Shopping for wedding dresses…

Posted on by
Reply

I went to San Francisco last weekend to visit my friend, Amy. One of the things we did was to go shopping for ‘the dress’ with the daughter, Laura, of one of Amy’s long-time friends. I took my camera and shot nearly 300 photos. I didn’t really know any of the wedding party so I did my best (with limited success) to be quiet and just take photos.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

This place is full of one-of-a- kind runway dresses. It’s first come first served and Laura was the first bride of the day. She was given a little bag with 8 clips to mark the dresses she wanted to try on. It’s a good system.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

She let others in the party make some choices as well.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

(I took lots of photos with peoples faces but I’m not posting them because that is a choice to leave up to the bride.)

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

The dressing room began to fill, with a well-used dress form standing guard.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

I did my best to stay out of the shots but there were so very many mirrors! I didn’t exactly dress to fade into the background (what was I thinking?!)

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

All 8 dresses were lovely, but Laura did not find ‘the dress’. However, if she has as much fun looking for it as I did taking pictures, she is sure to enjoy the hunt!

FYI: Laura is an actress, stand-up comic, and she has some hilarious videos on youtube. Click here to find GinBlo Productions on youtube.

Show and tell…

Posted on by
5

Helen K. sent me an email, saying:

Several  years ago I took a class from you with the Feather Princesses in Tampa.  Since then, I have completed two of of your larger quilts, My Whimsical Garden and Tree of life.  It’s been so much fun working with your patterns and I plan to put both in our quilt show in February 2017.

Attached is My Whimsical Garden and I’ll send the other when I get the binding on.  It will be a wedding gift for my son.

helenklett-whimsical

Way to go, Helen! I’m looking forward to seeing your next quilt :-).

Removing chalk lines…

Posted on by
7

Lorraine D. emailed recently asking me how to remove the white chalk lines that she’d used to mark her quilting design. I don’t mark tops often and when I have, the lines are usually gone by the time I’ve finished quilting so this isn’t something that I’ve had to deal with in a long time.

I do know that trying to erase the lines can mar the fabric so I wouldn’t recommend that. Washing can work but isn’t always an option. I suggested shaking it out like a rug, as long as that wouldn’t hurt the quilt. What I could picture in my head was the chalk dust flying out of the quilt. (Hanging the quilt on a line and whacking it with a broom also came to mind but that seemed extreme.)

But Lorraine came up with a better idea:

As I couldn’t sleep one night, I thought of placing it in the dryer with several bath towels, on no heat. I now have an almost perfect quilt. 

That is a trick I’m going to remember!


I think it looks perfect as it is :-).

A quilter lives here!

Posted on by
3

Kim J. saw the “tea mailbox” in one of my recent posts and thought “maybe she would like to see mine”. Yes! I do want to see it and so do you!

mailbox-1

Kim says:

This was a collaboration with my husband.  He built the box, I drew the quilt blocks, painted/stenciled the roof and he did the painting.

Here’s the back:

mailbox2

My own mailbox obviously needs an upgrade :-).

Just for fun…

Posted on by
9

Someone in a recent class asked me about this video that I showed a long time ago in one of my lectures. This is our youngest son, Jeff, who was playing in a box as a freshman in college. It just goes to show that you are never too old to find fun in a box :-).

Show and Tell…

Posted on by
6

Karen de Glanville sent me a photo of her quilt and the story that goes with it. I think you will enjoy it just as she wrote it:

Some years ago when I visited the States (I live in the UK), I purchased your Anniversary Quilt pattern.  It sat in my drawer for quite a while as a pending project and then I forgot about it.

Back in February I looked on Pinterest for an oak leaf and acorn inspiration for a wall hanging to make as a wedding present for my niece and found just the thing.  When I attempted to track the pattern down, I realised it was one of yours and that I had purchased it all those years ago!

Below is a photograph of my finished result.  I have made the quilt in wool on a cotton background, with the happy couple’s names – Erin and Howard  – and the date – 20th August, 2016 – embroidered in linen in the centre with two entwined acorns above their names.

KarenDeGlanville-

A friend, Sandy Chandler, machine quilted oak leaves and acorns on it.  Her work is amazing and she recently won Best in Show at the UK Festival of Quilts.

I’m so grateful for your wonderful design.  It was so appropriate for this couple.  Howard is a tree surgeon with a company called Quercus and their marriage was blessed under an old oak tree.  They met in the Middle East, so the pomegranates are perfect.  Finally, the French word for acorn is gland, and our family name is de Glanville, derived from that word.  How amazing is all that?!

Kind regards and many thanks for all the pleasure this has given us in both the making and receiving.  Erin was totally overwhelmed.

Isn’t this a great story — and a beautiful quilt! Thank you, Karen, for sharing both. Happy stitching!