Pre-wedding creativity

I am so fortunate to get to be part of a sewing group with some wonderfully crazy and creative women.  I couldn't ask for a more fun or inspirational group of sewing/quilting friends:  Heather, Violet, Irene, Mo, Monica, Traci, Gabrien, Kristin, Elizabeth, Jen, Shelly, and Sally.  And they are so generous!  For example, I recently received a lovely stack of Elizabeth's generosity when we all got together for a day of sewing and enjoying Irene's wonderful Tom Kah Gai soup!  I had asked for any unwanted yellow or gray fabrics pieces for a wedding quilt for Molly, and Elizabeth brought me this stack of beauties all tied with a bow!

They are absolutely perfect and blend beautifully with the fabric stack I had already started (some shown on the right).  I think by tomorrow night I may be able to untie the bow on Elizabeth's stack and start cutting!  I also recently added these two fabrics to the mix:

Posh Paisley by Michael Miller and Sketchbook Flowers by Carolyn Gavin.

I am completely head-over-heels in love with the yellow, gray, and white palette!

Molly even came for part of the sewing day at Irene's and started working on these for the wedding reception:

Notice the fabric strips leftover from the gathered clutches?

I love all of Molly's handmade wedding ideas, but it is doing strange things to my house.  The kitchen and dining room tables are covered with fabric and sewing notions (okay, nothing new there), but my living room is taking on a whole new appearance.

This is my coffee table.

This is my couch.

 

This is a corner of the living room, which I now refer to as Crate and Barrel Westside.

 This is Molly at her very first shower (by and for "family"), in a lovely dress from Anthropologie.  I think it's safe to say she was a little nervous to be the center of so much attention.

Then again, maybe it isn't so bad after all.

She had another shower last weekend at our church, Solid Rock, thrown by some very thoughtful and crafty friends (though one claims that she is not crafty but just very good at grunt work).  Take a look at all their great ideas.

Welcome!

Lots of flowers and trees.  BIG trees.

The "celebrate" banner was sent home with Molly.  The letters were cut from crinkled up brown paper and are removable so that Molly can use it for a variety of future occasions.  There are enough white flags to spell out "Happy Birthday."  We are going to use it again at the wedding reception.

The food was all gluten and dairy free for the bride and absolutely delicious!

Best use of a screen door ever!

Cute initials that were also sent home with Molly along with dozens of the puffy little yo yos.

Molly and her flock of excited little girls.

While working at the church the day before the shower, Peter got a peek at the room before Molly did.  And he described it perfectly as full of flowers, pictures, and all the things Molly loves.  And on Saturday it was full of many of the people Molly loves.  What could be better than that?

With wishes, true and kind -- Joan