BoU-Cr8zY

I was recently informed by my super sweet mother-in-law elect that they have to buy a bouquet for me. I hadn't thought about them AT ALL, and to be honest wasn't even sure I'd have a chance to carry one around. However, Tay and Jeff have been working diligently on the wedding ceremony order and it turns out I might actually be walking down a bonefied isle. More on that later. SO....now I have to pick out a bouquet.

Not surprisingly (especially if you're my mother), I'm hoping for something a little non-tradish. I was originally looking at feather bouquets. Sadly, they look just a bit too much like feather dusters for my taste. I mean, what kind of a message would that send to my future hubbs- that I'm doing all the cleaning? ...I think not. So what are my other non traditional options?

Tree Branches

I doubt there will be any blooming branches aroudn in October. Right?

Berries

They'd have to be green. Or Blue. Or grey.

Paper

Pretty! Pretty expensive.

Bejeweled

Crazy exspensive... and lacy....

And my personal favorite... Cotton!

Love it!!!! But I can't find cotton branches anywhere. Help?

In summation, I want something diffrent, but diffrent is not cheap. Can I really make someone pay $100+ for something I hold for 30 seconds?

Candy Buffet Anyone?

I really want this. Can I please have this?

That's One Short Haired Bride

Between you and me, it's easier to saw one's own arm off than to find un-cheesy inspiration pictures for Short Haired Brides. I swear, they really do exist. When I decided to shave my head four months ago (you know, one last bald romp before I have to grow up), I had no idea of the challenge ahead. Still, there is hope. I found this little gem today:

Isn't she pretty? I shall name her Olympia.

Progress, Sweet Progress

Despite my absence, I really have been working on projects. And to prove it here's a wrap up of what I've accomplished this past week:

Huppah

I was right...this will take quite a while to finish. It took a week and a half to get the first leaf done. That's a long time. However, now that I have the embroidery game plan down, it shouldn't take nearly as long to get the second one done. I'm using a stem stitch all along the edge of the leaf and inside as well for the separate leaves.

I have just basted the second leaf on the front and interfacing on the back. Without the interfacing, the stitches would pull. Pulling=crappy result. These two leaf bunches are the largest pieces to embroider. After I get these down, its a bunch of small letters and leaf bunches. My goal is to have the second leaf bunch done by next Wednesday. We'll see!

Head Piece

I came across this several weeks ago on Ban.do's site.

Isn't it sweet? Just silk leaves, feathers and a broach. I wanted to have something similar (and cheaper) for the wedding. I compiled velvet leaves, silver and dark grey, grey Russian veiling, some stiff felt, grey and blue hackle feathers and thread.

I began by making a felt pad to sew the feathers and leaves to. I cut it into a tear drop shape, though any shape would work depending on what you want the end result to be. Then I pinned on the leaves, moving them around until I found the look I wanted. I went for the general idea of the inspirational picture- sort of random looking. Here's the first layer of leaves being sewn in:

I sewed the leaves in several layers, making sure to leave space around the sides to allow for the addition of feathers later. Here's a few more layers:

The base of the head piece is all done now. Yes! I still need to decide what to do with it. How to put the feathers on, how to attach the veil, put it on a clip or head band, etc. Once I figure all that out I'll let you know! Here are a few feather options:

More projects to come.

There's been a serious lull in blog comments. I miss the feedback. Feel free to post your comments, well wishes and advice!

Jars, Everywhere Jars

I got three boxes of mason jars today from Larinda. Thats 36 jars, which brings the running total to 44!

Thanks Larinda!!!

We Have a Ring

Ladies and Gentlemen,

WE HAVE A RING. I received Tay's rosewood ring in the mail today. Its beautiful!

Custom made by Gustav.

The Chuppah Begins

With four months and one day until the wedding, I've started our chuppah (read: "huppah") fabric. Technically, the Tallit, or prayer shawl goes on top of the Chuppha, but since we don't have one just, you know, lying around, I'm making one.

For those of you who don't know what a Chuppah, or huppah is, its a Jewish wedding tradition. It consists of four poles topped with the tallit or some other cloth of meaning. I'm not 100% on this, but I believe the chuppah poles are held by the groom's family. The symbolism is wonderful. If you want the whole skinny, read my first post about it here.

I've been searching for meaningful symbols to put on the Chuppah cloth for a while. I stumbled on this while looking up quilting stencils:

It's the most important Sh'ma, or prayer in Judaism. In doing some of these more nontraditional ideas in our wedding, Tay and I are hoping to take the glory of the ceremony away from us and put it back on G-d. I think using this sh'ma as our Chuppah topper is a great way to work toward that goal. Plus, it's beautiful, isn't it? I've created a design around it that will incorporate our parents and wedding party as well. There will be scroll work around the sh'ma where they can write down scriptures and words of encouragement- Tay's idea.

I have a few pictures of the first leaves being embroidered.

.....This is going to take a while.

Making Hanging Mason Jar Lanterns

Remember that inspiration picture I posted a while ago, the one that "summed up the wedding" but wasn't sure why? Well, thank you Inspirational Picture #37, because we're using mason jars on the big day!

I've been seeing these jar lanterns everywhere, but couldn't find a good set of instructions. So, I made up my mind to sit down and figure it out. Here are my GOOD instructions. Enjoy.

First, I set out for Good will to procure some mason jars. Goodwill did not disapoint! 8 various mason jars for 50 cents a peice! Then it was off to the craft store for some heavy gaged wire. I found silver wire at about a 20 gage, which turned out to be perfect.

The tough part about the project as a whole is keeping the wire from kinking. I attempted several methods, including wiring straight onto the jar (miserable), and coiling two wires together by hand (even worse). Then I had it...why not braid the wire into a loop? AND put that loop on something to keep it from kinking? Boom, roasted, I got it! I nailed a picture nail into the desk top (cheap desk) and was able to loop the wire around it.

As for the length of the wire, it should be 3-4 feet. I folded the whole length in half and twisted the uncut end once to make a loop. Then, placing the loop on the nail, I twisted the halves together neatly. It gets hard to twist them neatly at the end, so i clipped off the last half inch or so for a clean end. I wrapped the twisted wire around the first jar, making sure to place the wire at the narrowest part. Some jars have a dip below where the lid screws on, thats the ideal place. For the jars that don't have that dip, I wrapped the wire where the lid screws on. Its easy, then, to simply thread the cut end of the wire through the loop and pull tight. Be sure to leave a good amount of slack for making the handle.

I pulled the slack wire to the opposite side of the looped end, and kinked it, making the beginnings of another loop on that side. Then twist several times until the wire is completely tight around the jar, but also so that the new loop is big enough to thread the cut end of the wire through it.

Then I pulled the cut end through the new loop until I had the desired length of handle at the top. To secure it, wrap the cut end aound the loop several time and trim the end.

Lastly, I poured some sand into the jar and pushed a candle deep down into it. The result is dramatic...and easy.

Wedding Bolero/Shug Thinger Continued

Just to prove that I have been working on it, here is my progress on the wedding shrug:

One whole sleeve done! Just to give you some perspective, because of the complex nature of the lace, it takes about an hour and a half to knit nine complete rows, or one set. Ouch. There are fourteen sets of nine per sleeve. Ouch. Not to mention when I screw up and have to rip out a few rows to fix it. Doubly ouch. Still, its coming along! Now, granted, I may not even decide to wear it after all. it might not go with the dress, who knows. But I can say it does keep me from going crazy, thinking about all the other wedding stuff I can even start on yet. Knitting=sanity.
The one thing I'm dreading...joining the two sleeves. It requires the taxing and complicated "Kitchener stitch", one that I'm told even accomplished knitters can have trouble with. Yeesh. So, if any of you wise mothers out there have advice regarding the Kitchener, I'm all ears!