, to our hearts' content. I wonder what it will be like to talk without the facebook chat timelag, and waiting to read what the other has written? I wonder if we'll run out of things to talk about? Probably not, since it hasn't happened yet, after 24 years, 18 of which, she has lived either in New Bruswick, or Alberta, after moving away from London. True friendship like this is a gift from God, to be cherished and for which to be thankful.

Growing to-do list

Well, I've officially added yet another task to my to-do list for this wedding. Becca and I went out to finalize the flower arrangements, and, while we were out, decided to use the time to get a few other things done. She had yet to decide what to do about a veil, so, off to the bridal shop we went. She has decided, after looking at the samples in the store, that she wants a short, single layer basic veil with a little bit of beading around the edge. The store, for this piece of tulle, probably less than a yard of fabric in it, has the audacity to want $250.00. For a piece of tulle that would, maybe, be $10.00 a yard. I nearly choked. I had gone in the store thinking, we may as well buy it, rather than me make it, since I'm already rather overloaded, but, there is no way on this earth I'm paying that. So, guess what else I'm doing. (sigh) Cutting it out, and gathering it onto the comb is a piece of cake. A little hand gathering, a little hand sewing, and that is done. It is the beading that she wants that will take the time. Ah, what a mother does......... I had already, almost a year ago now, gone out and bought a whole pile of different beads, at the time thinking that I would be making her dress myself. I must confess to being glad that she found, and bought her perfect dress. But, I still have all these beads. Looks like they will be getting used.

I found my dress!

I took the dress that I was making for myself for Rebecca's wedding out of the closet the other day, and tried it on. I had put it into the closet because I wanted to lose some more weight before finishing it. There was something about it I just wasn't happy with, so, since I have lost about 13 pounds, I decided that I would give dress shopping another try, before investing any more time into the dress I was making. So, off Becca and I went, and who would have thought those pounds would make such a big difference. It's hard to get a really good picture of it, but enough to at least get an idea. It isn't really revealing, and it certainly isn't mother-of-the-bride frumpy. I love it! the actual colour is a bit darker and bluer. In addition to finding my dress, we also found shoes and jewelry to go with it. Then, we found her hairpiece for going above her veil, and her jewelry, and then we found necklaces and earrings for gifts for the bridesmaids. Woohoo. All in all a good couple of days worth of shopping were had by mother and daughter. It was fun to spend that time with her, too. She's in her final month of school at college, and it has been a brutal year for her, with not a lot of time available for anything outside school work, so it was nice to have that time, even if she did have to steal it from school work she should have been doing. I feel a whole lot better, too, now that I know what I am wearing, and that part is done, and can be crossed off the to do list. Huge sigh of relief. And now, I'm off to get ready for work.

Small bites work

Well, after having the last 3 days off, it's back to work for the weekend. I managed to get a fair amount accomplished yesterday, lots of batiks cut up, and a couple of test runs done for the crazy curves. They weren't to bad to sew up. After doing wedding ring arcs, and the curves in Cactus Rose, these were pretty easy. I got 4 more blocks done for the endless chain, and 80 pieces for Kitchen sink. I think I like doing small bits of things for limited times. Maybe I have ADD and don't know it. (giggle) Somehow, it feels like I get more done that way. On a non-quilty note, the wedding invitations are all done, and after they put in the cards that say where they have registered, are ready to go in the mail. That was a huge job. We bought do it yourself kits from Michael's, and, although it was definitely a cost saving, it did take a huge chunk of time, but it was fun too. Nicole comes for her dress fitting tomorrow, so I can get it finished this week, I hope. So far, we are managing to get stuff done with enough time to spare to prevent feeling panicked. Hopefully, it can stay that way. Anyway, time to go play for awhile before going to work.

Brutal week

That was a brutal week. Our hospital, which looks after veterans from WW2 and Korea, is probably going to be shutting down one of its units, since there aren't a whole lot of WW2 vets left. Consequently, I am trying to pick up as many shifts as I can before the shutdown happens, since I don't know how many will be available afterwards. Working 6 out of 8 days is way too hard on this old lady. But, with a wedding coming up, and retirement to save for,  I have to take what is available. There wasn't even a whole lot of quilting done on those days, although I got a fair bit done on Cactus Rose on Monday and Tuesday, my days off, while watching the olympics. All 4 of the centre blocks are done, and the applique started. Becca wants to go out later this afternoon to look at wedding invitations, and pick out the contrast fabric for the bridesmaids' dresses, so I'm hoping to get the last of my swap blocks done before that. She and Matt are out right now starting their registries, which should be a lot of fun for them. They got their engagement photos back yesterday. Aren't they the greatest? I know, biased Mama talking. (giggle). June 12th is coming up way too fast. (sigh)

Procrastination

I can't put it off any longer. I've managed to procrastinate today by, so far, shopping for fabric, sipping on lovely flavoured coffee, and taking a long, cold, foggy walk. And now, I'm putting it off by sitting here at the computer, flipping through blogs, and writing in my own. But, the time has come. I have to get out the patterns for the bridesmaids dresses for my daughters wedding. They are going to be lovely, but, of course, she doesn't want them as shown on the pattern. She wants all one piece instead of a shirt and top, and wants them knee length, rather than floor length. So, my task today is to alter the pattern, never my favourite task. (sigh) But, the good news is, that I have her wedding quilt finished, binding on and all stray thread ends knotted and sewn in. I'm doing a happy, happy dance. Best yet, there are still 5 1/2 months until the wedding on June 12, so I am way ahead of schedule. I've also been working, off and on, on the centre of my BOM. I have all the bias stems done and lightly fused to the background. However, I'm still stalling, so I'd better post and get at it.

To do, or not to do, making lists, that is

I have never been one to consistently make "to do" lists and then follow them. It somehow seems to block the free flow of creativity. Gee, that sounded good. Truth be told, I haven't got the self discipline to follow them. However, life is starting to get really nuts. Rebecca's wedding is in 6 months. During that time, I have 3 bridesmaids dresses to sew, after I significantly alter the pattern. Then there is my own dress to finish. Add to that working 6 to 7 shifts every 2 weeks at the hospital. Add to that doing clients quilts, not to mention finding time to have fun doing my own. I think I am going to have to find the will to make, and follow, some lists, or I'm going to end up in a huge panic. So, the question is, where to start? Daily lists, or weekly? How does it work? Maybe I'll start small, and try a list for today, and see what happens.
TO DO:
Sew buttons on Becca's coat
Best Buy store for phone
1/2 hour walk (that's what the phone is for. I'm scared of a slip and fall on the ice, and having no way to get help. Two friends of mine have done that, and broken bones in the past year)
Load Charlene's Postage Stamp Quilt
Finish Nov. Star block, and take picture, and post picture

Hmmmmmm, maybe that's enough for now. It will be interesting to see what is left at the end of the day