HELP!!! ANY SUGGESTIONS WELCOME!

As you saw from my previous post, my nephew and his new bride headed to Italy via British Airways on Monday. Here it is Thursday and THEY HAVE BEEN WITH NO LUGGAGE!!
Apparently it was misplaced at some point from JFK to London onto Italy. British Airways doesn't seemed too concerned. My nephew and his bride are really in pickle on a limited budget as newlyweds and without clothes etc.

Any suggestions, ideas, would be greatly welcomed! I told my sister if there was an answer out there, my girls in blogland would know!!

I feel so terrible for them!! Neither has ever been out of the country before and on their honeymoon!!

Back from Jacksonville

Well, we are back from our trip to Jacksonville. The wedding went off without a hitch and the happy couple are on their way to Italy for two weeks. Here are a few pictures...

The first picture is the handsome groom, my nephew Nate. He is a graphic designer and my absolutely favorite nephew!



And here is the lovely bride, Brandi... She is a first grade teacher in Jacksonville.


My son, Alex, was a groomsman. He and Nate are 7 years apart but have always been close as they are both only children. He was thrilled when Nate asked him to be part of his wedding. As you can see, he had a great time at the wedding. He is on the left with his partner from the wedding.


Here is my sister, Kathy, the mother of the groom, and I. She got all the skinny genes in our family. LOL. Hard to believe she has a son that is 27 years old. Ladies, she works really hard to stay in shape. Up at 4:30 every morning to go to the gym before work. She and her husband, Bill, have a beautiful home on the St. Johns' River where we stayed for a couple of days before the wedding.


Here is a pic of my DH, Bob, and I at the wedding. This is where the ceremony was held. the Club Continental overlooks the St. John's River. At one time I suppose it was a mansion but now is a small inn and a super place to have a wedding.



And another of my handsome guy!!


And finally, a picture of the Bride and Groom during the Best Man's speech which had averyone in stitches..
My other sister and one of my brothers were able to come from Massachusetts for the wedding as well as my mom and one of my favorite uncles. He was a hit on the dance floor doing the Electric Slide!

It was a super time and I was so happy that we were all able to get to Florida to see Nate and Brandi on their special day as well as to have a chance to get caught up with my family.

Well, tomorrow back to the grind....

June Update

I know I have been away for a while but I have been plugging along with different projects that had definite deadlines. I finished all of my postcards for the postcard exchange. They went out in the mail on last Friday. These are a few pictures of them before they were mailed.

This top postcard was made from a wax resist piece that I did about a year ago. The nice thing about making postcards is that, since they are only 4 inches x 6 inches, you can use leftover pieces, orphan blocks or experiments!
The second card is called Never Enough Time. It is stamped and I added pieces from old watches under mesh with a little saying. I really like these and did a half dozen of them.

The leaf postcard was a sunprint that I did last summer. I just added some decorative stitching and some gold stamped leaves to it.





The fish postcards were fun to make. I let the fabric do most of the work then added the fish stamp with fabric paint and added some beads and eyelash yarn for seaweed and the binding.

This was a fun project but doing 25 was a bit of work!! But I did sign on for another group that will limit the exchange to seven.

Since I had a couple of extra cards, I sent one to my favorite British blogger, Anne ,who so generously shared a project with me from across "the big pond". She is a fabulous quilter. I don't know where she finds the time with a house full of kiddies and a hubby!

I also sent a card to my good friend, Finn. Her blog is the first quilting blog I ever visited and she was one of the first to comment on my blog and has always been so encouraging. But all of you who know Finn, know that!! If you don't know Finn, drop by her blog. Finn got the ferns. She is down to earth, like Mother Nature. Her blog always has a calming effect on me. *Hugs* Finn!!

Lastly, I have posted a picture of my latest journal page. The journal pages are 8 1/2 x 11. When I started this class, I thought it would be easy since the piece was small. Boy, was I wrong!!! Working in this size requires a whole different mindset and perspective. But I am really enjoying it as it gives me an opportunity to try different techniques on a small scale.



The beach scene is for June and in anticipation of my trip to Florida. I LOVE SUMMER!! So this one was a no-brainer. The sky and water are handpainted fabric which I did about 2 years ago. The beach has real sand and little shells on it and a cool texture to it.Those bumps and wrinkles are on purpose. LOL!! This was done with expandable paint from Pebeo. I just painted it onto an ugly piece of fabric. (The fabric doesn't have to be ugly but I think it's easier to paint over ugly fabric than pretty fabric. LOL) I added the shells and sand and let it dry. The magic occurs when you hit it with a heat gun! It expands and makes all kinds of nooks and crannies. I then painted it and added a little glitter. I don't recommend sewing it, though you can, but it sure beats up the needle. I just used Steam a Seam to attach it to the water and sky piece and then secured it to the batting.

I also used my new toy, the Embellisher, to needle punch the Angelina fibers into the water to make it all sparkly! I used my favorite binding of late, the Eyelash yarn around the outside. I think it came out pretty spiffy!

I really put myself into a quilting hole by taking on a bunch of challenges and classes all at once and I am now just about out from under them all. There is so much I want to do and learn but this last month quilting was almost like WORK~ I don't ever want that to happen. Sewww, I am planning on cruising through summer with a couple of bed quilts that need to be finished and quilted and some redwork for those days on the beach.

I am headed to Florida next Thursday for my nephew's wedding. My son is a groomsman and all of my family from here in the Northeast are headed for Jacksonville. I can't wait to see my sister, Kathy. Our visits are too infrequent. So, I will post pictures on my return !