Handmade Wedding Love

Bonjour, everyone!

Today, I wanted to share with you the handmade wedding gifts we received and which I haven't shared yet. I must apologize for the quality of the pictures - it is not up to the beauty of the gifts. It's been raining in Paris ever since I came back, and the lighting is consequently very poor. (Sébastien tells me it's still super warm and sunny in Sweden! Ha!)

Sweet, thoughtful Marianne stitched this fun towel set:

So cute! It really made us smile :)

Here are Sylvie's and Doris' a-ma-zing gifts together.

I took a shot of them together because their colours and theme match so well; besides, I met Doris thanks to Sylvie, so whenever I think of one, the other is never far from my thoughts either. It makes me smile that their gifts display the same palette - as far as I know, they didn't even do it on purpose!

Their pieces however are too stunning not to deserve a separate picture each.

Here is Doris' Hearts and Flowers:

I was literally speechless when I opened Doris's package. Moved to tears. This represents so many hours of beautiful, careful work! And it's not as if Doris had much time on her hands either.
I had fallen in love with that Carriage House Samplings design ever since I'd seen dear Karen's version... I would never have dreamed anyone would stitch it for us!
Doris was worried because this wasn't stitched in my favourite colour, blue. What she didn't know is that this specific colour combination - shabby chic, tea rose and sauge - comes right after blue on my list of favourites. Oh, this is so gorgeous, Doris. I am still not tired of looking at it again and again, and I get a lump in my throat every time I do.

Sylvie's stunning Shepherd's Bush triptych:

I know exactly for how long Sylvie has been working on it, because when she came to Paris last year, she showed me her work on Peter's Patch (the little guy on the right). It was so beautiful, stitched in delicate, smooth silks and intricate special stitches. Sylvie completed Sophie's Roses earlier this year. I know how much love and care she put into that project, and it is incredibly generous of her to have given it to us. I have a very precise idea where I want to put it, but need to ask for Seb's opinion first, obviously. :)
Sylvie knows that SB is my favourite designer, along with Drawn Thread. This so makes me want to stitch again!! (actually, I did start stitching again in Sweden, but can't show any of it yet ;) )

Yesterday's mail carried another moving surprise.
Some of you very probably remember Anneke, who lives in the Netherlands and used to have a blog called steekjevast? Her blog used to be among my favourites and my priority reads of the day, and I have certainly missed her - although I respect and can totally understand her decision to stop it. Well, Anneke may have stopped her blog, but she hasn't forgotten her blogging friends for all that. She sent us a card earlier for our wedding, which was in itself a lovely surprise; it turns out she was also working on something for us.

This is so pretty, so meaningful and - soft! I believe Anneke sewed it all by hand, and the wallhanging is hand-quilted around the stitching, too. It really warmed my heart.

~*~

Mind you, those are only the handmade gifts... Maybe you understand better now how overwhelmed I am feeling? To think we asked everyone not to bother with gifts, as we wanted to keep our wedding as simple and low-key as possible! How not to be moved, though. Those were made with so much love and will make me smile every time I see them. I hope you are not tired of hearing me say thank you - because my heart is very thankful indeed.

Amongst the cards - each and everyone of them so special - some of them were sumptuously handmade and three-dimenional, like Sylvie's, Souris's and Tracy's above. See? They match again :)

~*~

There are so many things I have to talk about on my blog that my head is spinning - but sharing those gifts had to come first, right? :)
I'll try and post a sewing-related entry very soon. :)

Have a lovely weekend, everyone!