Wedding thoughts

My thoughts have been wrapped up in weddings lately. We celebrated two weddings within our church family and the choir had the opportunity to sing at one. I think we have the best view of the proceedings while sitting in the choir. I always get a catch in my throat and feel the tears well up just at the moment before the bride starts down the aisle. Doesn't matter who or even if I know them all that well. It's just such a joyous occasion and often brings to mind my own wedding day and the happiness I experienced .
Then, later in the week, I was sorting through my photo boxes and came across the wedding photos of several of my best friends and my sisters. They brought back some great memories and I thought that perhaps I should do a photo collage of them. I have the perfect frame for them if I can just find it!
Seeing all these weddings gave me the kick in the rear I needed to get my stitching going once more on my wedding sampler. We've been so busy here lately and in two weeks time we head off on vacation. Time to put the pedal to the metal. So this weekend I had a wedding sampler stitching marathon. That is, when we were home, lol! Just to show you my progress I've posted a before and after photo.

I'm being very careful in not wasting any floss since I seem to be running short. If I have any left I just might restitch the scroll on the bottom left. The upper part just seems a little pale in that spot due to the overdyed floss. This is the same sampler that originally started out in a tangerine colour in order to match the bridesmaids' dresses. However it really didn't suit the design so I restarted things using Gentle Art Sampler Gold Leaf. The design calls for the first and middle names of the couple to be stitched so that entailed a phone call to my cousin to inquire as to the groom's middle name. I would love to have this one complete by next Tuesday so that I can leave it with John for stretching while I'm on holiday. Then when I return it could be dropped off at the framer's. Wish me luck!

Canada Day will soon be here and keeping that in mind I finished off my small patriotic stitch by Veeandco.

As of today I almost have all of the finishing done. I'm finishing it as a little pin pillow. Okay now ladies, help me out here. This is my first time using the crushed walnut shells to fill my pillow. How the heck do you manage to get enough in the pillow without making a mess when you're stitching the top closed? I've looked everywhere for a little funnel with a narrow bore that I could stick in the corner but with no luck. We had all kinds of them at work so I'm thinking that just maybe I might be able to to "borrow" one.

I'm heading into Cornwall on Wednesday and will make a pit stop at the lab so this finish might have to wait until Thursday.

I don't have a sewing machine and my hand sewing skills are atrocious but I am learning! If nothing else I'm determined.

Last week the weather here was absolutely gorgeous and I took the opportunity to visit with one of my former coworkers who has been off of work due to surgery. She was unable to attend my retirement dinner or the get together I had at my place because of this. I wanted to take her a little something. Now that I'm not working I have more time to bake and decided I would make her a fruit loaf. June screams strawberries but it seems I have a surplus of rhubarb in my garden this year. So off I went to pull some of the fruit stalks and this is what I came up with.

The sourness of the rhubarb is offset by the brown sugar/cinnamon topping. This is a recipe I've used for years in making muffins. This time I tried adapting it for a loaf. It sure made a whopper!

I've been putting the rhubarb to good use this year. I also made some loaves and a rhubarb lunar cake for the church potluck and the choir's potluck dinners.

The great weather also resulted in our first boat outing. We're a little late heading out this spring due to some alterations, including new seats, that had to be done first. Our first trip was the result of a win by some friends at the church's silent auction. Every year my DH offers up an afternoon boatride for bidding at the auction. This year our friends John and Sally were the winning bidders. We put the boat in the Ottawa River at Rockliffe and headed out. Usually we go down river towards the Parliament buildings but this time we thought we'd try going in the opposite direction. There really wasn't much to see but the weather was pleasant, there was a nice breeze and it just felt good to be out on the water. We did manage to catch sight of this osprey nest with Momma sitting with the eggs.

This morning I felt rather lazy, maybe an after effect of the food consumed at the potluck dinner last night. In any case I put my clothes sorting on hold and dug out Their Song for a change from the wedding sampler. I seemed to be operating on one mode today.... slow! I did manage to get these two little flowers and tree stitched though.

If there is any time left after all the sorting tomorrow then I hope to get back to my LHN America (Canadian version). I'm making a colour change here or there as well and may have to make a stop at Michael's later in the week if I can't find what I want in my stash.  As for a new big start, I'm still undecided. Apparently the mail will be back on track here tomorrow and with that should come the arrival of a few charts I ordered as a retirement gift. Maybe Sixteen Birds?