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

MEOW!

I'm not sure whose hide this is supposed to be...

but it would surely be fearsome to come upon the owner in the jungle...

This lightweight jacket isThe Minoru Jacket, by Sewaholic Patterns. My friend Shams recently made this and I fell in love with the pattern, particularly the collar. This is an audition for a pattern to use for a Paris Coat; I used a cotton
stretch jacquard I bought some time ago from Emma One Sock.

I made a few changes to the pattern, eliminating the hood, the sleeve bands, the elastic at the waist,and darting the shoulders rather than gathering them. I also lengthened the jacket by 4 inches, added fish-eye darts, front and back, and added two zippered welt pockets. I lined it with a lively polka dot.

The jury is still out on whether I'll use this pattern for the Paris Coat...I'll wear it for a few weeks and see what I think.

Enough people have expressed curiosity as to my "saving" the Cutting Line Designs Light and Shadow Vest  in my previous post, that I decided to explain what happened and how I fixed it...non-sewers may skip down to the Food Porn...

 The pattern consists of a right front, a left front, the back and the cowl collar. The two fronts are quite different in order to provide the asymmetrical shaping.
The problem was definitely "operator error"...even after close to 70 years of sewing, I still need to be aware!

 The fabric, a striped silk dupioni, looks the same on both sides. I cut each front out as indicated, and (I thought) labeled them with pieces of tape as I do when
using fabric that is identical on both sides. 

 One of the joys of using Cutting Line Designs patterns is the written instruction, 
which is always clearly written, illustrated and covers all details. Per the instructions, I serged the hems of the front pieces, folded up the hems, mitered the corners and used Steam-A-Seam to fuse the hems. Then I top-stitched them. When I started to join the two fronts to the back, I realized I had somehow hemmed the left front on the right side of the garment. And since I had serged, mitered, hemmed, fused and topstitched, I couldn't undo 
my work. So I covered the error with bias tape, added the same tape to the other side and to the back, so it looked (unless you were too close) like it had been planned!

My Instant Pot got more of a work out lately; for Valentine's Day dessert, I made this

It's a Meyer Lemon Cheesecake made in the pressure cooker...and it was

VERY GOOD...we seldom eat dessert, so it was a treat!

I also used the I.P. to make the herbed beans in this recipe...

Roasted Halibut with Herbed Corona Beans...also very good...

And tonight, we are having 

Swiss Chard with Borlotti Beans (Verdure con Fagioli). I am working on using

up my Bean Club beans!

A few more days in my studio, then DD and DSIL are coming up for the weekend. Yay!

I'm linking up with Patti's "Visible Monday". Come on over!

TTYL

TO PARADISE AND BACK!

Bosque del Cabo, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica

Truly a Paradise on earth, and we have been fortunate to visit for the second time. This time we went to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary. It was the
perfect choice, we were so very well taken care of.

We spent the days walking, seeing the incredible wildlife, lounging by the pool, napping in the hammock...

and ate fabulous meals, 3 times a day. The fresh fruit was exotic,

the choices many, the bar close by and welcoming...

How lucky we are!

I finally got into my studio, after the usual post-trip activities, and managed to
"save" a vest I had almost made into a wadder...

The pattern is from Cutting Line Designs, the vest from "Light and Shadow' and 
the fabric is a beautiful striped dupioni I bought from Emma One Sock at least
four years ago. The stripe is red, black and silver, and goes with so many of my
wardrobe items, I was desperate to "make it work"...and I did!

I am in the (pleasant) throes of planning a wardrobe for my trip to Paris in the fall...I am skewing the color scheme a little...instead of the true red I have been wearing, I have chosen some fabrics and RTW items in a claret tone, which has a little more blue/brown in it. 

I found this lovely alpaca poncho and fell in love with it...

It is perfect for travel, light and airy! The hat is by Kangol, I have

the same model in black, and it is crushable, so good for travel. (It's called

"The Diva"!)

I also found a pair of boots (imagine that!) that go with the claret tones...

Not only is the color right, they're highly comfortable and will be good for travel.

Based on Sham's recommendations, I enrolled in Marcy and Katherine Tilton's 
newest Craftsy class, called "The Artful Teeshirt".  In their inimitable way, they have made another winner. Their instructions are so clearly spoken, and as always, I learn something new every time I watch it. Highly recommended!

I will pay a visit today to Patti's Visible Monday... come on over and see the highly visible women! Thanks, Patti....

TTYL...

HI! AND 'BYE!

I've spent a lot of time in the studio since I last wrote...I had TWO "wadders"! Actually, only one was a wadder...a skirt that was a big fail. It went in the trash along with the pattern! The other one is more painful...a vest in a favorite fabric which suffered from sewer's error...I have put it in time out to see if I can come up with a way to save it.

The third try was a success...I have had this interesting fabric for a couple of months and have spent a lot of time coming up with a pattern to use it with.

It's my "Hol(e)y Vest"...The fabric is from Marcy Tilton...

Shams bought some, too, and blogged about it here. I decided to use a 

Cutting Line Design pattern, Artist in Motion. The fabric was difficult to sew, due to the big holes, but I was helped by Sham's post, Marcy's tips, above, and a review of the pattern by Terri K, wherein she added 6 inches to the length. After holding up the pattern to my body, I decided to do the same thing. 

It's a fun piece, and perfect to jazz up an all black outfit.

One of the most exciting things to happen lately was THIS:

After 20 years of sweltering in the summer, and freezing in the winter in my studio,  I now have heat AND AC! I wish I'd done it years ago. Oh, how luxurious!

We are off on Wednesday for 10 days in Costa Rica, to celebrate 40 years

of marriage...we are returning to the wonderful Bosque del Cabo where we took our children and grandchildren for my 70th birthday. Just the two of us...and how lucky we are to have found each other! I decided not to sew anything for the trip, as the ambiance is very casual. Having cleaned my closets a lot in the last year, I was short on linen, etc., so I bought some simple pants and tops

from Tender Treasures.

Of course, I have a few culinary triumphs to post about...still loving my Instant Pot!

This is Pork Carnitas, which provided two dinners, with leftovers to freeze for another night...served with warm tortillas, guacamole and salsa...yum!

This is Spicy Honey Garlic Chicken which we had last night and will have tonight, too as we watch Downton Abbey...

and last, but not least, an old favorite which I cooked on the stove/in the oven,

Braised Lamb Shanks with Gremolata and Baked Polenta

We're eating well!

We probably won't have internet in BdC, so I'll be back after our return!

I'm heading over to Visible Monday on Patti's blog...come visit the other Visibles, too! Thanks for hosting us, Patti. 

TTYL

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