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This weekend The Husband and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary.

Our wedding day was simply perfect.

Our married life is even better.

Don’t get me wrong…we have trials and tribulations like everyone else.  But we are a team and a family, and together we can face whatever life throws at us.

And each day I love this wonderful man even more.

Happy Anniversary my love.

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Othello

When Mr S and I married last year, one of our wedding gifts from Alice-who-isn’t-a-cat was a soprano for the ceremony. Stephanie and AWIAC have been friends for forever.  We were more excited than I have words to express.

Stephanie Corley - soprano

She sang whilst we signed the register and as we walked out of church.  There wasn’t a dry eye!

The reason for the emotion was the sheer and absolute beauty of her voice. It was magical and I shall never forget it, or be able to thank the two of them enough.

But, for once, you don’t have to take my word for it.

Tune into BBC2 tomorrow at 4.25pm.  She’s singing Desdemona in Othello.

You’ll be entranced.

I promise.

A wonderful compliment

I was recently contacted by the lovely Annabel over at Love My Dress who wanted to feature our wedding on her site.

Obviously I said “yes” and today she has featured us….you can see it here if you’ve not already seen all the pictures.   The link above takes you to her site where you can feast your eyes on lots of beautiful, elegant and stylish weddings.

I’m so flattered that Annabel thought our wedding was worthy to by amongst them, and totally amazed but absolutely thrilled that people find our wedding as wonderful as we did.

Made by Ma – wedding shrugs

You’ll no doubt have noticed that AWIAC and the baby girls sported beautiful handknit shrugs at the wedding.

I can’t claim them.  They are the handiwork of Ma.  Clever girl.

First up is Eleonora by Dawn Matkovic.

image courtesy of http://knittingnonstop.blogspot.com/

Ma knitted the 4ply version (more about the yarn later) and even though she was unfamiliar with knitting on circular needles and the American knitting terminology, she whipped this up in no time.  Kudos to Dawn for such a well drafted pattern.

The babies wore Cotton & Cloud’s Snowdrop Flower Girl Bolero

image courtesy of http://cottonandcloud.com

knitted in dk with long sleeves thanks to additional instructions supplied by the wonderfully helpful Kyoko at C&C.  I found them such lovely people to buy from.

So that’s the patterns, what about the yarn.

Well, don’t hate me, but I do have some super talented friends.  I can’t decide whether “super talented” should or shouldn’t be hyphenated.  I do believe that in the case of my friends, both versions apply.

I digress.

I’m lucky to count Gemma of Krafty Koala among this group. And she very kindly custom dyed some super-wash merino in both dk and 4ply specially for these shrugs.

Just how cool is that?

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PS – If you’re wondering why I’m still banging on about TBW…well it’s because since we came back from honeymoon we’ve all been sick in various guises and the most creative thing I’ve done is clean out the sewing room ready for the next project.  Even though I have no idea what the next project is going to be.

There’s been some sporadic knitting and embroidery, just nothing much to show for it at the moment.

It seems that my mojo packed up and is lying on a beach somewhere drinking dirty Martinis and reading trashy novels. I hope it’s wearing sunscreen and a hat!

Anyway, as soon as it gets back I’ll confiscate it’s passport and crack on.

Comments

I love getting comments from you guys.  I really do.  It’s so kind of you to take time out of your busy days to read my ramblings and hearing from you simply makes my day.

I’ve had lots of comments and emails about the wedding, so would you all forgive me if, just this once, I do a very tardy but very heartfelt thank you to you all here.  I feel very blessed to have such wonderful and thoughtful friends.

I shall, of course, revert back to individual replies going forward.  And for those very generous people who ignored all my instructions and sent gifts….official thank you’s are to follow very shortly.

The Dress – The Details

Just in case you’re interested, here are some details about the dress.

The pattern is Vintage Vogue 2903.  The pattern is very easy to put together but doesn’t include a pattern for a petticoat or a lining, which I think is remiss. You need the petticoat to complete the line of the dress and frankly, I wouldn’t make an occasion dress like this without a lining, so I drafted my own by removing the pleat sections and the facings from the main pattern pieces.  In my opinion the Big 4 patterns are really lazy about details like this and need to sort their act out.  Just my opinion.

The fabric is a polyester duchesse satin from John Lewis (where else!).  I was going to use silk duchesse from James Hare, but baulked at the cost for a dress I will only wear once.  Oh, and this satin totally matches the colour of my engagement and eternity rings, so it was a no-brainer.

The dress is interlined with cotton lawn purchased from Fabric Imports Direct on eBay.  I would definitely buy from them again.

I also used dress net to interline the dress. This and the lining (a simple poly lining) were both bought from my local sewing shop, The Buttonhole in Chorley.

If I were making this dress again I wouldn’t interline the sleeves as this adds a bit too much bulk for easing the sleeves into the bodice. I would also perhaps change the armhole to give myself a little more hugging room around the armsyce.  But the restriction enabled me to be very ladylike for the day…most unusual!

Oh, and I wouldn’t scorch my dress two days before the wedding either!  We weren’t sure whether it was a scorch or a smudge so the dress went to the cleaners, which accounts for slight puckering where the cotton lawn has slightly shrunk!  Thankfully we could hide it in the side pleat.

I’m going with the adage that only God creates perfection!

But I do love this dress and when you compare it to the Pastel Outfit of Shame, it just goes to show what a difference careful fabric choices and taking your time over the construction makes.

The shoes are this season’s LK Bennett.  The stockings are from Touchable….I would buy a size smaller next time.

The garter (you can see it in the wedding photos…I’m not doing an action shot!) is from Rigby and Peller, a gift from my extravagant and  naughty friends Alice-who-isn’t-a-cat and Kelly (who has just the chicest bob ever!)

The pearls are vintage….they were my maternal grandmother’s.

The earrings were borrowed from Black Purl (she of the spectacular feathered hat)

The hat is John Lewis too, although everyone was amazed that it too wasn’t vintage.

The last word….possibly…and FO 20/2010

Ok, I guess that after all this time you’re glad the wedding is over!!!!  I know I am, but if I was ever to be stuck in Groundhog Day, that would be my day of choice.  It was just the most amazing day.

I can’t tell you just how wonderful it was….why don’t you mosey on over to Lawsons and check it out for yourself.  I can see a bajillion things I’d have done differently with the dress but it was much admired and I loved it, as did Mr S, so that’s all that counts really.

And yes, everybody did spend the whole day laughing and smiling.

Married life…

…is wonderful.

We are currently ensconced in a cosy flat in Wigtown on the South West coast of Scotland.  The weather is seasonal (read torrential rain and gale force winds) so we are glad for hand knitted socks.

After the bustle and business of the last 3 years this is a very welcome time for doing nothing, and we’re making the most of it.  Although yesterday we did have lovely weather and hastened to the beach to blow off the cobwebs.

But I know that what you’re really waiting for are pictures of The Day and The Dress.  I, for obvious reasons, didn’t take any on the day, and I’ve no iPhone and am not on my computer so my email access is very limited for getting photos sent to me.  But do not despair….on my return I shall post properly about the day (it was truly magical for Mr S and me and I think the guests had fun too).

Until then, if you keep an eye on our lovely photographers’ website, http://www.lawsonphotography.co.uk/Blog/, and check out “Yvonne and Dave’s wedding”, there’s a taster up now with more pics to follow.

I’m the one in the blue hat!  Enjoy!

“That bloody wedding”

It’s just gone 7am here in Lancashire and the kettle is on the stove to boil for tea.

Button and I are alone in the house for now….it’s a very odd feeling without the two men in my life here.

In two hours my friends and family will arrive for breakfast, then off to the salon to start the preparations for our wedding ceremony.

At 2.30pm I will marry Mr Stitches.

I am breathless with excitement.  No nerves.  I’ve never been more sure of anything or anyone in my life.

He is the funniest, kindest, gentlest man you could ever wish to meet.  He is my best friend, my cheerleader, my love.

Today he is making me the happiest woman alive.

I’ll be gone from this little blog for a couple of weeks whilst the four of us holiday in Scotland, but I promise pictures when we return.

Have fun….and I’ll be back soon.

Evie

x

8 days…

…and I’m losing my mind!  LOL!!!

Seriously though….I’m fine.  Just a wee bit tired.  It’s a very busy week here Chez Stitches

Today I’m autumn cleaning the upstairs of the house.  Including shampooing the carpets.

This weekend I’ve got  a cake to make for a party, the  party to attend, a date with the kid’s elder sisters, a cinema date with Mr S, to take the dog to Himmelbjerget’s for a holiday, the order of service to print, the favours to wrap, my dress to finish (nearly there, just a couple or so hours of handstitching and a very good press), the baby bridesmaids dresses to hem, and The Boy’s suit to hem and press.  Monday I’m autumn cleaning downstairs and ironing. Tuesday I’m shoe shopping for the littlest bridesmaids.

Then I’m done.

Finished.

Ready for a week tomorrow.

I hope!