Wedding collection complete

 Here comes the bride... all dressed in ivory.

I've blogged about this project a few times, so let's take a look back and see how it compares, shall we?  For instance, here you can see the pleated satin trim is totally silver, not taupe as it appears in the picture.  I also only used a tiny bit of the velvet leaves I ordered because they just looked flat.  Thankfully I found some silk hydrangeas in the perfect color.

Ring pillow, bow tie and garter

The color scheme also changed a bit from what we originally talked about.  Emily's bridesmaid dresses were originally going to be a taupe color but based on her bevy of blonde bridesmaids, she decided to go with a more complimentary crimson.

These were so hard to photograph – probably because of the colors and the ticking time bomb soon-to-wake baby – but hopefully you get the gist of it.


I'm a little sad I didn't take any pictures of the sewing process, but it was night time AND I was in the groove.  But I'd be happy to provide a step-by-step if anybody asks.

In the next month I'll add another photo of the headband I'm going to make Kate with all the leftover scraps.  She and Liam (the ring bearer) have to get a picture together!

Made with Dupioni silk and trim purchased on Etsy, the brown ribbon from the bride & groom's invite and rust silk hydrangeas found on a shelf in my living room.

I added a handle to the bottom for 2-year-old Liam to hold on to.  The rings won't actually be attached to the pillow.  He's just walking because he's so cute!

I sewed a two-inch strip of silk with a 1/2 inch pocket for the elastic to thread through.  The embellishments are hiding the issue of fraying fabric.  In the future, I wouldn't use Dupioni for something as over-worked as a garter.  And the feathers were found in my closet.  Goodness, I have a lot of pretty junk laying around!

Find the pattern for this tie at prudentbaby.com.

Back in the sewing saddle

Other than the appliques on these cute "monthaversary" onesies. I haven't done any sewing since Kate was born. 

But that's about to change as I just ordered the supplies I need to make my friend's ring bearer pillow and bow tie and her garter!  I first wrote about it here.

They were my first ever purchases on Etsy.  The Dupioni silk in the middle is from a seller in India so I'm excited to tell Emily it's made of "imported silk."  Hopefully that will minimize the disappointment when it comes out crooked with last-minute hot glue strings all over it.

I haven't even started the project and I already feel a little like Denise when she is commissioned to sew a shirt for Theo.  Anybody?  No?  Here.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crnPfls0fHw.

The solution is clear.

This is a beautiful glass bowl handed down to me by my grandma.

Here's a better view of the etched design.  She told me I should use it for serving ice.  I later saw a bowl just like this on Mad Men.  Peggy served ice in it.  Grandma knows her stuff.

This is a $2 glass bowl from Wal-Mart.  I used it to serve Grandma's Texas Trash at Kate's baptism.  You see, people used to make their own Chex mix before Chex did.

This is what happens when you wash dishes in the sink.  Boy meets girl and ain't nothin Momma can do to split 'em up.

Aunt Joanne enlisted the help of her daughters, sisters, nephews and I to come up with all kinds of different removal tactics.  

Like hot water.

And cold water.

We tried olive oil and butter.

Then, we decided to quit messing with it and let it dry completely for three whole weeks.  We figured once the water dried up, the suction would be gone and the inner bowl would plop right out onto the pot holder.

So.  It's three weeks later.  No water's left and those suckers are still hanging on to each other for dear life.  So, given the disposable nature of bowl #2, I decide the solution is clear.  Bust it out.

Me, my hammer and my screwdriver pound away.  150 knocks later with only a small chip to speak of, I realize it's time to get aggressive.

Whacking away, hoping the Mad Men bowl stays in tact and wishing I owned protective goggles, I begin to make progress.  Once glass started actually coming out I filled the bowls with water while I continued breaking it so that the glass wouldn't fly up into my face.

And there you have it, Aunt Joanne.  It's out!  Kellerwoman 1, glass bowls 0.  Ok, maybe it's a tie.  It did take three weeks.  Scotch on the rocks, anyone?

Excuse the pigtails.  They ease the pain of the recent hair pulling going on around here lately.

Sweet cake!

I didn't take pics of the process, but I want to share this lemon raspberry cake I made for Kate's baptism.

It's made with two boxes of white cake mix and three nine-inch layers.  I made the filling and icing from scratch, but I see absolutely nothing wrong with using a cake mix.

Here's the recipe I used for the raspberry filling.  I skipped the raspberry liqueur since liquor isn't sold in grocery stores here and I was not about to make a special trip for two tablespoons of anything!

Once I baked the three layers, I cut the tops off to be as level as possible and slopped on the filling.  It becomes a nice gelatin-like texture if you leave it in the fridge long enough.  I was afraid it would be a little too thin and turn the buttercream pink around the edges, but it worked very well.  If you look at the picture of the cake on that site, you'll see it's better to circle the edges of your layers with icing (imagine outlining the filling on the layer) so it doesn't seep out, but I had to get it filled and stacked the night before I made the icing.

Here are the videos I used for the icing: recipe (plus lemon extract) and smoothing technique.  If I'd had more time I would have been more careful and decorated the edges for a crisper look, but it didn't work out that way.

For the cross, I rolled out some premade white fondant and traced a scallop pattern on top of it, then cut it out with a knife.  I punched holes in it (a must for the pretty eyelet look!) with a round tip and then made some royal icing to add the detail.  Royal icing consists of some meringue powder, a lot of powdered sugar and a little warm water.  I don't have the measurements, because I only needed a little bit so I just tossed it together.  I tried to do a star scallop around the bottom with the leftover royal icing but it was too warm from being in my hands so it got kind of melty.  At that point I just needed to get it done so I could get the rest of the house ready for the big party!

The rose is just a strip of fondant -- maybe 3/4 inch? -- rolled into itself.  I did it several times until it turned out right.

That be one fun day!

After months and months of talking about taking these pictures, we finally did it!  My friend, whose husband is a B-1 pilot, first suggested it some time last year.  But the winter was too cold, the spring went by too fast, the dress took a while to order, I became a mom... and if we hadn't done it today it never would have happened because these two are moving to a land far, far away in a matter of days!

We weren't able to get on to the flight line to take pics with the B-1s that are actually in service, but this bad boy worked out just fine.

If you notice, the sidewalk is wet in some of the photos.  We had a little issue with sprinklers, which threatened to derail the entire shoot. :)

So, there they are!  I'm so happy to have been asked to take these and we'll see if any other wives are interested in doing it.  I hear there might be a black and white polka dot dress listed on eBay soon...

In love with my nursery!

BEFORE

AFTER!

It's funny – in some ways it's similar to the virtual nursery I made a while ago, but in other ways it's completely different.

I didn't put the finishing touches in there until a couple weeks after the baby came home.  I took a look around and instantly thought, "vintage!"  It wasn't really my goal, but it totally worked out that way and I love it.

Shall we take a tour?

This mirror came from my grandma's house.  My aunts gave it to me when she passed away.  It's made out of plastic.  I love the gaudy gold pop it gives the room.

The craft hoops are filled with leftover fabric I had after making the birds you'll see below.  The silhouette is of my mother-in-law at the age of 6, I believe.  I used a stamp to paint the face of that hamper, which I've had for a long time. If you can see the ivory pillow on the bed, that's made with with two Pier 1 napkins sewn together.  The little white shelf holds a bud vase of my mom's and my dad's silver baby cup and rattle.  The infamous sewing table sits beside the bed and is normally stacked with dirty bottles!

I spy a baby below!  Above her hangs my homemade mobile.  It turned out completely different than I intended, but I like the dimension that the branches add to the room.  I found the pattern for the birds here.

Like the crib skirt?  The look was inspired (stolen) from this website, but the pattern on that site made no sense to me.  A gal from high school emailed me a step-by-step of how she made hers, and I found that much simpler.  Not simple, but simpler.

This hand-stitched quilt is more than 60 years old!  It was my dad's.  It's pretty worn, but it's (mostly) clean and soft and has held together beautifully.

Here we have a gift from Kate's great-grandma, an owl from Pier 1 that I am obsessed with, and a little lamb from my friend that prays "Now I lay me down to sleep" when you squeeze it.  Kate doesn't sleep in the crib often.  Once she starts, I'll clear this stuff out.

 Here are my beloved grandparent photos!  I love the way the concept turned out, even though we're still missing one.  Workin' on that!

Austin made the little K above the dresser.  Before she was born I handed him a wooden block, a wooden K, fabric swatches, scrap paper, Mod Podge, paint, a staple gun and more.  He was instructed to do something -- anything -- to contribute a personal touch to the nursery. (Other than replacing that awful brass ceiling fan. PTL!)  He chose a sparkly gold knit to cover the block and painted the K yellow and gold.  Cute!  I wish the lampshade showed up in the photos.  It's killer.

And that's it.  What do you think?

A year's worth of birthdays

Hi, handful of blog readers.  I'm back!  It's been more than a month since I've posted anything, and for a good reason: motherhood!

Now that my little bitty baby is one month old today (which is the purpose of this blog post!) I'm a little more comfortable putting her out there, so to speak.

So since the trend these days is to take a picture of your baby holding a sign for how many months he/she is turning, I decided to take it a step further and whip up a little birthday outfit.  And by whip up, I mean labor over it for 30 seconds at a time all day long.

Since this is my first craft project since she was born, I wanted to make it special... so I went ahead and created all the numbers for up to 11 months now for both consistency's sake and to save myself time in the future.

I made number outlines in Photoshop and printed them large enough to fill up these little 4x4 fabric swatches that I received from Land of Nod.  I KNEW they'd come in handy one of these days!

I then ironed the swatches on to Heat&Bond and taped the pieces up to the front door to trace them, a la third grade art class.  I'm sure there was an easier way, but mommy brain got in the way.

Plus, I had a human strapped to me.

I cut out the one, ironed it on to a newborn onesie that's almost too small and sewed a zigzag stitch around it.  I saved the rest of the numbers in an envelope in my sewing box so they'd be easy to find and place on whatever size white onesie fits her on the 21st of every month.

And, without further ado, here's my beautiful one-month old!