New Bloom for a New Year: Dirca Occidentalis (Hiking Edgewood)

Please Click on the Illustration Above
For More Beautiful Detail

I always like to start out the year as I mean to proceed through it.

What better way than an afternoon's Bloomin' Hike at Edgewood Nature Preserve?

Can you believe the Leatherwood is already in bloom?

A good omen for 2013, if ever I saw one.

Good Night My Someone: Red Plaid Nightgown

The chicken illustrations are something I created for my
art journal a few years back.
This chicken lives with my neighbor Jen, and is named for me.
I'm proud to say that she (Laurel Chicken) and I appeared in Sunset Magazine's
The West's 100 Best Pets Contest:-)

Sunday morning, I finished the last of the night wear projects I talked about in my December Enchanted by Sewing podcast. 

I've been continuing to look for the missing pattern for this many-times used, Tried and True nightgown, while doing major cleaning and reorganizing holiday-time domestic projects -so far no luck.

Wonder how long this latest flannel addition will last..... I'd guess at least two years but would be surprised if it holds up for four. This was budget, on-sale flannel. I made my husband's nightshirt out of what could be higher quality, but maybe I was simply swayed by the description and the feel of the material. I wonder if better quality flannel fabric has a higher life expectancy, or merely feels better? Perhaps when I get to the textiles class in the fashion program at Cañada, I'll find out more about that.

I noticed while sewing this gown how very loose the weave can be in flannel. The plaid lines moved around no matter how many pins I put in. To give the bodice more oomph, I interlined/underlined the bodice with some blue flowered cotton, a remainder from another long-ago sewn spring nightgown. You can see it peaking out from the back bodice. The interlining was in addition to the interfacing I used down the front to support the buttons and buttonholes. I also used black decorative stitching to further support the button area. 

I did the machine embroidery on this bodice last winter. I think if I were embroidering similarly shaped bodice I'd probably do twice as much. My embroidery machine is older and I think this is the largest size motif I can create.

Working with flannel on this nightie is making me think about what I'll be doing with the flannel vest I'll be sewing soon. I'm wondering if interfacing the entire thing would be overdoing it? 

Notions: I Don't Give a Pin!

Pincushion Gal Helps Keep Me
Enchanted By Sewing

But Darling, we can't have your mother to stay. We're going to the country this weekend.

Oh fiddledeedee, I don't give a pin about going to the country!

You don't hear people complaining that they .... don't give a pin! for something anymore. Usually a more vehement expression is used to express disinterest in a companion's speech or interests. I suppose it's because pins aren't worth much anymore, though you can still find references to people paying for things using pins in the delicious Betsy and Tacy books. And how many people do you know who refer to their pin money these days?

I love my new friend, Pincushion Gal. Mostly she's content hanging out behind my sewing machine, but she has been known to go visiting as far as the ironing board. At first I kept knocking her over, because her heavier torso was supported by a rather frail little base. After a confab with my husband we came up with a solution to that little challenge. I stitched up a little sack of dried beans, using the end of a piece of flannel from the night shirt I'd just made him (another good reason to hold onto scraps!), filled the little case with dried beans, then attached the resulting bean bag around the base of the form with - you guessed it- pins! My gal doesn't get knocked off her feet anymore, despite all the work she does for me.

As you can see, it's quite tempting to add more than pins to the newest member of Sewing Corner. So handy to tack down bits of silk organza scrap (good spots to stick my threaded needles), spare bits of trim, beading, and the pretty little brooch I picked up from the flea market. And of course a lady like this needs a fan for flirting with her many admirers.

Hanging out with the new girl at my machine, keeps me, as always, absolutely enchanted by sewing.

Nothing Slick About San Jose's Christmass In The Park

Click on the Illustration Above
To fully enjoy the details

A funky and folksy conglomeration of decorative community effort put on by every organization in town, from girl scout troops to your  local Flavored Tobacco Addiction Abuse Group.

Nobody tries to make San Jose's Christmas in the Park into something it isn't.

I never miss it.

San Francisco Field Trip: Please pass the Shrimp (Zoo)

It's the Shrimp that Keep Us In The Pink
Click on the illustration above
To fully enjoy the beautiful details

These flamingos always give me the feeling I'm in an altered universe. I mean..... would we turn pink if we ate enough shrimp?

One of my favorite ways to play tourist in any city I'm visiting, is to go to the zoo. Zoo's tend to be spacious, beautiful places that have evolved over time. People of all ages, who live in that exotic place I've traveled to, are there, enjoying time with their families. Traveling with a kid? They'll find play time they may be missing as they zip around exhibits. A lot of zoos, like  San Francisco Zoo have great playgrounds and children's zoos for maximum other-kid interaction as well.

In this setting, people who live there are relaxed and ready to chat about what they find beautiful in this specialized environment -perhaps the landscaping or design. Often they suggest other fun places to go or eat. In zoo's I've also been know to pickup tidbits about local politics I might not hear in the made-for-tourists meccas farther downtown.

Oh, and there are animals there too. Animals I might not have seen in other zoos. San Francisco Zoo is home to an exhibit of twin grizzly bears, a pair that wildlife rescue folk weren't able to re-release. They are darling. The Magellanic penguin breeding program is one of the most successful in the world. Plus the little tuxedoed cuties are a kick to watch, every one so individual. I hung out for a half an hour today during feeding time, as every single penguin was hand fed their requisite two fish - and if they didn't take two that fact was noted on the keepers clip board. Eagle Island and Devil the white penguin (a one-winged survivor of a tangle with a cut fishing line - most marine animals in this situation don't make it) are two other favorites of mine. Devil is particularly appealing when he plays with - woops I mean interacts with - his keeper.

Even though it's not particularly far from home, I always feel like I'm on a wonderful trip when I visit the San Francisco Zoo. I love the gorgeous landscaping and appreciate the effort that's gone into making the animals feel comfortable and relaxed.

Field Trip: Training Home from Burlingame

After an afternoon out enjoying the sights of Burlingame Avenue, my daughter dropped me off at the Burlingame Train Station. Cal Train comes every half an hour and I was able to take it on to my destination in Menlo Park.

Waiting at the station I chatted, in casual California strangers style, with Alex and his mother. Alex, aged two and a half explained to me the concept of what benches were for. He and his family were headed to the library on the train, a regular exciting event in his family. We enjoyed looking down the tracks for the train together, while exercising great caution in the matter of the train's inability to stop suddenly.

Alex and his mother also shared a train song with me and I, in return, performed Train is a'Comin' for him. About the time I got to the end, the train did indeed arrive in the station. At which point my new comrade lost all interest in anything as plebian as a song.

What better way could their possibly be to head to the library than aboard a passenger train? Will any other experiences in the rest of Alex's life really equal the excitement of it?

Related Links - Youtube of my performance of Train is a' Comin'

Holiday Greeting From The Land of Fruits and Nuts

Go ahead and Click on the Illustration Above
For all the Nutty Details!

Ho Ho Ho from California!


Hope you don't crack up from meetin' too many nuts this holiday season.