blue, white & gold argyle wedding quilt

it is hard to believe this moment has come and gone.
i just posted day 1 from my sister's wedding on my photography site yesterday, and now here we are officially blogging the quilt.
which post is more important?  well, i'll leave that up to you to decide.
i'm sure you're all going "wait!  didn't you just make your super duper lucky sister her own giant quilt for christmas?"  yes.  yes i did.  but that was supposed to be for her, and this one is for them.  so now i never ever have to make her another giant quilt.  and it will be 10 years before i have to make her a baby quilt...  or at least 5.  that's my plan for their life anyways.  SO.  back to the process of this quilt.  i had started planning this quilt prior to even finishing the science one, since i had to essentially begin it asap!  my sister was/is an argyle fiend so finding one that wasn't too blah was a challenge.  i found a super cool purpley one that had a stain glass look to it, but there was no pattern to be found.  and at this rate, no emily has time to make a pattern.  not in the midst of sewing one thing and cross stitching another.  lisa found a pattern for me, which oddly enough is by a local designer in town!  i was afraid it wouldn't be big enough, so the designer shelley of cora's quilts told me how to make it large enough for the potentially queen sized bed they'd be having.
we went to idaho in november to do all the mega wedding shopping stuff with the bride and at one point of course ended up in a joann's with aileen (i mean... duh?)  no matter how much i poked and prodded to get a color idea out of her, i couldn't get much of anything as a color sample out of her (at the time, she was looking at stormy blue for us bridesmaids).  we came home, and i immediately hit up our own local joann's and went with a navy blue, gold and ivory color scheme.  and then she went and changed our dress color to dirty purple**.  whatever, aileen.
these blocks went together wonderfully, as well as the quilt as a whole.  i am quite pleased with the final result, because it is very much argyle and very aileen & ben really.  the pattern was great to follow, with my own math calculations being the issue when it came to buying fabric.  anyways, here are the photos!
here's a little closer look to see some of the prints.
 i was afraid i would hate those blue prints touching, and all the floral was a little overwhelming.  i think the solids breaking up the lines really helped make it work.
i also promise i trimmed those stray strings as well!
for the quilting i followed the gold "squares" and went around each side of it and then around the border. i didn't want to quilt over the argyle in the case that it might detract from the actual pattern of the quilt. i started off with navy blue thread, but then quickly (after a fit of rage) switched to off white to better hide in case the "ditches" i stitched in didn't stay too well.
as any good big sister/bridesmaid/photographer would do, i made the two of them open their gift at the family reception on friday night after all the festivities.  doug was there helping me out throughout the day, so he was able to get some of the photos as the opening of the beast happened :)
and there you have it!
now that all my blogging is caught up, i suppose it is time to get back to sewing.
happy wednesday, y'all
**i should clarify, i do like the color of the dress.  i just can't come up with a better way to describe it than the aforementioned "dirty purple"

to my sister on her wedding day

this past weekend was quite an event, as my little and only sister married the one for her.  it has been an up and down all around, and i figured since i gave a "toast" twice, i may as well put in to writing to forever immortalize the words i had to say to her on her big day.
clearly, a little rewritten to make more sense in blog format and not spoken word.
(i've also linked in particular pop culture references, as to make sense of them.  since the internet allows me to do so)
i don't know if there was any recordings of it, so here goes:

i'd like to start by quoting what we all think is probably on ben's mind right now
come on aileen
oh i swear what he means
at this moment, you mean everything
aileen and ben are married?  ew
leading up to today, i had plans to write an epic toast wrap that would hit levels of youtube gold.
well, since aileen asked me to do this on monday, I am sadly not able to give you the performance of a lifetime.  also, if you were hoping for a heartwarming sister of the bride toast, you may be at the wrong wedding.
aileen came in to my life in 1996 ruined it all at the same time.  I was perfectly fine being the only sister and she blew it.  She started off early, just a few days old, causing me to pass out cold on the hospital floor.  after that, everywhere I went, aileen shortly followed after.
she and i, believe it or not, never really got along for many years.  I challenged her young self with sarcasm and wit, which as she got older she took as part of her own personality.  so everyone, you're welcome.
aileen had many talents, questionable ones at that.  music, ventriloquism, dance and not sports were her forte.  she took all the AP classes I never bothered with, and as the years went by she quickly blossomed in to the nerdy young woman she is today.  as she grew, we finally began to find more things in common, such as tv shows and we finally liked each other's clothes and could actually borrow some of them from each other.  just as we were getting to know each other, ben happened.
i remember the day we all met ben.  aileen brought him home from a date, and my parents were in the living room and i was in the kitchen.  we heard the door to the garage close and two sets of feet come towards us.  aileen, with a boy following her, entered the room and turned to him and said "and this is my cat, mushu."  clearly, we know where the priorities are.
as aileen and ben grew together, then apart, and then back together, aileen really became her own individual person.
while i'm not 100% on being "bro" and "sis" with ben just yet, i do have some advice for him to work with aileen's habits.
1. if she's grumpy, feed her chocolate.
2. if she's tired, feed her chocolate.
3. if she starts talking sciency to you, do what i do.  stare at her, nod, and then just say "ok."
4. when in doubt, chocolate.  or even potatoes really.
while i don't understand how a former child ventriloquist and a man who enjoys magic tricks fell in love, it seems like a match that is meant to be.  and ben, if our only shared interests are an appreciation tim allen tv shows and ruining aileen's yawns with a poke in the tounge, i'd say we're off to a solid start.
and aileen.  if i can offer you any advice, it would be this:
don't forget to treat yo self in big ways and in small.  i hope your love for each other continues like 5,000 candles in the wind.  and always remember what is important in life:  friends, waffles, and work.  or waffles, friends, work.  doesn't matter, but work is third.  and don't only love ben, but be sure to like him too.
p.s. i don't excpect to be an aunt ANY time soon.
a few things i didn't get to say to my sister on her wedding day.
basically the mildly mushy stuff
6 1/2 months or so led up to this, and i am so incredibly proud of you.  while it was hard for me the day you got engaged, knowing i wouldn't be able to be there the actual moment you got married, i know this was the wedding of your dreams with ben.  somehow balancing your school load miles and miles away from home while having a wedding planned and somehow on your wedding day you were totally chill and we managed to pull it all off.  you've come a long way since being the 4 year old eating goldfish at my middle school basketball games, and have so much further to go from here.  i wish you the best, with your freshly 20 self and continuing to grow every day leaps and bounds.  the journey is just beginning for you.
i'm happy to have a sister like you.
well, not just like you, but one that is you.
you're more fun to make fun of now.  i mean...
now have a husband i can make fun of (because it is ben, and its really easy)  that takes some of the pressure off you.
also, thanks for not getting bitten by a rabid dog.  or having any crazy injury stories for me to share.
that's apparently my job in this family.
wedding day photography: www.photogbyem.com

aileen's nerdy bridal shower

the day that so much planning (and cross stitching) went in to has come and gone, and what an adventure it was.  i am SO glad i unintentionally got up earlier than planned and ran around like a crazy person on saturday, because if i waited until 1pm, NONE of this would have happened.  thinks were getting set up and written down to the wire when people were walking up to the front door of the train depot.  all last week was spent food prepping, decor shopping and paper cutting in order to prepare for the festivities.  i had great help from friends and parents wednesday through friday in order to make sure the food was good to go and nothing was lacking.  without further delay, here's a whole handful of photos!
> throughout the course of planning the food, i wanted to keep everything rather specifically nerdy.  it took some brainstorming, but i think we managed!  between star wars drinks, star trek cookies & lord of the rings elves, all potential bases of aileen likings were covered.
you'll notice she got a sewing kit... and it was NOT from anyone in the family!  i texted lisa this fact, and her response was "one of us! one of us!"  she has made pjs before, and i think a skirt.  so she's on the right track to earning her crafty carroll cousin membership card.
we didn't get to playing any of your typical bridal shower games (sorry erika) since so much went in to planning things elsewhere.  also, if you follow me on instagram, you'll have seen a few of the cross stitch pieces i did for this event. never fear, they are going to be in a post all to their very own later this week.  aileen was very spoiled by her guests who attended both physically and virtually (we were able to get lisa in on google hang outs just in time to see her gift be opened) and should be well prepared to bake her little heart out.  and apparently slow cook some things as well.  and be clean and showered.  i think we are all thankful for the last one.  just a few days shy of two months from now, and she'll be married off and out in to the world!  i'm thankful for all these people that like my sister enough to come celebrate her with us.  until the next bridal shower...
oh wait.
i only have one sister!
but now my friends have seen the madness i am capable of.  thankfully, erika & amy are both already bridal showered & done with.  that just leaves jenny...  MAAAAYBE i'll party hard again for jenny.

friday flashback

this kid is getting married in a little less than two months, and tomorrow is her bridal shower.
so don't mind me as i run around today like a crazy person before, during, between and after work trying to make sure everything is accounted for.
wednesday jenny helped me make cookies & pretzel rods
yesterday i wrapped pretzels, cleaned jars, put pictures in frames, and started boxing things together.
tonight, i make cupcakes and figure out the last few things needed for tomorrow.
oy.

nerdy themed ruffle apron

some how, some way, my sister got a job at joann's this past holiday season.  they must know that we need the discount, and i was just too much awesomeness for them to handle when i applied a few years back.  besides, it has become apparent that the crafty world of joann's has begun to rub off on this sister of mine, and has inspired her to do some crafting of her own.  anyways, it was at her request that i make her an apron (since she doesn't sew) so that she doesn't have to wear the generic ones the store has.  knowing my favorite apron tutorial (which she has modeled three times now) i knew what i was going to make and just needed the fabric for it.  at one point it was going to be avengers themed i believe, but then this fabric was available in stores and we decided to go with it.  in case you weren't aware (or forgot) my sister is a physics major, so this overly nerdy themed fabric was perfect for her.  the polka dots were a good off set to separate the print without getting too crazy all over the place.
i managed to make this apron in an afternoon, after another cryptic "i made cookie dough..." texts, i figured i may as well get her fancied up for the last few months of working at joann's before she leaves for college.  it was so crazy to sew something that didn't involve quilting.... it went together quite quickly in one afternoon :)
it has been decided that the only flaw in this apron pattern is the lack of pockets.  which i suppose is really only a problem if you're trying to put a walkie talkie and/or a handheld somewhere instead of in your hands.  perhaps i'll have to revise this for the next fabric store employee i make this apron for.
workin' it
i've had some serious thoughts about making a few of these (generic enough) and offering them up on etsy.  i suppose i'll have to see how my summer looks after the next few days as i finish up finals and transition between school year to summer camp/dance recital/wedding season time.  but there you have it!  aileen's nerd-a-licious themed apron to love and squeeze and call her own.  and for kicks, here's a few links back to the previously made ruffle aprons:
green with envy
airplanes & postcards
nursing themed