SPRING!

The weather is warming up (82°F as I write), so I am shifting for the moment from the Fall Paris Wardrobe to Los Olivos Summer!

This outfit was inspired by my new Trippens...

The style is called Union, and it is in one of my favorite Trippen colors...

"Black Ice".

The pants are V8712, an OOP Marcy Tilton pattern...

I made View C, added a band at the bottom, and made sure to use these cute
pockets..they are particularly fun in stripes!

The fabric is a woven stripe in shades of gray on white, from Marcy Tilton.

The top is Style Arc Daisy, without the extra hems. The fabric is from the mists of time (i.e. I don't remember where I got it). It's a very drapey smocked rayon.

Hanging with Buddha...(and yes, I'm showing off the glorious roses :)

Maggie was up last weekend and we did our "fun in the kitchen routine" as
usual. The April cover of Saveur Magazine caught my eye in the market; Dave and I enjoyed our trip to Sicily so much, and particularly the food and wine, so I knew we would enjoy this:

So we made the Sicilian Seafood Stew with Couscous and Almonds (although we

substituted Quinoa for the Couscous, as Maggie is GF 

and we also made Sicilian Caponata, from the same issue.

The peas are from Dave's garden! It was a delicious dinner!

And on to the sad part...we lost our beautiful Paddywack 5 days ago...

He was only 6 ½, he went suddenly and way too soon. He was, of course, a 

part of the family, and as readers of my blog know, my beloved Fashion Accessory.

R.I.P., Paddy

I'll be showing up at Patti's Visible Monday later this afternoon, so pay us a visit!

TTYL

POSSIBLE PARIS PIECES #1 and #2

As I've mentioned before, I am going to Paris in November with Marcy and Kathrine Tilton (squeal!)My friend Shams is going, and possibly my friend Joan.
As you and I know full well, I could simply use the wardrobe from my recent trip  to Portugal...it worked well, I loved it, it was fall-in-Europe, etc. 

BUT

I would miss out on one of my favorite parts of travel...MAKING A NEW

WARDROBE...

so here is the first key element of the wardrobe...it's the Minoru Jacket by Sewaholic which I auditioned here 6 weeks ago. You will notice I am changing

my color scheme a little   by using a claret red. I fell in love with this French

Jacquard from Emma One Sock...

Linda didn't have quite enough for my jacket, but my dear friend Shams had

bought the last yard on the bolt and generously let me have it! THANKS, SHAMS!

Isn't that a gorgeous color? The fabric was quite light weight, so I interfaced the whole thing with a medium weight fusible from Fashion Sewing Supply. I will still need a heavier coat/jacket but this was the fabric that sparked my creativity.

I also made the turtleneck top, a modification of V 8691,an OOP pattern by Katherine Tilton. The fabric is a silky double knit from JoAnns.

(showing off my roses and wisteria a little...)

I wore the jacket to a funeral yesterday so that I could assess its wearability...

It got an A+!

We have been blessed here in our valley with a really superb year for wildflowers...the first in several years. Friday, Dave, Paddy and I took a

picnic up our local mountain, 10 miles from our house, and enjoyed the beauty.

This is known locally as "Grass Mountain" and right now, it's glowing neon orange from the poppies (and lupines, which you can't distinguish here)

Such a beautiful place...Dave and I spent the New Millennium Eve here,
toasting the end of the century with a bottle of champagne.

HOWEVER, there is no gain without pain, or something like that...and we have both been suffering from horrendous allergies all week. Luckily I recovered by

the weekend, as my eyes had been looking just like my friend from Papua New

Guinea, here...

Here's a photo of Paddy, me and the roses (and the sunspots)....

.

I will be hopping over to Visible Monday at Patti's Not Dead Yet Style in a few hours...come on over!

TTYL