Silk, Lace, and Wool, oh my!

My daughter is making her 1st communion this spring and I have set out to make her dress. Now this is not a major ordeal for me however deciding what I want it to look like is.  When I made my 1st communion I wore my mother's dress and I also wore my great-grandmother's veil (on my father's side).  I have always thought that when I had a daughter she would wear the exact same dress and veil that I wore. I didn't give any thought to the fact that being married to a 6 1/2 foot tall man might give me overly tall children. This fact has made it so the dress won't fit her.  I'm also not liking the idea of buying a dress.  So I set out to make a dress. I told my grandmother of my plan, and she stepped right up. Gram is a very talented, as I like to call it, fabric artist.  Her first love is quilting but sewing in general is as natural to her as breathing. She also lives in an area of New Jersey which gives her access to the best quality fabrics, laces, threads, everything.  So I told her I was thinking about silk and she said "say no more I've got it taken care of".  About a month ago I got a wonderful package of what I consider beautiful things.  She sent several yards of a gorgeous dupioni silk in the most beautiful shade of ivory that in the right light has an ever so slight pinkish hue, and several yards of the most amazing, lightest, softest cream colored wool.  Now, I know that tradition is a bright white dress but I want her to still wear the veil and being almost 100 years old it's more ivory than white, so ivory it is!  Today was the day. I've started a "rough draft" in muslin. So far so good.  I have to say with all the ideas that have gone through my head it's been very hard to decide what this should look like.  Pictures to come soon.

31 and Holding.......

gifts from Marie and Dawn

So I celebrated my birthday over this past weekend and while I'm not too far off from 31 I am going to be staying that exact age for a while I think. Truthfully I don't care, 33 is just fine but I have to say I seem to feel like I was just 31. My how quickly the last two years have gone. The other reason I don't mind getting older is I like to get gifts. I will be honest. I like stuff!  Some of my favorite things I got this year have to do with a huge event in the near future. The Royal Wedding!  That's right The Royal Wedding.  My cousin sent the commemoriative William and Catherine Royal Wedding Yankee Candle. LOVE IT!  My BFF Dawn gave me The William and Catherine tea cup. Now this is the perfect gift since it combines my love of all things royal and my love of tea and tea cups. I have it on good authority that there may even be a certain sapphire  ring replica coming my way.  My kids and hubby gave me some new beads for my Troll Beads bracelet, I LOVE LOVE LOVE them.  This year it seemed like I was able to make it last days. While the real day was Saturday and my husband and I celebrated that day, I also got to have cake and icecream with my family and the inlaws on Sunday and Monday I was surprised by beautiful flowers from my brother and his girlfriend. Yes I don't mind getting older, a day all about me.

from Kevin and Brittany

Just a quick note about the goings on at the Brook.  We are expecting!  Ducks and geese that is. Made you all gasp didn't I.  We decided to jump on the band wagon with everyone else we know that's hatching chickens this year and do the same.  However in the fashion that we are so well known for we had to do it with a twist!  We opted for duck and goose eggs. So for the last few days we have spent many hours looking at eggs, staring at 2 different thermometers, deciding which light bulb has the right amount of heat, and making sure the humidity isn't to high or low.  Oh I feel like a woman that is a week from her due date. The problem with that is we are only about 6 day into a 21-28 day journey.  I'm not sure I can look at an egg the same way ever again.


          

Eggcellent

                                                        

egg Gramp made

blue & white paperweight egg

Several years back I stated an egg collection quite by accident.  My Grandfather, Gramp as we called him, gave me a paperweight that's shaped like an egg.  When he gave it to me he said I ought to have it because it was given to him by his good friend. Now I don't really think that there was any real reason that he gave it to me and not my father or brother other than he was cleaning out his office. Of course there is the thought that he gave it to me because I am the oldest grandchild and by the same token the most loved and favorite. Okay maybe those words weren't used but I am sure that was the  real reason. Then after it sat on my craft table for a few years holding down quilting patterns, which is where my grandmother would like to see it, I thought that I should bring it out and put it on the mantle.  Just about that time my mother brought  over some other eggs that I had forgotten I had.  Two that had belonged to my great aunt, theses are very sparkly and shiny and as I have said if it sparkles it's for me!!!  The third egg was one that Gramp had made me. Gramp was quite an artist and had gotten into making Ukrainian eggs when I was younger.  The egg he made me was to commorate my 1st Communion in 1986.   Then one year at Christmas my mom gave me 3 small marble eggs she said to go with my collection, still not really thinking of it as a "collection". She was right though, I did have a collection.  Since then I try to add one or two a year to it. It's not  a huge collection yet but I'm sure it will be before too much longer. Yesterday I decided that I hadn't been at the sewing machine in a while so whipped up a few eggs to put in a large vase I have.

eggs I made last night