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Wedding Ceremony at Belvedere Castle

ecomania — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:20:48 +0000

Not too long ago I was asked to design a wedding ceremony at Belvedere Castle in Central Park. The ceremony was absolutely beautiful, and the location made the whole experience somewhat magical.

Since Belvedere Castle has strict rules against too much decorating (“no hanging, nailing, or fresh flowers”), I decided to create some silk flower arrangements using yellow/orange Gerbera daisies, accented with satin and organza ribbons, and paper butterflies. Check out the pictures of the wedding at the end of the post

Belvedere Castle was designed in 1865 by Calvert Vaux and Jacob Wrey Mould as a “Victorian Folly” (it’s only real purpose was to to look beautiful and enhance the romantic landscape). It has a magnificent view of the Delacorte Theater (where the popular Shakespeare in the Park festival is performed), the 55-acre Great Lawn, and the mysterious, algae-green surface of Turtle Pond. Today, aside from being a major tourist attraction. the castle serves a practical purpose as well — as a weather station for local TV and radio stations.

Armed with all this great information, I remember excitedly hiking up the path to the castle with my camera in hand (this was my first visit!). Half way up, I stopped to sit on a wooden bench quietly placed along the path. I was surrounded by trees and could hear nothing but the sound of birds. It’s hard to believe this was in the middle of New York City! I continued walking and saw a little sign that said “Forever WILD,” which made me smile.

Eco Bench

Nice Sign!

Almost there!

Castle at the top of these steps??

Ah! Belvedere Castle

The View!

The wedding was absolutely beautiful! Here are some pictures:

Gerbera Daisy arrangement with butterfly decoration

View of the naturally beautiful Turtle Pond, with skyscrapers looming in the background

Beautiful bride standing in front of the Castle…

“1-2-3 JUMP!” what a fun picture! Kneeling in the foreground is Taka, a talented and versatile photographer who shoots everything from weddings and fashion, to architecture and landscapes. Taka Photo

Special thanks and congratulations to Ayana & Anthony

Show Stoppers & Scene Stealers

alamoplantsandpetals — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:19:15 +0000

We Love Our Show Stealer’s…

These flowers girls and little tykes add a sense of playfulness to all weddings.

Whether they are throwing petals down the aisle or just there to be cute, having a scene stealer always makes for a fun surprise!

Flowers Decoration for July 4th...

dealrocker — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:22:51 +0000

4th July is approaching and you must be finding ways to decorate your house in a new patriotic manne

Quilting Tour

threesneakybugs — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 23:01:07 +0000

I was inspired to document the family quilts that last time I was at my mom’s house. The lighting was poor for the little time I was there. Even so, the number of pictures I took was daunting. I just got so excited by the details and the history of it all I took entirely too many pictures.

I’ve never quilted but I’m fascinated by it. Someday I’d like to give it a go, but for now I’ll keep to small projects. My mother has done some fabulous quilting including this cowboy quilt for Seth. I believe this quilt is the reason Seth has commented on how his Grandma is MUCH better at sewing than his mom. While this may be true, did he need to say it with so much emphasis right in front of me?

Anyway, back to the lineage. My grandma did not quilt to my knowledge. She was much too much of a 50’s modern woman for that. Her sister however, did try her hand resulting in the Dresden Plate quilt you see above that was completed in 1927. (I just love how some quilts are signed & dated. Making a mental note now to do so if I ever make one.) The true quilter of the family, however, was my great grandmother. The rest of the quilts in this post are hers.

There’s the Flower Basket quilt:

The Crown of Thorns quilt:

A couple very tattered, well loved quilts from my mother and uncle’s childhood beds:

A postage stamp baby quilt. (pretty sure my mom didn’t show this one to me until I had no use for a baby quilt on purpose)

Another postage stamp quilt, but just the top with a note to my mother:

But wait. I’ve saved the best one for……….. the next post. I mean, how many photos can I put in one single post after all? I promise it’s the best one of all. I think I took as many pics of it as I did of all the rest.

Flower Arranging in a basket

edenscapes — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 01:40:36 +0000

1. You will need oasis, packet of Aqua-Fresh, sharp knife, hand shears, a basket with a liner, floral tape, moss, flowers of your choice, and foliage.

2. Take your oasis and soak it in water for 30 mins. with the tiny holes down. Do not press on it or weigh it down. Let the water absorb naturally into it to make sure it is evenly dispursed.

3. Take your brick of oasis and set on liner so you get an idea of how much to chop off the end. Slice where it needs to be cut and with a little pressure pull it apart and it should come off easily. Then take your knife cutting the corners off (small at the top and wider at the bottome) You need to cut all corners off. Then at the bottom of the oasis, slice edges off on the width and on the length. Ever heard of trying fit a square peg into a round circle? This is what you’re trying to avoid. Save those pieces to fill in any gaps you might have. Take your tape and hold the oasis in place by covering both ends or by going lengthwise. Fill in the gaps with moss which helps soak up any water and cover outside oasis. Put your packet of Aqua-Fresh on top of your oasis and fill with water so it gets dissolved. The moss should soak up any excess water.

4. You will need to fill in with foliage. Use three different types to give texture and interesting look to your arrangement. Using premium leather leaf fern, snip off fronds on the lower part of stem and save them. Leave your stem fairly long. CAUTION: Only poke a hole once in the oasis, if you take it out and put it back in, it breaks the seal and your flowers will not last. Cut your fern that has been manicured down and still fairly long about 2″ away from last frond. You want your fern to be pointed down, so you take your stem and push it so it is upwards into the oasis. Do not break the seal on your oasis with an exit hole. Take and do this on both ends in the middle and the corners. Take the leftover fronds that you’ve snipped off and put them randomly throughout the top of the oasis. Place other foliage like yellow solidago and salal or whatever you would like randomly into the oasis. Your point being is to cover the oasis and to give it a varied texture effect.

5. Take three long stemmed flowers (could be gladiolas, snapdragon, lianthis or whatever your choice) and the tallest should be twice the size of your basket. Place that one into your basket in the center. (The end should be cut at an angle) If it is a handled basket, place the center on one side and the other two that are cut shorter will be placed on the other side of the handle. Take each of the two flower stems and cut them to the same length at an angle. They will be placed at angles and placed on the other side of the handle from the one that is in the center. So now you have three poins…1. on left at angle…2. in the center straight up…3. on right at an angle. This helps your visual eye wander from side to side.

6. Thin stemmed flowers are much better for baskets then thick stemmed. Try to avoid thick stemmed sunflowers or other such stems. The oasis isn’t meant to hold them. You can use roses or carnations or whatever you want as long as they are thin stem. For filler flowers, use in groups of three of one kind on one side and turn your basket around and use three in the opposite corner of the basket. Do this with a variety of flowers or colors. Try to avoid using two flowers, go for odd numbers.

7. After you’ve gotten all your main flowers where you want them, you will see gaps. You need baby’s breath or misty blue or tree fern. Whatever you want to give an extra touch of texture and give you a finish look. WaLah! You have just made your first arrangement! Now turn your basket around and make sure you have an even look.

Flower Girl Dress & Basket

Kristin — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 15:28:54 +0000

By Kristin

Using silk ribbons, it’s so easy to match the flower girl’s dress to the flower basket. Rhinestone buttons can be added to give it that extra elegant finish. This is a great idea for brides who are looking for something easy yet still beautiful for her flower girl. You can choose silk ribbon colors that match with your wedding theme. All you have to do is tie the bow onto the dress and stitch the ribbon onto the wedding basket. Then finish it off with a glistening Swarovski rhinestone button and you’re all finish.

A Flower Basket

Betty — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:59:00 +0000

Sometimes a sheet cakes can be soooo boring but I love how this one turned out. I piped the basket using a small tip # 47, the flowers are all butter cream. Instead of placing the flowers here and there I grouped them by color in clusters, giving a more realistic look to the basket.

June is Perennial Gardening Month

rico2009 — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 11:01:03 +0000

June is Perennial Gardening Month – Check out the Perennial Plant Association. You can also follow PPA on twitter here twitter.com/perennialplants. The 2008 PPA plant of the year is the Geranium ‘Rozanne’ .

Flower Basket w/Hat Women’s Pink T-Shirt – SpiritKeep Shops

Click the T-Shirt for more information or to Buy Now

This Flower Basket w/Hat sitting in a swing on this Women’s Pink T-shirt is a perfect design for a sweet, old-fashioned girl of any age! – SpiritKeep Shops

Flower Basket w/Hat Women’s Pink T-Shirt can be found at SpiritKeep Shops : Gift Shop – All Occasion : Flowers & Gardening : Flower Basket w/ Hat

You can check out the rest of today’s Holidays, Celebrations and Famous Birthdays here Bizarre Holidays & Occasions

Send Valentine's Day Flowers to Bangladesh

Freddy — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:39:12 +0000

Valentine’s day is auspicious occasions for all of the world and also Bangladeshi people in Ba

Send Anniversary flowers to Bangladesh Online

Freddy — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:13:42 +0000

Flowers are always great unique anniversary gifts. Bangladeshi people living away from home always l

Send Wedding Flowers to Bangladesh

Freddy — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 13:57:34 +0000

Bangladeshis living abroad want to send gifts & flowers on wedding ceremony of their relatives t

Send Birthday Flowers to Bangladesh

Freddy — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 13:43:42 +0000

This days many Bangladeshi people are living abroad in many countries like USA, UK, Canada, Australi

...aaaand they are done!

Katy — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 18:16:17 +0000

Amazing what sick kids and yucky weather can bring about.

Flower Basket Shawl, by Evelyn Clark

2 skeins of Rowanspun 4 ply in Temptation (discontinued)

size 5 needles, KP Options

I ended up with 8 or so repeats with a total of 10 motifs up the side of the shawl.

Araucania Ranco Multi

size 0 needles, generic cuff down socks knit magic-loop style

This is not a super wash sock yarn, but it is soooo soft after washing and blocking, I think hand washing will be but a small inconvenience. I hope over the next few days to get pictures of these projects on real humans.

After all the excitement of finishing my items on time and under budget, I was left with this:

This is what my sewing room looks like when I have nothing on the needles and am in search of inspiration. Never fear, it didn’t take long. I do need something to take on a little road trip next week, and the muses didn’t let me down.

Monkeys! I’m very late to the Monkey party but better late than never. It is a fun pattern, and perfect for the Socks that Rock colorways.

I’m calling this one Rippley, a variation on the name of one of my favorite movie heroines, Ellen Ripley. I still want to knit myself something for every ten pounds I lose, but they just haven’t been flying off these days. I thought starting this skirt could motivate me to work a bit harder to bust through the stubborn plateau I’ve been on since I knit the Tilted Duster. I’m using some Shine Sport from the stash, on size 4 needles.

Ciao for now! We’ll see how much progress I can make on my trip.

Wednesday WIPs

Put a Sock in it — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 07:38:24 +0000

Starting with the worst:

Scarf-sized Flower Basket Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark
Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in Cabin Fever

The yarn is much nicer knitted up than it looked on the skein, but this is still destined to be ripped out. I’ve seen some lovely examples of the shawl worked in variegated yarns, but even with the small piece I’ve knitted, it’s obvious that this isn’t the right yarn for the pattern.

Moving on:

Candle Flame Scarf by Chauntel Andreasen
Virginia van Santen Painted Yarns Merino in Rust

I’ve raved about this yarn before, but it bears repeating. It’s just gorgeous stuff. I wish it were possible to capture the rich lustrous colours in a pic, but all I’m getting are dull-looking photos. The pattern’s easy and fun, and I think I’ll carry on with this one. In Alberta, one can never have too many scarves!

And my fave of the day:

Wide garter rib
Kertzer On Your Toes in Taupe Print

An easy pair for hubby. The yarn has aloe vera in it which makes it lovely and soft to knit with. I really thought my mojo had gone, but I guess I was being overly dramatic. A week without knitting on socks does feel strange to me now though….