What a lovely block. I love the background fabric. It gives it a lovely dainty look. That will be a very lovely quilt. beverly

OK.. so we gathered this morning with champagne, wine and spanx-- and tried on a total of 14 dresses all lovingly hand-picked for her. It started out with a bang with the number one pick being the first she tried on. That always makes it easier when the first one fits, right? There were only a few complete misses.. and quite a few wins. Whew! I admit that I had fears of nothing working. The super surprise is the number one pick broke all the rules. It was much shorter than she wanted (in the photo), a shape she was certain she couldn't wear (sheath) and it is a blush pink.. but it was perfect. She was smitten as soon as she saw it... Best of all, it fit her perfectly. No need for adjustments. Next favorite was this one though I need to order a size larger (or she needs to have a rib removed). It is proving tricky to find the right size.. but this also looked absolutely beautiful on her-- better and dressier than in the photo. This also fit her beautifully but the lace on the arms was scratchy. I think we are all in agreement that THIS is the color she needs for the fall wedding. We just need to find it in another dress. And while this one looked stunning (and very slimming) on her-- it's been 100% nixed because it looks like something my mother wore to one of my sister's weddings. It's a shame because it was very comfortable and really looked great on her.. but we also agreed that it's too much bling for a MOG. The hunt is now focused on that dark fuschia color. It really brought her face alive and looks stunning with the wedding colors. There are two other dresses that look great and would be perfectly fine-- but they are a tad "expected" for MOG. We're keeping one of those as a fallback. Thank you all for all of your time and your many suggestions! Oly, I know I balked at the florals but we all agree that it's perfect for the spring wedding.

Alisande: About the Arminta photo My mother assumed this photo was the original, but on examination, I think it may be a copy that was made as part of manual rework. My photo shows signs of manual work on the image, particularly in her hair and shading around her ear. It appears that this image has hand drawn features, i.e., rework. It may have been a spoiled image that was repaired. My guess about the process is thus: A working copy was made of the original. This copy was enhanced using charcoal and artist pencils detailing a number of features. The reworked image was photographed and that's what I have, one of those copies. You may be correct about her age in this photo. She seems older than 16 to 18 years. I would guess mid-twenties. Its my theory that she would not have sat for a portrait during the period of 1861 through ca 1870 because she would not have had the means nor money to spend on non-essentials. This pushes the date out of the Civil War period and toward her marriage in the 1870s. Some important dates in photography: 1851: Wet Plate, Glass Frederick Scott Archer, a British photographer, coated a glass plate with a sticky, wet substance called collodain. This glass plate was dipped in light sensitive silver salts and it had to remain moist during the exposure, hence the term, wet plate photography. (The coating would crackle if it dried out before further processing.) 1856: Ferrotypes or Tintypes Photographers began using thin metal plates instead of glass to hold the collodion emulsion. These plates were called ferrotypes, and became known as tintypes. The images on ferrotypes are reversed left to right. A lady may appear to have a wedding ring on her right hand; For years, folks thought that Billy, the Kid was left handed until it was realized that his image was reversed on the tintype. 1861: Matthew Brady produced the first of his famous Civil War photographs. (Brady's crew, not Brady himself made most of the photos from the front lines. However, the Brady Civil War photos were a private effort organized and financed by Brady.) 1871: Invention of the dry plate process A British physician, Richard L. Maddox, replaced the collodion with gelatin. The gelatin could dry on the plate without cracking or harming the silver salts. This eliminated the need for a photographer to carry around a darkroom and lab with him. This was one of the greatest advances in photography. Late 1870s, light sensitivity of gelatins were improved. Early Daguerrotypes required an exposure of 10 minutes of more (tough for portraits!). The new gelatins of the late 1870s could be exposed in 1/25 second,

annie, you are right about the meger selection in the department stores at the moment. I saw that when I went to buy my 9 year old grandson a few new garments, at Kohls. I swear that there were no more than about six racks or shelves of anything, at all in that section. And, most of it was the same old, same old stuff on every one of them. All of it was awful synthetic stuff. I walked out empty handed and havent been back to Kohls since. The womens clohtes were just as limited and just as awful. Online purchasing is becoming more necessary when the stores are declining so very much. With online ordering you never know what it feels like, or where any element is going to rest on your figure. I simply cannot do it or be bothered with all of that shipping back and forth. So glad that I can sew, although about the only thing that I can find to sew with anymore is linen that I do order online. The quality of this vendor is consistent and reliable and there are no fitting issues involved with the ordering. I am convinced that many of these fashion photos are altered to make the models legs look so absurdly long! I have seen some that are so exaggerated that it is almost laughable. Shopping for just about anything has become a chore.