Fussy Cuts Forward and Backward

Our wedding gift to Mike and Lili was a Dresden Plate quilt called Fussy Cuts Forward and Backward.

This quilt was made in 2008 and finished in 2009 and was given for their wedding on May 31, 2009. I scanned the graphic from their wedding invitation and printed it on muslin to include on the quilt label.

 

 

 This was an interesting quilt to make as each piece was cut individually at the same place on the fabric to form the pattern on the Dresden Plate. It was the second in a series. The name for this once came from the fact that to reduce wasting fabric, I cut one wedge right side up and the next upside down. The flowers on one Dresden block are right side up and the next upside down.

There are only certain fabric patterns that work well to do this. I just happened to have a couple of them in my stash. For the center of the plate, I machine embroidered flowers on gold fabric and appliqued them on to the Dresden Plate. The quilt was machine pieced and hand quilted. It is queen size.

Bulgarian Wedding Traditions

 Following some traditional Bulgarian rituals added to the excitement for the wedding and reception.

 There were negotiations to get the bride from bribes through a closed door first. The master's (Lili's Mom) negotiator, Vera, told the Groom's negotiator, Wayne, that the bride was VERY intelligent and VERY expensive, so she would cost much money. When they filled the Brides shoe with coins, Vera said “Are you kidding?” A little more negotiating and they finally pushed their way in the door but the Groom had more bribes of chocolate and wine, just in case they were needed.

At the reception, a loaf of bread held by the Bride's mother was presented to the Groom's mother to feed a bite dipped in salt to the Bride, then the groom.. Then dipped in honey to each of them. This is a wish for a long and sweet life together. Bread with just honey was for best man and matron of honor. “Kicking the bucket" of flowers was to determine sex of first child. If the white flower falls out first, it will be a girl and red one for a boy. Lili's kick got the white one first. The breaking of a loaf of bread by the bride and groom, with it held overhead, signifies the one getting largest piece is to be the dominant one of the family. You can see who did that.

Unfortunately I left my camera charger at home, thinking my HD had one that would work, but that was not the case. DH bought a nice new camera but being a bit unfamiliar with it, some pictures were a bit fuzzy. With all the cameras being used, a professional photographer and videographer on the scene, there will not be a lack of pictures. It may be a little while to get them all. Mike and Lili make a beautiful couple.

The Wedding and Reception

It's official! Mike and Lili are married!! Congratulations to both of them. Our very best wishes go out to Mike and Lili for much happiness and a long life together. The ceremony took place in a civil wedding hall and was very nice. Vera, a friend of the couple, stood behind us and translated and a translator stood behind our son, Mike, since the ceremony was in Bulgarian. Afterward, pictures were taken in the park and the reception followed in a very nice restaurant, all decorated with balloons and streamers.



The theme of their wedding was monkeys – Lili calls Mike her “monkey boy”. He donned a monkey tie after the ceremony and all the place cards at the reception were held by little plastic monkeys. There was dinner and a lot of dancing to celebrate this special day.

Two more days. . .

This is the week that we travel to Sofia, Bulgaria for our oldest son, Mike's wedding. We fly out on Friday and will be gone for about 10 days. We are very excited about the trip and the wedding. I will post about the trip after our return.

It has been some time since we have flown and many things have changed with the airlines. We hope that we have packed properly for the new rules and regulations. Our future daughter-in-law Lili, our "logistics manager" has been a great help with this since she travels much more than we do.

We are also very grateful that our daughter and family have been gracious enough to volunteer to take care of our fuzzy babies while we are gone. We know they can be a pain sometimes but we love them and have spoiled them. They have never stayed in a kennel and for two of them, at this stage in their lives, would not do well there.

Grandkids and Greats!

Actually they are all Greats! These are pictures of our grandson, Russ and his children (our great grandchildren), Amorina and her little brother, Ryan. Check out his cute dimples!!

Todd's Library Quilt

I first saw this pattern in the Quick Quilts 1996 magazine and thought someday I will make one of those.

As it worked out, I think it is a perfect quilt for my “Harry Potter” grandson. He loves to read so I incorporated some of the book titles into it that I thought he would be interested in.


He dressed as Harry Potter for Halloween and looked so great! Have to share a picture of him.

I gave him his quilt this afternoon and he immediately covered up with it.

State Flower and Lone Star Quilts

State Flowers Quilt was completed in 1993. This was my very first quilt. The state flower quilt was made from an Aunt Martha embroidery pattern. I ironed the state flower designs onto a white sheet and at my daughter's suggestion, used solid red and blue blocks between them. I worked on it off and on (while working) for many years before I actually finished it. It is hand quilted and full size.

Lone Star Quilt was completed in 1995. This quilt was made from an Aunt Martha pattern kit that I bought at a garage sale. I had a lot of trouble with this one since it was one of my very first quilts. I had problems getting the very center to lay flat. I had my Mom and sister Faith (who is a very good quilter) look at it. We finally got it down some and it quilted out flat.