Lovely Wedding Weekend

We're back from the beach, where we enjoyed a delightful weekend with family and friends at Maribeth and John's wedding.  They were married at the yard of their home on the Intercoastal Waterway.  Our little granddaughter Charlotte did a great job as one of the flower girls!

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We also enjoyed a little beach time and an extra night with good friends Marcia and Gerry.  We had never been to their lovely new home in Wilmington.  Old friends are the best friends!

Fun with Family at the Wedding

When we were heading west to our niece Lindsay's wedding on Friday, the skies turned dark and the rain poured down.  We were afraid it might be a rainy wedding day, but it turned out to be very nice on Saturday.

We had lots of fun at the rehearsal on Friday night.  Richard, The Father of the Bride has been playing drums and singing in bands professionally for decades.  He had a great sound set-up, and the vocalists did an awesome job with the contemporary Christian music at the wedding. 

Lindsay looked lovely and happy at the rehearsal

and even more so at the wedding.  A truly beautiful bride!

The McBrayer men are a handsome lot, although I may be a bit biased there...

including Lindsay's brother Chris, from whom I got a rare smile

Richard also moonlights as Elvis from time to time, so The King made an appearance at the reception.

On the way home, the sun was out and the mountain roads were beautiful...

until we were closer to home, and there was a severe thunderstorm.  But how blessed were they to have a rain-free wedding in the midst of the passing storms.   

Guild Eye Candy

Last night was a wonderful night at the Capital Quilters Guild of Raleigh.  It was the first time I had attended guild since we moved to our new location at Temple Beth Or in Raleigh.  We have tripled our space, and the room was much more light and airy.  Two raffle quilts were on display. 

The first is the Carolina Longarm Association raffle quilt, which will be raffled at our show in September.  The amazing machine quilting was done by Rosemary Cushman.  It features gorgeous feathers, duplication of the applique motifs, pebbling, McTavishing, piano keys...just amazing. 

Our guild's Heritage Day raffle quilt was also shown.  It is a vintage Grandmother's Flower Garden top that has an applique border added on and is in the process of being hand-quilted.  This one will be raffled off in October.

There were many beautiful quilts to be ogled at Show-and-Tell.  I am so sorry that I could not keep up with all the names of the quilters.  We have a huge guild, and I do not know all the members, and Show-and-Tell goes very fast. 

There were two similar quilts made from a mystery quilt retreat.  The first was made and quilted by my friend Ann Hull in glorious reds.  The second one is done in browns.

One member visited a quilt shop in Tennessee, and convinced the owner to sell her all the components of a block-of-the-month quilt at one time since she was from out of town.  She made this amazing quilt.

We have several quilt book authors and pattern designers among our members.  One of them, Sandy Fitzpatrick, designed both of the patterns for these baby quilts made by another guild member.

But the highlight of the evening was the presentation by Katie Pasquini-Masopust of New Mexico.

There are many people who call themselves art quilters, but Katie is an artist first and quiltmaker second.  She presented a slide show with a retrospective of her jaw-dropping quilts and paintings.  Now she is combining her paintings and quilts with breath-taking results.  What I did not know is how amusing and down-to-earth she is.  My friend Carolyn is taking both of her workshops this weekend and was scrambling to find all the materials needed.  I would love to spend the weekend soaking up some of Katie's expertise.  Perhaps another time.

Our plans for the weekend are to celebrate the wedding of our beautiful niece, Lindsay McBrayer, to Matt Cooper.  Lindsay has been a dancer all her life.  Whenever we would go out to eat at a restaurant with background music, little Lindsay would get up on the floor and dance right in front of everyone.  She grew up collecting trophies with her dance teams, and even got her father, Richard, to participate with her in Daddy-Daughter dance team events.  Here she is in pajamas, wrapping herself in garlands that her mom was taking off the Christmas tree and performing a number for us.

She has grown into a beautiful young woman, and we wish her every happiness.

Family Wedding in the Mountains

We dodged showers all afternoon and evening...but the weather held long enough for my nephew, Jason, to marry his lovely bride Robin next to the dam on the family property on Big Peak Creek Road last Saturday. The wedding was not fancy, but could there have been a prettier setting... or a happier couple?

The wedding party walked down the hill from my sister's place, crossed the bridge, and walked along the creek toward the dam. Robin was "given away" by her father and son.Robin's daughter Anna and Jason's nephew Briar were attendants.

It was a wonderful day filled with fun, family, and love. Congratulations, Jason and Robin!