NEW SHOE!

No, I didn't forget the "S"...

My new shoe is an Aircast Walking Brace, size medium. I tore a tendon in my left foot several months ago, but didn't realize what had happened, so I walked on it in Santa Fe, in Chicago, and on my daily 4 mile walk. OUCH! When the pain got unbearable (I'm fairly stoic), I had an MRI and found out what I had

been making worse for 3 months. So now I get to wear this lovely boot 24/7

for 5 or 6 weeks. The good part? I'm 95% pain-free. The bad part? I can only wear shorts (NEVER HAPPEN), "Elephant Leg Pants" (as in the '60s) or skirts.

I do own a few of them...and will be making some more shortly!

I DO love this Luna Luz "Cheerio" Skirt which I blogged about several years ago

and have found a few more similar ones which are on their way.

The necklace that I'm wearing in the above picture with Paddy was made by my

friend Joan and given to me several years ago.

I'm lucky to have such a talented friend!

If any of you sewists have a favorite skirt pattern which DOES NOT involve pleats or gathers around the waist, let me know in the comments! Thanks...


I will be participating in Patti's wonderful Visible Monday show on her blog
later this afternoon...


TTYL.....

STRIPES, DOTS AND FLORALS!

Yes, I said FLORALS... I decided to join the trend of floral pants before it
passed me by. I couldn't find any apparel fabrics I liked, so I jumped over to home dec sites and found what I wanted at Online Fabric Store. 

I used my trusty Lynda Maynard pattern, making them ankle length.

I was afraid they might be a little too splashy, but I think I like them and they

feel very summery.

The stripes are in a pair of pants designed by Marcy Tilton, V8929, and the fabric is also from her.

 The fabric is a real workhorse, a black/gray/silver stretch cotton and the seaming on the pattern is very interesting.

The dots are left over from my V1385 jacket; I was intrigued with Shams' 
Print Block Tee on Communing with Fabric, so I rummaged in my scrap pile
and made this (V9004)

This fabric is a jacquard, so both sides are usable. I didn't have enough for the sleeves and back, so I used a black crepe and lengthened the sleeves.

Excuse the headless shots...

In other news, I celebrated a birthday with 3 very dear, very long-time friends

and had visits from a daughter, teen-aged granddaughter and her friend. Also a niece stopped by on her way to pick up her son after his first year at UCSB...(University of California at Santa Barbara). Our guest house has seen a lot of traffic lately!

At some point, we were visited by the resident skunk family, who stopped by for

a bite to eat...we DO live in the country, and they ARE black and white...

I hope your summer is proceeding with joy...

Catch me on Visible Monday, where Patti makes sure we have a place to be visible!

TTYL

HOME SWEET HOME!

SO glad to be home after 2 weeks on the road! We flew to Chicago for four days:

Beautiful spring plantings in full bloom...

The Trump Tower.....

View from the John Hancock building (which did not crack while we were there,
for which I'm very grateful)

Cloudgate, or "The Bean"....by Anish Kapoor, one of my favorite artists...

We joined Patti Ferguson and her husband, Norm, for an exceptional concert by
pianist Emanuel Ax, and a reception to meet the artist, afterwards...

We also went with Patti and Norm on a fantastic architectural boat tour with
their friend Harry, who is a wonderful docent.

Norm, Harry, moi and Dave...it was one of the highlights of the trip!

We rented a car and drove south, Kansas City being our interim goal. I made
a "pilgrimage" to Asiatica, that wonderful shop that I have gotten tantalizing postcards and emails from forever...I was curious to see if the shop was as 
fabulous as it looked...

It is, and I got to meet Elizabeth, the owner, and the "eye" who finds such glorious fabrics and items.

I also got an early birthday present from DH...

After Kansas City, it was family time...we drove to Des Moines where oldest 
grandson was running in the State track finals.

We took oldest daughter, oldest grandchild and her husband out for dinner.

Next day we drove to Pella, where DS lives with his wife and 5 children. Besides a successful run, GS was also graduating from High School AND having a

birthday, so there was a lot to celebrate.

and here is the birthday dinner!


So, the clothes...

This is B5954 in a pretty knit from my local fabric store. It has hardly been off my back since I made it...

This is M5433, an OOP pattern which I have made too many times to count, also
in a knit from local fabric store.

and finally, these pants, StyleArc Lola, in a just-the-right-shade-of-gray linen
to go with my striped tee I bought in Santa Fe...

The linen was purchased several years ago from Marcy Tilton.

I'm joining both "Visible Monday", where Patti of Not Dead Yet Style welcomes lots of visible women,
AND "Hat Attack", where the beautiful Judith of Style Crone gives us a monthly opportunity to
show what hats are in our closets...

TTYL

AND WE'RE OFF!

No, I haven't fallen down a well...I've been very busy in my studio since coming back from Santa Fe...and tomorrow (at 4AM) we leave for two weeks in the mid-west, seeing friends and family.

These are the things I've made:

a zipped up jacket from a wonderful fabric I found at a brick and mortar store:

a silky tunic in a lively stripe, from same B&M store (I'm shopping locally!)

and a pair of linen pants to match a wonderful tee I found in Santa Fe

Hard to tell the color...it's gray with a lot of green in it.


Numbers one and two are going on my trip.

I will write more and take pictures of the pieces on my body when I get back...

TTYL

DO YOU KNOW THE WAY TO SANTA FE?

I'm still enjoying the wonderful "meet-up" in Santa Fe last weekend...seven wonderful fiberly types came from all over the US to meet, some of us for the first time "in the flesh", and to spend four days together, visiting fabric shops, visiting retail shops,

seeing the sights,

eating,

drinking

and having a glorious time.

Are we having fun yet?

Such a warm, welcoming group with LOTS to talk about...

pictures to share

purchases to show and tell

One of the highlights of the trip was getting to hang out with my good friend Sharon, from Communing with Fabric blog. (By the way, many of the pictures I'm showing were from her camera...we took so many and shared most of them, so I've forgotten exactly which ones she took...)I KNOW I took this one...

Sharon and I talk and text almost every day, but we don't get to hang out that much, which is too bad, as we ALWAYS have fun together...

We did a lot of "snoop shopping"...I had the exquisite pleasure of trying on a

dozen Issey Miyake pieces which were fantastic...and WAY out of my price range. We met a darling young saleswoman at Santa Fe Dry Goods, Bethany, who encouraged our frenzy, kept bringing us pieces to try on, then patiently buttoned/zipped them up and returned them to the rack. Yea, Bethany!

I got to try on some of my other favorite designers, too...Uma Wang, Dries van Noten

look at these SHOOZ! OMG, I had to put a padlock on my purse! I did buy another  pair of Fly London sandals...

(Sharon bought them in mustard...we switched out the ugly khaki shoe laces...

we are very much each other's enablers....)

I also loved this Dries van Noten belt, but I would wear it as a necklace

I bought a cute Babette cotton/linen jacket and mesh tee...

I LOVE the placement of the stripes...

Sharon and I took off for Canyon Road in Santa Fe on Sunday...we enjoyed the galleries and outdoor art

 Look at those fantastic Santa Fe colors...and check out my new purse...that had my name on it!


Beautiful antique baskets and weavings...

and an installation of one of my favorite artists, Christina Chalmers.

As we walked along Canyon Road, it got colder and colder...

what we thought were falling petals turned into SNOW, so we ran into the

TeaHouse to get out of the snow and eat lunch.

They had a lovely fire in the fireplace which helped our mood (as did the wine....) But then, we had to walk back to the hotel...

SO much fun!

I had started a black shirt/jacket before I left for Santa Fe...I just finished it yesterday. It's my TNT B5526 made out of a Babette fabric from Fabrix in San Francisco

I lengthened the shirt and added a stiffly ruffled collar

and am wearing it with my new "ink-spattered" pants from my last post

I can't help show casing my beautiful roses...

Thank you for hanging in for this long, long post! I will be joining in on the

Visible Monday post over on Not Dead Yet Style a little later this afternoon, thanks to our hostess, Patti.

TTYL

P.S.   I can't help but show this picture of MicMac and Paddywack, finding their

places in the sun, in my closet...