Smocked and Stitched...flower girl dress and bow ties

Our little grandbaby girl (aka "Bunny"). She was so sweet in her little flower girl dress that I had sewn for her. (I am so glad that it fit, since I had to guess estimate and reduce the size provided in my Australian Smoking & Embroidery magazine).  This was Kathy Dykstra's beautiful design. 

 I had so much fun smocking this little apron style dress. ...so much fun, in fact, that I added more smocked rows that I created myself. And I changed the border a little too. :o)

 

 And I love the six layer ruffles that "peek" out from the back of the apron dress. With two layers of ruffles all around the bottom.

 She is checking out the little flower basket...which she loved! And smelling the beautiful blooms that were in her basket.

Little sweetie taking a little water break :o)

Here is a collage shown on my last post. These were groomsmen gifts...suspenders, engraved monogram pocket watches and the bowties sewn with their initials hand-embroidered on the neck part.

Our daughter (Girly~Whirly) was able to fly in a few days earlier, so she helped me finish one of the last of 9 total bow ties.  Again, another project that I was happy to see fit! Since we guessed estimated the actual bow tie sizes according to each neck size.

 

Here are some of the guys in their bow ties.  

 (photos by our daughter Girly~Whirly)

Our son loves bow ties too, but wore a dark navy on navy tie to be different as the groom. 

I am joining in with Jenny's Alphabe-thursday's "S"!

And joining in with Kim's Blog Hop Social!

And joining in with Amy's (& co-hosts Krista, Aniko & Laura's) Work It Wednesday Linky party! :o)

And joining in with Lindsay's Artsy Corner Link party!

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And this week's featured art was a request for a newborn...a little sweet princess named Camden.

The dogwood is her birth flower. And it is drawn entirely with her name CAMDEN. Additional calligraphy written beneath it is her first and middle name, written in the lettering style called: Harrington.

 

Rehearsal Day and Rehearsal Dinner

Sept 6th was our son's wedding. ...so happy for that special day and for the family and friends that were able to attend. 

Today, I will be sharing a few photos of that Rehearsal day and Rehearsal dinner. And next week, I will share a little sewing I was able to get done for the wedding.

Love this view of our son, taken by our older daughter (Girly~Twirly), who is one of the wedding party.

It was a gorgeous day, gorgeous weather...a preview of the gorgeous wedding day at historical Locust Grove, Kentucky.

 

Our little granddaughter "Bunny" and Papa...

 

Photo by her auntie, aka our younger daughter Girly~Whirly

Bunny and me, walking through the pathway to the courtyard.

Photo by Girly~Whirly

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This was taken at the Rehearsal dinner at Captain's Quarters. After a delicious dinner, a fun game our daughters facilitated to see if the bride and groom were on the same page...regarding questions like: Who is the better driver...

or Who takes the longest to get ready?

Each one held in one hand one of their own shoes and in the other hand - one of the other's shoes. And they had to raise the shoe of the one they thought was the best answer to the questions...  "...if the shoe fits..." 

And then the bride to be's family and two of her bridesmaids read aloud poems to the couple that they each created for them.

Next, the bridesmaids and both moms were each given a beautiful necklace to wear for the wedding...and the little flower girl (our grandbaby) got a little necklace too.

And the groomsmen were given each a pair of suspenders, a bow tie (I sewed these, so was happy that they all fit :o), and a pocket watch to wear with their suits.

It was a wonderful time to relax and enjoy the evening.

Sweet little flower girl found the floor vent and thought it was so fun to stand on it! Here she is striking her "little marilyn monroe pose".

 ...and my hubby watching our granddaughter laughing as her dress blows up around her.

...my dad with his great-granddaughter.

And at the end of the night, group photos as the wedding party and family leave.

I wish we had taken them with the couples in each family photo.

Top: Our sweet daughter-in-law with her family...two brothers, two sisters, mom, dad, and grandma. She is the first of their children to be married.

Bottom: Girly~Whirly & hubby (Dr. Amazing), our son (Heart~throb), Girly~wirly & her hubby (Dr. Awesome) & their daughter Bunny, me and my handsome hubby. Our son is the last of our children to get married :o)

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I am joining in with Jenny's Alphabe-thursday's "R".!

And joining in with Kim's Blog Hop Social linky!! 

And joining in with Tilly's Nest for her Down Home Blog Hop!

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and for those new to my blog, I do share past artwork on each post... 

Here are a couple that were orders given for wedding gifts...

K drawn entirely with the groom's  first name: KEVIN
W drawn entirely with their married name: WHITE
R drawn entirely with the bride's first name: REINA

And their wedding date along the border was added in calligraphy. The lettering style is: Monterey.

 

This was taken from a sweet photo of this couple. I love how they are focused on each other as they look into the other's eyes.

 She was drawn entirely with her first name: STACY.
He was drawn entirely with his first name: RUSS.
The lettering style of the quote: Bickham script

This artwork was drawn from a photo that captured the fun in this couple's lives.

 He was drawn with his first name: ZACH

She was drawn with her first name: JENI
The lettering style of the quote: Mistral

Thank you so much for stopping by! I will be sure to return your lovely visit.

Pocket Pouch ...pictorial tutorial

I had posted about these last week. ...here in Ornaments.

When our older daughter was engaged, at a wedding shower in 2008 along with some other gifts, we had given her a decorative box of all her old ornaments from each year growing up.

And then at our younger daughter's wedding shower last year also with some other gifts, we had given her a decorative box filled with all her ornaments from each year growing up.

...we also found all of our son's ornaments (after our move from Georgia, this February, I was so thankful that all our Christmas ornaments and decor are all in red or green rubbermaids! It sure made it easier to find amongst all the other rubbermaids and boxes that we still need to go through).

...we had bought a cute box to put all the ornaments in, that looks like a "suitcase" with adventure-type words printed all over it. ( Found this one at Michael's)

But, I thought of sewing little pouches to put each ornament in and dated...(Now, I want to do these for our girls too, since I had just wrapped theirs in tissue wrap....maybe, when they move back to Kentucky, we can have a sewing day together and work on them).

Well...I did get them sewn with some muslin fabric that I already had. ...I did this the day before the shower, while my hubby was at work.

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Here is the tutorial with photos:

1. Cut fabric to allow plenty of room for seams. On some I made them bigger than necessary, but better to have more room, than trying to squeeze your ornament in after all the sewing is done.
 (I used muslin, I had, but you can use other fabric).

This crocheted ornament was one of many my mom made for us...She passed away in 2004, so this one is like one of the ones I gave to each of our children for them to keep.

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2. Iron (helps, but not necessary) the top edge and bottom edge over twice. Then stitch top and bottom edges.

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3. Fold bottom edge up a little more than one third up (Looks like a sleeping bag).

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4. Fold top edge down to over lap the bottom edge a little. Sew down one side about 1/8th inch seam.

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 5. Sew down opposite side, also 1/8th inch seam. (Just the sides, do not sew the flap).

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6.Turn the pocket inside out. Now sew the sides again, using a 1/4 inch seam. 

This is a french seam, so that there are no frayed seams. If you use felt material, you do not need to sew a french seam, since it will not fray.

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7. Turn pocket right side out. Now ready for writing the date, if you would like. 

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8. I used a sharpie to write the date on the flap.

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9. I decided to draw a quick little sketch on the pocket pouch too, since some of the ornaments do not have the dates on them.  However, you could take a photo of the ornament and keep it in the pouch.

I would actually like to give each of our grandchildren (we currently have one grandbaby :o) an ornament  from us each year and then make a pocket pouch. I would take a photo of them holding their ornament. Then they can put that photo into the pouch with the ornament, for them to remember when they are grown :o)

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Here are some of our son's ornaments. There are more, but for some reason, I cannot find some of the photos. Like the ones that my mom made for us, that I was able to give to each of our children:

The second one on top left, has a photo of him wearing his "tuxedo" sleeper on Christmas day.

The one of him on the bottom right, was made in his kindergarten class, with his kindergarten photo.

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The green beaded cross from 1996, was actually made by his Granny when my hubby and I were first married...this was the year that she went to be with the Lord. We sure miss her.

The paper heart, he had made and had written his name in cursive.

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The noodle angel I had made years ago, but couldn't find his 2002 ornament.

2007 was one when our son represented Georgia as Children's Miracle Network Ambassador child.

Here is one of their engagement Photos, taken by a talented and sweet photographer. 

a Perfect Portrait!

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And here are more...Portraits.

This one was for a couple's wedding gift. It was drawn from a photo of them taken at their recent wedding.  (The one who ordered this, had heard of the art that I do from another that lives in another city, but actually has a dental practice near where we now live!  ...and we have not lived here that long.  ...but  when I saw the photo, I realized that the groom was the homecoming king when our younger daughter was homecoming queen! What a small, small world!)

And this one was also ordered a week later, by the same individual, for some family friends. 

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I am joining in with Jenny's Alphabe-thursday's "P".!

And joining in with Kim's Made U Look Linky # 83!! 

And joining in with Amy's Work It Wednesday Linky party! :o) 

And joining in with Jann's Share Your Cup Thursday! :o)