My Engagement Ring, Part 1

I looked and looked on the Internet and in every jewellery store in my area and after I looked some more and went through the 40+ pages of google images I ended up finding the inspiration for my engagement ring in my mother's humble stash of jewellery. It is a man's ring from the 70's shipped over from Greece by my dad's grandmother, a wedding gift in fact. From the moment I first saw it I thought that is it, that's my ring! The intricate star design and the filigree on the band I find divine. Being a man's ring it is quite large and bold so I am getting the jeweller to make a more 'feminine' version of the ring. To do so I am combining my fathers ring with this one.

This is my father's ring with the star design that I love so much

Here is a quick sketch of the way I want to combine the two rings together. The top will be exactly like my father's and the band just like the first ring.

I have found a jeweller who will make the ring for me we just have some design issues that we need to work out. Because I want the ring smaller and the diamond smaller the star shape might have less detail and not look exactly like I want it. Anyhow we have about 5 weeks to get the ring made, 3 before I go back to Germany for Christmas and 2 before Axel returns to Melbourne. As the title suggests this is the first part to the engagement ring saga, stay tuned!

It's Been A While

Hi everyone, yep it's been a while since I've written and a lot has happened since. There's some good news and some bad news to share today. First the bad/sad news... Our friends' dear baby boy Eli passed away last weekend after numerous complications related to his bone marrow transplant. Baby Eli was diagnosed with leukemia when he was 4 months old and had been battling the disease for another 9 months before he left us. He got a transplant and everything was going well, but then other complications occured as they do when one's immune system is down. You can read about little Eli's story at http://www.eli-simpson.blogspot.com It is truly and inspirational story! I never got to give Eli his cross stitch present. I am not sure what to do with it now, should I still give it to his parents?

On the flip side I got engaged a few weeks ago. It was very romantic...not!!!! Axel and I set a date over a visa application form 4 am in the morning! So I've put on my wedding planer hat and at the moment I am running and ringing around to find a suitable venue for the reception and trust me I'm already over it. People just charge so much for a wedding and then there's all the extras! Also we are looking at 80 guests so most places are too big for us and restaurants are just too small. We have heaps of time to organise other parts of the wedding but for the reception we are limited. We only have 4 weekends together in Feb/March 2009 where we can both look at places in Melbourne then we won't be in the country until 5 months before the wedding which is really too late to book a place. One thing that is really peeing me off too is going to see places that look great in their website photos and you turn up and the place is a dump! As I said, I am OVER it already.


Anyhow at least I've decided on my engagement ring and finalised the design I want. I modeled it on a ring my father got from his grandmother. Its quite funky indeed. I'll post some photos when I get it.



Hope you are all well and happy crafting!