Sister's Choice Quilts

Packing and a Couple of New Favorites

I've been packing for our annual trip to visit our son Ahren in Ireland.  We leave in just over a week, and I am determined not to overpack this time.  I swear the last two years I packed ten outfits and ended up wearing the same three over and over again.  I set up my rolling rack to "audition" clothes.  If you have a rolling rack, it is a wonderful tool for arranging your clothes for a trip.

One thing I have to keep in mind is that Irish people don't typically have clothes dryers.  You would think in a country where it rains 360 days out of the year, a dryer would be a very handy appliance.  Nope.  They tend to be old school and everyone dries things outside (weather permitting, which is five days of the year) or on collapsible clothes racks inside.  Seriously, if the weather is fine, everyone exclaims all day long "Oh, there is a good bit of drying in the day", and they all put their clothes on the line outside, optimistically thinking things will dry.

What usually happens is that you do your laundry, put it on the drying rack in the kitchen and in three days it is still there and still damp.  I'm not kidding.  I will never pack jeans again.  I wore them once, washed them and it took them five days to dry.  Everyone's home is festooned with half-dry clothes draped everywhere.  It is a national problem, and I do not see why something can't be done about it.

Well.  I got off on a little tangent there, didn't I?

At any rate.  What am I packing for just over two weeks in Dublin and five days in London?  My color scheme is mostly black, red and cream.  Nothing needs ironing.  At the moment (and I am hoping to cut these numbers down), I have five pairs of black stretchy leggings and/or knit pants for my bottom layer.  (I will be comfy, yet pulled together looking, and bonus:  they dry pretty fast). For tops I am trying to pair down to six or eight lightweight silk, lightweight cotton, poly or chiffon blouses that will dry overnight if I have to wash them.  They also pack down to nothing and take up virtually no room in the suitcase. One cozy sweatshirt type top to lounge in.  Two pullover sweaters I can wear for warmth or dress up with a scarf.  I can't decide between the red or the black so I have both ready to pack.  One may have to be eliminated...I have two cardigans that look dressy and can top off my blouses and be that "third layer" the fashionistas tell you to have.  I have a red rain jacket, an umbrella, a couple of scarves, a crossbody bag and two pairs of shoes. That should get me through just about all the occasions I anticipate.  I will use packing cubes and fit everything into two carry-on sized bags.

My dresser is a disaster, with stacks of undies, jewelry I am trying to decide between, and various items Ahren wants but can't get in Ireland.  Would you believe you can't get cold medications there without a prescription? No Alka Selzer Plus, no DayQuil, etc.  I always try to stock up on that for him.  If you are curious about what he looks like, click on the photo to enlarge it.  He is sitting with his sister Sara in my kitchen a couple of Christmases ago in that photo.

I won't get lost in the crowd in this cute red rain jacket from Talbots:

This is a new favorite nightgown from Soma.  They are having a great sale right now.  You can pay $52 for one of these long nightshirts, or buy two of them for $60!  They have adorable patterns to choose from, and the fabric is the coolest, silkiest, cotton tee shirt material.  I love to wear something like this when I travel, in case our son wants to pop in our room or I need to wander down to the kitchen for something.  It is modest and presentable looking, yet super comfy to sleep in.

I have some new toiletries and makeup I plan to pack, which I'll share with you in a future post.  Getting organized for a trip is one of my favorite things to do.  I hope I am getting better at it and overcoming my tendency to overpack.

Are you a good packer?  Do you have any tips you can share?

Book Winner

Yes I really did buy two of the same book.  Luckily my random number generator picked commenter number 17,
Nancy Watkins, to take one of them off my hands!  Congratulations Nancy.  Send me an email with your address and I will get one of these in the mail to you right away!  Thanks to everyone who participated.

In other news, we had a great weekend.  I was able to sew my free little gold half square triangles into rows.  Just waiting for some gold fabric to come in the mail for my setting triangles, backing and binding.  Love this little table runner for late summer/early fall.  It is so wonderfully scrappy.

Best of all, my Eva is home from a week at camp!  We celebrated a great week of adventures in the forest and a grateful safe homecoming by going to Jamba Juice for smoothies.  One more week of summer vacation and then it is back to school (3rd grade!) for Miss Eva.

Hope your week is getting off to a splendid start.

Sushi!

My son in law knows how to do things right.  He hired a professional sushi chef to come to his house and prepare five hours of sushi for 16 guests.  It was amazing.  Just imagine this happening in your own home and not a restaurant!

The sushi master brought an assistant and they made the magic happen all evening long.

There were oysters.  I have gone decades proclaiming that I would never eat a slimy icky oyster.  I was persuaded to try one and now realize my life has been wasted.  Years that I could have been enjoying this incredible delicacy down the drain. I could weep.  I cannot even describe how wonderful these were.

This was the freshest albacore tuna you can imagine.  Yes it is raw.  Yes it was delicious.

How is this for a presentation?  It was so cool!

These are yam chips that were used to scoop up fresh seviche (more raw fish marinated in lime juice).

Seviche.

I mean, really?

My son in law is a winemaker, so of course his wine was served.  Heaven.

Naturally to show respect for the occasion, I had to dress up.  It was just so special.

I wore a Japanese scarf as a wrap, and arranged my hair in as Japanese a style as I could manage.

The amazing thing is that I actually own blue chop sticks.

It was such a fun evening, and I am so grateful to have been able to enjoy the food, the fellowship and the incredible experience.  It was a once in a life time event for sure.

Happy 4th of July

Ozzie and I would like to wish you all a happy and safe 4th of July if you live in the US, and a happy Thursday if you don't!  We plan to go to a barbecue with the family, and my corn salad that I posted on a week or so ago has been requested.  I told you it was good!

Ozzie isn't too keen about all the racket the fireworks make, but he plans a restful day up until the festivities begin.  I will spend the day making corn salad and reading my book.  Talk to you tomorrow!

And So It Begins

Summer has officially begun here.  I took my girl to her first day of swim team practice and as you see from her stance, she was somewhat unsure of the whole enterprise at first.  She got with the program without delay however, and I was so proud of her.  When the coach first said "Okay, we are going to do eight laps" my heart sank.  Eight laps?  Seriously?  How could this kid do eight laps?  But she did.  And then did eight more.  Already she is a better swimmer than I ever was.  She has a great attitude, is so strong, and makes my heart swell with pride when I see how undaunted she is by challenges.

So, yes, I am a proud nana.  

But lord have mercy, is it ever hot out there in the sun on the sidelines.  There is no shade at all, and I pretty much did myself in.  I think I may have actually had a touch of sunstroke.  My friend and I had walked earlier for 45 minutes in the heat (did I mention it was 100 degrees yesterday?) and then I had barely recovered from that when I had to take Eva to swim team practice.  No shade.  Hot hot hot.  After I dropped her off at her summer camp afterwards, I came home and had to lie down.  I tell you I slept for three hours.

Any of you out there have experience with taking kids to sports activities and trying to stay cool and out of the sun?  I am thinking I may have to just drop her off and go sit in Starbucks or something until I pick her up.  I don't want to miss seeing her, but I just cannot take that sun.

So, unfortunately, since I was napping all afternoon, I didn't start my new sewing project.  Harrumph.

Happy Easter

It has become something of a tradition for Eva to make a special Easter cake with me.  This was our effort a couple of years ago.  Eva is in charge of choosing the design, and as she has gotten older, she has taken on more of the decorating responsibilities as well.

This is what she came up with for this year.  I tried in vain to talk her into making a flat bunny cake, but she insisted on this 3-D version.  It came out fairly well, but those ears were a challenge to attach, I tell you.

As you see, she has not lost her fondness for incorporating Peeps into her designs.  Despite the cake's somewhat disheveled appearance, it actually tasted pretty good.  Eva is already talking about what we will do next year.  

  Today our schools are on holiday, so Eva will be spending the day with me.  I am hoping to get some laundry done and maybe even get up into my sewing room.  What is it about vacations and laundry?  I don't seem to generate that many dirty clothes on a regular weekly basis.  Our weather has turned lovely, so "there will be good drying in the day" as my Irish relations say.

Hope your week is getting off to a great start!

Still Crazy After 50 Years

My husband and I are celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary this week.  I tell you, those years flew by in a flash.  After all that time, we barely need to talk, we are so in sync.  I laughingly told him we no longer have to ask each other questions, because we know the answers just by looking into each other's eyes.

My husband has always been good at gift giving, and on this occasion he certainly did not disappoint.  He surprised me with a Past, Present, Future ring, which I adore.  Those sure aren't the hands I had 50 years ago, but they have served me well.

We are thrilled to be celebrating all week long down here in the desert, with Sara and Eva.

The weather is great, the food has been terrific, and we have done some major and well deserved relaxing.

That is the almost full moon through the palm trees!

 

 

 

Halloween 2018

Once more we gathered for my family's Annual Halloween Party over the weekend.  I think it's been more than 34 years that we have been doing this, but who's counting?  That is my little family portrait above.  It would be perfect for our Christmas cards, don't you think?  My husband is a Pharaoh, my daughter is Cleopatra, and I am (drum roll) Cleopatra's Mummy.  I look a little tired, but that is what being in a sarcophagus for 2000 years does to a person.

Eva was Ariel, the Little Mermaid.  She kept taking that wig off and putting it back on, so it wasn't sitting quite right in this picture.  She was feeling the magic though.

Here she is with her cousin Johnathan.  They only see each other a couple of times a year, so they were racing around having the best time.  Have you ever seen anything so cute?

Except maybe this little cave girl riding her dinosaur?  She is standing on her own legs inside the dinosaur body, and those are little fake legs that dangle down the sides of the beast.  I laughed every time I looked at her.

Here's my dad.  At 93, he came up with his own costume and rented it.  He is a barrister.  His wig was itchy so he took it off pretty quick and went to bed by 8:00, but he tolerated the rest of our antics as he does every year.  We have the party at his house, so he is pretty much captive.

So here are the prize winners:

This family came as the characters from the latest Incredibles movie.  They won for "Best Group", beating out the Egyptians in the first photo.

This hot dog won the prize for "Funniest".  He is the daddy of the little dinosaur riding cave girl.  I tell you that family gets into Halloween.

This is Miss Havisham, who won for "Most Effort".  She is my sister, mother of the hot dog guy and grandma to the dino riding toddler.  I told you they were into the spirit of things.  Her husband is sitting on the chair in the background.  He was one of two skeletons.  Let's call him Skeleton #1

Sitting on the sofa is the other skeleton, let's call him Skeleton #2, who to me, was indistinguishable from Skeleton #1.  However, Skeleton #2 won the prize for "Scariest".  Skeleton #1 was bald, so some discrimination may have taken place.

I mean, really, can you tell that one of those guys is scarier than the other?  Skeleton #1 can't believe it either.  Hope he can digest that Diet Coke.  It may go right through him.

This is my other sister, who won the grand prize for "Most Amazing" or "Most Mind Blowing" or something.  Her flamingo costume was so awesome, she deserved it.  She made that costume out of 15 pink feather boas she got for $1 apiece.  The flamingo head on her hand was made from a plastic toucan she found somewhere and painted pink and made into a hand puppet.  She is married to the prize winning skeleton by the way.  And mother/grandmother to the Incredibles family.  Seriously these people have a lock on the prizes I tell you.  My jealousy is only appeased by the fact that she had to go back after the party and vacuum the entire house of about five pounds of pink feathers she dropped all over the place.

This guy must have been a party crasher.  I am sure I do not recall him attending the party in the past.  He just sat on top of the fireplace dividing wall and didn't bother anybody.

Hope you enjoyed the little costume parade.  Happy Halloween to you all!

 

 

Bad Blogger

Sorry I have been such a bad blogger lately.  Life is just getting in my way I tell you.  Here are a few things we have been up to.

Eva and I made unicorn pumpkin cookies this weekend.  Now that is a concept isn't it?  We had the candy corn and while we were decorating the cookies, she got a brain wave that suggested the candy corn would make the perfect unicorn horn on our pumpkins.  I guess it works.

I mentioned in passing that I wished I could find a couple of lighted branches to stick in a fall floral arrangement, and the next thing I know, is my husband is presenting me four strands of lighted fall leaf garlands.  Well.  Thank you.  I think.  I am not sure how he jumped from lighted branches to four lighted leaf garlands, but more is more right?  So I have been trying to figure out where to put his contribution to our fall decor.  I have some pumpkins outside the front door, so that seemed like a good place for one of the garlands.  Three to go.

It's pretty lame, but I kind of threw the remaining three garlands out on the porch railing.  Actually, if we sit out there with our wine in the early evening, it is sort of festive and fun.

I have passed the half way mark with my scarf and am now decreasing stitches to form the triangle!

And this book, which I was honestly not enjoying much has finally picked up the pace and gotten good after 150 pages.  Not cool, but I have determined to stick with it.  Honestly, I don't know what happened to Kate Morton with this one.  There are too many characters, the story line is super confusing, and there is a ghost who is trying to tie it all together for the reader.  Not her best work.

Not much sewing, but I am probably going to get back to my red and white Christmas quilt any minute.  My husband has had a job offer that seems to be drawing him out of his retirement, so I will be my own boss in the upcoming months, as he will be living closer to San Francisco where the job is, and coming home just on weekends.  This is so funny.  He knows these people who are offering him the job.  The position comes up and they ask him to come in to interview for it on Thursday, and can he please start the next day?  All this before they interview him.  Ok, he's on board.

Hope your week is going well, and I hope to be posting more regularly!

So Blessed

Had to share this photo of my brother in law with his newborn grandson.  Have you ever seen such a sweet picture?  This is little Jacob, younger brother to Johnathan.  My new grand nephew.  Born just a few days ago.  Robert, my brother in law (the little guy's grandpa), just returned from a three week trip to Europe and  as soon as he returned home, rushed up to Washington State to meet this little fellow.  He looks like he feels the journey was worth it, doesn't he?  Jet lag?  I don't think Robert is feeling it.  Aw.  My heart is full.

This has been my view this week. Fabulous Lake Tahoe.  We are having such a lovely visit with our son, who is visiting from Ireland.  We just don't see enough of each other.    We plan to go visit him in Dublin this coming September, and he will come home to be with us at Christmas, but it just isn't enough.  We have been taking lots of photos and making lots of memories this week, so that is good.

Finished up my leftovers table topper from the Rachel Remembered project of a week or so ago.  I love the bright fresh spring colors.

Works on my narrow hall table.  Just a simple bowl of wooden lemons and some ceramic birds.  Pretty.

Hope you had a great first week of May!  See you on Monday!