MIA in MAY!

It was never my intent, but I seem to have taken the month of May off! The last few weeks have been busy with houseguests and family, a little sewing, and some cleanup in the studio.

I drove down to Los Angeles for the day, to celebrate both Maggie's birthday and Mothers' Day. We enjoyed lunch at a new restaurant downtown and caught up on news...(and took selfies)

I spent several days on what was to be a  new jacket, from a new-to-me Independent pattern designer

I used a fabric I have sewn before, a four-ply Taslan in a particularly beautiful

gray (you can't tell from the picture, but it has a little green in it, just enough to make it interesting)

HOWEVER...my attemps at using this fabric have been, for the most part, failures. It has no stretch whatsoever, and except for a pair of loose pants I made for Joan many years ago, I have struck out. As I did on this jacket. Pattern to fabric matching not so good!  I abandoned the wadder in my studio and left for a week!

Our grandson Caleb and two of his buddies from Iowa made a quick road trip

after finals and before summer jobs to visit us. They were such fun, lovely boys/young men, we really enjoyed their time with us. They went to the beach a lot, to nearby Vandenberg Air Force base to see the missile launchers, and to

Morro Bay to do some kayaking. (Hey, it was early in the morning!)

Maggie and David came up to see the boys and we had a "farewell" dinner before they left...

My friend Joan returned from a glorious plein aire painting trip in Tuscany with
a side jaunt to Menorca, and we had dinner to catch up.

Then, my dear friend Willie came by for a few days en route to her family in LA,
and we, as always, had much to catch up on...

So...back to our "normal" life...I am making a raincoat for Paris in a beautiful

cross-woven red/black taffeta

using V8934 but trying the collar and detachable hood from the Tosti jacket above.

Wish me luck!

ANNNNNND:  This woman I know has a Blue Roan English Cocker Spaniel named Karma,

who gave birth to SEVEN little boys a week ago...6 of them blue roan, one blue roan and tan...

and I get a picture every day of the pups and see how they're growing...ANNNNNNNND
one of them has our name on it...stay tuned!

I'm off to VISIBLE MONDAY to join up with the highly visible women who frequent Patti's site...come take a look!

TTYL

HAPPY MAY DAY!

It's full-on spring; the flowers around my valley are in vibrant bloom and the sun is shining. I pulled out a wonderful Japanese Cotton fabric designed by Yoshiko Jinzenji, bought some time ago from Marcy Tilton...

It was so much fun to play with pattern placement on this fabric, particularly because I had a limited amount, so I had to be extra creative.

The pattern, once again, is Vogue 1453 by Sandra Betzina; since this is my 4th make, I guess it qualifies as a TNT...

Those little striped circles are "porthole pockets" lined with a black and white stripe remnant...

While I was making this, I listened to The Sympathizer, written by Viet Thanh

Nguyen, which just won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. It is beautifully written, somewhat difficult to listen to, due to the subject (the war in Viet Nam), and especially interesting to me, as I lived in Saigon for two years during the war, so many of the descriptions of places, and names were familiar to me.

Big news in our family...our granddaughter Stephanie gave birth to our first great-grandchild,
Amethyst Elizabeth...

Mother, father, grandmother and baby are all doing well!

Our next-door neighbor's farm stand is bursting out in all its glory...I made White Beans with
Broccoli Rabe (Rapini) and Lemon  the other night

and also Crispy Cauliflower with Capers, Raisins and Bread Crumbs, a favorite when the fresh cauliflower arrives.

I think this is my favorite time of year to cook, with all the beautiful young vegetables and fruits making their appearance. We're also enjoying baby potatoes, peas and radishes from Dave's garden.

Between Dave, me and our housekeeper, we keep Paddy's grave decorated with flowers all the time....

How we miss that beautiful boy...Thank you for all your kind wishes.

After I finished the vest, I dove into my stash in the studio and managed to cull at least 20% of my fabrics (and that's A LOT) and found an additional way to organize them, my left brain being in the ascendant last week! Now I have to deal with all those discarded fabrics...

This week, I am visiting BOTH Visible Monday AND Hat Attack...thanks to Patti and Judith for being such wonderful hostesses!

TTYL