THE LIFE-CHANGING MAGIC OF SLOW SEWING!

After too many years to count of speedy sewing, trying to get things done quickly, I have become enamored of slow sewing. Why? For one thing, I don't really need many clothes...I have so much and lead a fairly quiet life (Clothes-wise). For another, I have come to appreciate the steps in the process of making something, which includes A LOT of hand sewing, basting, and experiencing the magical process of MAKING.  And for a third thing, I am able to listen to audible books, music, podcasts for some of the time I'm sewing. When I get to a hard part, I turn off the sound and concentrate on what my hands are doing.

So, as I mentioned, I have been working on another Koos van den Akker
pattern, V1493, a kimono-styled jacket with "tulip-banded sleeves".

I made it in an "embossed velvet knit" in two shades of gunmetal gray from Emma One Sock, trimmed with (LOTS OF) bias binding in a stretch taffeta in metallic gray. This jacket used even more bias binding than my previous one, and was very labor-intensive.

Laying out the criss-crossing bias tape on the sleeve band.

After attaching the sleeve band. I probably spent more than 2 weeks on this, but I am very happy with the end result; I wore it out to dinner the other night and received many compliments.

After that was finished, I moved on to a vest to add to my travel wardrobe for our upcoming trip to London and Scotland.

I'm sure you recognize my TNT vest pattern, V1453; the fabric is a very interesting Black and Red Abstract Embroidered Lacy Mesh which I got from

Mood Fabrics sometime last year. It is embroidered wool mesh on a nylon tuile

base.

When I got it, I knew the red wasn't right for my use, it was somewhat on the orange side. So, I overdyed it...SEVERAL TIMES, with different types of dye, until I got the red I wanted. All that hot water also shrunk the wool a little

so that it's not so see-through. I really like it!

I lined it in a red satin, so it should be warm for the all-spectrum weather we will have in Scotland.

We leave a week from today; we will fly to London and spend a few days visiting the new Tate Modern wing and have a dinner at NOPI. Then we'll take a train to Glasgow for 3 days. After that, we'll go by train to Inverness, whereupon we'll embark on a week-long small ship cruise on "The Lord of the Glens" to the "Heart of the Highlands". Neither Dave nor I have been to Scotland, so I'm really looking forward to it.

For those who have asked, this is what I've been reading/listening to in the last few weeks:

books  

Rules of Civility by Amor Towles

Blacklight Blue by Peter May

Cold Earth by Ann Cleeves

Earthly Remains by Donna Leon

The Old Man by Thomas Perry

audible

Broken Harbor by Tana French

The Secret Place by Tana French

Celine by Peter Heller

music

C.P.E.Bach Symphonies and Cello Concerto

Leonard Cohen, Complete Studio Albums

Madredeus

Mariza

Podcasts-

On Being with Krista Tippett

We've been escaping the ongoing construction and termite work whenever we can...last week we took a picnic lunch to our old winery and vineyard (now Beckmen Vineyards) so I could check out some of the many roses I planted more than 35 years ago...

Those olive trees in the back are part of a gift for my 50th birthday from Dave...
50 olive trees!

Here's Dave with his well-loved and used tractor, which came with the raw land when we bought it in 1979!

My travel wardrobe will rely heavily on my past trips to Portugal and Paris... I have updated the pictures, which follow:

,

As I did during my Paris trip, I will not try to blog, but I will put some photos as we go on my Instagram account, here.  We'll be back the middle of May. This afternoon, I'm heading over to Visible Monday, where Patti is hosting our party!

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

A VEST OF VENERATION

Almost five years ago, in this post, I wrote about my dear friend, cherished role model and beautiful human being, Laura.

At 104, Laura is presently transitioning to the next life, and in love, gratitude and honor, I finally made the quilted garnet silk vest I wanted to remember her by.

Laura taught me so much, by example, by her everpresent interest and fierce support in whatever
I might be doing, by the way she dressed, and by the love which she carried within her that was unmistakeable and available to all.

I bought this quilted velvet 5 years ago and made another Vogue 1453.

I'm also introducing my new hat, a gray felt handmade '40's type hat, made by 

UnaHats and sold on Etsy.

Maggie and David were up last weekend and lots of cooking and hanging out took place. Lovely as always! I have a new cookbook, Gjelina, named after a much beloved restaurant in Venice (CA) that Maggie took me to several years ago. I dipped my spoon into the waters with

this,

Roasted Beet Salad with Avocado, Oranges, Toasted Hazelnuts and Sherry

Vinegar, recipe here.   YUMMM! It was particularly wonderful because the baby beets were from the farmstand next door to me, which recently reopened after a few months off for the winter. Their baby spinach is to die for, too...

And last night I made Roasted Mustard Chicken by The Barefoot Contessa...

which we will have tonight, also, along with a bottle of champagne, to toast 

the last (sob) episode of Downton Abbey.

I'm sliding in under the wire at the beautiful Style Crone Judith's Hat Attack...

come see who's wearing what!

TTYL

VESTS---TWO VERSIONS

I finally got my sewing mojo back, and made this wool vest

It's V1453, a Sandra Bettina design which I made in black taffeta back in 

August, and loved wearing in Portugal. This fabric is an interesting sweater knit from Marcy Tilton, black, red and gray, and perfect for my color scheme.

It also has a wonderful striped selvedge that called for a little design tweaking.

I did not use darts in this version, although I think I may go back and put them in...the vest is a little too boxy as is. I added some "memory wire" in four channels in the collar, so I can adjust it  as I want. That's something I'll do again.

The weight is fairly substantial; I washed it before sewing, but it didn't seem to
shrink any. We're having some cold weather finally, so it will be worn.

As will this, a RTW faux fur vest from Loft in charcoal gray. I've wanted a faux fur vest for a long time...I have several pieces of fabric in my stash, but I finally
gave myself permission to pass on sewing faux fur, just like I won't sew any
more King-sized duvet covers!

I'm wearing it over one of my moto jackets, KS 3764, which you can see here and here.

I'm looking forward to one of my favorite holiday parties on Friday; I will finally have a chance to wear my Mother-of-the-Bride outfit again. 

In final happy news, I have a new car after 10 years...it's a "Smart Car" and I'm having fun learning how to take advantage of all the bells and whistles!

TTYL