A New Desert Wine

Mother's Day was lovely with a call from my daughter.  Then Hubs and I ran down to Apex to pick out a bottle of wine for him to take to a meeting.  Of course this involved tasting their various wines. We really liked their Sauvignon Blanc, and then found several of their Reds are quite delicious as well. 
They do complimentary tasting of the chocolate shop wines. Here things are like desert in a glass.
Their is one called Chocolate which is  chocolate cherry tasting.  Then there's a Strawberry Chocolate, which the pourer was saying he uses in french toast.  It was like Jam so sweet and the strawberry flavor was magnificent.It would be great paired with New York cheese cake.  But the ultimate was the Almond Roca Cream.  If you like Baileys Irish cream this is reminiscent of that.  I would pair it with Cheese cake, or you could mix with some whip cream and do crepes ,  or over ice, or mix with some vodka.....its delicious and definitely a desert on its own.  You want to try something new, give it try.

Then we went on down to Airfield, where we were able to taste their Lone Birch wines.  These are sold in the local markets like QFC , Safeway,  etc.  We found these to be pretty tasty, too.  

We ordered some food from Village Wines to finish our tasting up at Airfield.  My favorite pizza combo from there is called Lisa's favorite and its amazing.  Its made on lavash bread with white BBQ sauce, goat cheese, prosciutto  artichoke hearts, sun dried tomatoes and olive tapenade.  I could eat this everyday its so delicious.  It came with a salad of mixed greens and slice strawberries with balsamic vinegar. There was so much it was our lunch and dinner.  If you're in Woodinville Wine country area, definitely make a stop, the staff are friendly and they have the cutest little pup to welcome you. 

Happy Mother's Day! A time for Nostalgia

dances with wild abandon

It's Mother's day, a time to reflect and remember.I'm always nostalgic on Mother's Day.

my grown up baby.

I know I am a mom, and I love my daughter to bits, she has been the the light of my life. However I miss my own mother and the other women in my past who have mothered me along the way. Not just family members -my grandmother and my mothers 2 sisters who selflessly helped raised me, but my friends mothers as well who have passed away.  I remember the hours spent over the years, spent with them, playing cards, or crying my eyes out about something, that seemed like the end of the world to me at the time. Each in their own way made a major impact on my life and my upbringing. How can I say Thank You when they are gone? Did they know how special they were to me? I don't know, I hope they did.

As much as I hope my daughter knows she means the world to me. When she was little she was amazing and funny and didn't even know it.  Now she's still amazing and funny, and I hope she does know it, and can accept that she has an amazing gift.  She's young yet, away at school in another country.  I miss the luncheons, and impromptu adventures we have done over the years, but someday, hopefully she'll be nearby and we can share those things again. Children are such a gift in life, one that if your lucky, stays with you your entire lifetime.
To the mothers in my life I salute you, to the aunts who were childless and bestowed such love and kindness on me I also salute you, you mothered in the way that was available to you.

my mom circa 1966

 Me and my daughter a few years ago.

Tutorial for Hot Flat Iron travel cover

Shhhh, this is a gift for a friend I travel with a fair amount. She loves yellow which is how I chose my color combo.
  For  those times when you travel and you have a hot iron, or curling iron you - need to pack up at the last minute here's a little case you can make. Mine is easy to make, you can cut it out and sew in and hour or less.I remember years ago ( like 20-hahah) people would take pot holders , fold them over and sew the 2 sides, it went over the curling iron problem solved.  You could still do that. I went a little further though and created this model.

 First you need to gather your supplies
outside fabric, Lining fabric, insul-bright for the heat resistant layer,trim color for pocket and iron on pellon like style 101 medium weight shape flex, a button for the closure and about 10 inches of cording to make trim. You could also use rick rack or leave this off completely. Next you will cut  4 layers 10 x 13.5 . 1 each of lining, pellon, insul-bright, and fashion fabric.
You will also cut out two strips 2" x 9" of the lining fabric for trim on the pocket, a square of 8x8" for the pocket, and lastly 15 "x 1"  piece of fashion fabric to make button loop

 Take your fashion fabric and iron the pellon to the back of it, following the directions of the pellon you use.

Next take the insul-bright and baste to the lining fabric.  I use the new clips available instead of pins to hold the layers together. I chose not to use a walking foot because its not really that thick, and find my machine handles this sewing smoothly without use of the walking foot.
Next your going to make the edge trim using the cording and the 2 strips of  of lining (2 x 9).  Use the zipper foot it makes it easy.  fold the strip in half and place the cording in the middle, the using the zipper foot sew up against the cording.  I leave the cording long, and fold the second piece about 1/2 inch down from the end of the first one.  cutting them apart after sewing.   I then sew these pieces to 2 sides of the 8" square. so the meet on one corner. I then fold the square in half to make a triangle, and sew one side closed, and the second side I leave a couple inches open to turn it inside out. (you could use rick rack or other trim here if you chose).

I then attach the  triangle to the fashion fabric on the long side centering it roughly.  To finish the pocket I sew the bottom of the triangle to the center point.  you will have one open end of the triangle towards the top side.  sorry I don't have more pictures of this part.  I then took the long strip of one inch fashion fabric, fold it in half, and both of the edges in to make a narrow strip sew down each side. Figure out where you would like the button to go on your pocket.  then take the strip you made and figure out the length you will need to make a button loop. you will place this on the back side of the top of the holder.

 I tack in place before attaching the lining.  Then sew the lining to the fashion fabric at the top only, making sure to make the button loop have access to the outside. see photo to the right.

Press as you go along.
Next fold the tube in half and sew the long edge  all the way from the lining through the fashion fabric,  and finishing the end of the tube. Trim the bulk down, on the seam with the insul- bright and lining then Turn the tube inside out through the lining end of the tube.  press.  Next fold the ends of the lining in, and sew it shut.  then push the lining down into the  fashion fabric.  I had to use a knitting needle square up the points.
Attach the button.  double checking placement with the loop, making sure to only sew through the pocket section not down to the fashion fabric.  Here you can see the loop hanging down from the seem of the lining and fashion fabric.  

 Below you can see the finished pocket empty.
to the right you can see it with the hot iron inside, and the cord wrapped and placed in the pocket, with the button loop closure.

This is a great item for traveling you no longer have to wait for the hot iron or curling iron to cool down to pack it.  Since it always seems like the last thing you do is your hair and make up before leaving, its always and afterthought to pick up that cooling hot iron.   Hope you this was helpful for you.  I don't right many tutorials.

Bags, Bags, Bags!

I've been looking for months to replace the wallet on a string I carry.  I've had mine for a couple years, and what I love about it, is that it has zippers that close the main areas so there's nothing that falls out.  Its just big enough to put my necessary cards for ID,etc & my rarely used check book, a hair comb and lip gloss.
There's an outside pouch for my cell phone. The last part is the cross body strap that makes it perfect.  Its about a small clutch size.The original did not cost a fortune either!  I swear if I find another like it I will buy 2.  Its a basic black, with some leather trim.
       So after looking hopelessly it seems, I've finally decided to make one.
I was going to create a pattern, trying to duplicate the one I have. I even bought some leather pieces in the jewelry part of the craft store, and a couple fabrics that I think would be fun for the inside.  Definitely more playful than serious, but a girl has to play around sometimes right?
While cruising around the web, I stumbled on a sight called www.emmalinebags.com.  She has almost the perfect clutch wallet.  She also several other lovely bag patterns.  Stop by Janelle's blog http://emmalinebags.blogspot.ca to see some of her other designs.

I had to include this toile and leather handle bag. I don't carry a large bag like this but Love the look and combination.