Precision Planting Christmas Party 2012

A quick step into the modern world....

This past weekend was our first Christmas party of the season. Thanks to child labor laws I'm no longer an employee of the company, but I was able to attend as someone else's guest... Its always a spectacular evening and I was overjoyed to be able to spend some time with several of my relatives (who I don't get to see nearly, often enough these days). Not to mention getting to see all my 'work' friends. They made such an impact on me...I miss them all sooo much! 

The gorgeous centerpiece on our table!

The lovely Rachel enjoying her dinner. This girl is so wonderful!

Me...waiting. A few of us had been up visiting when they brought the food to our table. We went back to the table only to find they hadn't left us any. So we sat they waiting - expecting them to come back later with our food. Everyone else was nearly done - and we decided to take some action. Luis came to our rescue and asked the waitresses to bring us our plates. What we do without him? lol

 



                                Olivia Sr.                             

 Oh wait... That's better. This is Sarah!

Then we got some real action! All the ladies get to pick the gift they want out of this glorious lane of happiness!! lol This is a *HUGE* deal for this mall deprived gal. Its always *such* a hard choice. I opted for a pair of boots this year...

Next up was the 'game'. This year each table got a box of supplies. And we were supposed to build "gingerbread houses" to fit into the following categories...

Needless to say the stakes were high!!

The constuction of...

        ...our Ag related display began.

Poor Bryce and Josiah - had a team of all girls.

  I dare say we can hold our own in this department. hehe

 Not the best shot, but I think you get the idea of our finished product! It was a surprising amount of fun. Although I mainly watched and ate whatever stray candy I could find. lol In my defense I did build all the fence. hehe :p Incase your wondering we didn't win (I still think we should have. :D lol).

Malena and I! I love this lady SO much!

Bryce and Emily- looking as cute as ever.

Michelle looked so incredibly beautiful!

      Rachel and Em!

Yours truly.



I'm so proud of Sarah! She sewed the skirt for her dress! Didn't she do a fabulous job?!!? She definitely looked charming! I think the shoes were the perfect touch! :)                                           



Michelle and I. We made both our dresses. I plan to do separate posts about them, but that will require photoshoots so I can't guarantee when they will be up.                                    

          Michelle and her gentleman friend Josiah. Aren't they completely adorable?!?!

 

It was such a great night - as usual I hated for it to end. For more pictures go here. Hope y'all don't mind the change from my regularly scheduled program. ;) Let me know what you think.. :)

Love,

Brooke

Lauren and Jonathan's Wedding Day

August 18th 2012 - it was on this day that my very dear friend, Lauren, was wed to her adoring fiancé, Jonathan. It was a very happy day indeed! Everything was soooo beautiful, like a fairy tale and I couldn't be happier for the both of them! And now I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking... ;)

The gorgeous alter... 

Awaiting his lovely bride...

Here she comes!! Yay. ;) 

Isn't her hair like the most adorable thing ever! Love it! 

Making their vows! 

Mr. & Mrs. Peterson!

The Bride's parents

Mr. & Mrs. Burke!

They are some of the loveliest people I have ever met! I feel so blessed to know both of them and they have brought alot of joy to my life! 

The maid of honor, Lauren's gorgeous sister, Ariel! 

Oh look! Another one. lol My charming cousin Emily was also a bridesmaid! 

The reception was fabulous! All the decorations were so breath taking. I could hardly believe how creative they all were. :D It also confirmed in my mind that I want green as one of my wedding colors. ;) 

The streamer things for when they annouced them as husband and wife.  

There was lots of yummy things to eat! :D 

One of the beautiful centerpeices! 

Their cake was phenomenal!!! 

Such a vibrant and cheerful color! 

The flowers were sooo pretty! 

There was even little fishes! ;) 

I coud have stood there and drank this stuff all day! It was like the best thing I've ever tasted. lol 

Getting our picture with some of our reenactor friends.

Mr & Mrs. Hackmann 

Aren't the bouquets just lovely?!!? 

This little wall was such a creative idea! Everyone had alot of fun with it!  

Cutting their cake.. 

And this I had to post because Sarah looks *SO* cute and I'd like you to notice the adorable new hair cut she was sporting! :)

After arriving home us girls took a few picture since we were "all dressed up". :p 

Me and my best friend aka older sister Michelle. 

Megan sportin' the new bob! 

Me... 

My stunning big sister, Michelle! 

Me and my baby. His name is Cody. ;)

 

Despite being a very bittersweet day (its hard knowing she's be living so far away and that we won't be able to see her often)...it was very beautiful day and I'm very excited to see how God works in their lives together!

For more pictures you can go here and here.

Love you girl and I wish you all the best! Miss you so much! ♥

Love,

Brooke

First Adventure With a Wedding Gown

I can't put into words how excited and honored I felt having been asked to make a wedding dress!! And by one of my dearest friends - no less. It was *such* a privilege! I'd been dreaming of making one for along time. So as you can imagine I was beyond thrilled when my darling friend, Lauren, asked me to make hers!  

She did a bunch of searching in the couple months following her engagement and decided on this dress as the basic design idea.

As you can see its a bit 1950's inspired.

 

 

 

 

 

              

Source: etsy.com via Lauren on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Lauren on Pinterest

 

Less than a month before the wedding we began the actual creating process. We spent a 5 hours fitting session together one afternoon. Where we draped the bodice, measured for the skirt length, went over different options, etc.

The very beginning...forming the shoulder and side seams.

For safety reason we shaped the neckline on the dressform... ;)



So much pinning and tweaking...

 

Do you ever wonder how we make heads or tails out of these things??? Yeah so do I... lol



The final mockup. We did 4 all together I do believe.

We decided on this gorgeous silk chiffon for the material. Fully lined bodice and skirt, as well as 3 layers of chiffon for the skirt. Frankly I was a bit nervous. :D Close-ish time limits and having never worked with chiffon before. But I couldn't have asked for a better or more patient bride!

Getting ready to cut. A wee bit nerve wracking...



20+ yards of silk chiffon! So lovely.



We hand gathered all the layers of the skirt. Each one was 170" around... thus equalling 1360" of gathering threads and approximately 19,040 stitches. The bodice went together very quickly. I hemmed the 'sleeves' by hand, as well as over casting all the seams and whipping the armscye "hems"...only catching the lining. Easier said then done. ;) Oh and I just have to say the zipper went in perfectly on the first try! I think that could be a new record for me. lol They are one of the reasons I prefer pre-1920's sewing. ;) We did a very narrow serged stitch to hem the skirt. It worked okay and looked fine, but I think next time I'll do it by hand. Once again my historical sewing side coming out. Me and sergers don't get along.

Me and Michelle hand gathering on the shirts.

I think this shows how fun silk chiffon is to work with... lol

After getting the dress itself finished we had another fitting. Everything was looking quite nice, but we decided to add a sash to set it off.

The first try on of the actual dress.

Experimenting with different sash ideas.

Overcasting the waist seam - after I was sure I wouldn't need to be tearing anything apart. :).

The sash

Tiny little sleeves. Super fluttery and sheer. :)

Finally finished!

Just really liked this shot. ;)

The back....

All in all I think it took about 2 weeks to make it.

A couple sneek peaks of the day...

Keep your eyes open for a post in the next few days about the actual wedding where you'll get to see more pictures of the dress, complete, on the gorgeous bride, with the sash properly placed, as well as a fluffy skirt. ;)

Love,

Brooke