Tough week ahead

Poor Codie is really down in the dumps. Corey left yesterday for a week of training in Springfield, MO. He got promoted to manager at PetSmart, and they knew this training was coming along soon. In fact, they expected it to be several weeks; but because of his experience, he was able to test out of everything except the mandatory part. Codie had hoped to go with him; but he found out that he'll be rooming with another trainee, so that wasn't possible.

You have never seen such an agonized good-bye. I don't think I cried that much when my boyfriend went to boot camp for three months. (Well, of course, we weren't engaged; but still.) There was no cheering this kid up. I let her wallow in it for a few hours, and when she seemed a little calmer, I said, "Have you decided on a project to do while Corey's gone?" She'd mentioned wanting to do something to keep herself occupied and to surprise him when he gets home. We batted around ideas, and she settled on making some wild and funky monogrammed pillow cases for their future home. I finally got to see the light in her eyes when we hauled out my fat-quarter stash for her to pick through. The chick has a great eye. She went straight for the designer fabrics -- Valori Wells, mostly. Then she drew up a design for the funky monogram. (She's enjoying the fact that she and Corey will have the same initials after the wedding.)

She's scared to do the actual sewing herself. It's the power-tool thing. She's afraid of sewing her fingers to the project. I refrained from pointing out to her that 5-year-old Olivia managed to sew an entire doll quilt on her mama's Bernina. I'm planning to coax and trick her into sewing a few straight seams. I think she'll get hooked, and then we'll be fussing over sharing the sewing machine the way we used to fuss over sharing the computer.

She's supposed to be embroidering the monograms on separate fabric to keep herself entertained during the day while I'm at work. We'll applique them on later. It will be interesting to see whether she makes progress today or spends the day in lonely moping. Poor baby.

A bright spot in the weekend: Carol finished their wedding flowers, and we picked them up Saturday afternoon. They are spectacular. Codie and Carol worked together to pick really lovely flowers and ribbons, and Carol is such an artist in putting them together. Codie's bouquet is gorgeous; the corsages and Corey's boutonniere are beautiful, too. Carol loved the idea of doing a nosegay for Claire (the flower girl) so much that she took a chance on surprising us with a couple of her original ideas, and I'm so glad. She incorporated a little white dove into Claire's bouquet. And because there won't be a ring bearer, Carol added a ribbon to tie the rings to the nosegay. It looks as if the dove is holding the bow in its beak, and the streamers of the bow have little silver heart charms tied to them. So sweet! Evidently, we had picked more flowers than Carol needed, because there was also a "throwing bouquet" tucked in the box with a note that said, "Our gift to you. Wishing you many happy years." So...if you've got a wedding in your future and you're thinking of doing silk flowers, call me and get Carol's number. She totally rocks.

This evening, I need to put a package together for Corey's mom. It looks as if she and Corey's stepdad are not going to be able to make it down here from Colorado for the wedding. So my plan is to send her corsage to her so she can wear it on their wedding day. And I'll call her when the ceremony starts and put her on speaker so she can hear them take their vows. I'm going to tuck a copy of the CD of engagement photos in there, too. She and Corey are so close - talk to each other by phone every day - that I know it is killing her to miss this.

A few new mini-quilts are in my Etsy shop. I'm hoping to get some more finished and photographed this week.