Cassie's dress

Cassie is the perfect example of the bride that loves to push the envelope.  I have been lucky to work with quite a few of you.  The biggest flower on this dress is at least 12 inches across.  The feathers placed in the flowers and around the hem make me happy.  Thanks for the opportunity Cassie. 

The photos are taken by Kate, at katesetc.com.  I have really enjoyed her work.  She really captured Cassie well and I think the photos are stunning!  She was the one who took the engagement photos I posted a bit ago. 

more boring house stuff, sorry.

Look, it the cute boys!

Okay, it has been forever since I let myself blog about the house, but I can't hold out any longer.  I want to talk about tile.  I know there are others like myself.  You know who you are.  Those of you who can fall in love with tile.  Yes, it is true.  I love the back splash tile in the big bathroom.  It is beautiful. 

It is a porcelain tile that is matte white.  It is so very old school, but with white grout, it looks so very modern and pretty.  I CAN'T sew with inferior materials, and I have noticed, that goes for home building materials as well.  Thank goodness for KSL.com classifieds.  I have aquired some very quality stuff for a song.  Without them, this house would be nothing.  (Yes, too much drama.  Really, without my Dad and an understanding husband, this house would be nothing.)

There is just too many things I could talk about with the progress of the house, but these are my high points.  The bathroom is really to be put together and the kitchen counter is finally tiled, grouted, and sealed.  This picture is the first meal at the bar.... ever.  Pretty significant step for all of us.  It has been a very long road to get to this point. 

I can't say enough about how enjoyable this process has been.  I have really learned so many things.  I know I know nothing, but I think the point is, I know how to learn how to do it now.  Ha, I dare you follow that logic! 
 

Ruffled Wedding Blog

The wedding blog ruffledblog.com put up Caitlin and Nate's groomals.  Hurray!  I blogged before about the shoot, which was done up here and at our neighbor's pond down the canyon.  Cute as all get out, that Nate and Caitlin.... and so fun to work with.
Lindsey Stewart, the great Green Apple photographer, greenapplephotographyonline.com was expecting her beautiful baby girl during the shoot, check out her blog for those lovely photos of her new born as well as other stunning photos! 
It was a lot of fun and I can't say enough about the dress and what a great project it was.  I said before, but will repeat, the liner pleating fabric equals 94 Yards.  The inspiration was of course Jacki O's wedding gown.  I LOVE being inspired by dresses that are from a different era, it always makes me so very happy.

The Piano

I was taken aback when Ashley, a bride I did an alteration for, showed me her engagement photos.  She talked about bringing a piano up to the Alpine Loop for their photo shoot.  It is one of those times you think, well, I must have misunderstood what she was saying.  There is no way she hauled a piano up there for that.  Then I saw the incredible photos shot by Katherine Loveless (found at katesetc.com) and I believed.

Just thought you all should see these stunning shots.  It seems this couple is destined for great things. 

I checked out Katherine's blog as well.  Warning, only check it out if you can control your blog envy.  Really creative and beautiful photographer and graphics designer. 

This shot is my favorite.

Here is an idea floating around in my head.  Before sewing this feather trim around cassie's hem line, I fiddled with it for a bit.  Feathers have been interesting around hems of dresses and poking out of flowers.  How about something around the neckline?  I mostly think this would be great as a fun shrug (Oh, how I don't like the word "shrug") with a bias cut silk wedding dress.  What do you think?  Is there anyone who could be into a gown with this type of detail?  I think the potential is there.... or I have been inhaling too much concrete board dust while sawing it for the counter today.  Talk about a mixed up life I am leading. 

My Perfect Day

I don't know why this turned out to be such a quaint and pleasant day.  But for unknown reasons, the stars were aligned and things fell into place. 

The start.  Waking up to the sound of two cute boys playing happily together.  No, they didn't come into my room asking for breakfast, they were upstairs taking care of Curious George and Spot, their stuffed animals.  I think it was the stuffed animals nap time. 

During breakfast, the kids ate their food without being prompted.  We had some good conversation. 

I was able to sew today.  I think this is one main reason I am so euphoric.  The dress I am working on is made of my favorite silk out there.  It is a duchess satin and is almost sculptural in it's hand.  I love most all silk, but this one takes the cake.  So I am pleasantly making flowers out of the silk and some great feathers and the kids are now playing race track downstairs.  They are soo very loud.... I am happy that Scott can't hear them.  But they are happy loud, not mad loud.  Huge difference. 

We play a bit, Scott takes them to do some chores.  Cute.  When I am getting shoes on Slade, he tells me he never wants to leave me.  Cute.  They come back with cold hands and hungry.  Cute.  We have lunch and I help Slade do a puzzle. 

When it is dinner time, I go on a walk with the dogs.  They need to stretch their legs.  You ask, "Why at dinner time do you think you can go out?"  Well, we have leftovers from Thanksgiving because my mom let us cook up two of her turkeys so we could all have leftovers.  Maybe that is the real reason today was so pleasant.  I am not much for cooking dinner.  I love cooking breakfast and lunch.  By dinner time I am too....too.... unenthused to get excited about dinner. 

Of course the walk was practically balmy.  It must have been 35 degrees out there.  I think it is a warm front.  I am not being sarcastic.  35 degrees at 5:30 P.M. IS warm up here.  There was an almost full moon out there.  Beautiful. 

Hank was able to get another tooth out tonight with the help of Scott.  Go Scott! 

At the end of the night, I checked on the boys and Slade grabbed my hand.  Holding it super tight, he said, "Let me tell you some things.... Antarctica is a very cold place.  You can go sledding their and build snow men and ice men.  You can slip around their.  What else can you do their?"  He always tries to grab our hands and hold on for dear life so we can't leave after putting them to bed.  Hank does the same thing.  Cute. 

For the few who care....

This goes out to those few who like to be updated about our overwhelming house project.
I will start with a few photos showing the evolution of the kitchen area. 

 

  

Right now I am tired enough to not be overly excited about the monumental hurtle we climbed over today.   We installed the kitchen cabinets.  That, in itself, is no big deal, but the build up to that moment is pretty huge.  I really am at a loss about how to describe the last month. 

Check this out, the two by four at the bottom of this picture is the old floor level.  The piece on top says one inch and eleven sixteenths.  I was bringing the floor up that much in a three foot span!  Also to notice, dad is checking my heat duct work over there.  I used to get nervous when he would check my work.  I am callous now.  He has a harder time phasing me.  I am late thirties and finally my dad can't get to me as easily.  This house project was worth it all just for that :-)

The feeling of the house has changed.  For instance, when you walk in the kitchen/living room/dining room you are not having to go over hills and valleys.  I now know how to level a floor.  It was hard with the first method I tried, but much much much easier after I had a third of the floor level.  I had a reference point and a weeks worth of trying and learning behind me.  The next two thirds of the floor were a breeze.  Two words, Sister joists. 

Also, when you walk by the bathroom or bedroom, you don't faint from the overwhelming smell of.... sewer... or something.  Nope, the house smells like... well, almost smells like new construction!!!!  We, meaning, Scott and Dad, dug out a two foot hole in the bedroom.  Digging around two heating ducts and a good amount of plumbing.  We were disappointed because we couldn't find any cracks in the sewer pipe.  One morning we found the crack!  It was a "bugger" to cut out the cast iron on account of it's location under the cement but thankfully dad and Scott were able to get through it.  I love that I wait for Scott to be there for the really bad jobs and he is more than happy to do them.  Thanks to dad, and his overwhelming desire to fix all things old and yucky, we now have all new plumbing in that hole as well. 

The tree in the front yard was pruned severely.  There were too many branches growing horizontally.  Scott had a great time doing that.  Thankfully we rented a lift and it became a carnival ride of sorts.  I want to rent that on our next family reunion.  It was too much fun.  

I finally got a furnace guy to come check the furnace.  I guess we needed a new one.  Something about cracks in the heat exchange.  Well, Gunthers installed one today.  It has been about a week of fires in the wood burning stove.  It is quaint, but nothing beats heat distributed throughout the house by a working furnace.  We will still use the wood burning stove.  It makes for a nostalgic working environment, plus we won't need to haul off our scrap 2 by 4's. 

Wow, this will be my most boring blog to date, but it is so big to me.

P.P.S.  Just so you all know out there, I know my dad is a Super Star.  Everyone who sees the magnitude of this project can't get enough of how great my dad is.  For the record, I know how lucky I am to do this with him.  I am learning so much from him.  I do wonder if we will wrap this up or if we will continue to come up with new things to do.  I have a feeling we are done with the new stuff only because we have run out of house to fix.