A Quick Weekend in North Bend, WA.

Dan and I were listed to leave IF Thursday, April 19 for a quick trip to see Will and Jenni.  They had recently moved into their new home and we were excited to see all the wonderful improvements that Will had done to the house.  We were also on a mission to create a pattern and sew a dress for Jenni’s new CD album. 

Jenni had purchased a dress that she liked and wanted us to do a make-over so that it would fit her.  

Eventually, we decided to buy some fabric and make the dress from scratch.  She had everything we needed and was all ready for us, so…. Here we go, or so we wished...

It was not to be that easy.  The flight agent here in IF was not familiar with the new computer program and although Dan and I were listed and had our paper tickets from IF to Denver, she was so slow getting the program to give us our security passes that they actually closed the flight just as we got to the gate.  Long terrible story short; we missed our flight out of IF ~ no fault of ours!

Luke was amazing and as usual he took over our flight agenda and got us a place to spend the night in SL.  All we had to do was get there and wait for the early morning flight into Seattle. 

Jenni picked us up the next morning and we went straight to their new home.  It’s beautiful!  Will and Co. did an amazing job moving walls, adding stairs, installing cabinets, etc.  Jenni decorated with her usual flair and awesome tastes.  I always say, it’s amazing what kids can do when they grow up and make their own choices!!

Jenni and I got busy cutting fabric and measuring pieces.  When I look back on the day, I realize that we were blessed to get as far as we did putting things together on her new dress.  She’s a wonderful model and before we went to bed that night we had a better picture of what we wanted.

Friday night we had a treat when James, Elizabeth, Gwenevere and Gracie brought pizzas over and we had dinner together.  We weren’t going to be able to visit with them in Tacoma over this short weekend trip, so they came to see us and to see Will and Jenni’s new house.  It was so fun to spend a little time with them that evening.  They even let Gwenevere spend the night. 

Saturday morning, Will took off for a run and ended up calling us from the top of the mountain right out their front door.  Will has a history of calling from HIGH places so the fun tradition continues.  Dan watched the kids as they played in the front yard and when Will got back they took the kids for a ride and for lunch.  They were all gone most of the day.

Jenni and I spend most of Saturday knee-deep in beautiful fabrics and amazing lace.  Jenni had picked up a piece of antique French lace that we would cut to and shape around the bodice of the dress.  However, we still needed some “matching” lace for the trim around the hem and right arm.   So, she got on line and spent lots of time trying to find the “just perfect match”.   It ended up that we would have to ship the trim lace to my home for me to add on later.

We worked late into Saturday night and got to bed just before we had to get back up to head to the airport.  Will so kindly got up with Dan and me.  We took Gwenevere with us so Will could return her to Elizabeth’s.   The short weekend was coming to a quick end and although the dress wasn’t entirely finished, at least we knew it would fit Jenni.

Over the next couple of weeks the trim lace arrived and I was able to put the finishing touches on the dress for Jenni.  I have to say there were so many “tender mercies” during the project that I really felt I was being watched over and assisted in making the dress as beautiful as possible.

One instance was when I went to laying the lace on the bodice.  I actually was short on the frill trim edge on the lace, but I was astounded when I realized that the “trim lace” was almost exactly like the bodice lace.  I was able to use a small piece of it to complete the bodice and even I had a hard time telling one piece from the other.  At one time, I was so excited about how it was coming together, I just had to call Jenni and share the exciting news.

I have to say I was relieved and very excited when the dress was done and hanging in my sewing room. But I also was anxious to have Jenni check it out and “ok” it.  We did that part when Dan and I went back to Tacoma a couple of weeks later.

James was graduating from Puget Sound University on May 13^th.  We were so excited for him that Dan and I were going over for his graduation. (Blog on that visit to come).  I took Jenni’s dress back to her on that trip.  She tried it on and it fit fine but it still needed something done to it.  Something wasn’t “just right”.  Sure enough she looked at it and said, “How about we…”  We did it and lo and behold, it was perfect on her.  She sure has an eye for what works best!  Now, I can say, I love the dress!!!  It’s amazing on Jenni!!  I thought the dress was beautiful before but when Jenni puts it on ….  Well, I don’t even know how to explain it.  “Angelic”, maybe?  You decide.

Now that I've told you about the dress, let me put a plug in for her CD.  In case you haven't seen the album art work on her facebook, here it is.  Stunning!!

Her dad Ron Southworth was the photographer.  Outstanding!!