Birthday Dinner

A friend of ours celebrated his 58th birthday on Friday so we had him and his lovely wife over for a nice dinner. The Husband out did himself and served a 5 course meal along with an amuse-bouche. I was in charge of the bar.

We started with a cocktail - Caribbean Romance


Then came the Amuse-bouche - Tuna Poke salad with Ginger-infused chilled Vodka (which we infused ourselves). The fish gravel on the plate was my idea, it's so pretty!


First Appetizer - Pan-seared fresh Gulf Shrimp on a Grit cake topped with bacon and tomato in a shrimp stock and cream reduction. Served with Red Diamond 2005 Chardonnay.



Second Appetizer - Fresh Gulf Flounder en papillote with a tomato parmesan cream sauce with garlic bread. Served with Red Diamond 2005 Chardonnay.



Salad course - roquette, pear and goat cheese with lemon-pomegrante dressing drizzled with a pomegrante reduction.


Main Course - Rack of Lamb with a port wine reduction, mashed potatoes and asparagus. Served with Red Diamond 2005 Merlot.


Dessert Course - Sticky Date and Almond Bread Pudding with Amaretto Zabaglione. Served with Whiskers Blake Classic Tawny Port

Okay, sorry, no picture of the dessert. It was late, I was full and tipsy by this time. I forgot!

Here is the Birthday Boy with his Lovely Wife:


What I Wore to the Birthday Dinner


Nothing I made, all bought a Beall's Outlet.

It was a great dinner, good food, good drinks and best of all good company!

What I Wore........

My post on What I Wore When I Cut the Grass was so much fun I thought I'd do another one. So here we have:

What I Wore When I Worked Out.......


Here are the particulars:

Leggings - ancient (I'm surprised they fit)
Racer-back Top - 4 yrs old

That's it!

Workout Partner


I try and workout 5 days a week alternating between weights/boxing and what I call Crazy Dancing/Boxing. No one, and I mean no one see's me doing my Crazy Dancing except this little guy:



Every morning he is on the retaining wall outside my sewing room window where this activity takes place. Sometimes he even gets into with me, bobbing his head up and down or weaving back and forth. He stays there the whole time. I put on quite a show for him!

Fido Friday

ED



Oy, too much wine last night!

One Done .......Many to Go!

New Look blouse 6598 is done and in the bag, or should I saw wash (need to get those buttonhole marks off). I won't bore you with a picture of the buttonholes, they came pretty good, equal size and straight! All in all, I like it and will probably make more.

Next up was to be S5306. The short brown wrap version.


I say was because after doing a quickie muslin I didn't like the construction method. It is really meant for fleece or shearling. I have hi-lo corduroy and I want to line it with hot pink flannel backed satin. I just don't think I am experienced enough to make it work. So I searched the pattern sites and found a pattern I like a whole lot more and it is lined.

So now S5197 will be my new winter coat.



I actually like it better, not quite as bulky. And hey, I may need a pair of wide legged bell-bottoms someday, I hear they're making a comeback!

While I wait for this pattern (and a few others I couldn't resist) arrive I will work on another new blouse pattern B4659.


I am going to make the purple version, you can't see them well in this picture but they have 3/4 length belled sleeves. The style is similar to one I just made but with a little more flair.

I will be using this fabric:



Which is an older Robert Kaufman cotton from my stash. Sorry the picture isn't great but this fabric looks great with jeans.

That's it, off I go Top Chef is on tonight!

Almost Done

New Look 6598

I am almost finished with this blouse. I made a muslin of it several months ago and it fit nicely so I thought I would try it with the short sleeves in a little nicer cotton fabric. I made it just a tich longer (5/8") but other than that nothing out of the ordinary. The sleeves are snug but I still have full range of motion. It may work better with a cotton with a little stretch to it. I have the buttonholes and back hem to finish and possibly top-stitching all around the facing to keep it in place. I plan to finish it on Monday but had my camera out so thought I'd put up a preview.


I don't think the fabric photographs well because of the tiny print on it, it is red with a tiny black/white print. Doesn't look like much on the hanger but it is a nice classically simple blouse.
Fast and easy.

Chrome Toes



I am sure most of you don't really want to see my feet, but I just thought this polish was so cool. The Husband said my toes looked like something from an alien cyborg...sigh...he is so romantic!

Late Summer Harvest


These are banana peppers. They are normally yellow when ripe, but when I brought them in the house and left them for a few days on the counter they turned these gorgeous shades of orange. They are quite tastey.

Rememberance

September 11, 2001



Never Forget.
Never Again.

Fido Friday on Thursday

Since tomorrow is a very solemn day I didn't think it appropriate for Fido Friday, so I am doing it today.

Ed

The Social End



The Business End



That is one big Rottie butt for lots of butt rubbin's! His tail is docked at the second knuckle so it is larger than Lily's. I can actually grab it and hang on...............which I have done, several times. I think he likes it........................

Opening Night for the NFL, you know where I will be!!!

What I Wore.........................

I love to look at some of the daily fashion blogs with Ephemera and What I Wore Today as my favs, because these ladies have what I don't.... a sense of style.

But just for fun I thought I would do a play on their blogs with my own fashion post of:

What I Wore When I Cut the Grass!

Here's the outfit particulars:

Souvenir tank top - 8 years old
Blue Jean shorts - 8years old
Crew socks - 6 mos old
Canvas Keds - 10 years old
Trusty TroyBilt Mower - 5years old

Close up of the Shoes:

Okay, these are authentic Keds. Preeetty BAD!

But under those, are these!


I don't like to wear polish on my fingers, but I do like to paint my toes! I love this electric blue color.

So this is my fashion post for today. Hope you enjoyed!

More Backyard Creatures

If you have stopped by here before you know that I love most of the little creatures that live in my yard. When I cut the grass I am very careful to watch out for said creatures lest I mow over them. While I was doing 'poop patrol' before mowing (yeah, you want to make sure all that STUFF is out of the way!) I found a hatching of green tree frogs near our retaining wall. They grass was alive with little green hopping dots like this little guy:

Honestly no bigger than the tip of my little finger. They were everywhere along the south wall, so I left a 3 foot uncut swatch for them. I hope a few make it but they need to watch out for this guy:

The rather large Southern Toad. He looks well fed!

Back to Sewing

UFO Boxer Quilt

The quilt for my brother is finished, delivered and much appreciated by the recipient. Here he is with his daughter (my niece) and the Boxer Quilt.

These are fun quilts to make for boys, young and old. The fun part is picking out fabric for the boxers that reflect the recipients interests or memories, and I always include one Christmas boxer as a reminder of all the wonderful Christmas presents our aunts' made for us when we were little. This quilt was filled with lots of car and tool boxers, but my favorite was the Scooby-Do fabric (middle, 3rd row). It reminded me of watching Saturday morning cartoons with my brothers.

I have made 4 of these quilts, 3 for my brothers, with one more to go, and one for myself that is pink and black and the boxers are all dog fabrics. It is machine appliqued and quilted and works up fast.........except if you procrastinate, like some people.

B5331



Finally, this little shirt/jacket is pretty much done. I have some hand sewing to do on the collar facing and hem, and it needs buttonholes. I have put it aside for now though because unfortunately while I love it, it is a little too snug to button and it doesn't look good open. I took the side seams out as much as I could and I had to remake the sleeves because they were WAY too tight. The sleeves are perfect now but there just wasn't enough on the seams to let out anymore.

It doesn't look like much on the hanger but it does look nice on although the length seems shorter than it shows in the picture. The sleeves are not as puffy as they appear in the picture either. I cut out the belt but there is really no room for it. I'm hoping it will fit someday soon and I will then put the buttonholes in.

It is a surprisingly flattering design and I would like to make it again, but I would add some to the seams and the length, may 1"-2". But I will move on to something else right now.

I want to make a simple hip-length wrap coat for winter. I've got some hi-lo black corduroy and hot pink flannel-backed satin for lining. I've cut out the pattern pieces and will do a quick muslin just to check basic fit as it is a pretty loose fitting style. I don't really need a winter coat for a few months so I can take my time with this and work on it in between other things.

NL6598

This blouse is up next in a red/white/black cotton print. Probably the short-sleeved collarless one. I made a muslin of the sleeveless version months ago and it came out very nice. I just have to watch the sleeves as I have arm issues.............................