I was looking for some photos in my folders which apparently don’t exist – have you ever thought you took photos of something but as it turns out, you didn’t?  Well, I’ll have to remedy that soon.  Anyway, I found some photos of a quilt I made for my friend Susan that I meant to show you last year but completely forgot!  I should probably share this with you know lest I want to wait until next fall.

Susan is distinctly an autumn person, at least in my mind anyway.  Anything maple-y/pumpkin-y/autumn-y makes me think of her and the cozy Arts and Crafts-inspired home she and her significant other have carved out for themselves.  (And I mean that almost literally – her boyfriend is quite skilled in wood-working and did most of the remodeling himself.)  For a long time I had been collecting fall-ish prints — acorns and autumn leaves, mostly — to make them a quilt, including some pieces found at a quilt shop on Bainbridge Island on a trip we took with her sister many years ago.

I think this pattern is called a Roman quilt although I’m not 100% sure of that.   It’s pretty easy to do but looks fairly intricate.  As you can see, 3 long rectangles to make a square; then each square turned 90 degrees from the one next to it to create the zigzag design.  The layers are held together with a variety of brownish buttons (ones that are smooth and flat so they don’t scratch or poke).

It’s a small thing, the right size for your lap, as you’re curled up with a book and a mug of tea.  I wish I had taken better photos of it but oh well, what can you do.  I’m happy with how it turned out and now it’s with Susan, where it belongs!

Speaking of tea, it’s time for mine.

I’ve been a bit frazzled lately.  Last week I started to feel a summer cold coming on (the worst!) I realized that I needed to rest.   You know, I’ve been trying to do wedding stuff + shop stuff (although that hasn’t really been happening since the wedding stuff – will have to be corrected soon) and then just all the other stuff that goes on in life.   I was constantly waivering between “Wweeeeeeeeeeeee!” and “Aaaackk!”  So now, to remedy that, I’m taking some Pantothenic acid (Vitamin B5, good for the nerves), cut out the caffeine (green tea, not the chocolate – can’t stop that!) and forcing myself to go to bed at a “normal” (normal for me) time which is difficult since I’m like a child in that I really don’t want to go to sleep.  Ever.

And this morning?  Mostly I’m “weeeee!,” with a tiny bit “aack.”  Better.  I’m having a moment of calm, dears, so let’s take advantage of it.  Wedding Update!

You already knew we were on the fast track and had tentatively planned a wedding for autumn.  While trying to figure out the logistics (the most fun or the worst part of any planning depending on your personality – guess where I fall?) I started to feel wigged out by the stress of it;  I wanted to enjoy my short engagement and all the planning wasn’t helping; so we decided to elope.  Just us.  It was great.  I was still going to make my dress, still going to have wonderful pictures of the event.

For a long time I would say, “When I get married, I want to elope.”  My parents knew this.  And when I told them about our engagement they told me, “You’re adults, do what you want.  Go elope, it’s fine with us.”  “Really??”  “Yes.”  (I think my parents were just happy I was actually getting married and not going to turn into an old spinster [Clarification: I personally do not have a problem with old spinsters].)

So, that’s what I told them – “Scrap the wedding plans, we are just going to elope.”  Gave them the date, in August.  (Why wait when you’re just going to run off?)  Well, guess what?  Mom and Dad were not happy about it.  At all.  (Make a mental note here: When eloping, do not tell parents.)

ANYHOW, we are still going to to have a summer wedding only now the parents are coming to the ceremony!   At first I resisted the idea.  What happened to my utterly romantic vision of two people running away together?  What about my reluctance to become weepy and sentimental in front of an audience? But my parents were truly disappointed and I couldn’t very well run away knowing they felt excluded from our special day.   So, I’m over that and am now glad our (out of town) parents are involved.   (Not sure if anyone else would be coming.  We need to keep it small.)  And we still plan to celebrate party-style with our friends and family in the fall so that will be fun!  How many people get a summer wedding and an autumn reception?

So, again, I’ve been frazzled lately.  But at this point most things are taken care of and I’m feeling really excited about things.  On my to do list: I still need to get my wedding band sized, alter my fiance’s vest.  Make the boutonnieres. (Yes, I’m making those now, for all three men.)   Maybe a bouquet for me, I’ve got some ideas for that.  And my dress.  The dress!

Yes, I know, this dress just screams “BRIDE.”  Ok not really, but it’s working out.  I thought at first I would go more 1930s tea-length.  Then I thought about a full-length, early 1950s style.  But what I really wanted was something  pretty but relatively easy.  This pattern, from 1948, did not jump out at me at first but I think the silhouette looks pretty good on my figure and it’s not too complicated.  Plus I’m customizing it so it won’t end up looking like an everyday sundress.

Fabric: I’ve had this soft white lace for years now – I originally bought it to make my Maid of Honor dress for my friend Natalie’s big, formal wedding.  When it was decided that we were going to buy dresses, I knew that I’d find a use for this lace someday. This lace has turned out to be quite perfect for the dress.  It’s nice but not overly fancy.  Light, not too heavy.  The lace is for the lace overdress; the lining will be a separate dress. This way I can change the lining dress underneath (I hope to be able to wear this dress again and not put it away in storage.)

My wedding colors went from muted early fall tones (iris, hydrangea, ivory and mustard) to more light and happy summer hues (pinks and yellows and white – maybe blue too).  I may use this petal pink batiste and nude gauze (above) for the lining.  I can”t guarantee I’ll use either of these since I’ve changed my mind 3 times already!  But it would be pretty, yes?  And as far as decorating the dress, I’m still trying to figure out that part – vintage flowers, a velvet ribbon belt, vintage foil-back buttons….just some more ideas I’m playing around with.

I hope that was a satisfying update!  I don’t want to give away too many details – I think it will be more fun this way when I show you the wedding pictures eventually.  (Which I will, of course!)

Thank you for letting me share with you all and have a lovely weekend!

a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_M5dKBd5_Vfk/RxuN1eIkiGI/AAAAAAAAAEU/3YOjJFgl3WA/s1600-h/apple-crisp.jpg”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_M5dKBd5_Vfk/RxuN1eIkiGI/AAAAAAAAAEU/3YOjJFgl3WA/s400/apple-crisp.jpg” alt=”" id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5123844950825666658″ border=”0″ //abr /It does not feel like fall in SoCal, but it smells like it. At least in my kitchen it does. Saturday evening was a blissful trip through domesticity. A few loads of laundry and some autumn-inspired cooking. I like to tell myself that apple crisp is a healthy dessert, as long as you include lots of yummy Granny Smith apples (I like my apple desserts tangy), rolled oats and easy on the dark brown sugar. Oh, and throw a few chopped walnuts on top while you’re at it. I also prepped my Lyonnaise egg salad last night: medium-boiled the eggs and fried up the span style=”font-style: italic;”lardons/span (in my case, thick cut bacon). Perhaps, I’ll even stop by the store again today, to pick up a few things to make some roast sweet potato and acorn squash soup.br /br /a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/faeriefurballs/1675665682/” title=”Photo Sharing”img src=”http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2144/1675665682_9dd6fdc3e1_o.jpg” alt=”Pumpkins 2007″ height=”533″ width=”400″ //abr /br /And we got our pumpkins! Green is my favorite. It’s so, I don’t know, ghoulish. Here’s the one from last year:br /br /a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/faeriefurballs/287969276/” title=”Photo Sharing”img src=”http://farm1.static.flickr.com/104/287969276_532ac6967d_o.jpg” alt=”pumpkin-legs” height=”332″ width=”400″ //abr /br /We also got an little white and orange-striped one and a tiny orange one. They’re up on the mantle now. Our lovely, oyster-colored sofa came this past week and the place is really starting to feel like home. Once we get the mirror up over the fireplace, I’ll have to show you some pics.br /br /Ok, I have some crafting to do. Looking at the calendar this morning, I realized I’m a little behind in my, err, time-sensitive craft-making so I’d better jump on that.br /br /Happy Sunday!

a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_M5dKBd5_Vfk/Rvfp0OIkiBI/AAAAAAAAACU/qrI6Zt3RneA/s1600-h/juliet.jpg”img style=”margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_M5dKBd5_Vfk/Rvfp0OIkiBI/AAAAAAAAACU/qrI6Zt3RneA/s320/juliet.jpgalt=” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5113812985259001874″ border=”0″ //aHappy Fall Everyone! Did y’all have a cozy iAutumnal weekend?/i It poured rain down here – I mean POURED! Thunder and lighting and everything. It was wonderful.br /br /I suppose all the cooler weather talk lately in blogland has gotten me thinking about sweaters. Funny, in SF all I wanted to do was make and wear sundresses, now in SoCal, I’m looking forward to sweaters! Ok, I still like wearing sundresses though.br /br /I bought this pattern, Juliet, from a href=”http://www.zypherstyle.com/” target=”_blank”Zypherstyle/a. It’s one of their new designs, I think. I’m not sure if this style will look good on me – sometimes babydoll makes me look shapeless. But at least I don’t have to make the cropped version (see site), because I’ll definitely look like a shapeless tube if I did.br /br /And I’ve had my eye on a href=”http://www.frenchgirlknits.com/” target=”_blank”French Girl Knits/a for a while…br /br /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_M5dKBd5_Vfk/RvfsteIkiDI/AAAAAAAAACk/0Bq97WTJBeQ/s1600-h/fantine.jpg”img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_M5dKBd5_Vfk/RvfsteIkiDI/AAAAAAAAACk/0Bq97WTJBeQ/s400/fantine.jpg” alt=”" id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5113816167829768242″ border=”0″ //abr /br /Love the name, love the designs! I got this one at my LYS as well as some beautiful Rowan Big Wool Fusion. The color is GORGEOUS – a heathered glacial blue. Something the Snow Queen would wear.br /br /centera href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/faeriefurballs/1434126476/” title=”Photo Sharing”img src=”http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1161/1434126476_531f76853f_m.jpg” alt=”Fantine in Blue” height=”240″ width=”203″ //a/centerbr /br /The rainy weather definitely makes me want to hibernate and snuggle up to a good project. And this one goes fast, even with all the newness – cabled cast on, new stitches, etc. I might rip it out and start over though. I think I cast on too tight and the left side pattern is looser than the right side pattern. Oh well, I’ll think about it.