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

A BRIEF HIATUS...

is what I took...I didn't plan it, but somehow 6 weeks have gone by since my last post!

Those 6 weeks included:

1.  A birthday celebration (mine)

with my best boyfriend...

and dear long-time friends.

2.  An opening of a photography show by DD Maggie in Los Angeles...

Maggie and Kelly preparing for the opening reception...

(can you tell I'm a proud mother?)

3.  A trip to the Mid West to see family...

Daughter Linda and granddaughter in Salt Lake City...

 Picnic in the mountains to celebrate DD's significant birthday (Dave and
Janet relaxing before dinner)

Picnic table set up in a mosquito-proof tent as we were next to the river...

and the birthday girl, herself!

Then it was on to Pella, Iowa to catch up with son Doug and his family...

celebrate a birthday and high school graduation

(look at those handsome Houtz men!)

and enjoy the green green landscape before returning to ever-browner California...

We celebrated Dave's birthday...I made him a shirt from Liberty of London fabric

and had lunch with a way-back friend from Hawaii who I hadn't seen in probably
57 years...we spent a couple of hours catching up!

So, that's what I've been up to since my last post...

TTYL!

REACHING FOR THE LIGHT

It's been almost a month since my last post...the last two months of the year are often difficult for me...I teeter on the edge of depression. The expectations of the season are sometimes overwhelming, and all I want to do is sleep till January 1. Over the years, I've amassed many ways of coping; one, obviously is to hide away in my studio. Another is to get together with loving longtime friends and let my inner extravert out...

Yes, that's a plastic bag on my head...

and here I'm dancing my heart out. All of us are "of a certain age" but time
hasn't slowed us down much!

I'm almost back to normal, whatever that is, and ready to share my life again.

I made another kappogi for my friend Joan, for Christmas,

from a Japanese cotton from F&S Fabrics in Los Angeles. I use mine so often, I
hope she enjoys this one as well.

I also made a pair of "lantern pants", V8712 OOP, from Marcy Tilton, to go with a new pair of boots. My elegant friend Willie from Oregon stopped by on her way to spend Christmas with her family in Los Angeles. She looked so stylish in her
pants, jacket and boots, that I tried to copy her look...

(picture lightened to show details). I haven't quite got it yet, but I'll keep trying!

The Visible Women  are having a post-holiday meet up later this afternoon over at Patti's blog...

come over and say hi!

BITS AND PIECES...

This post is to catch up with all the little bits and questions I've been asked! In no particular order...

Our trip next fall, to North Eastern India; this will be my EIGHTH trip to India and I have wanted to go to Nagaland since my very first trip in 1990. Why?

"The uncontested 'wild east' of India, Nagaland is probably one of the reasons you came to the Northeast in the first place. A place of unparalleled primeval beauty, Nagaland's dazzling hills and valleys – right on the edge of the India–Myanmar border – are an otherworldly place where until very recently some 16-odd headhunting Naga tribes valiantly fought off any intruders. Of course, the place is a shadow of its once savage self today, and much of the south of the state is fairly developed. In the north, however, you still stand a good chance of meeting tribesmen in exotic attire who continue to live a lifestyle that is normally only seen within the pages of National Geographic" 

Read more: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/india/northeast-states/nagaland#ixzz3GkOk0Z2Y

I was attracted to their textiles the first time I saw them...maybe you can see

why...

I must have been a Naga woman in a previous life... travel to Nagaland has been difficult in the past, but Lesley Robin, who specializes in textile tours, is

inaugurating this new tour next year, so we're on! I've traveled to South India with Lesley in the past. I'll let you know more details as I get them.

That's not to say we won't take another trip between now and then....

Several readers have asked about my fabric data base which I showed a picture of here. I use Bento, a Mac program that was developed by FileMaker, and unfortunately is no longer offered or supported. Since I had already set up my own templates for my fabric stash and my patterns, I continue to use them.

I have experimented with Evernote, which would probably work, but to tell the truth, I haven't spent the time necessary to set up the application as I would like it.

This is the "form" view which consists of a picture of the fabric and all the data elements I determined I needed. As often as possible, I copy the description of the fabric from the website of the vendor (in this case, Emma One Sock). This is the first step.

This is the thumbnail view, which shows the picture of the fabric and the description.

This is the list view, which can be sorted by all the different fields I chose...I really like this app, and will continue to use it as long as I can. Like any database, it only works if you keep it up...:(

I set up a similar data base for Sewing Patterns...if anyone wants to see it, email me and I'll go into the details.

The giant hook and eye tape I've used here

and here

came from (I think) Fabric of Vision in Ashland, Oregon. It appears to also be

available on Vogue Fabrics' site.

And one last share...my mother studied at the San Francisco Art Institute (then known as California School of Fine Arts) in the late '20s and early '30s. As well as Fine Art, she studied dress design and designed and sewed most of her own clothes, as well and mine and my sister's, all her life. When I last cleaned out my studio (waaaaay too long ago) I found some note books she kept in the early '50s, chronicling her designs, mostly of my sister's high school graduating outfits and the wardrobe my mother made for her when she went to the University of Washington. There are a few outfits of my mother's and one or two for me (I was about 14 at the time).

I thought you might like to see some of them...

Aren't those fun?

TTYL...