Be*mused

The wrapup

The morning after (Yes, Loretta, we had confetti)

The wedding has come and gone and we are left with some wonderful memories.  As I wrote a few weeks ago, I hardly got any decent photos, too busy in that whirlwind of hosting and events, seeing so many family and friends, many for the first time in several years, and meeting new family and friends.  Although Cleveland is where we raised our family, our extended family mostly lives on either coast. Understandably, for the ten days we hosted guests, it was one long gabfest.  I've received and pored over many hundreds of photos from friends and family in the last few weeks and have started this post several times, but without *those shots* I would have taken for the blog, it's been difficult to choose an appropriate selection to share.

Happily, our photographer has a blog and has recently written about Molly & Chito's wedding so for those who are interested, I'm going to let you visit her post and then I'll elaborate on a few things. 

Isn't this sweet?  It's a bouquet of origami cranes that a friend of Molly's, with whom she spent time in Japan, sent for her to use at the rehearsal on Friday night.  That was followed by a dinner for the families and close friends and then, a rockin' karaoke party at the hotel, for all of the guests who had arrived that day...a fitting event for so many of their friends whom they had originally met during their early time together in Japan. 

 

The wedding was just lovely.  Because of the logistics of friends and family flung far & wide, Molly & Chito had a *supporting cast* instead of a wedding party...a group of their closest who helped out with readings, ushering and reception events.  His sister and her brother stood up for them.  The Old Stone Church is a beautiful Cleveland landmark, worth a stop if you are ever in town.  Right on Public Square, it has a rich history and gorgeous, original Tiffany stained glass windows. They could not have been more welcoming to us.

The reception was right across the street, a godsend since the temperature hovered around 100° that day.  Daylight when it started, as the evening progressed, the sky darkened and the city lights came on, providing a beautiful background to the dance floor as framed by the wall of windows.

If you've been a mother of the bride, you know that it takes a long while to tire of going through the many photos again and again.  However, reception photos of a dance floor full of people...family, high school BFFs, college roommates, the many JET pals, co-workers from Japan, family friends...*worlds colliding!*...make for boring blog fodder.  How about a few details?

Molly carried the cutest clutch at the reception.  It's modeled after a vintage book of the same name.  Here's the back ~

It had been at our house for months, but did I get a shot of it, either here or that evening?  No, I had to crop someone else's shot taken in the bride's waiting room and snag the flip side from a website.  See what I mean?

There was a token wedding cake, for photos, and delicious cassata cake served for dessert, but the star of the show was a spread of Italian cookies...fifteen types, 70 lbs!  (Do I have a good shot of the whole cookie table?  Noooo....)

We had these cute bags made up (from here...highly recommend!) so that our guests, most from out of town, could take some with them, back up to the hotel rooms, or the next day, on their long trips home. 

We're still hearing about them as friends and family reminisce. And probably try to drop those few pounds from that weekend.

The first page...

For their guestbook, Molly brought an album, specialty paper/stickers and an instant camera from Japan.  Several of her friends took photos of guests as they arrived at the reception, after which they were guided, developing photo in hand, to a table where each wrote a message to the couple and added their entry to the book.

As the evening progressed, the camera made the rounds for some candid shots which prompted funny captions added by friends.

Last Saturday, there was a Tokyo wedding party for all of their friends, family and co-workers who couldn't make it here and they added more pages.  The book and camera are slated to accompany them to Sydney at a later date, for a family celebration there.  The never-ending wedding...

It was a most memorable event, made even more so because of the efforts of so many friends and family to join us from around the world.  The dance floor was still full at midnight as the last song was played and the next morning, many joined us for a goodbye breakfast before they left for the airport or packed up their cars for the long rides home.  As one of Molly's friends told me before departing, "You know it was a great wedding weekend when no one wants to leave."  That's kind of how I felt...'All that planning and it's over already?!" 

And the winner is...

Pondering options....

I closed the comments on the last post at 6:00pm, plugged the numbers into the random generator and the winner of the Small Pieces, Spectacular Quilts book is Mary Pat.  There's no need to ask her to forward her address as she's a *real life* friend (as opposed to so many of you *friends I haven't met yet*) from my wonderful Chicago quilt group.  I really miss them all...maybe I should make her come pick it up?  I'll get it in the mail next week, Mary Pat.

For all of you who had your fingers crossed, be sure to visit the next stops on the blog tour (see previous post) for more chances to win.  Wonkyworld is next week and Mary Elizabeth Kinch is running a concurrent giveaway with a prize bonanza at the end of the 10 week tour.  I'm looking forward to see what the other blogs will highlight from the book!

Small Pieces, Spectacular Quilts...and Giveaway!

Welcome to the second stop on the Small Pieces, Spectacular Quilts Blog Book Tour!  Several weeks before the wedding, Mary Elizabeth Kinch contacted me to ask if I would be willing to participate in the tour and do a review of her (and Biz Storms') new book.  Considering I was just finishing up a queen sized quilt top with over 3,500 pieces, you might think I would have backed away slowly from that request.  However, I'm a huge fan of Mary Elizabeth and Biz's first book on the same topic...quilts with small pieces inspired by antique quilts...so I happily accepted the invitation.  The review book arrived and I put it aside until the last of the guests departed last week.

I had decided early on that as part of my review I would make a block or small piece from the book.  I admit I'm a bit of a magpie when it comes to quilt books, often ignoring the text to focus on the photos, but first I sat down and read Small Pieces, Spectacular Quilts cover to cover.  No matter your level of sewing expertise, you'll find new nuggets of helpful information in this book.  I gleaned some new pressing tips and found the authors to be fellow champions of the pin! 

On to my project.  Big confession.  I have consciously avoided piecing diamonds all of the many years I've been quilting.  The center of one of the book's featured projects, Across the Pond, is comprised of them so I decided to jump in the deep end and give them a try.  I made a little plastic template from the book's pattern and pulled repro prints from my scrap basket.  I know this looks daunting to many of you, but really, it's not.  In fact, it's quite a bit of fun.

When you piece diamonds into a block, you sew the strips diagonally.  This does result in a bit of skewing, but surprisingly, it was quite manageable.  At this point I was thinking, 'Hey, why have I been avoiding this for so long?!'  Contrary to the book's suggestion, I did find it helpful to do a slight pressing after sewing each row, but nothing heavy handed.  As the authors stress, it's easy to distort the small pieces with steam!

After assembling my diamonds and doing a final pressing, I noticed that the piece still had a tendency to 'pull in'...think 'accordian'.  Hmmm.  Going back to my knitting experience, I tried something that worked quite well, blocking.  I stretched the piece out, side to side, and pinned it out flat to the design board.  Then I sprayed it lightly with water and left it to dry.  Voila!  It worked!  My intention was to present my little block in the post but you know me.  Once I get started...

I had to add a row of triangles.  Oh, I like that red!  How about some black?  In my haste, I assembled the first black triangle strip in the wrong direction.  I considered my original plan..just post the diamond block...but I couldn't leave it alone.  That's how it is with these little pieces.  They're like gumdrops.  You find yourself returning to the candy dish in spite of yourself.  So over the last 24 hours, I've played with it.  Turned strips this way and that.  Added a dash of cheddar.  More red triangles.

Such fun!  Although the book presents page after page of the most wonderful bed-sized quilts made from small pieces, it's also an excellent resource for those who might not choose to take on such a challenge.  I'm sure you've noticed more and more quilters recently making doll and child-sized quilts.  If you're one of them, you should definitely consider adding this book to your library!

And lucky you!  If you're reading this post, by simply leaving a comment, you'll be entered in a drawing at the end of the week for a copy of Small Pieces, Spectacular Quilts.  There will be eight more stops on the blog tour, one each week, which will offer tutorials, reviews, Q&A, antique quilts and more spectacular interpretations of featured projects.  Each will offer a chance to win a copy of the book if you aren't lucky this week.  Sew,Mama,Sew! hosted the first stop, which featured a small seam tutorial by Mary Elizabeth herself.  Wonky World (Bill Volckening) is up next...be sure to check it out.

July 31 ~ Wonky World
August 10 ~  See How We Sew
Aug 13 ~   Quiltsalott
Aug 20 ~  Amy's Creative Side
Aug 29 ~ Supergoof
Sept 3 ~ Quilts in the Barn
Sept 11 ~  Stitch This/Martingale
Sept 17 ~ Quilting with the Past

Additionally, Mary Elizabeth Kinch has launched a new website and blog, chock full of photos, info and more chances to win books and sewing tools over the span of the 10 week blog tour. 

18"x20"

So here's my final piece.  I rushed to get some borders on it this morning and now I'm rethinking the color.  I'm afraid black is my recent fallback.  Maybe by the time I choose a book winner, it will look a little different!

The party's over....

Molly's bouquet, day six

It's been a week since the wedding and I'm happy to say that it was everything we hoped it would be and more.  The house has been tidied up after 10 days of guests and there is a bit of wedding cake left in the fridge.  I know that many of you are waiting for a post-wedding wrapup after my months of my blah-blahing about it, but the truth is that despite my reputation as the family photographer, my shots are few and not so great.  Too busy socializing with friends and family whom we haven't seen in years...a cliche, but the whole week was a whirlwind.  I'm waiting for photos from guests, some who've yet to return home, having added side trips to the long trek here for the wedding.  The wedding photographer is on vacation this week and the newlyweds are sitting on a beach in Hawaii.  So, you'll have to wait a little longer, along with me. 

How about some quilt talk?  The Wedding Quilt. 

When K&H got married three years ago, I thought it was a challenge to decide on a quilt design because I didn't really know their style, other than a shared preference for the color blue.  After that, Molly knew I'd be making a quilt for her but she refused to give me any guidance...color, design, size.  "You decide!" Having attended many quilt shows together over the last few years, I knew what she liked on the wall, but deciding on a quilt to live with for years was a surprisingly difficult task.  It took me months to settle on something.  This is what my sewing room looked like in early March.

Throughout my deliberations, a quilt from the 2011 Tokyo show was in the back of my mind.  We both loved that quilt so I took some inspiration from it as a jumping off point.  I wanted the quilt to be a classic design, however.  It had to be colorful...Molly departed Tuesday with Fiestaware platters wrapped in her wedding dress...and I wanted to use a variety of fabrics so as to avoid the quilt being dated. 

I pulled fabrics from the stash...current brights, 1930s prints, Japanese fabrics we had chosen together at past quilt festivals. 

Some worked...

...lots didn't.  Don't ask me why!  They were just somehow dischordant and wouldn't behave.  Off to the scrap pile!

I decided on this pattern, Many Trips Around the World, because of its ability to showcase many different fabrics and prints.  There's a popular, scrappier version around that is easier to assemble, but I wanted the framework of the red polkadot lattice around each block.  While you were wondering where the heck I was all spring, often it was standing in a daze before this design wall, switching around little squares of color until I was cross-eyed.

The trick to piecing this design is to break it into blocks, which are very easy to sew up.  However, this requires laying out five color schemes, the center motif plus 4 adjacent, first.

It was all fun and games until I started to sew together blocks.  This shrunk the design which made it a bit more difficult to lay out successive rows.  Especially being such a color fuss-budget, attempting a good mix of value and print, with few, if any, repeating fabrics in adjacent blocks.  Pass the Excedrin!

It is a wonderful, fun pattern that I would encourage you to try.  I took some process photos during the assembly which I'll share soon for anyone who's interested.  You may be surprised that of all of my quilts, this may be the first in which I've brought the design right to the edge.  I was sorely tempted at several points to border it, just to get the piecing finished, but I didn't want to have to choose a fabric that would skew the overall perception of the design.

Click for closeup

So, are you ready for the final shot?  Well, the quilt top, anyhow.  I did want to give the couple the option of a different size, or borders, if they thought it was *too much*.  It got an enthusiastic thumbs up, however, and will be quilted up this fall, as is, and delivered (in person...the best part!) sometime next year.

And lest you think the groom wasn't consulted, I did ask months ago if he had any preferences in color, to which he replied, "I'm sure anything you choose will be wonderful".   Good start, Chito.

Celebration time!

We're getting very close.  The happy couple arrived yesterday so the wedding week has officially commenced!  Despite months and months of planning, I am still running around with lists, facing the fact that I may be the world's most challenged person when it comes to time management.  Truly.  However, I am getting better at letting some things go so I decided to pop in, just briefly, to thank you all for your nice emails and comments the last few weeks, which regretfully have often have gone unanswered. 

Today is dedicated to some baking, finishing up placecards, menu planning for the rest of the week, schedule review and a few quick errands.  Our houseguests start arriving soon...friends from Australia on Monday, K&H from China on Tuesday, the groom's family from Sydney early Wednesday, all looking forward to some good old 4th of July celebrating!  Then on to the wedding weekend...all the important things are in place for that.  I've finally lost those 10 lbs so we may proceed!  *grin*

The wedding quilt (top) has been gifted and excitedly received.  Here's a little peek to keep my poor blog from withering up and blowing away!  I'll have lots more to share when I return in another 10 days or so. 

Thanks again for all of your kind thoughts and good wishes!  We are counting on Molly's long reputation for being a hare onna, the Japanese term for a girl whose presence always seems to be accompanied by good weather.  But rain or shine, we are being blessed by friends and family traveling from far and wide, across the country and around the world, to celebrate our wonderful couple, Molly and Chito.