"She seeks wool & flax, And works willingly with her hands" ~ Proverbs 31:13

September 29, 2012

Almost Empty Nesters!

Today we loaded a 12 foot moving van with everything my youngest was able to talk my hubby and I into giving him for his new bachelor pad.

Can you see the excitement on my dear hubby's face!?!
 He is moving half way across the country and when he pulls away in just a few hours we will officially be Empty Nesters.  Since my boys were were already 6 & 7 years old when we got married, this is the first time we've ever experienced being without children, something we're looking forward to!
I really hate pictures of myself! 
I'm having mixed feelings.  Though not the stereo-typical feelings moms are supposed to have when their kids move out on their own.  On one hand I am celebrating, this is the child I wasn't sure would fly the nest very quickly or willingly. He surprised me with his desire and request to rent the house we have back in Missouri. On the other hand I am going to miss all his wonderful help around the house and with normal day to day cooking and clean as well as help preparing for church events and dinners.  My schedule will have to be radically adjusted to now do all his work as well as my own. 

12 feet of bachelor pad necessities
Mostly though I am excited for Michael, he decided it was time to start being a productive member of society and that it was time to move out of mom and dad's house.  There are times I question whether I've done all that I needed to do to prepare our boys for life on their own. There are things I would do differently if I had it to do over, but since I can't have a 'do over', I rest in the knowledge that I did the best I knew how to do and have left the rest in the hands of God, with the prayer that he would fill in the gaps where I feel short as a mom and teacher.

A young man ready to head off into his future!

This will be my last post for awhile, I'll see you all in October.

{{HUGS}}
Marcia

September 26, 2012

On the Design Wall {WIP}

I've made some pretty good progress with Michael's graduation quilt. Though I'm not one bit sue I'll be able to have it finished before he moves out on Sunday.  I want to at least have it quilted and binding attached by Saturday morning.  We're loading his moving van on Saturday and he'll be heading for Missouri after church Sunday.

A good amount of progress has been made since yesterday.

Where things were at just yesterday

Replacing all the white squares with black squares has totally changed the visual effect. In the original the white blocks caused the tiny black squares to create chains across the quilt. Now it's the tiny white squares that are what stands out, being set on point makes them look like "X"'s all over the quilt.  Reminds me of XOXO {Kisses and Hugs}.

I'm playing with the idea of changing the name for the quilt to "Kisses from Mom," but I'm not sure my big boy would like the name all that much.  Maybe it'll just be my own personal name for the quilt.

Lots of sewing to do today, so I'm off to the studio.
Happy Sewing,
Marcia





September 25, 2012

Gowns & Dresses Everywhere!

Last week was such a busy week, I barely had time to breath let alone blog about all the happenings. The best part of it all was that every project came to a successful completion.

You'll remember a couple of weeks ago that the wedding gown I was working on had to be re-cut and essentially started again.  After some very long hours and very late nights, everything came together wonderfully.  The bride's reaction when she saw it was perfect. She walked around the corner and at first sight declared, "Ohhhhhh, I love it! You do beautiful work!" 

Here's what she saw...

The hanger still doesn't do it justice
 The pattern was designed for knit fabrics which have a much softer drape. The fabric we chose for the gown refused to drape even a little bit. So, to get the open shoulder sleeves to drape and lay down like we wanted I pinned each drape and fold where we wanted it and then I made tiny little thread tacks to hold everything in place.

The sleeves may be my favorite part of this gown.
Every bride needs something blue for her wedding day! Using 2-strands of variegated blue embroidery floss, I hand-embroidered her wedding date into the hem of her dress...an idea I saw on Pinterest {love pinterest!!}. 

Hand-embroidered wedding date in the hen of the bride's wedding gown

My favorite part is seeing the bride in her finished gown and seeing how pleased she is with the outcome. She wouldn't let me take a picture unless I agreed to cut her face out. She had, had an allergic reaction the previous evening and really didn't want her swollen face memorialized on my blog. Can't say as I blame here one bit!! When she gets back from her honeymoon she's sending me pics from the wedding {Looking forward to seeing everything all together; dress, jewelry, hair, nails, etc...it is amazing how much all those touches add!}

The beautiful bride
________

Once the Bridal Gown was finished I had a bridesmaid dress and flower-girl's dress for another wedding to finish up. The day I wanted to take picture the house just seemed so dark inside I went outside to click a few photos.

The fabric is a reproduction of an old feed-sack print that ladies used to use to make their dresses. In the olden days (1920's & 1930's) feed stores used cotton sacks to package the feed they sold the farmers. Once the sack was empty the ladies on the farm used the cloth to make their dresses, curtains, towels and other household items and clothing. Nothing went to waste in those days. The bag manufactures finally caught on to this fact and in the 40's began printing their sacks with colors and designs in the hopes of boosting sales. The thought was that the women of the house would insist on purchasing the sacks with the prettiest designs.  {Ok, enough with the history lesson} 

Bridesmaid dress with grosgrain ribbon on the waist and matching padded hanger.




The little flower girl's dress is just adorable! The bow on the shoulder is just too cute!!!

Flower girl's dress

Tiny little bloomers peeking out from under the flower girl's dress

Another happy customer.
After all of last weeks satisfying finishes this weeks goal is to finish Michael's graduation quilt.  I've given myself a deadline of October1st to have everything bound and delivered. Better go get busy if I'm going to make it!

I'm seeing black & white everywhere I turn
Before I close this post I wanted to announce the winner of the custom bundle. Mr. Random Number Generator chose comment #6.


Karen 608 put together this bundle on comment #6......

Light Victorian Quilt:
1. Lace Elements- pearl lace
2. Lilybelle - moire aquamarine
3. Living Element - tutti fruiti
4. Nature element - light blue
5. Nature element - seawater
6. Ombre Dots Aqua
7. Ombre dots orange
8. Clean white cotton solid - Riley Blake Designs


Congratulations Karen! Email me your shipping address and I'll send this bundle on it's way to you.

Blessings,
Marcia

September 18, 2012

Today is my Birthday ~ Come Celebrate with me


 Happy Birthday to me, 
Happy Birthday to me,
Happy Birthday to me, 
Happy Birthday to me! 

This is what I'll wake up singing to myself.  Which will take me back to thoughts of the little church where I grew up. They sang their own version of Happy Birthday for your birthday and the birthday person would put the same number of pennies in the little wooden bowl as their age.  I LOVED those days and greatly miss that little church!! They still sing their own version of the birthday song for the birthday person....

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday and God Bless you,
Happy Birthday to you! 


Later in the day my oldest, who's off at college will text me happy birthday wishes....well that is if he remembers {You know how kids can be}. Then there's my youngest, {who will be leaving home in just 12 days...wooohoooo!!}.  He'll take advantage of needing to go birthday shopping as an excuse to get out of the house and go for a drive. He's really kind of cute about it all. 

Then there dear, sweet hubby....he was so excited about my birthday that he has already celebrated, took me to dinner at Red Lobster last week and gave me new jewelry he had picked out {with a little help from the women in his office....thank you ladies!}. He'll find it necessary to wake me up before he leaves for work at o-dark-thirty....I'm not sure the sun is even up yet when he leaves, to wish me a happy birthday.  He's so thoughtful and sweet!!  Okay I am being  a little sarcastic....he is very sweet, yet at the same time I wouldn't mind being left to sleep a little longer.  {Hi Honey, if you're reading this....I LOVE YOU!!}  

After he leaves for work, I'll sleep a bit longer and once I'm up for the day, I'll spend the rest of my day in my happy place.......my sewing studio. There is no where else I'd rather spend a day, yes even my birthday!! 

Oh, and then there's my parents who always call and sing happy birthday over the phone to me.  LOVE IT!!!

I've been thinking about gifts for my birthday....I love gifts! I love getting gifts, but I LOVE giving gifts even more!!! So, I've decided that to celebrate this birthday I'm giving all of my fans, customers and friends the gift of savings. But not just for one day for a full 5 days plus a bonus pre-birthday addition of the rest of tonight.


Stop by our little online shop,  www.littlepinkrose.com and open your gift of savings.  


My Birthday prayer today is that each of you experience the blessings of the Lord God being poured down on you!
{{{HUGS}}}
Marcia 



September 17, 2012

Grand Opening Giveaway # 3

 Giveaway is Now Closed

This picture has nothing to do with today's post, but don't you just love it? This is me when I was 2 years old, with our neighbors cat whom I had named Fluffy {how original}.  There's just something about this picture that I love!!  Kind of makes me miss the farm!

 That's me with  Fluffy

Saturday I invited you back with a little tease about this weeks Grand Opening Celebration Giveaway and as promised here are the details.

 We'll be giving away a custom FQ Bundle of Fabric. Have you ever wanted to create your own bundle of Fat Quarters? Here's your chance!!
1. Visit our shop at www.littlepinkrose.com, browse the fabric selections pulling together up to 8 fabrics you would put together in a Fat Quarter Bundle.  Create as many bundles as you would like.

2. Come back to this post and leave a comment (a separate comment for each bundle) listing your fabric choices for your bundle. Each bundle/comment is one entry. The more bundles you create the more chances you have to win.  Please Note: If you create several bundles, but list them all in one comment, that will be one entry.

3. If you're the winner, the bundle you created is the bundle you will win. 

Spread the word and have fun creating your own bundles.

I'm off to put the finishing touches on a wedding gown.

Happy Sewing!
Marcia





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