a bolero and a bunting

It's Thursday, and I've been sewing, 

which means it's time for 

I finished my bolero

and have made good progress on (another) top from Alabama Stitch Book.

All hand-sewn, except for the basting at the neck and armhole.

I just love these shirts!

The bolero doesn't fit as perfectly as it was supposed to - 

there's a little bit of weirdness at the front of the shoulder seam.

I haven't decided if I'm going to ignore it, or take it in a bit.

I have a hard time ignoring weirdness at shoulder seams so I suspect it'll be the later.

It should be as simple as trying it on inside out and marking where the pouf is

and stitching it out.

I'm bamboozled as to why I didn't get it right,though, as my pattern should have been perfect.

I guess things have shifted south...

I've even fit in a little reading - I wasn't feeling the Nora Ephron book,

so about half way through, I put it back in the library basket.

Tyler wondered how I could possibly not love something by the writer of You've Got Mail.

I was surprised by that myself.

I guess I like her scripts better than her essays?

I am, however, enjoying The Next Thing On My List.

It's not fabulous writing, and I wouldn't want to own the book or anything, but it's good light reading.

I also was able to get our crayon melts made into a bunting yesterday afternoon

and got it hung just before the sun went down .

I like it!!

melted crayons

When we got home after the reception, we didn't bring anything in except for food and flowers.

I figured I'd bring in the rest a little at a time, as I could handle it,

starting, of course, with the linens.

I went out in the afternoon to get the second bag of linens out of the van

and was met by the strong scent of  lemongrass.

From candles.

that had been, shall we say, warmed by the sun.

I groaned as I walked around to the back of the van;

this did not smell good. 

I mean, the candles smelled good, but the situation

did not.

Fortunately, most of the candles were upright in boxes, but there was one that was not.

It wasn't in a box; nor was it upright.

It was however, in a bowl - for which I was very grateful.

Also, nicely contained, and melty, were the crayons from the kids' table.

I was a little bummed, 'cause I'd been excited about having so many new crayons.

At some point during the week, I followed a link that led to Jean's stained glass bunting post

and thought, "That is what we'll do with our melted mess of crayons."

Saturday was an Alexander type of bad day.

For some reason, I thought all would be redeemed if we just did a craft together.

(yes, I know; you are all hearing "What Was I Thinkin'?" right about now...)

I set out to grate some crayons.

It took for.ev.er.

What kind of person does this regularly? I wondered.

Stupid craft people.

I called in kids to help unwrap the crayons,

which sped up the process a tiny bit.

When I growled at the kids in response to their "What are you grating crayons for?" questions,

I realized it might not be the best idea to attempt a family craft after all.

Sunday was a better day,

and I really did want the bunting,

so I decided to pull everything out.

Brandon and TJ (who came down to celebrate Ton's birthday) joined in, too.

Since the mess was contained to the LEM, and the project was such a hit with everyone,

I left everything out and kids periodically went back to it on Monday.

(Of course, by Monday afternoon, they'd made such a mess, I was again wondering, "What was I thinkin?!")

I still haven't managed to turn them into a bunting yet, but just look how pretty it will be.

Which, of course, was exactly what I was thinkin'.

the reception, in pictures

Let me just say:

the reception was a photographer's nightmare.

I didn't bring my own camera, 

figuring that Roselle would do a much better job of capturing images than I could.

And she did, but she didn't necessarily get pictures of all the stuff I would have.

Like my favorite flower arrangement in the old metal water pitcher...

Also - I think it looked so much prettier than the photos show.

In person, the eye was drawn to the pretty stuff;

in the photos - the stains on the carpet and the cords and such jump out at ya.

Over all, though, what I saw looking through the pictures,

was people having a rockin' good time.

we had to get creative with the flowers - they didn't go nearly as far as I'd planned

that tub - for the silverware ~ it had little trick-or-treaters on it; I just covered it with double sided tape and glitter :-)

 agh - this picture of that picture does not do it justice. When Roselle saw it, she got chills
and said she couldn't believe it was one that she'd taken. Adding glitter made it amazing! you'll have to trust me on it ;-)

Roselle made this (and the groom's cake) as her ridiculously generous contribution to the potluck.
I'm telling you - that woman sure made my kids feel loved!

My talented friend, Amy, with some help from another crazy talented friend,
made this awesome photo prop as a gift to Tony and Kacy.   It was sooo much better than I could have imagined!

the kids table looked a little more Mardi Gras-ish than I would have preferred. still, I think they liked having it :-)

my Eva. always serving. She loves me so!

youngest and oldest. How I love them. And all of the others in between.

When I presented the idea of a dance area to Tyler, there were landscape timbers and cinder blocks involved.
isn't he amazing?! Thanks, Love, for going along with my crazy ideas. And making them (and me) so much better.

three words - double sided tape

my Gramma!

Many thanks to everyone who pitched in to make this a memorable evening for Tony & Kacy.

and everyone else :-)

XO