Imagine, I'm delayed in posting about the May Flower Power Retreat, hosted by LinAnn Events!
I pulled this out again, Gman1 and C's wedding sampler. But now that their actual photos show all those beautiful flowers in it, I realize I need to add them. That will require some thinking, which I was unprepared to do there!
I mean, look at all those gorgeous colours!!!
I really didn't do much shopping, but I did find some goodies at Annette's Mind Your Needle!
Although the sweet needle holder was a gift from her.
Also forgot this... Interchangeable Scissor Fobs, adorable!
Ah, the freebie table. It's hard not to find something you can't stitch without.
Then it was time for exchange, always a good time!
Although I didn't get to keep the one I originally chose, I did get this fun bag.
The word was SPRING and inside was -
Stickers, (including the Flower Power sticker)
Pincushions with buttons,
Ruler,
Ink marking pen,
Needle holder and minder, (a bee ❤)
Grips
All great stitchy things!
This is what I had to offer.
I bought a bee potholder and opened up the bottom to put everything inside. It almost didn't fit. I propped it on a picture holder stand and added flowers to the back of it. It was a plump bee for sure.
Scissors,
Pattern,
Ruffled Red threat drop,
Ivory Lugana,
Needles,
Glove in a Bottle (lotion),
and floss that spelled SPRING.
Our table this year. We're missing a couple of our friends, we're missing them! Hopefully at least one of them will be able to join us for the next retreat.
And the whole lot of us!
This is what I ended up working on. I wanted something simple that didn't require too much concentration. Wrong... I can't tell you how many times I ended up frogging several stitches!
And then before I knew it, it was over. π
So I'm already looking forward to the next one, next month!
We gained a daughter-in-love, May the Fourth was certainly with us!
And not just a daughter, but her lovely family as well. It's wonderful that we enjoy being with each other!
They chose to have their wedding at an amazing venue, the Vandiver Inn in Havre de Grace. (Which happens to be the twin city of Mumbles, Wales, where my cousin lives.) Appropriate for my side of the family.
It was a beautiful evening on Friday for the rehearsal dinner. The wedding was supposed to take place here, but the weather had something else in mind for Saturday.
In this photo, you see her sisters and his brothers, soon to be one big happy family!
Some of these photos are mine, but some are also from family and friends who posted them.
I chose to wear my Momma's dirndl that evening, to honour her. She would have been so happy to see them getting married. But my Dad was able to come, in spite of his health issues.
The next morning, it was time to get ready!
Getting all pretty with Claire's precious Nanny.
The Gmen getting ready.
The Groom and his Best Man - his twin of course!
Wedding memories of their parents and grandparents.
Find your seat, it's time!
Now if you happen to remember the weather on May 4th, it was rather a chilly day compared to the day before. And we can't forget the darn rain! On and off all day.
Just before they decided to still have it outside, it started raining harder and had to be moved inside the reception area. It actually turned out really nice, everyone was already seated at their table. They got married in front of the head table, a very unique wedding!
Of course, after the ceremony, it stopped raining for a bit. Enough time to take photos outside where it was supposed to happen.
Let me just say that the photographer, Alexis Manning Photography, was amazing, and I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the photos when they're ready. I'll be sure to share them when they are.
"Rain on your wedding day is good luck because it signifies that your marriage will last. A knot that becomes wet is extremely hard to untie - therefore, when you "tie the knot" on a rainy day, your marriage is supposedly just as hard to unravel!"
In this beautiful photo, Claire is wearing her family's Scottish tartan, using her grandmother's lace from her wedding dress wrapped around the flowers, and wearing my Momma's bracelet. A lovely rememberence of a family brought together through love.
In early February, DH and I were invited to a wedding for my BFF's son. He thought we should make a weekend of it, what a nice surprise! So we went to Lititz, PA, on Friday to spend the night before the wedding in Lancaster, PA.
It was the perfect little town, we were able to walk everywhere! Our first stop was at Bulls Head Public House for a drink (Shandy for me) and lunch.
From there we went antique shopping, DH's favourite... not! I did see this sweet piece in one of the shops.
Oh look, another bar! Too bad this one wasn't actually available, but I liked the sign. The locals were all so nice and friendly, and we ending up at the hotel bar with some of them that we had met earlier at another bar.
We stopped in at the Wilbur Chocolate shop since it was right across the street from the hotel, how could we not?
We hadn't heard of this chocolate before, but they have something similar to a Hershey's Kiss, it's called a Wilbur Bud. It's a little harder than a kiss and not as sweet. We liked it enough to get some! I also found some dark chocolate orange truffles, so that was a must. And the hotel left a little pouch of them in our room, nice.
It was chilly that night, maybe my hand was shaking and that's why it's blurry? Because I really didn't have "that" much to drink!
On the way to the hotel for the wedding the next day, my treat was stopping in at Stitches Unlimited, which I have been to a few times before.
Here's the happy couple coming into the reception after the ceremony.
T and I, we've been BFF's since 1st grade. My mother used to call us the terrible twins when we would have a spat.
A fun photo with her sister, and their cousin joining us whether we liked it or not!
It's always fun getting together with these two.
Oops, we almost forgot to take a photo together.
My purchases from Stitches Unlimited was approved by Maverick. I really didn't need anything, but of course wanted to support the shop!
It was a great weekend away together and we are trying to make plans with friends to stay in Lititz in the future since we had such fun there!
The next week I had my yearly mammogram and thought I deserved a visit to the thrift shop afterwards. I found a few treats.
I might be stopping by there again tomorrow since I'll be in the area, who knows what I might find?
I'd been looking at some shops/patterns on Etsy and this was one of the them, Living on the Rainbow, in the Ukraine.
I saw these cuties and decided I needed to get them, perfect for some upcoming weddings.
And here's another one I thought would work for a few friends... "Naughty" of course, but "I tried" could work for some!
I received them as a PDF, and a good thing too since it looks like mail service has been suspended there. One of the shops I thought about ordering from is taking a break, I'm guessing because of not being able to ship anything.
I know there are plenty more on Etsy, you can search for them there.
Then choose the shop location.
I hope you might find something you'd like to stitch and support them in a small way.
I can't even imagine what they are going through, but I am certainly praying for their country.
