Pillows!

I mentioned in this post that I had no photos of all the pillows my Grandma created and took to the craft fair. Thanks to Aunty Kathy, here are a few photos showing all the pillows my Grandma has created. Actually, this is just a fraction of the pillows that she's sewn. I can't even begin to count how many she's done.

A hundred pillows ... at least!

A close-up of the pillows.

The artist among her creations! Can you find her?

Unfortunately, these photos don't do the pillows justice. {Aunty Kat, you NEED a new digital camera! Or maybe just play with the settings on your ancient camera?} Next time I'm on Kauai, I will definitely take some close-up shots of my favorite ones ... the vintage, pin-up surfer girl ones!

Christmas Wishes

Merry Christmas! Joyeux Noel! Buone Feste Natalizie! Feliz Navidad! Mele Kalikimaka!

May all your wishes come true on this most wonderful day of the year! God bless you and your loved ones!

(image from londonelicious)

Mini Craft Fair

In addition to the wedding that kept me stressed out and busy in October and November, I also participated in a mini craft fair on Kauai last weekend. It was a last minute thing that dear mom sprang on me two weeks prior. So right after the wedding, there I was trying to create a bunch of stuff!

The craft fair was part of the St. Theresa School Christmas program and also featured a Christmas play by the students (which had to be moved to the Waimea Theater because of the rain), a spaghetti dinner and a special visit by Santa and Mrs. Claus!! The craft fair was very small ... only 13 tables and we were the last to sign up and got stuck in a corner. The table and space around was shared by my mom, grandma, aunty and myself! It was a family thing. Thanks gramms, for sponsoring the table. We collectively sold a few things, but not much, probably because it wasn't advertised much, but more importantly, because it was raining cats and dogs! Kauai's westside is very dry and sees very little rain, even in the winter. But boy, did it storm. Later that night, while we were all tucked in bed, the thunder boomed and the lightning flashed. My baby sister swears her bed shook! So the rain kept the shoppers away. What to do with all these crafts? Etsy, maybe? I think so! Here's a peak a our table.

Handmade cards by Sister #3 (font of table), mom's embroidered pillows and pigs.

A basketful of raggedies by mom and me along with some cutesy, furry teddy bears!

Raggedies!

Mom's girl horse.

My goose.

A trio of friends.

Aunty Kathy's vintage suitcase of goodies. This picture does not do her creations justice!

Unfortunately, none of the photos show my grandma's stash of pillows. They were in front of the table in some baskets. When I say stash, I mean STASH. She must have had over 200 pillows. I'll have to find some photos to prove it. She's 83 years old and keeps cranking out these Hawaiian pieced pillows. She had some really cool ones!

Sew when's the next craft fair? Hmm ... what do you think Aunty Kat?

Wedding bells!

Well, hello. Yes, it’s been a long silence on the Sew What’s Next blog. It was never my intention to take such a long break. But life happened ...

... beginning with my sister’s wedding in November. This wouldn’t be such a big deal, and by no means a reason for interrupting this fledgling blog, but when your sister gets married, well, you just have to jump right in and assist with all kinds of things! And since Greg and I were married in Rome (only us, no one else was invited), I never got to do all the wedding planning stuff. All the more reason to help out Sister #1.

And, after reading about Smitten Kitchen's adventures with a wedding cake, I go and offer to make her wedding cake! I mean, how hard can it be? All I’d need to do is bake a few test cakes to get the hang of it, and voila, a piece of cake. Umm … no! Most of September and October saw me in the kitchen on weekends concocting different cake and frosting combinations.

The cake we settled on was a Red Velvet (minus the red food coloring) with a White Chocolate Cream Cheese frosting. This cake was a labor of love. It was a bit on the sloppy side, but hey, it was my first wedding cake. I think it was also my last wedding cake. I used to dream about doing wedding cakes. Not anymore. Sister #2 is getting married in April … we’ll see who gets to do the cake. Let me say that I am just baked out … besides the cake, I did almost all of the desserts! I was up the entire night and didn’t go to bed until 4am the morning of the wedding … and I only slept 3 hours! So did Greg. Thanks, honey, for keeping that mouse from jumping on me!

I wish I was taking photos along the way to document all of this, but I think I was just too stressed over all the planning, prepping and execution. A lot of things were done at the very last minute. But everything worked out perfectly! Take a look. Oh, and thank you Jules for your awesome photos ... all 590 of them!

Centerpieces waiting to be taken outside:


One of the tables:


Dessert table:


Ta-da:


Oh-oh:


The happy couple:


The end ...