HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy New Year to everyone...I hope your holidays were joyous.

In my last post, I made mention of having an occasion to wear my Mother-of-the-Bride outfit again. It's been more than 2 years since the wedding and I was delighted to have an opportunity to don it once more.

Here I am with my friend Joan

And here's a closer view of the top (V2607), now finally OOP. I loved wearing it again; I don't have many chances to get this dressed up!

Christmas was a mellow time for us; Maggie and David came up on Wednesday and stayed till Monday morning. We did a lot of cooking, as always. I made
Shrimp and Asparagus Risotto with Mushrooms in my Instant Pot

It was very good...and I had an ulterior motive, as there was an Instant Pot waiting under the tree for Maggie and David.

On Christmas Eve, which is when we have our special dinner, I made (again in
the Instant Pot!) this beautiful vegetable salad, from Rancho Gordo's website

The recipe uses wild rice and "Eye of the Goat" heirloom beans, both from RG.
Yes, I'm a bean freak!

To go with the salad, I made Roasted Halibut with Furikake and Capers...

It was very tasty!

Christmas morning was beautiful and calm, just as I like it!

Maggie took this for a photography workshop she is taking...and it won first place in a peer student group!

My one foray into sewing for Christmas is this shirt I made for Dave, M4079, my TNT (tried 'n true) which is OOP. (Out of Print)

The fabric is a lovely quality cotton flannel from Mood Fabrics. Those who sew will understand that stripe-matching BOTH horizontally and vertically is a challenge! Dave is appreciative, as always.

We had left-overs for dinner, and David made a wonderful apple pie...

It's so nice when EVERYBODY cooks!

Saturday morning, Dave had to practice for a music event at his church, so I took Maggie and David out for brunch...we began with Champagne Cocktails

and sat in front of the fire, lovely on a chilly morning.

As is obvious, I have been using my Instant Pot regularly...I made this for New Years Day...

It's Black-Eyed Pea Chili with Quinoa and Corn. Very good! It's one of Sham's
favorites, too. For New Year's Eve in front of the fireplace, we had seared
scallops and garlicky potatoes and broccoli.

I think maybe that's enough about food...I may have to change the name of this blog to A Fool for Food...

The exciting news around here is that I am going to Paris in October with Marcy and Katherine Tilton...And Shams, and, maybe, my friend Joan are going too! I hope Paris is ready for the three of us....

On a final note, I bought an interesting ombre vest by Stella Carakaski...

and use my shawl-turned-poncho when it's cold...

Thanks for your patience in reading this...I had a lot to show and tell!

TTYL

MOB, DECONSTRUCTED...AND SOME NOSTALGIC NOTEBOOKS...

I promised to share my MOB details and decisions...so here they are!

The jacket pattern is V2607 by Guy Laroche, which I made last year...

The fabric is "Sun and Shadow", a gorgeous French silk brocade from Marcy Tilton...

When I saw this, I knew I had to have it for my MOB jacket...it was WAY out of my comfort zone on color, but I had to have it anyway! It is a lightweight fabric, and much more complex than photos show; it has some interesting reddish "splotches"  which are hard to show...

and of course, the wonderful silver circles which made it possible for me to wear it!

I asked Pam Erny, AKA The Queen of Interfacing,of Fashion Sewing Supply, what she would recommend for this fabric/pattern duo. Pam is the epitome of good customer service...she recommended using her Pro-Sheer Elegance Light 

to interline the entire jacket; this was used instead of silk organza. It provided the perfect weight to "beef up" the lightweight silk brocade; then I used her