Blue Jay Nests in Blooming Wisteria

I can say I have never seen a blue jay nest, not near my house anyway. I can also say that in the 11 years I have owned my Wisteria plant, it has only bloomed a few times. Not enough blooms to even anticipate more the following spring, And some years? No blooms at all...

Yesterday, while serving breakfast to my two and half year old daughter, she asks, "Mama? Why is there a blue jay dancing on the wisssereea?"

Hmm. Dancing? And so I glance out of the kitchen window, and there before my weary eyes was not only three (!) giant Wisteria blossoms, but also, yes a blue jay. Not dancing, but MAKING A NEST in the Wisteria!!

I think I was told, "pull yourself together mama" about 3 times before I calmed down enough to talk about the extraordinary occurrence we were about to witness in the following weeks.

"Do you know how special this is?!?" I hissed. "Out of all the places these 2 birds (a mommy and a daddy) could have chosen to make a nest to have their babies, they chose our Wisteria! Our BLOOMING Wisteria!"

I went on to explain that very soon we would see 4-6 green and brown spotted (maybe) eggs and in 14-21 days after that, there would be baby blue jays eating breakfast with us every morning. That garnered some excitement.

I tried to take a picture of the blue jays in the nest, but I didn't want to scare them. The nest is only about 6 feet off the ground, under the eave of our garage, and right by our kitchen door. I hope we can be calm and quiet enough in the coming weeks for them to stay.

Can you see the nest to the right of the Wisteria blossom, a little cup shaped pile of sticks just over the green leaves in the middle of the picture?

It has been so fun to watch them come and go all day with sticks and grass in their beaks. They even chose a piece of ribbon that Ava and I left out on the patio from a project, to weave in!

Stay tuned, if I can get any pictures without disturbing this new little family, I will certainly share!

Brimfiled Antiques Show Pilgrimage

For years now I have been lucky enough to attend the Brimfield Antiques Show in Brimfield, Massachusetts. Usually I go with my husband and once we became parents, we even took out 6 month old daughter. But this isn't really a trip for a toddler, not for us and not for them! This is the mother ship of flea markets in my corner of the world. This year I went for 2 (10 hour days!!) days and a night. For those of you who know-it is like Disney World for grown ups. Like a Himalayan excursion, like climbing to Machu Picchu, like Heaven on Earth.

This year my friend and fellow wedding professional, Judy Bourgeois of Flora Fauna Weddings and Events came for her maiden voyage to the show. We left Maine at 5 am on Friday and didn't return until 10:30 Saturday night, a whirlwind!

There are treasures and trinkets aplenty, gadgets and widgets galore, ahh....Vintage french linen...

Judy was a seasoned pro, keeping up the pace, stocking our backpacks with snacks and water, scouting out the good items and filling her arms and our scavenged rolling cart with treasures for our homes, our clients, our businesses and our children. What a weekend! Oh how I needed a ladies only trip away!

Judy almost perished of fits in some of the vintage trim and ribbon booths, she uses these hard to find and gorgeous trims on bouquets and boutonnieres for weddings-I have to admit, my heart rate was elevated too!

(The pretty pictures in this post were taken by Judy, the others were taken by me on my iPhone)

I was tempted by all of the milk glass, chenille vintage bedspreads and jewelry...I was on a mission though, I had a list. I went in search of tea cups for one of my clients' weddings and several interesting and unexpected containers for another client's wedding raw bar display.

Having my list kept me focused and left some of the cash in my pocket...cash is king at the show, and bring lots of small bills, most booths have negotiable prices. I am always shy about asking for a dealer's "best price" but Judy showed me that it works-she haggled for $75 off the antique Swedish/Hungarian (I can't recall the origin, I was in a panic to load it in the cart!!) baby bathtub with metal stand for one of our clients-we just had to have it!

Oh and the cart!! Not only is this little baby so cute and vintage, but it was only $10 and it essentially made the Suburban full of purchases possible this past weekend. Many a trip to the car with that full cart to unload were made-thank goodness for running sneakers. This show is no place for pretty shoes.

Yes, that is a human skeleton in the background!

Oddities are all part of the experience...this place is not for the faint of heart.

The show is miles long and fields deep on each side of the road, a gypsy like encampment of tents, makeshift booths and shelters, filled to the brim with every imaginable item in the world. What fun, what treasures, what laughing and sweating and many hand wipes used to wash hands...Next show is in September!

Inspire.Collaborate.Succeed.

There is an exciting workshop happening on May 12, 2010, here in Maine.  Inspire.Collaborate.Succeed has been created by Brea McDonald and Dawn Kelly, a photographer and floral designer who I have had the privilege of working with.  Oh yes, and yours truly will be a guest speaker at the workshop!  Hope to see you there!

Here are  some of the details, and please visit the link above to learn more specifics about the agenda:

• Home
• About Us
• Agenda for the Day

Inspire Collaborate Achieve

Are you new to the wedding
business?  Been in the business 
and want to be published?  
Need to get your creative 
juices flowing?  Then this 
seminar is for you.  
Come learn how to 
stage your own photo shoot, 
the action steps after you 
are done, how to submit 
your work, and how to 
network with your 
‘dream vendors’.


The Details
When:  May 12, 2010
Where:  York Harbor Inn 
- York, ME
Time: 10am to 4pm
Investment: $250.00 
($200 for ea additional 
member in your business)


There will be a informal question 
and answer hour after 
the seminar from 4pm-5pm.
We have worked out 
special rates at the Inn 
for anyone who may be 
traveling. 
 Rates are as follows:
Standard Queen – $99.00
Deluxe Queen or King – $149.00
Luxury Queen or King – $209.00
Email us at 
brea@breamcdonald.com or dkelly@soireefloral.com to sign up.

Maine Seasons Wedding featured on the Wedding Chicks Blog!

I just learned that one of my weddings was featured on the Wedding Chicks Blog! You can see more of the gorgeous pictures of this wedding on the blog post in the above link.  

This wedding was photographed by the lovely and oh so talented Sharyn Peavey-gorgeous images, as always!

I was so pregnant at this wedding, I remember having to move 130 chairs from the ceremony area to the reception tent during the cocktail hour.  Up a hill.  That is when I learned to strongly suggest that chairs be rented for both the ceremony and reception, unless the client wants to hire my staff or provide their own to move them!   All of the things I have learned over the years seem obvious now.  Isn't that how hindsight works?

Life is partially for learning we must remember!

Patchwork Quilt for a Friend's Daughter

I have wanted to work on a fabric item for a friend of mine who happens to be an incredibly talented photographer, mommy and lady-finally it is done!

Whenever I think of Sharyn I always think of this color palette-vibrant, interesting, fun and so pretty. Not surprising, Sharyn embodies all of those characteristics!

The front of this little quilt is in purple, magenta, lavender, gray and pale pink. I made some little yo -yos in coordinating fabric to accent the front.

For the back I wanted to do something with a little more contrast...I fell in love with this black and white checked fabric and thought it made the feminine little quilt a bit more sophisticated and serious.

And maybe some of you know that I had a break down recently. A long awaited breakdown. The new sewing machine is a dream. Not as meaty feeling and hefty as my antique machine, but buttery and smooth and loaded with fun stitches! I had to sample some one of my faves for this quilt. I love this little star stitch....the body of the quilt was stitched on my old machine, as it was fading, so the new machine had to have an option to drop the feed dogs-I have had it with the puckering of machine stitched quilting and it isn't likely I am going to have the time to pick up hand quilting anytime soon!

Not perfect, but colorful and cozy and made with love. That is what counts, right?

Recycled Toddler Sweater Dress

My husband e-mailed me this link-from the desk next to me the other night...he said, " I am sending you an e-mail, go look"  So I did and of course I had to make this little dress from a pile of my sweaters destined for Goodwill...Instructables is a fun web site, one which I never have time to peruse, but my husband checks it regularly and sends me the links he thinks I will like.  What a peach he is. 

Cozy and cute!  I had some little fabric yo yos left over from a Christmas project and they were just the right accessory for the dress.  Ava said, "I don't know about this dress, I think it needs sumting..."  A built in brooch if you will.  For a 2 year old who actually requests to wear brooches.  I mean really!  After I sewed on the "brooch" I was told, "Now this dress is beeuutiful mama"  Oh dear.  I am headed for trouble when she is a teenager, aren't I?!?

Just when I thought it was over, I was instructed to, "please make a hat to go with this beeuutiful dress".  Toddlers really keep you on your toes and you have to be mentally ready for anything at anytime.  I scanned the room, a hat, a hat....what can I make into a hat to match....a hat, a hat...think, think, panic, think...

I saw the straw hat I recently got at Baby Gap, just because I couldn't leave it there...it was in the boy's section with a blue madras band on it...

Off went the blue band and on went a custom pink ribbon band, complete with a yo yo applique, attached with good old hot glue.  Then I was told, "OK, now this is the best ensemble that I have ever seen in my  whole life!"  Ensemble?  Really? Wow.  Where could she have possibly heard that word?!?

That should fulfill my seamstress duties for the week.  I soaked up the sweet mommy appreciation too, I know it will be in limited supply in the not so far away future...

Creative Vintage Wedding Centerpieces

A fun way to incorporate vintage style into a wedding design: I am scavenging these vintage medicine and tincture bottles for one of my Maine brides this summer...I can't wait to see them at the wedding on the guest tables with flowers, mixed with tons of votive candles and canning jars of larger floral arrangements....

I am going to keep the color pallete for this wedding under wraps for a bit, it is going to be so gorgeous! 

I love the thrill of the hunt...  When I see a dusty box full of these little sweeties tucked in the back of an antiques shop, I get frantic, like I found the golden ticket...maybe I am a bit obsessed, maybe I am just really into treasure hunting... Either way, I feel so fortunate to have clients who love these special treasures too. 

I like to think of it as recycling with style: Using ordinary things in extraordinary ways....a good idea, and one that allows me to justify my scavenging habits!

With spring upon us (soon, I hope!) I get the fever to make my first trips to the "shops", the junk shops, the antiques barns and flea markets in the area, to hold me over until it gets warm enough for the yard sales to start...oh yeah and for the epic treasure hunting trip of my lifetime: Brimfield Antiques Show in May!!  Oh dear, it is too much for me to even type the word "Brimfield"!! 

Happy hunting!