Too many weddings, not enough wedding samplers...

(I was knitting all weekend on the Sekrit Projikt, so I can't actually say anything about knitting today, other than it happened, and it's going well.)

So, other crafts, just for today. It's time to start working on my sister's *actual* wedding sampler, as opposed to the pillow I just made for her.

Deacon Joe, who performed the ceremony, wrote a lovely poem, "My Vow to You", that he read during the ceremony, and I'm going to use the words of that as the sampler. Her flowers were lillies, and her color was blue. The basic design will be a blue "ribbon" (cross-stitched) border, with a spray of lillies in the bottom left corner, and a few lillies in the top right, or along the sides, or something.

Problem: I'm not really sure about Lilly Construction. So, off to Michael's, to photograph some fake flowers for reference (and, okay, to buy all the stuff I'll need for the sampler - they had a 25% off everything sale yesterday). Here's what I got:

Hopefully, I'll be able to use these photos to give me an idea of how the lillies should look when stitched up. I won't have to worry about it for a while; I'll be stitching the words first, then most of the ribbon, then the flowers (which will have pearl and Austrian crystal accents). Unlike most samplers, where I give myself however long it takes (usually two to three years, or more), I've got both my mother and the mother of the bride standing over me asking me if it's done yet.

This is what I get for knocking that dratted Shoe Pillow out in one day!