As mentioned in the previous blog entry, I was going to tell you about the most incredible crafting opportunity I have ever done. This will take me a bit, so go grab a cup of tea, coffee, whatever your choice of beverage would be and sit back for a little bit with me while I explain this. 
I apologize to those of you that already know this story, but Im pretty proud of these accomplishments and I have to share them because a lot of people dont get this chance. 

My friend Donna, who is a couple of years younger then I, told me her daughter Stephany, (who was Kaylas best friend in school) was getting married and wondered if I could make a quilt out of her own wedding dress plus Stephanys flower girl dress. Not thinking it would be a major project, it would be something I could handle, I said yes. 

The day I picked up the dress I said to myself, "Oh my God what did I get myself into". This dress is massive, with what seemed to be millions of pearls and sequins with several dozen yards of lace. But I felt confident I could do this. It was February and I had until October to complete everything. One request was a quilt and a pillow for Donna. Besides that, I could create whatever I wanted. 

The very first cut was the hardest to make, but I soon had pieces cut out of every shape and size, all lace was cut out, every pearl and sequin was kept, everything. 

In the end I was able to create an end of the bed quilt runner, 3 christmas ornaments, a cone shaped christmas tree, a large pillow for Donna, a smaller pillow for Stephany, a wedding day purse, a keepsake box for Stephany and one for Donna, matching bracelets for Mom & daughter to wear during the wedding, a photo album, their wedding invitation framed,  and the bodice of the dress framed for Donna. 

I literally had hundreds of hours in labor. I had the tiniest pieces of lace that I was gluing onto a glass ornament that I cut apart. All of the pearls on each piece of lace on the quilt were sewn back on. Handmade flowers using satin, buttons from the dressed used to look like a button up shirt on the keepsake box. You name it, I used it right down to the smallest pieces. 

This entire project was and still is one of my greatest achievements ever and Im proud to say that every single Item I created came from my mind. Not one thing was a pattern nor was any item created using someone elses ideas. For that reason I am pretty proud of that too. 
I want to thank Donna again for the faith she had in me and the trust me placed in my hands to create these keepsake items. 

Below are the completed items. 

 One of the keepsake boxes, with lace and a flower made from the satin and some of the pearls

 This small purse was created from the sleeves from Stephanys flower girl dress with the pearls woven through the ribbon that was the dress hangers that were sewn into her dress.

 The matching bracelets. Each bracelet was created using the exact pieces of lace that was hand cut off larger pieces and hand sewn together onto a larger piece of sheer fabric. Even the pearls were all hand sewn  on. Each piece of lace was placed in the exact same spot on each bracelet so that they matched exact.

 This pillow was made using a larger piece of satin and the flowers created using satin from the dresses, pearls from both and tulle that was on Stephanys dress.

 Their wedding invitation placed on a piece of dress satin with a piece of tulle covering part of the invite and engagement photo. The flowers on the corners were made using satin from the dress with rhinestones as the center. The purple flower on the top was created using ribbon that was also used on the photo album.

A styrofoam ball that I pinned lace onto then pinned pearls and sequins and applied glitter to the whole thing.

 A class ornament that I glued tiny pieces of lace flowers I cut out from the lace on the dress, glued pearls and rhinestones and covered it with glitter also.

 This is one of my favorite pieces, the tree. A styrofoam cone that I covered first in tulle, then cut out pieces of lace and pinned them over the styrofoam. Many pearls and sequins were pinned on and several rhinestones were glued onto it. The bottom has a solid ring of pearls that were hand strung and then a longer hand strung rope of [earls to make the scallop along the bottom. The tree was placed on a glass candle holder to give it a nice glass base.

 A keepsake box that can be used for photos or wedding day mementos. Satin from the dress, the bow ties was off of Stephanys dress and the button from the back of Donnas dress.

 The bodice piece framed onto black satin fabric. The base is a piece of styrofoam board with hundreds of tiny pins holding the bodice in place. All pins are hidden behind pearls and under sequins.

 An ornament made from the satin and pearls. Each piece of satin was a 2 inch square. The top is a longer piece of satin that was hand sewn into a long piece to look like ribbon.

The quilt. This was a labor of love. The center panel was all hand sewn. There are several pieces of lace sewn onto it a piece of satin with another bow from Stephanys dress at the top. Each diamond shape was constructed using pieces of lace that were cut into strips and sewn together to make the shape. The entire quilt was hand quilted.