HI everyone,
It’s 11:30 Thursday night and I haven’t even fully read all your comments from yesterdays post. I got up this morning and read my post and somehow it just seemed a little lacking in pizzazz. Something just didn’t seem quite right. My fabrics seemed too comical or too cutesie. (?) I think I have to think about it a little more… My original plan was to use that Bohemian pattern again, but I was hoping to somehow make it into an Easter dress… How can you have an Easter Bohemian dress? So I got to thinking, I either need to pick a different pattern for Easter, or a different fabric for it to be Bohemian… I don’t think it will be an Easter Bohemian dress… somehow I thought it might work, but I’m not so sure now. Give me a day to think about it…
In the mean time, I thought I’d share with you about my day and night. There was a birthday celebration for a lady who is a dear friend to a lot of us and she turned 80 today. A wonderful dinner party was planned by the people who worked with her and was at a really nice restaurant in a town about 20 minutes away.
This is the birthday girl!
I didn’t work with her but my day was filled with making Molten Lava Cakes as I was asked to bring her favorite dessert. The trick was keeping them warm after I baked them till after we ate dinner. I decided stacking them in my crock pot between layers of parchment paper might work… and then keep it on the warm setting. I picked up some ice cream and put it in a cooler pack… so I was trying to keep the cakes warm and the ice cream cold. I also brought along my sifter and a baggie filled with confectioners sugar and some fresh raspberries. You can find the recipe from Paula Deen on Pinterest. It was pretty easy to make. I left out the orange liqueur. I have no idea where that would come from.
Someone was passing out the cakes while I was plating them up. She sat mine down and by the time I got to it, the ice cream and raspberries had slid off.
The place was called Mary’s and it was lovely and romantic. (My hubby wasn’t feeling great so I was a loner tonight.) The food was outstanding and the waiter was incredible. Here are a few of the dinners… I’m not sure of what everyone ordered, but there was rack of lamb, beef tenderloins, shrimp scampi, seafood pasta, salmon… and more. Do I hear a yum?
Sorry, I forgot for a moment that I don’t write a blog about food! :o)
So here’s the funny thing… about 34 or 35 years ago, my hubby and I went there for an anniversary dinner and we had the Potato Leek soup. I road with 2 other girls and I was telling them the story that the soup was the only thing I could remember about the night… (sorry honey), and raved about how good it was. So when the waiter came in to tell us what was on the menu, the first thing he said was “the soup for tonight is Potato Leek soup” and the girls screamed out… “Jeanne had that soup 35 years ago!” and the waiter said, “it’s the same guy who’s been making it for 36 years and he’s the one that’s made it tonight!” So lots of us had it tonight, and YES… it was just as delicious as I remembered.
I sat beside a sweet young lady from Japan, Sayaka, who had on the prettiest dress tonight and I asked her if I could take her picture when we were done. She posed for me and I wish you could have seen the sleeves up close… They were ruffled 3/4 length sleeves, but they had a cuff underneath. I was pretty intrigued with them.. I’d love to see the insides of that dress and see how they did it. Because it’s black, and kind of matte cotton, it’s kind of hard to tell how they look, but I had never seen a sleeve sewn that way. (This was the last picture I took tonight and someone showed me how to turn on the flash… ) Sorry that the other pictures are so drab and yellowish.
We had TONS of rain today… in fact, so much, it filled up the area of our yard that USED to have an inground swimming pool there. The rectangular pool area was filled in with dirt up to about 8 or 10 inches of where the concrete sides were. It kind of looks like a concrete sidewalk going around what we call “The Courtyard.” We have grass growing in there and our fountain is in the center. Well today so much rain poured down that it filled up and looked just like the cement pond in the Beverly Hillbillies…That’s our neighbors house behind the “pond!”
Then When I got home tonight, my hubby said, “well, the roof didn’t leak in the master bathroom like it did before (ugh) BUT, we have a new spot of where it’s leaking!” He showed me an area in the other bathroom, where the water was running down the wall. He was trying to get the wall dry and all the paint peeled off the wall… I guess I will be painting walls soon! Better wait till it stops raining first!
It’s VERY cold tonight too. I had to go to Walmart about 12:30 today to get some more eggs and few things and it was 61 degrees on the way. I was in there about 20 minutes and it was 51 on my way home. Then a little bit later it was 44. When I left to go to the restaurant, it was 39 and now it’s 21 degrees with a wind chill of 9! The door locks on the car of the girl I road with were frozen when we came out of the restaurant! We were rescued after a few minutes of struggling to get them open! Where, oh, where is Spring? Oh yeah…it’s still winter!
Well, that’s been my day… I hope yours was dry and fun… I’ll get back to Nyssa soon… I’m stewing over what to do…
See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
Hello, Jeanne. What a lovely birthday party! Your friend is a Very youthful 80, if you ask me! Looks like your chocolate lava cake traveled very well, and kept adequately hot as you had packed it! It looked delicious, too, even with melted ice cream and wayward raspberries!! Haha…..
And all those dinners…Yes indeed, you can hear a big loud “YUM” from my direction! I’m not sure which one I’d choose–they all sound/look delicious! The potato-leek soup, too!
That young lady’s dress is lovely; I would be very intrigued by those sleeves, too!
I’m sorry about all the rain, and the new leak….Out here in the Seattle area, where our snow from last Sunday hasn’t completely melted yet, we are expecting another onslaught. tomorrow and Saturday! As a post I shared on Facebook says, “winter is coming. The entire thing. All at once. In one weekend.” We haven’t had this much snow (or at least this many days of it) in several years! I know some of you Midwesterners are laughing at how 4-6″ of snow can cause a problem, but you haven’t seen the hills out here–nor the drivers who think driving in snow is no different than driving on dry pavement! Yikes!
Now, as to Nyssa’s dress….I went over and took another look at the pattern, and the dress you made a while back, and I got to thinking, if you make the skirt only as long as the first ruffle, and use only the ONE ruffle, that might make it look more contemporary. In fact, you could even leave off that one ruffle, and make the skirt plain. *If some of the ruffles are attached to petticoats, just make the petticoats a bit shorter than the finished skirt, and maybe not quite so full.) It doesn’t matter that the sleeves are ruffled–that would just add a feminine touch to a spring/summer dress, without looking too Bohemian, I think. Perhaps make the belt a little less “frou-frou”, also–a smaller flower with narrower ribbon streamers, maybe?
I think the basic style of the dress is actually cuter than it seems (I’m not a huge fan of ruffles upon ruffles). When I covered the bottom two ruffles of Nyssa’s dress, I Really Really liked it! (Before that, I was kind of ambivalent about it, due to the overage of ruffles.)
If you do that (the skirt changes I suggested), then I think you can go back and take another look at the fabric combinations you suggested (and our comments), and you may end up deciding your choices will work after all! I’m looking forward to seeing others’ suggestions, and what you finally decide!
HI Charlotte,
The evening was very nice and festive and Norma said it was her best birthday party ever! Yay!
It’s nice and sunny today, but very cold. The sun is shining so it looks like it’s warmer outside than it really is. It’s 21 but feels like it’s 18 degrees. That’s better than it was when I got up… It was 9!
Maybe it’s the length of the dress that’s the problem, so maybe shortening it might solve that. I’m still deciding what to do… I probably shouldn’t have shared anything until I was certain what I was doing…
Thanks for your opinions Charlotte!
Blessings, Jeanne
I love the ruffle, ruffle, ruffle of the pattern and the dress Nyssa modeled so successfully. And I wanted the pink, but I just looked over at the date on the computer and tried to see a way that the dress would be made and in the hands of a new buyer by the 14th and unless we chain you to the sewing machine (after than dinner, you could probably skip food for a couple of days), I can’t see how it could be done. Besides, if George is under the weather and trying to fix a wall, he deserves all the help and good food he can get.
I looked at the skirt with only one ruffle, as Charlotte suggested, and I saw this outfit in greens and browns, for the emerging colors of spring and for St. Patrick’s Day. There’s something about the shorter length and maybe boots that seems spring-like — I suppose I want to keep Nyssa’s skirt out of puddles and mud. I’d still go with the scarf, and maybe a hat besides for another look, or possibly to wear over the scarf for a third look. I’m wondering about a brimmed straw hat. It’s too early to tell but it might be possible. Interesting that I like it shorter for spring but longer again for summer — I may get my pinks yet.
Now you have a couple of major new ideas. I can’t wait to see what else people come up with. You may have to spend another day fabric shopping in your sewing room instead of sewing, and I can see that you may be spending a sizable chunk of the day in the blue bathroom, which, by the way, is an admirable color. Whatever happens, I don’t see you spending the day relaxing in front of the fireplace, but maybe this evening?
It’s 1 degree here and I’m planning to go nowhere. I hope those of you in other cold places can do the same.
I nearly forgot — that dress is remarkable — you do need to see how the sleeves work and show us, if possible. And what a lovely model. She’s perfect for that dress, or better, the dress is perfect for her.
HI Marilyn,
I don’t think I can chain myself to my sewing machine (as much as that sounds like a good idea) because I have a Couples’ party to plan now. I have a head start on it, but the sewing will be limited until after the 13th. Such is life!
George bundled up and went up on the room, with his knee pads on. He looked a little goofy but he tried to seal up the spots that he thought were letting the water in.
I do have some straw hats that actually fit Nyssa quite well… remember the red dress she modeled and wore a red straw hat. Maybe I should get those out and see if they change my outlook on this…
I might have to keep looking as you suggested and see if something really jumps out at me when I set a hat on her head…
As far as the color in my bathroom, it’s called Everest Rest, by Dutch Boy paints. It’s a very cool and calming color, changing color from green to blue depending on the amount of light in the room.
I AM going to ask Sayaka if I can take pictures of those sleeves to show everyone. They were really different. I want to find out where it came from too.. .I don’t think it’s an American made dress.
Thanks Marilyn,
Blessings, Jeanne
So much in only one day!!
The party looks wonderful and so does the sweet octogenarian! Yummmmm… potato leek soup created by the SAME chef 35 years later??! How often does that happen??
The Black dress has very interesting sleeves.. they appear to be gathered inside beginning at the elbow as they flare out from there. We seamstresses love checking out RTW :)!
It’s cold her in SoCal too., nothing like where you are.. but our blood is so thin, it feels like it. We have snow in our mountains st 4500 feet and that’s an hour from the ocean❄️?
Hopefully George feels better today.. dealing with rain leaktis no fun☹️☹️
Easter and Bohemian…hmmmm.. that reminds me of the middle school graduation dress I made for my oldest daughter.. it was a long dress, soft peach “squaw cloth”, ivory Cluny lace., with eyelet bodice ribbon laced up the front…and a pattern I know you’ll remember from the ‘70’s.. Gunny Sax:)
My Cindy looked gorgeous in it on gradation day.,
Maybe a solid color for Nyssa would work better too?
Oh my goodness. I haven’t thought of Gunny Sax in a long time. I had a lot of those dresses in the early 1980s. I loved them. Then I made several dresses from Gunny Sax patterns. That was back when I had a waist and all my other parts were in the right places and minimized. I can’t even imagine wearing one of those today. I have a picture of me in one when my daughter was seven months old. Every time I see it, I marvel at the changes time makes. Thanks for the memory.
HI Shara,
I know what you mean about that soup… How could I NOT get it after all those years. I meant to ask for a cup of it to bring home to my hubby, but totally forgot until we were on our way home.
I’ll try to get pictures of those sleeves so we can all study how they were done! :o)
I made my wedding dress from a Gunne Sax pattern so I know what you mean about the lace up style. Mine had buttons down the back with little loops. I’ll try to add a picture of the pattern.
Thanks Shara,
Blessings, Jeanne
What a beautiful lady with so many friends. Congratulations! It’s hard to believe a restaurant would allow someone to bring in dessert! Wine, yes, for a price, but dessert? What’s the name of the restaurant so we can look up the menu and interesting interior. Congrats to the chef who makes the soup for 35 years, too. I was also fascinated by the dessert plate under your great chocolate pudding cakes. The service plates seem to be all alike but were the dessert plates, too? They look like antiques, although the High Tea Society website that I follow has a link today with a source for all kinds of interesting new plates of different sizes but very expensive. I’ve had some of the little white shells for years courtesy of Home Goods.
The very sophisticated dress the lovely Japanese lady is wearing looks to have the sleeves made with a shorter underlining sewn in the same way harem dress or pants are made that holds the sleeve or pant leg in check and allows it to fluff out at the bottom. It’s truly lovely and I haven’t seen anything like it before.
Your pond looks beautiful. I hope George is doing better and that you both hold to not doing anymore rehabs. Exposure to all that dust, mold and other materials can’t be good for either of you. Time to enjoy your “Golden Years?” and your own lovely home?
HI Susette,
Some restaurants won’t let you, but I think they let us because I just did! :o) I even gave our waiter a lava cake since I had 2 left over! He knew he was going to get lots of tips so he was very cordial to the idea! :o)
The restaurant is in Herrin Illinois and is called Mary’s. They don’t even have a sign out front… they don’t need one. They probably couldn’t handle the business. I’ll see if I can’t attach the menu that we were sent… be back in a minute…
Mary’s Menu
Well, it took me forever to get that link added in for Mary’s menu but maybe you’ll enjoy looking at it.
The dessert plates are actually a very pretty blue with the gold edging…and they were striking, I have to admit. They came from Hobby Lobby.
I am going to have to steal Sayaka’s dress for a few minutes and do a photo shoot on those sleeves… I’ll try to hurry and get those pictures.
George and I were home bodies today… just taking it easy. I did go over to Alba’s for a while to visit with her and Sara came in from school.
Tomorrow is Saturday and I’m not sure what’s on my (oops… my hubby’s) list! :o)
Thanks Susette,
Blessings, Jeanne
Rain first! Sounds like you are due for that new roof. All of those leaks are not good at all. Is there any way you or a young teenager, not George, can get into the attic and put out some large buckets to catch the flow before it runs down into the house? We used to do that years ago and it prevented a lot of interior damage. Hate seeing the house develop mold.
What a delightful dinner for a young 80 year old. Your lava cake looked delicious and seeing those dinners, yum.
That lovely dress looks vaguely familiar. I think I had something with similar sleeves way back in the early 60’s. Is the dress new or vintage? It looks vintage to me and exceptional on your friend.
We too have rain coming in today which will prevent us from another day of blackberry hacking. 🙂 We uncovered several large pots and a stand yesterday of which I’d completely forgotten. And I found one of my variegated lavender/white iris still alive. Hope we find more. We’re headed towards the Japanese maple and hope to unleash it from it’s tangle of vines on our next quest. However, that will have to wait until it dries out a bit.
Looking forward to what you decide on Nyssa’s next dress. Lots of great reader suggestions too. Hope George is feeling better and your house stays dry.
HI Joy,
I “know” we need a new roof, but can’t do it now! eep! The parts where it leaks is a flat roof…so there is no getting up in the attic… it’s just the roof, the boards and the under side to our ceiling. Not great, but we know eventually it will have to be fixed. I guess we need to start a roof fund! :o)
I’m actually not sure if it was new or vintage. I’ll have to find that out too.
We have lots of flooding around here… there is a road sign just past our driveway where the water got stopped up from a clogged culvert and had no where to go but back up. What happens around here is the water makes the ground too saturated and then when wind or ice comes, the trees fall over because the roots are too soggy.
Suggestions from readers doesn’t always mean I’ve reached a solution. I’m still letting it simmer in my brain as to what to do!
Thanks Joy,
Blessings, Jeanne
Oh yes, know of the flat roof. We had one on an addition my dad built to the rest of his build in the 1950’s. Very difficult. We’re dealing with an Eichler style roof at the house we’re trying to sell. Other person’s parents house. Tar/gravel and nearing the end of it’s life. Only way they will replace out here now is with a membrane. Very expensive. Just not enough slope for shingles. 🙁
I’m finally here today, Jeanne! What a lot to write about and even more what to think about when writing!
Your friend is such a lovely, youthful looks 80 year old! Are you sure she’s 80? Who would ever guess? That party looked just lovely, and the food delicious! And the potato-leek soup, heavenly! What a lovely evening you had!
Oh, yes, the rain! Our sump pump went out several weeks ago. Luckily, Michael bought a new one and installed it a week ago, so just in the knick of time! And your bathroom, oh dear! I hope you can get that taken care of before the next big rainstorm, whenever that may be. I hope George is feeling better. If it’s any comfort, a lot of people are sick with the flu and some sort of stomach bug.
This cold weather is brutal! I was putting my groceries in the car this morning, and with the cold air and breeze, I could not feel my face, if you know what I mean! Couldn’t get the groceries in the car soon enough!
About what to do with the dress, I have no firm opinion on it. You have received a lot of ideas already, and I don’t want to get you more confused! I do think this will be for
Easter, right? I’d prefer a pretty straw hat over a scarf if that is what you are making it for. And the pink pieces would be very Easter and springlike. The paisley one would work more for summer, and maybe 4th of July?
HI Linda,
Norma is the sweetest woman and she and my mom used to be best friends before my mom started losing her memory. My mom just couldn’t contribute much to the friendship so it kind of “isn’t” anymore. They are still friends, but I’m not sure my mom can even remember her name.. It’s sad!
I think more is supposed to come on Sunday, so maybe I can get it fixed by then… My hubby got up on the roof over that part and tried to patch it with some Flex Seal stuff. Let’s hope it works!
Like I mentioned above, I’m still working out my thoughts for Nyssa’s dress. This isn’t the first time I’ve had a brain funk about a dress. I’m sure I’ll get it figured out…
Thanks Linda,
Blessings, Jeanne
Dear Jeanne, what a beautiful birthday lady! It is so wonderful to share significant birthday years with family and friends.
We only have to wait 82 days until May 1. I think we will all be dancing around the Maypole then (laugh).
HI Dorothy,
82 Days??? I was hoping it was less than that, but that’s less than 3 months, so surely we can all hang in there for that long!
Spring, I’m waiting for you!
Blessings, Jeanne
What an enjoyable birthday party and that potato leek soup sounds delicious. I love soup in the wintertime. Yes, we’ve had a lot of rain as well, an inch each day for the past two. The worst part is the temperature swings. I think yesterday was in the fifties and today was in the twenties. I’m counting the days until spring which can’t come fast enough.
HI Laura,
Dorothy just told me it’s only 82 days until spring so we can do this! Yes we can!
I like soups too! I don’t like all the rain we’ve had, but who am I to do anything about it!
I just keep telling myself, rain makes the flowers come up! So go ahead…and rain!
Thanks Laura,
Blessings, Jeanne
I love the dress on Sayaka. I too would like to know how the sleeves are done. Very nice birthday party for a lovely lady. Hubby and I have a friend in Colorado who will be 102 this August. She has a friend she hangs out with that is a year older. We went up for her 100th birthday, and while we don’t make all her birthdays, when we visit Colorado each summer we try to get by for a visit. She’s amazing. She walks around the block every morning using a walker. She lived alone and drove until she was 98.
I think my cold has totally befuddled my thoughts because I really am braindead about suggesting anything for Nissa’s new dress. Although I can see that dress “as is” in lovely coordinating florals. Definitely would be Easter and summer like.
This past week we have had summer, fall and now winter weather. We actually had our A/C on early in the week. Temperatures were in the high 70s, but so much humidity that the house was very uncomfortable. Finally we put on the A/C at night. Yesterday morning it was 72 when I got up. By 11:00 a.m. the front had come through and it was 58. Time to turn on the heater. And the temps went down all day long. It was in the low 30s overnight and hasn’t been above 35 all day. And windy. Awhile ago we had some sleet, but thankfully not much. My son was out here and needed to drive back to Houston. Problem with having this crazy weather is that I get a cold, even when I dress for the weather.
Hope George is feeling better.
Thanks Barbara,
I’m glad everyone loved the post today… even though it didn’t have anything to do with dolls or dresses (well, except Sayaka’s dress sleeves.)
That’s an incredible story about your friend who is almost 102! I hope I’m that spry when I’m that old! :o)
Your weather in Texas sounds like southern Illinois. The saying around here goes… if you don’t like the weather one day, just hang around and you’ll probably get something you like in the next few days! That’s the way it’s been lately. Yesterday from about 2:00 till 9:00 there was a 40 degree drop in the weather. Today it never got up to 30… it’s been very cold and windy here. Spring come quickly!!!
Thanks Barbara,
Blessings, Jeanne