On a recent trip to Albuquerque, I ran into the bridesmaid contingent of a wedding party in the parking lot of a hotel where I was staying. Decked out in charcoal gray bridesmaid dresses and coordinating accessories, they were going from one part of the wedding event to another and were carrying their bridesmaid gear in large tote bags with Dia de los Muertos iconography. Where, I asked them, did you get those wonderful bags?

T. J. Maxx was the answer, and not wanting to intrude any more than I already I had, I went on my way and enjoyed the rest of my weekend.

Then, Sunday morning, as I was sitting in a hotel lobby with my now 2018 state fair project spread out on an available table where I could more easily work on it, my project caught the eye of what turned out to be a fellow crafter.

After exchanging the usual crafting pleasantries, she explained that her daughter had just gotten married over the weekend. Recalling the wedding bridesmaids I had seen, I asked her if that were her daughter’s wedding. Yes it was, she told me. The whole wedding had been Dia de los Muertos themed

Then another member of the family brought a cellphone over and she shared a number of photos of the decorations from the wedding.She told me that she had worked on some part of it every day for nine months.

Of particular interested to me was a table she had arranged as a memorial/altar for the loved ones who were not there. The photos included one of her sister who had planned to come to the wedding but who had passed away unexpectedly as well as one of a small, fluffy white dog that had been her daughter’s faithful companion for 14 years.

The decorations were exquisite and the effect of the memorial altar was incredibly moving.

So, inspired by the work of the woman I met in the hotel lobby as well as the many decorations I saw at Michael’s in the run-up to this holiday:

I played around with a granny square design, and eventually got it right:

Unfortunately, it was late enough in the day that I didn’t get the tutorial done, but when the sun rises on November, I will be ready to trick out my Dia de los Meurtos granny square and tackle the tutorial so that I am truly ready for next year’s Day of the Dead.