Wednesday's Wanderings #19 - Here Comes the Bride

"Shut up, show up and wear beige!" 

 That's the advice I was given  by my friends as I became mother of the groom.  Keeping my mouth closed has been very hard for me, but I have tried my best.  I can easily show up.  Wearing beige is another story.  To tell you the truth, with about 8 weeks until the wedding, I have still not gone shopping  for my outfit yet.  Can we say procrastination?  Or can we say, maybe I can still lose a few pounds? It's on my to do list.

So I was pleasantly surprised when the bride asked me to take her and her mother to the fabric district in Philly to shop for the makings of a veil.  The fabric district in Philly is a mere shadow of itself.  Every time I go, there are fewer and fewer fabric stores.  They are now replaced by a variety of shops including bicycle shops, a consignment shop and a custom made shoe shop.

We did find a shop that I had never seen before:

As we entered the store, we saw these amazing headpieces that looked like they could have been in theater productions.

The owner, Patricia, said come on in and play.  Try on whatever you want and see what you like. She was so sweet and so helpful that we could not avoid  playing dress-up. Many of the headpieces she created herself.  It was quite an experience for the mother of 2 boys!

Patricia and Loren

 

Patricia was so generous with her knowledge.  Loren's mother bought a lovely, simple headpiece.  Patricia then  explained how to make a veil out of 2 yards of bridal illusion, which was bought for $3.00/yd.  This made Loren very happy.

You cannot go to buy fabric without eating at the 4th Street Deli.  You only have to park your car once.  It's that close.  But you have 3 choices when deciding what to order.

1.  Have a hearty appetite

2.  Share your meal

3.  Bring half of your sandwich home for your husband for dinner

At the end of your meal, they hand you a styrofoam take home box and a warm chocolate chip cookie.  And although you are stuffed at this point, the cakes at the check out counter are so tempting, but could feed a family of 4!

Wednesday's Wanderings #14 - SPRING

Spring has sprung in Pennsylvania! 

 I drove into my neighborhood the other day

 and WOW! all of a sudden there was this profusion of color.

After quilting the background, I fused the tree and free motion stitched up the trunk and branches
 and formed the smaller branches with a free motion foot.

 

I used a decorative thread (Wonderfil's Dazzle) to add the colorful flowers
 to the branches using french knots.

 

The other day I was driving down my street and I saw the strangest sight.  There were 3 crows walking single file down the cross street.  I wished I had my camera, but I didn't.  So I had to put the crows on this block.

I used rubber stamps to add  "Spring".  I wished I had used another color ink, other than black.  So I washed them out and made my own letters from polymer clay.  They looked much better.
 I inserted a headpin that jewelry makers use so that I could tie the letters onto the block before I baked it.

And here's a very special photo.

This photo was taken at the bridal shower (a tea party) for my future daughter-in-law.  I couldn't resist buying her a sewing machine.  A gently used Bernina.  Welcome to the club Loren.  I hope we spend many hours of quilting together.