Surprise! And Crafting.

My wonderful Grandma turned 88 last Friday, and we'd be scheming for a while as to how to make her feel loved, appreciated and warm and fuzzy inside in honor of the occasion.  So we threw her a surprise birthday party!  I called her church office, and they generously gave me a list of people to call, and everyone really helped us rally the troops.  I also started a big Facebook message with all of my family, and my dad did some e-mailing...we ended up with 40-50 family and friends at a lovely drop in reception last Saturday afternoon in a room we rented in the church basement.

She had NO CLUE!  It was amazing.

My sister Alli and I had wayyyyy too much fun crafting.  We decided on pink and orange and went from there.  We found this scrap book paper booklet at Hobby Lobby for $10 in the right colors and grabbed that.  Alli made this cute scalloped bunting that we hung up:

Alli also bought fat quarters and made this adorable rag wreath that was actually her gift to grandma.

I had 2 vintage sewing patterns, and we drew 4-petal flowers, cut out 20ish layers at a time then stacked them on top of each other, folded in half then stapled.  Then we stuck a white floral stem through the staple and we had vintage sewing pattern flowers!  The fat quarters used in the wreath also acted as part of the centerpiece (we just cut the edges with pinking shears).  Parchment paper was on top of the tables and guests were encouraged to write Grandma notes, which we saved and are making into a book for her with the left over scrapbook paper.  Milk glass vases were left over from my wedding, and I snagged the orange pens from work, and then returned them.  The fat quarters were also given to Grandma to use for future quilts/projects.

Parchment paper also went on the dessert table, where we set out easy snacks purchased from Sam's that morning on more left over wedding milk glass.

My dad picked out the cake.  The circle bunting you see was made from scrapbook paper scraps that I traced circles onto with the bottom of a glass and cut out while watching Netflix.  I then sewed the circles together using pale pink thread and my widest zig zag stich.  Everything was sewing related, since Grandma is an avid quilter and an exceptional seamstress.  I don't think we spent more than $35 on decorations total!

Here's my surprised Grandma.  Isn't she sweet?

It all could not possibly have gone better.  It was so nice to meet Grandma's friends, and her friends were thrilled to meet some of her family that they've heard so much about.  The priest she speaks of in glowing terms made the time to be there too.  A huge success!  She is such a gift to us.

Not telling her was grueling, I'm so glad I don't have to keep this secret anymore!  Her quilting friends joked that she "doesn't get up to go to the bathroom enough!", as they'd scheme and visit about the party when she got up!

Thrown any parties lately?