Question Answered

Annelize asked about Grace's engagement ring.  The stone is a sapphire, chosen partly for its affordability, and partly because it's unusual.  I stole borrowed Grace's picture of it from her Facebook photos.

Another Bridal Shower

This past Saturday was Grace's second - and last - bridal shower.  This one was held at our church, and was attended by friends, family, and family-to-be.  Here are a few many of the pictures I snapped.

Wedding Craziness

Edited to add:  the picture to the left is one I snagged from Image Shack.  Our flowers are all silk, except for Grace's bouquet, which will be made the morning of the wedding.

39 days until Grace and Anthony's wedding.  Time to panic just a little bit!  There is still so much to do, but then, I work best under pressure, so I have no doubt that, somehow, everything will get done.

As I wrote in my previous post, I had my knee injected last Thursday.  I was completely unprepared for the pain of the injection since the one I had in October hardly hurt at all.  It was good I had both Grace and Anthony with me, giving me four fingers to squeeze, two with each hand.  I tried my best to give the orthopedist more business by breaking their fingers, but I didn't quite make it.  Never let it be said that I don't think of others.  *grin*

I spent the weekend sitting on the couch, ice on my knee, and working with flowers for the wedding.  I have had a terrible time getting decent floral tape - it's either too sticky or dried out - and my progress has been slowed since I spend so much time fighting the tape.  Myriads of silk hydrangea blossoms have been wired, then inserted into large styrofoam balls by Grace; these will serve as pew markers.  The boutonnieres are finished; I had to re-wrap the stems with brown floral tape, which will match the girls' dresses.  I also worked on my wrist corsage, which proved to be as troublesome as the tape!  Hopefully, I will be more alert tomorrow, and can figure out how to attach it to the holder, since I didn't think that through carefully.  I also have to make Anthony's mom's wrist corsage.

This afternoon, I machine embroidered samples of "A" and "G" in several different fonts so Grace can decide which ones she wants on the ring pillow.  We haven't made a final decision about how the pillow will go together, and whether the letters will go on the pintucked pillow, or on ribbons.  I also put together one part of Grace's gift for Saturday's shower.  I will try to remember to take a picture so I can share it with you.

Still left to do:

~ Finish the jewelry for the bridesmaids - three more necklaces and three bracelets;
~ Alterations to Sarah's dress;
~ Figure out how to attach the decorative button to the jacket of my dress.  I am thinking of sewing on a jumbo snap, then attaching the button over the top.  That way, should I ever change my mind about the button, it is easily removed;
~ Decorate the handles of the cake cutting set.

I think there are a lot more little details to tend to, but I don't have my planning book in front of me, which is probably a good thing, since I might be more panicked if I did!

THANK YOU for your kind comments!  I know I haven't posted nearly as often as I would like to, partly because the only project I've consistently worked on for so long is the wedding sampler.  Alas, that has been put aside for now, so you are spared further updates for now!

ANN, I recognized your name as soon as I read it!  I do hope we will be able to meet at church one of these days.  We attend only Sunday evening service because of our health problems, and we sit just in front of the sound booth.  We appreciate your prayers, and those of many around the world who have been keeping Phil in prayer since his fight with cancer started in mid-December, 2005.  [His Caring Bridge site can be viewed here.]  BTW, it is Grace who sings and plays piano; our other daughter, Sarah, attends Josh Ancello's church, Pinnacle Road Baptist.

Spring Flowers

The temperatures are erratic here, but the flowers and trees are budding and bursting out in all their glory.  The flowering pear in this picture is between our house and our neighbor's. 

Here are some of the other beautiful flowers in our gardens:

I snapped these pictures of Kelly yesterday afternoon.  She had a difficult time standing still; she was having a wonderful time, enjoying my husband's company and playing.  She wore herself out, and laid on the floor most of the evening.

I'm heading off to the orthopedist's office this afternoon to get my knee shot full of Synvisc again, so I'll be off my feet for a few days.  My plan is to work on wedding flowers, since I think I've finally gotten some decent floral tape.  (But that's a story for another post.)

Wedding Gift Book

The first of Grace's bridal showers is Saturday afternoon.  I thought it would be helpful if she had a book to write down all of her gifts, both from her two showers, and then from the wedding.

I started with a blank, hardcover journal from Target.  I didn't care for the cover, so I covered it in decorative paper (DSP), which I wrapped to the inside.  I did this for both the front and back, then took a piece of cardstock, which I cut to cover the raw edges of the DSP, and glued that in place.  After that was done, I cut two sizes of our new Labels Four (Nestabilities) dies from Spellbinders.  Lastly, I cut letters from the Olivia alphabet set from Cuttlebug (which I got on clearance at JoAnn's for $9.97, a $70.02 savings over retail!) and glued them to the labels, then adhered the whole thing to the front of the notebook.  I will cover the entire notebook with Contact paper.