Meredith -- that's barely pale pink illegal compared to the CITES violations that some orchid folks get up to. We're talking about international smuggling of wild collected endangered rain forest species here, and so on. And obviously, the cost of an individual orchid plant is WAY higher than an individual rose plant -- even unawarded plants are going to cost a lot more. You can get just about any rose in production for under $30, right? Hahahaha! Orchids that are easy to propagate (meristem cloning) are expensive because the cloning technology is pretty expensive and takes fancy equipment. Then there are types that don't clone well at all and have to be propagated by hand division and such. Well, I'll stop there. You can see where it goes. Then, providing an environment for many orchids to live in is incredibly expensive and a lot of work in many parts of the world. Labrea, yep, that's probably not that unusual. I bet he put really expensive sodium grow lights on the ceiling, on a timer that changes day length seasonally -- who wants to try to sleep under that! LOL. So far, my private bet is still winning. :)

Very nice!! Most clipboards are plain & boring or worn out looking. Great way to make them "new & interesting" again. Would be nice gift for a teacher!!Jan

Thanks for the comments, they will be helpful. Research results: I found the following resources helpful as I have been planning my approach, mainly for bustling and hemming: 1. Singer "Sewing for Special Occasions" which has photos and excellent guides for the bustling. 2. The "Sew News" website library had a great description of bustling a wedding gown at this page: http://www.sewnews.com/library/sewnews/qa/aaqa0300a.htm 3. Another website which explains bustles including the Austrian, French [inverted] and over bustle. I learned a lot at the following: http://www.rencentral.com/oct_nov_fo11/bustles.shtml 4. A slim book from the library with no photos and only a few sketches, but titled: "How to Alter a Bridal Gown" by Susan Ormond. This book has a chapter on hems. The important point she makes is to follow the manufacturer's method of construction when you reconstruct. 5. Google search. It brought me back to the forum which I had not used for sewing. Good Laugh for all of you who work with brides: Use a search engine on the words bustle or bustling a wedding gown. You will locate the U-Tube video of bridesmaids searching for ribbons to underbustle the bride. Finally, the bride lays face down, with petticoats exposed while bridesmaids consider the mystery of all those ribbons! Bustle comments: The comment about a 2-point take-up--I understood as take the center back up in two parts, then do side bustles. There's no place to put a button part-way up the back, so a simple 3-point seems to look fine with pins. I will use the suggestion to fasten a small button on the wrong side of the fabric to support the fabric and weight. I may try a 5-point to see if it looks better. My daughter did not like the looks of the underbustle. I thought the Austrian could maybe be used to get the heavy satin pulled up [done like a balloon shade with loops sew to the inside seam allowance and ribbons pulled through to gather up the skirt, or scrunch it up]. Then the beautiful organza could be pulled up on top in the overbustle and attached to the waist area to emphasize the delicacy of the fabric and show off the beading and silver threads of sewn flowers. I did notice how I need to take the front hem around just a bit to the back for this bustle to work, so thanks for the comment about pinning the bustle, then mark the hem. Sleeves. These are totally decorative, the bodice and the nifty inside waist piece hold the dress perfectly in place. I will use the suggestion of shortening the caps at the junction with the gown. It seems the organza will allow me to fold it a bit and I could tack the edge a bit to keep the crescent shape coming to a point and not have to rip stitches in the organza. For the $20 most shops offered on this, they certainly weren't ripping many stitches! I found nothing on this small alteration in any resource I checked, so this forum was great! Research is done . . . I am nearly ready. I mailed the check for the cake today and finished a 4th revision of the seating chart for our sit-down dinner. The bride has calculated the meals and other charges at the reception site and we had to spend more! They have a minimum, so we added some appetizers for those arriving at the reception site early. The bride has her program ready to get printed and has finalized the flower order. The bridesmaids are wearing tea-length dresses and need no alterations! The bride chose these to avoid the usual $100 hem charge on simple dresses. Time to dig in! I am not scheduled for any meetings for two weeks. I am a local elected official. I have no one home expecting a meal today. The Elna was taken from her cabinet and is on the seldom used dining table. Thanks for that tip about a big table! I have a black lab to avoid and she dislikes her feet on wood floors. If I have time, I'll give a progress report.

This American is done with People of the Book and has mixed feelings about it. Overall, it was enjoyable. I would have preferred a less thriller-type plot structure and Hanna's character as well as her mother's struck me as totally false. The modern-day restorer as deux au machina is a good idea (I'm not using that totally correctly, but I can't think of anything better) but is carried too far IMHO. I hated the brutality in it and found it somewhat contrived, although I am certainly not in the dark about atrocities that have occurred over the centuries. But..I'm glad I read it. It lead me to spend an enjoyable and informative hour reading about the actual book and looking at copies of the illuminations, which is worthwhile in itself. If I seek out any of her other books, I will look for the non-fiction.