More Wedding Stuff

I completed the sash, or belt if you will, for my daughter's wedding dress.  The alterations fitting is tomorrow evening, so I needed to have the straps and belt ready as planned.  Nothing like last minute completion!

The sash was an idea from the bridal shop that we used to incorporate more lace from Mom's wedding dress - just a little bit more.

I started out by making several organza fabric flowers testing out different ideas and sizes.

I ended up making a larger focal piece adding tulle and lace from Mom's dress, and then we thought a smaller flower or two would be good.

In the end, we agreed that just the focal piece was good without any additional flowers, as we were adding another lace sort of piece as well off to the side.  Less is more in this case - we don't want to take away from the beauty of the actual dress, either.

The bridal shop had originally suggested this beautiful Vera Wang sash . . .

So, crafting our own seemed fairly simple.  I ended up with the below, using a cut out piece of lace from mom's dress as a sort of appliqué.  It was flimsy, so I added some stiffening spray - that worked great.  We have decided it is even BETTER than Vera's!  Hopefully it will look as good when it's on the dress - we shall see.

Just call me Bluebird Wang.  Lol.

A Date With My Daughter

Now that my girls are adults and living away from home, it's fun to have a little date now and then to do something special.  We see eachother a lot for coffee or shopping, but a concert or a play is a special chance to spend some relaxed time together.

Last night, my oldest daughter Emily and I went out to dinner at a little Thai restaurant (YUM!) before we went to see Lindsey Stirling at the beautiful University of Minnesota Northrop Auditorium.  (The link is to some of her videos.)  Lindsey Stirling is "The Dancing Violinist" - she was on America's Got Talent about 5 years ago, and has really gathered a following since.  She performs all kinds of electronic violin music - hip-hop, classical, rock, and has done lots of medleys (Disney, Phantom, LesMis, Star Wars) and some wonderful collaborations with various musicians.  Her performance is wonderful to watch - I can't imagine dancing and playing the violin at the same time. I played the violin for a few short years, and always regretted quitting. (I just wanted to play Charlie Daniels' Devil Went Down to Georgia!)

I enjoy all different kinds of music, but I have to be in the right mood for each genre.  For example, certain music makes me sing along - which isn't a good idea at work when you have a voice like mine.  [Unless it's Saturday and no one else is in the office!]   I love to sing, but unfortunately I'm not gifted in that department.  But, I have today OFF and I think I'm back to classic rock.  I need to sing!