The Wedding and the Winner

The winner of my pumpkin giveaway will be announced at the bottom of this post, but first I wanted to share some pictures of my nephew's wedding, which was this past Saturday. The setting was a wonderful farm with a gorgeous view of the Smoky Mountains in the background, and even though it was a chilly fall-like day, an outdoor wedding in a place like this couldn't have been more perfect.

This is the building where the reception was held.... isn't it beautiful?

Down the hill from the reception hall is where the ceremony would take place....

Here come the guys.....

The parents, grandparents, and bridesmaids were brought down the hill by carriage.

My brother walking my sister-in-law to her seat...

My cousin's precious little boy, Aiden, waiting for the girls to arrive from their carriage.

This is Georgia, the adorable little flower girl.

The bride and her Dad also arrived in a beautiful carriage......

As soon as Shelby and her Dad started their walk down the aisle, the sun came out from behind the clouds.

 

 The vows....

 Mr. and Mrs. Nick Young!

And for a moment, I couldn't help a couple of tears that fell....

One for all the years that have flown by so quickly since Nick was a little boy, and one for my Mother who didn't get to see her beloved grandson get married....

*Sigh*

Then it was back up the hill for the reception.....

The inside of the reception hall was so cozy inside with it's beautiful barn lights on the walls.

 My two precious aunts- my mom's sisters- having a good time.

Late into the night everyone ate lots of delicious barbecue and laughed and danced and had such a wonderful time...

Beautiful festive candles burned everywhere and a fire outside for the children to make s'mores made the evening complete.

Congratulations, Nick and Shelby- may God bless you with many wonderful years together!

***********************************************

And now- for the winner of my fabric pumpkin......

I assigned every comment a number in the order they were left on the last post, then used a random number generator from CalculatorPro.com to pick for me:

My Random Number is

24.00

Random Number Calculator

Comment #24 belongs to... Dawn! (Blogger user name dsblanchard.)

Congratulations, Dawn- email me your address and the pumpkin will be on it's way to you!

Happy Tuesday, everyone... thanks for letting me share my nephew's special day with you!

From my sewing room: A Special Gift



My nephew Nick, 1989

There are milestones in my life from a few years ago that I can recall very well; graduation from college, buying a car on my own for the first time, my first "real" job.....

and all these events took place around the time my nephew Nick was born.

 



Nick and Shelby, 2011

 And now the little baby boy that was born to my brother and sister-in-law 22 years ago is a wonderful and handsome young man with a bright future and an adorable fiancé to whom he is engaged to be married to this October.

(And he'll be sure to tell you he is my favorite nephew, too, and he is....
but he is also my only nephew. *grin*)

For their wedding I wanted to give them a special gift, and once I saw they had black towels on their wish list I thought personalizing them with a simple white monogram with their last initial (Y) would be just the thing. (Nuthin' fancy, because they're not into the "fru-fru" stuff. *grin*)

I got to work by first digitizing a monogram on the computer..... this is actually the hardest part because the computer design has to be "clean" enough for the stitches to look neat once it's ready to embroider. Once I'm happy with the design, it's as simple as transferring the design to the computer card and popping it into the machine.

Next comes the most nerve-wracking part for me: placement of the design. I have to carefully measure to make sure it's centered perfectly in the middle and not off to one side.

After I mark where the design will be, the hoop is placed over the top along with an embroidery "topper" to keep the stitches from sinking into the nap of the towels so the design will look nice and smooth. Once the machine has finished sewing, you just tear it away, leaving nothing but the design. It looks and feels a lot like cellophane, but is a lot thinner and is also water soluble in case it doesn't all tear off at first try.

The machine takes over from there....

                                        

And.... 

Ta-da!

This is how the design looks on the bath towel;

I just had to resize the design to make it smaller for the hand towels and washcloths.

I also commissioned my friend Dani, who has a wonderful new ETSY shop, to make a special stitchery for their bathroom- done in black work with a black frame.

Thanks, Dani- I know they're going to love it.

Now if I can just convince myself he's all grown up and soon-to-be married...

*SIGH*

Time passes so quickly, doesn't it?

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

For my Daddy...

Dear Daddy,

    I'm thankful to have the opportunity to wish you another Father's Day, and I will when I see you on Sunday.... but I don't think one day out of the year could ever be enough to express my love and gratitude for you. Of course I appreciate all you've done for me, but I also appreciate now more than ever all the many qualities about you that make you special.

    Even though you had a pretty tough life growing up and your earliest memories were not of a loving and peaceful home, you were determined to make things different for me and Tim. You and Mother always made sure ours was a happy home where God was first and music was a big part of our lives. You took the time to encourage us and tell us we could do anything we set our mind to do.... and thanks to you to I still feel like I can tackle any obstacle because you told me "can't never could do anything."

    Not many girls my age were fortunate enough to have a father who taught them how to change the oil in her car, sharpen a knife, and use a level and a hammer.... but these were things you thought were important enough for me to learn because you said "I might not always be around to show you how." I also remember you saying "Hard work never killed anybody, but laying around on the couch all day will"- although as a 10 year-old girl toting buckets of rocks out of the garden for you, that couch seemed mighty inviting at the time. But I understand now what you meant and I'm thankful for the work ethic those words instilled in me.

     I'm also thankful you shared your love of animals with me... it's true that Mother loved animals too, although she was not very fond of the goats, especially after one got loose and jumped on the trunk of her new car. But you were the one who taught me that every living thing has value, and should be treated as such. You've spent so much time down through the years teaching me everything you know about chickens and honeybees.... and oh, how I've loved every minute of it- because the bees not only give us glorious honey, but also pollinate our gardens and fruit trees, not to mention how downright fascinating they are... and chickens? I can't count how many times I heard you say "to us it's just an egg; but to a hen, it's a full day's work." That's one saying I'll always remember and the reason I feel like crying when I accidentally break an egg...

     Thank you for being my protector... like the time a boy who I did not want to have anything to do with wouldn't leave me alone (today it's called "stalking") and you went and found him and had a "talk" with him.... this boy was well over 6 feet tall, and you, all of 5 feet 7.... but after that, he never bothered me anymore. *grin*
Of course, I know how scary your stern little talks could be, too- you gave me more than one or two growing up.

    Thanks for showing me what true love was as you cared for Mother while she was sick; I know some days you must be so lonely without her..... Tim and I miss her too but I can't imagine how you must feel with your companion of almost 50 years no longer by your side.

     Most of all, Daddy- thanks for not trying to be perfect; or always expecting perfection from me only to be disappointed when I'm not, but being instead the perfect example of what a Father should be. Happy Father's Day.... I know I don't say it enough, but I'm proud that you're my father.
Love,
Your Daughter

The Bees have arrived!

Chapter 1 of our Honeybee adventure has begun!

Dad called this morning to tell me the bees were ready and once he picked them up and got them loaded into the new hives he built for us, he would be on his way with them.

Once here, Dad and Hubby worked on getting a level spot dug out in the ground to set the blocks on....

Then the hives were placed on top of the block and leveled.

Dad did such a great job on the hives- they are built so neatly and secure.

Now comes the fun part- opening the "door" and letting them out! Dad pried away the small screen over the opening and out they came....

Now the exciting (and nervy) part- I got to "feed" them! Dad showed me how to take the top of the brood box off and brush all the bees on top back down into the box. Then, I had to place the feed box on top and pour the honey/water mixture in for them. (Sorry there are no pictures of this, but it's hard to do this and take pictures at the same time.) And since we forgot to buy a bonnet, I got to experience doing this WITHOUT any protection on my head- just gloves.

Here goes......

It really wasn't as bad as I thought.... I just tried to keep my cool. I did squeal once when one got in my hair, but I managed to hold it together. (And my bladder.)

This is their new home... I hope they will be happy and thrive here on our little farm!

How I spent my weekend... Part II

I hope everybody had a terrific holiday weekend... mine was great but very busy. I haven't been on the computer since Friday, so I have a lot of catching up to do! I can't wait to visit everybody and see what you've been up to the past few days, so I'll keep this post short and sweet.
These are just a few highlights of my weekend....

Cleaned out Daisy and Edie's stall. (Please disregard the objects in the bottom right corner... those appeared AFTER I cleaned.)

Got Daisy and Edie some fresh hay.

Made some homemade ice cream. (Mmmmm.)

Spent some time with our families. This is my Daddy on his little tractor he just restored. (He looks a little proud of it, don't he?)

Worked on the "pout house".

WAIT A MINUTE... YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO SEE IT YET!! RATS!!

There. That's better. (tee hee)

With all my Heart...

Happy Mother's Day, Momma.... I sure do miss you......