Tree quilts

We went to our friend's wedding this weekend.  It was beautiful.  I gave them the tree quilt, but didn't take any pictures after it was bound and finished and washed.  Mostly because I had finished it the day before the wedding.  I said, when I started it in July that I would not finish until the last minute.  Well, I put the last stitch in on Thursday, washed it on Friday and wrapped it on Saturday. 

Then, I came home and worked on another tree quilt. 

I spent a lot of time working on Rob's Mom's quilt.

I got the center together, now I need to add borders.  She doesn't have room in her apartment for a real tree, so she can hang this on the wall and it will have buttons added that she can hang ornaments from and we are sending her several flat ornaments.  I knew I was going to be in a time crunch, so I cheated on the bottom and instead of making the tree skirt in the pattern, I used a fabric printed with holiday packages. 

Still not sure about that.  It's a great fabric to use there, but not sure it's the right shape.  Since I'm not doing the tree skirt, maybe the packages fabric should be more of a rectangle.  Still thinking. 

I used five different greens and cut from all the white on white prints I own (about 6...I don't quilt with much white fabric).  I transferred the tissue paper patterns to freezer paper, so I have a set of patterns if I want to make another.  I'll pack all that together with the instructions for next time.  I think we would like one.  They're very practical, only about 2' by 6'.  I'll attach a sleeve at the top and we'll send it with a dowel so it can be hung easily.

Friday night, Syd tried on her dress for the wedding.  As much as I wanted to shout about waiting til the last minute, I said let's go shopping tomorrow and hold that one for reserve, in case we don't find anything else.  It will work.  She said it wasn't uncomfortable, but it looked like she couldn't breathe.

So, we go shopping.  Here, nothing.  There, nothing.  That other place, a black dress with so many ruffles, it looked like Jethreen (Jethro Bodeen's sister...if you're too young to know who that is, well, you're young enough to google it.)  We got to the place Rob recommended first (she said they wouldn't have anything right off) and she went one way and we went the other, and she walked up with a dress.  And, instead of saying that's the butt-ugliest dress I've seen since the black ruffles, I said try it on.  And, then she put it on and sent a dressing room pic.  And, it looked good.  Surprisingly good.  Very plain, with only a couple zippered pockets in the front.  All I saw was zippers on the hanger, but on her, I hardly noticed the zippers at all. 

So, we paid and got to the car and asked about her shoes.  Welllllllll, haven't found her shoes yet.  Doesn't know where they are...in the closet somewhere.  And, instead of shouting about waiting till the last minute, I said why don't we try a shoe store.  That's a big thing for me because I don't think it's physically possible for me to enter a shoe store and leave empty handed...and I DON'T need more shoes (I grew up with 3 pair of shoes at a time.  I'm clearly trying to make up for lost time).  Anyway, first store, don't carry anything her size.  So, we went to the place Rob recommended first (she said they wouldn't have anything right off) and found not just one, but two pair of shoes for her.  One pair she liked, one pair I liked.  When we got home and dressed and she was trying shoes, turned out I liked the pair she liked best with the dress. 

We were Groom's family at the wedding.  I assumed it would be a little more casual than it was and wish I'd dressed up more, but my family looked great!

It was a sweet ceremony.  The groom cried.  The officiate cried, the bride cried, and everybody in the audience cried.  All the bridesmaids cried.  Most of the groomsmen cried.  You'd think it was sad in some way, but it was really because this couple has dated off and on for 13 years and half the people were moved by the constancy of their love that just couldn't be separated.  The rest were moved because, like, finally!  We were moved because we've known the groom all his life and had talked to him and we knew how he felt.  And, the level of his love for his bride was moving. 

The kind of couple we all hope will meet and share a life.

Everybody have a great Monday!  Lane