wedding gift.

lindsey and jordan wedding embroidery.
Originally uploaded by Laura Hartrich

Here is the embroidery I made for Nate's cousin and his new wife. I snagged one of their engagement pictures from facebook, then used an editing tool within flickr to convert it to a line drawing. The flowers and little branch motif between their names and the date both were copied directly from their invitations. I like using invitations or save the date cards as part of my designs for gifts like these. Since they chose those paper goods to send out, I figure it's a safe bet that they like the images on them and won't mind seeing them again on their gift.

I knew from the start that I was going to leave their faces blank, because they were just too small for me to stitch and get any kind of good likeness. I actually really like how the blank faces look, stylistically. Adding the details of their clothing was a last-minute decision, and I'm not so sure about that one. Maybe the details on the clothes makes it look like I simply forgot to do the faces? Leaving the figures empty, more simplified, might have been more consistent with the idea of the design. Jury is still out on that one. Overall, I'm happy with how this looks, and I think the newlyweds really liked it. That is certainly my primary goal.

We just hosted some good friends for about 24 hours. I don't think anybody took pictures, unfortunately, so I have nothing to show you. We had some good, simple meals; we stayed up late talking, laughing, playing games; we swam our hearts out for hours the next day. It was a really wonderful visit, and I find myself this morning feeling extremely grateful for the friends we have. I'm sure everyone feels like their friends are the absolute best, but, man, I really think our friends are THE BEST, and I feel dizzyingly happy to have them in our lives.

I've also been thinking about how our friends are so great with our kids, and how the boys respond with such warmth and affection. I can't think of any of our friends who the boys aren't crazy about; they are always super enthusiastic to see them, and I love so much how they are open to new people and how, if we say, "these people are our friends. We like them," they seem to accept them into the fold, no questions asked, always open to new people. I love that about them, and I wonder if this is something we somehow taught them, or if they naturally possess this trait.

Those are my rambling thoughts for the day. Thank you for your patience. School is about to start. Summer went unbelievably fast. I feel sad about this summer ending. It was exceptionally fun. Of course, a small part of me is pining for my few hours of solitude each week that will return once both boys are in school. So many projects to work on. I am looking forward to dedicating good chunks of time to them once we get back in the school groove. But, yeah, summer. Summer is good.

xoxo