Nineteen: The Party Scene

We had our annual Boxing Day (a day late) party last Saturday, with friends and family joining us for a bit of post holiday fellowship and food. C and I supply the meat, bread, and wine, and ask that others bring either a dessert, veggie or hors d'oeuvre. The turnout was great and the food was incredible, as always! As you can see, it was a lovely evening, and folks spilled out onto the patio to enjoy the late afternoon light on the lake:



Two party animals:

Obviously a deep theological discussion is taking place:


notice Polly's lovely white slacks in the above photo, now check out her new snazzy ensemble below:

it seems that there was a bit of red wine dyeing going on!!!

another philosophical discussion:

John is not believing one word of Joe's 'line', but at least John is smiling!

Durwood and Bobbie:

the most fun is always in the kitchen:

and this is definitely a party kitchen!!

more kitchen kibbitzing:

Sue, Jo, Kimberly, Bill (what is it with Bill, Ron?) and Ron:


Elizabeth and Yours Truly:

Thanks to Sheila for snapping so many great pics!

PEACE, JOY, LOVE!!!

21.........a day full of fun!

Can you believe it? Only 21 days!! Simply THREE WEEKS REMAINING!!

OK, so I was supposed to go to Atlanta yarnshopping today with my girlfriends Roberta and Teresa, but a family matter came up for them (they are mother & daughter), so they had to beg off. Spending a day with girlfriends yarnshopping in the city can be really, really fun BUT, I have been way behind in my Monoprinting Class with Susan Sorrell, so this free day was actually quite a gift! I got all of my chores done in the morning, and surprise of all surprises: it was 63 degrees this afternoon when I finally hit the studio! Can this really be December 29th??

WooHoo!!!

First on the agenda was monoprinting this guy on plexiglass and fabric:


That's him on the plexiglass after I'd done my final printing.......here he is on my cotton:

I rather like him and was very pleased with his outcome. There are a lot of quilting/beading/embellishing possibilities to consider with him, don't you think?

In this lesson, we were also supposed to work on some 'smushing'......which is the technical term Susan uses to describe the technique in which one plops paint onto one piece of plexiglass then puts another piece of plexiglass on top (that's where the smush comes in), then the two pieces are separated and the fabric is applied. I thought this, my first piece, was quite nice:

I can imagine collaged fish swimming through those weeds, can't you?

Then I plopped a bit more paint onto one piece of my plexiglass, liked what I saw when I smushed them, but didn't have any fabric, except for a wet piece of cotton that I had already done a 'dud' monoprint on. I grabbed it anyway, and brayered it on the plexiglass. Voila:

Oh my!!!!

So I ran into my sewing room and grabbed another piece of dry cloth, and here's what I got:

Each piece was better than the last............and I won't bore you with ALL of the pics I took, but suffice it to say that this afternoon was one of those magical times when things keep getting better and better!

OK, now the only thing that hasn't been so great is that these pics won't upload with the upside up........so you'll just have to turn your head a bit! In this first one, turn toward your right shoulder and you'll see a ridgeline with lots of trees and a snowcapped mountain in the background:


In this next one, turn your head downward toward your right shoulder once again and you'll see the desert with an overblown cactus:



And below, if you have a stiff neck and couldn't turn your head toward your right shoulder, try it toward your left, and perhaps you'll see what I see:

I love these and just cannot wait to do more!

My buddy Sheila has just forwarded me a bunch of really cute pics from our party last Saturday night, so stay tuned and I'll post those tomorrow!

PEACE, JOY, LOVE....21 DAYS TO GO!!!

22!

The Calm After the Storm:

Yesterday was our traditional Boxing Day Bash, although a day late. We had some of our friends over for a lively afternoon of food and craziness. It's a great way to wind down after the holidays and just enjoy the pleasure of one another's company. Our friends bring a dish, we supply the meat (in this case two smoked hams and one smoked boneless turkey breast), rolls, condiments and wine. We are blessed with fine friends who love to party and cook...what could be better? Our friend S was snapping photos left and right, so I am hoping that she will either post them on her blog or email them to me soon, so that I can share some of them with you.

K and D spent the night, along with our grand doggies Marley and Tucker, and this morning we were up early and out walking on the golf course, as the forecast is for heavy rain most of the day. C whipped up breakfast: some french toast, using left over split potato rolls (we all agreed that this is a new delicacy!) and we also enjoyed some sauteed smoked ham: YUMMMMA!!!!

Now we are settled in to a relaxing morning:

K working on a jigsaw puzzle that she and D gave us for Christmas

D reading a New Yorker

Marley snuggled up in his bed

Tucker in his bed, chewing on Barker's bone

Barker watching Tucker

PEACE, JOY & LOVE TO YOU

Can it be: 23!!!!

My small collection of Santas:

I'm always flooded with memories as I unwrap these guys each year: who gave each one to me, the circumstances surrounding the gift, how long each has been part of the pack, etc. What are your holiday traditions? Do you collect certain ornaments or figurines?


I was cleaning my corner china cabinet the other day, and fell in love with my Nana's hot chocolate set all over again!


When I was a small child and went to spend the night with her, I slept on a small daybed in her diningroom. At the time, I did not think that having a daybed in the diningroom was a bit strange! I recall laying awake at night, listening to the tick tock of her clock....it was not a comfort to me! In the early morning light before she got up, I would stare at her china cabinet, and admire her hot chocolate set. When my Grandpa died, and Nana's health became poor, she had to give up her home and come live with our family. It must have been very sad for her, but I do not recall her complaining. Nana gave me her hot chocolate set, and for many years it lived in a cardboard box, lovingly wrapped in newspaper, until I was married and had a home of my own.

The second shelf down in my corner cabinet, houses what remains of my Nana's coffee set:


She was an excellent needleworker, and used to host her little embroidery group at her home. I don't know if they rotated around to others' homes on a monthly basis or what, but I do have the fondest memories of being included in that group of women. I embroidered my first tea towel while sitting with them. During their little get togethers, Nana would serve coffee in these cups, and of course a little Swedish pastry on the plates. Nana would serve me my 'special blend' of coffee with about five tablespoons of sugar in the bottom of the cup and lots of milk! Oh how I loved being part of that group: Mrs. Lundeen, Mrs. Thompson, Mrs. Peterson, Mrs. Carlson, Mrs. Wingren....who else? I can no longer remember all of their names, but I will never forget their loving faces and many kindnesses!

And one more memory before we go:

I've never checked in antique books as to whether these things are valuable to anyone else, but of course to me they are the greatest treasures! I'm sure this is nothing more than very inexpensive pressed glass, but oh what memories this plate evokes! My Nana made the yummiest of Swedish pastries, and often served them on this plate, or another in the set. I use these quite often for dessert when we have company over for dinner.

OK, enough of this little trip down memory lane!

PEACE, JOY, LOVE

24!!! Merry Christmas

I hope that this finds you basking in happy memories of Christmas 08! We had a wonderful celebration, and are gradually making new traditions. We spent Christmas Eve in Atlanta with our daughter and son-in-law. I snapped this picture of their tree as they were putting the finishing touches on dinner.

They are extremely capable cooks and the last thing they needed was me to mess up their orderly kitchen!

"The kids" have two dogs, Marley and Tucker, so we brought Barker along so that he could have a little time to socialize with his 'nephews' They are very rambunctious, and he was more than happy to escape to the livingroom with me for a little time out.....being an 'only dog' can be tough~

Before dinner, we had attended the Christmas Eve service at their lovely little church.....but we left the dogs alone at home! K & D have the Nintendo Wii, so while we munched on Dave's yummy bacon wrapped shrimp hors d'oeuvres, K and I did some yoga, bowled and then got into some serious tennis! After working up an appetite, we settled into a delicious dinner of stuffed pork loin, braised kale, roasted beets topped with feta cheese on a bed of arugula, and a bagette of French bread. K surprised her Daddy with his favorite strawberry rhubarb pie and homemade vanilla bean ice cream for dessert. Oh, and there was a bit of wine! YUMMM!



Christmas Day found us back in GainesVegas, picking up my Mom and then heading over to our friend Bobbie's lovely home. She puts on such a show when she entertains! Here is one of her many hors d'oeuvres: smoked trout, chevre, and seckle pears:


Bobbie's Mom Jill was there as well....and it is always good for our Moms to be together. Between courses of our lovely Christmas dinner (standing rib roast, Yorkshire pudding, roasted Yukon Gold and sweet potatoes, braised asparagus, and her family's traditional Italian cake and homemade Marzipan), the Moms and C completed the traditional Christmas puzzle.

We had a terrific holiday..........and now it is time for us to entertain! Stay tuned for more pics in a day or two!

PEACE, JOY, LOVE

26..........Christmas Eve

A sign of the season:

Our foyer church pew has been a handy and convenient spot to deposit gifts that are waiting to be delivered!

I got up early this morning and put the finishing touches on this shrug which I had begun knitting for my Mom last summer:

Dr. Sock - or should I call her Dr. Shrug???? - came over yesterday to teach me the mattress stitch, so that I could sew up the sleeves. I don't know why I waited until the very last minute to put this thing together!! Do you do that too???? This is a Knitch exclusinve pattern constructed with Rowan cotton yarn.

Remember the silk gauze that I dyed for our church's creche program a few weeks ago? I couldn't just let that fabric go to waste, but was having a difficult time deciding just how to put it to good use. I had just plopped it on the diningroom table, and then realized what a great decorative tablecloth it would make. So last week I got busy, fitting the pieces together, and then adding more little bits of silk gauze here and there:

The rolled hem attachment on my serger works great, even on this very fine gauze. Dharma has wonderful huge cones of silk thread, so I could serge the edges and then microwave dye the pieces in no time flat!

Here it is all finished up:

The neat thing about this piece is that I can continue to add more pieces here and there. I simply butted the pieces together and zigzagged them on my machine with some variegated metallic gold, green, and red thread.

No matter what your beliefs and religious persuasion, I hope this finds you well and happy, and that you and your family and friends will enjoy this holiday season, and the coming year in good health.

PEACE, JOY, LOVE!!!!

in case you've just dropped by, and are not a regular reader, the 26 in my title refers to the number of days remaining before Obama becomes our next president

31 and Some Fun!

Can you believe we've made it down to 31??? It's getting exciting!

Yesterday was my friend Bobbie's birthday, so we got together today to celebrate over a wonderful lunch at Seasons 52. It was great fun because we could order lots of small plates and share them...........and then enjoy a sumptuous dessert!

If you haven't had the pleasure of eating at a Seasons 52, and there is one near you, by all means give it a try! All of their food is very fresh, and the menu changes with the seasons. This is the first week of their winter menu, and we enjoyed the Ripe Plum Tomato Flatbread as a starter.

We shared a small plate of Housemade Sonoma Goat Cheese Ravioli plus another of roasted golden beets with wasabi cream sauce as our main course.

And then there was the dessert 'tray'.......how unique, huh?


We both chose the Mocha Macchiato, which closely resembles Tiramisu.

.........and Bobbie blew out her candle on the first try! What fun we had!!! Thanks Bobbie, for your great friendship and for introducing me to a wonderful new dining experience!

Our daughter's office is actually quite close to Seasons 52, so I dropped by there for a visit after leaving Bobbie.

Kristin is an engineer for Georgia Power and presently works in the distribution end of the business. She has always had a huge love of all maps, so it was not surprising to see how closely her line of work deals with maps...........there were maps everywhere in her office and in the entire work place!

The other thing that I found interesting was her little display of found objects: two old insulators and then some other 'electric things' (my term, not hers!) that she found interesting. Man oh man wouldn't I love to get my hands on that old verdigreed copper wiring!


My fruitbowl, with an added acorn squash...........so why is it that I have another cold? Look how much fruit we consume!


Christmas confections: sugared pecans to give as hostess gifts:

MMMMMMMMM: they're yummy!!!!

PEACE!!!!

33.........weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Some of you may recall that I donated some silk yardage to our church's youth's auction last Spring. The yardage was designated for a kimono styled jacket, one of which I had sewn as a model to be displayed at the auction. A friend of mine ended up making the winning bid on the jacket fabric, which thrilled me to no end! I did not want to be responsible for the jacket construction and had contacted an Atlanta seamstress friend who agreed to construct the jacket. However, my friend (the silk purchaser) wanted to wait a while to have the jacket made, as she had had some health issues and wanted to regain some weight before being fitted for the jacket. When she was ready, my Atlanta seamstress begged off! I couldn't believe it!!! I was really upset and didn't know what to do. In the middle of the night, I woke up and remembered that I had taken Swedish lessons (yes Swedish: my family is Swedish and I had wanted to be able to converse with them in their native tongue!) from a delightful little woman here in my home town AND she was a seamstress. I dropped by her charming little Swedish shop and she agreed to take on the job! Well, that was months ago..........maybe September? There were lots of roadblocks (she had other clients, she misplaced the pattern, yada, yada, yada), but she, the seamstress, FINALLY called me last weekend and said that the jacket was ready!! WooHoo!!!



Can I tell you that there's nothing better than seeing someone else's fantabulous interpretation of a piece of complex cloth that you have created....and seeing it oh so much better than you ever dreamed possible!!!

I almost cried!!!!

It had been a long and extremely nerve-wracking haul, but we all had finally gotten there! And I was so pleased!! I am so in love with this piece!

Here is my friend modeling her new jacket:

My Swedish seamstress friend and I are considering a partnership where I produce the silk and she produces the jacket. She has a client who wants to sell our product. So, ok my friends: comments?????????? What do you think? I feel that I need to be paid for the silk I produce when it leaves my hands. Right? If you agree, what price per yardage???

PEACE!!!