Duppioni Bridesmaids' Dresses

Mom has speedily put together the first of my bridesmaids' dresses. It only needs to be hemmed. I only stitched the middle part at the waist. This one is for my maid of honor, Jenn. It's made out of duppioni silk like my wedding dress. Some of the fabrics are "shot silk" which I learned is the word for silk that shimmers with two different colors from the warp and weft being different colors. The top on this dress is yellow &/or rose depending on the lighting.
Here's the stitching on the waist picture. I machine zig-zag stitched over Stef Francis hand-dyed thick rayon threads. On my practice piece of fabric I played with using some of the fancy machine stitches instead of zig-zag, but I liked how the zig-zag stitch best for the dress. Some of the stitches made the threads separate out in a cool way that would be a fun technique to play with on another project.
On another note, I captured the digger of the big hole near the Western Ave Studios building on camera today. Looks like a woodchuck. I had Ole with me and he didn't even bark at it. The woodchuck kept looking back at me while I took its picture. I'm glad it didn't turn out to be a more vicious animal residing in the hole.

Why!???....

Today ever since I got a call from Nick this afternoon to listen to the radio, I've been in shock. I'm sure you were, too, when you heard about the Virginia Tech. tragedy. Until this year, my brother, Peter was going to Virginia Tech. and he still has friends there. I am thankful that his friends are all safe, but some people's friends and family are not. In this feeling of helplessness I turned to one of my favorite contemporary folk musician's songs about life: Catie Curtis's "People Look Around" from her newest album, "Long Night Moon." (Song co-written with Mark Erelli, another awesome musician>) Although this song is about Katrina's effect on New Orleans, the feelings Catie Curtis gives voice to in the song are the same as I feel now.
Here's the link to her music video for the song: http://catiecurtis.com/index.php?page=video

To leave you on a more artful note. I am posting a photo I took this summer of Shelburne Falls.
I am going to go stitch some more and listen to more of my favorite music! Next time I'll be sure to post something light and fluffy!