Shan-nanigans: Crafting in Fall

Good bye Summer, hello Fall!

The last two weekends of summer were busy! Last weekend Ruben's (and my soon-to-be) nephew got married in Kansas City, MO. Ruben was the photographer for the event so, we made the 10 hour drive down to be there for the wedding and to be with his family. It was our first time to see Ruben's family since our engagement, and their love and support was over whelming. :)

Here I am at the church, waiting around while Ruben scopes out the event space and takes the pre-wedding photos.

Here is Ruben's brother Tony and his wife Tonda getting ready for the ceremony.

Here Ruben and his nephew Nathaniel talk about the ceremony and possible shots.

Grooms parents walking down the aisle.

The Gonzalez family there to support Nathaniel and his bride Heather.

From the right is niece Hannah, and brother Angel, sister Wanda and her husband John.

Here Nathaniel waits for his bride. :)

Here is Joshua ( Nathaniel's brother) walking a bridesmaid down the aisle.

Giving the bride away.

Heather and Nathaniel Gonzalez!

The wedding was really sweet, and I was so glad to be there to support my new family!

This past weekend, Ruben and I spent time together before he left for Oklahoma to spend 2 weeks with his Mom.

Saturday was busy with BBQ's and fun times with friends and neighbors, but I didn't get any pictures.

Sunday evening, Ruben and I planned a picnic in a park in our neighborhood. Together with the dogs we found a spot on top of a hill with a great view of the Chicago skyline. :)

I made some yummy Italian sausage pasta and garlic bread and we munched while the dogs looked longingly at our food.

Early Monday morning Ruben head out to Oklahoma. He was on the road by 5am, and he made it to his sisters house in Oklahoma City in good time!

While he was gone, I decided to work on a craft project I've been meaning to finish. What better way to spend a Labor Day off, then by crafting?! Grannie would be so proud. ;)

The Project: Use old ties from Ruben's serving days. A long time ago Ruben worked at a restaurant that required a crazy tie. So, before his shift he would go to a thrift store and buy a 50 cent tie. Thus the large collection that he has.

I have decided that I want to use them to create a quilt, or something like that.

Here I am piecing the ties together and trying to decide how I'm going to do this. I realize that I don't want to make the whole blanket out of ties, I need to attach them to some fabric and line it and so forth...low on funds I decide to visit the neighborhood thrift store and found a fabulous 4$ comforter. So my plan is to attach the strips of ties to the comforter.

Canon and Nikon were deciding if they liked my idea. Always a critic.

Through out the day I worked on it and came up with a rainbow type pattern with the ties.

I followed ROY G BIV (the order of the colors in the rainbow; red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet.)

I think it will turn out cool, but still have a lot of work to do. My goal is to finish the blanket before Ruben returns from Oklahoma.