It's a cat's life

It's really hard work trying to find a pool of sunshine, especially when Mom keeps the blinds drawn to keep the house cool.

But that's okay...when I do find one, it's the perfect place for a catnap.

=^..^=

Houston, we have a problem

It's called the weather. We have been here 6 years this month, and for the most part we like everything about the city except the weather. This is the indoor/outdoor thermometer at 8:10 yesterday morning. I can't figure out why the little face is smiling. I guess because it's only outside that it's 81º and 80% humidity. What bothers me the most is that we are only two months into summer, with at least three months to go.

Birthday goodies

I hinted, well more than hinted, that I wanted a new iPhone for my birthday, the day after it was released. I must give Mike credit for even trying to get me one. He went to the Apple Store in the Galleria, but said that the wait in line was 4 hours. The next day he went to an AT&T store where they had 16 phones for the 25+ people in line. I guess I will be buying my own when all the hype dies down. He did bring me these gorgeous star gazer lilies, one of my favorites.

And while he was at the Galleria he bought me some more of my new dishes, so I now have 8 dinner plates, 8 salad plates and 6 pasta/soup bowls. I thought it would be easier to take a picture of them on the floor. The cats were interested, wondering why there were empty dishes on the floor.

Marjorie, my dear friend of 40+ years, sent me these delights. Her very talented husband Peter made the ladybug house. It is just too cute! I told her that I can't actually use it, because the sun down here would fade the paint, but I am going to find a shady spot for it on my screen porch. And look at those cherry boots...I can't wait for it to rain!

She is very artistic and talented as well. She made these adorable earrings for me.

No iPhone, but lots of other treasures!

Birthday dinner and breakfast the next morning

My birthday was yesterday and we went for the first time to DaMarco. We had heard good things about it and our foodie daughter had told us that is was listed in Gourmet's America's Top 50 Restaurants (the only other two on the list we have eaten at are Zuni Cafe and Sanford). The food and service were both great. The menu has changed a bit from the one on their website. I had branzino carpaccio with pine nuts and seared foie gras, gnocchi with wild boar sausage and fava beans, the veal chop and a cheese course. Mike had a yellow beefsteak, arugula, goat cheese and salami salad, the papardelle with rabbit, roasted swordfish and panna cotta. I had thought about taking my camera, as Kate had requested pictures, but I decided that I would just enjoy my dinner. (I later regretted not having my camera when we were leaving and outside was parked a humongous Rolls-Royce with a baby carseat in the back...that I would have taken a picture of!) I did find this picture of the fabulous wine we had with dinner, though.


We were so full last night, even with bringing home half of our secondi, that I didn't think I would ever be hungry again. But around 10 this morning we were both ready for breakfast. I remember having seen this recipe in the new Bon Appetit.

Poached Eggs and Parmesan Cheese over Toasted Brioche with Pistou

We had all the ingredients (except the brioche bread, so I substituted some sourdough I had in the freezer), and it was delicious! I was actually going to take my own picture, but had inadvertently left my camera on and the battery was dead as a doornail, so I stole this one from the Bon Appetit website. Mine looked pretty much like this, except greener because I used all of the pistou. We will definitely make this again.


Mike is off to DC for a few days, so I am off to leftovers for dinner...his swordfish as a primi and my veal shank as a secondi.

I <3 Costco

I took my quilt top and back out to Quilt 'n Sew today to have it long-armed quilted. Diane did such a nice job on Kate and Kyle's wedding quilt and I wanted to get this one done by her as well. She said it should be done by the end of August. I will share pictures when I get it back.

I decided to stop at Costco on my way home. I rarely go there because it is in a really inconvenient location. They are building a new once about 3.5 miles from us...I can't wait till it opens in September! My cool find today was this great immersion blender with a detachable blade for $30! I have an old Braun one that works fine, but I never feel like I get it really clean. This one has a blade you can take of and throw in the dishwasher. It also has a little chopper bowl (like a mini food processor) the top of which you attach the motor to...very slick.

Other great buys...2# of organic hummus for $6, 1# of organic spring mix for $4, fresh wild-caught sockeye salmon for $9 a pound, 750 of ibuprofen for $6.45, 300 generic Zyrtec for $14.67 and premium gas for $4.14, and oh yeah, Columbia Crest Grand Estates Chardonnay 2006 for $8.69.

My latest project, and a few hints for Heloise

First a few tips from my own personal experience. When I was working on Kate's wedding quilt I talked about tilting your sewing machine so that you can look down on your work without leaning over it. There are some expensive devices out there that accomplish this, but a couple of rubber doorstops from Lowe's work just as well.

I did garment construction for close to 40 years before I started quilting. This is a little trick I have never seen anyone use in any of the quilting classes I have taken, but it works very well to get your seams to lay flat when pressing. In this block I have seams going both ways. (Don't forget to click on the photo to see the detail up close.)

So in the middle I clipped the seam allowance to the seam and was able to press half the seam one way and half the other way. It makes for a much sharper pressing.

This was such a fun pattern, and quick to do, especially using the jelly roll. These are my finished blocks.

And this is the finished quilt top! The weather was so nasty today...90º and rainy...that I just stayed inside and sewed.


Now I am anxious to get it quilted . I hope to take it out to the quilt shop tomorrow. I didn't buy fabric for the backing, but I think I will just use this older Mary Engelbreit fabric from my stash. It doesn't match exactly, but well enough for the backing, I think.
Graycie was comfy sleeping on this work-in-progress, another ME quilt that is all sandwiched and pinned. I am going to machine quilt this one myself, soon!

Fun in Fort Worth

We went up to Mansfield for the 4th to visit my mom and brother and his girls. I have a birthday coming up and my mom insisted that I open my present. She says that I am hard to buy for and was so thrilled that she found something I really wanted. I guess my sister must have told her. Aren't they pretty?




On Saturday we went to the Kimball Art Museum in Fort Worth to see The Impressionsists from the Art Institute of Chicago...a fabulous exhibit! Afterwards, I took my mom down the street to Cabbage Rose Quilt Shop. It is a great shop in an old grocery store, with tin ceilings and wooden screen doors. They were having a sale, 10% off everything! I picked up the new Sandy Gervais Merry & Bright panel

and jelly roll. They are the same colors as her Holly Jolly from last year.
And of course I had to get the new Mary Engelbreit Isn't Christmas Jolly? panel

and the jelly roll too.

Now off to work on my latest project.

200 days, but who's counting?

I AM!!! I haven't gotten political here for a while, but sometimes I just can't help myself. Let's see...we're in an unwinnable war in Iraq, things are heating up in Afghanistan (where we never finished what we started), the Dow in is a bear market, global warming (the existence of which the current occupant denied until about a year ago) is wreaking havoc on the weather, gas is over $4 a gallon, the dollar is at an all time low against the euro, the national debt is $9 TRILLION, there is a major drug war taking place just across our border. Could this country be in any worse shape? How can people continue to defend this man?

(Sorry about the run-on sentence...I tend to rant about this subject, just ask my husband.)

My sister made me do it!

I had promised myself that I wouldn't start a new project until I finished something that I had already started. But last week when my sister was here for a short visit, she mentioned that she was hoping to learn how to quilt this summer. Well, I had this jelly roll...


And this pattern...

And I thought it would just be easier to show her, so I have yet another project started! Pics of work in progress soon!

My name is Pam and I am a dishaholic

I don't know why, but I LOVE dishes. I just do, always have, always will. And I don't want to stop, so forget about that 12 step thing. At present I have 6+ sets. This is the Fiestaware we use everyday,

as well as frequently for entertaining.

I have a complete set of Mary Engelbreit's Afternoon Tea that I have never used, but I hope to rectify that when all my ME pals come to visit this fall for the quilt festival.

My grandmother had this Johnson Brothers Apple Harvest in the 60s. I inherited the last remaining vegetable bowl she had, and have added enough pieces from eBay to serve 6-10.

Same story here...these were the dishes we had in the 50s, before my mother got Poppytrail Harvest Provincial (my brother has those). They are Buck's County by Royal of Sebring, Ohio. My mother gave me her last remaining piece, a chop plate, several years ago. I was good with that for a while, but then started looking on eBay. I now have more pieces of this than she ever had!


We also have Spode Christmas Tree. Mike had four plates and mugs and a tidbit tray from his mother, which we have added to over the years.

Our "good china" is Wedgwood Wild Strawberry. Back when the kids were still at home we used to use it fairly often for special occasions and holidays like Easter and Thanksgiving. Now we go to my brother's for Easter and Thanksgiving and I only use it occasionally. The last time was Valentine's Day.

When my sister was here last week (more about that later), we were at Macy's and I found this new Martha Stewart Wedgwood Conservatory Collection stoneware. It has mix and match blue and brown transferware patterns am absolutely in love with it! I tried to download a picture, but this was the best I could do. If you follow the link there are lots more pictures and you can see how gorgeous it is! It would be perfect for those times when the Fiesta is just too casual and the Wild Strawberry is too formal, don't you think?

Another vintage pattern

I found this on the Flickr vintage apron patterns group.

While I don't have the actual pattern, I do have this picture of my brother and me on Easter 1959. The dress was a brown cotton with tiny blue flowers and the pinafore was a pale blue organdy, both sewn by my mother.

My brother is the one who turned 50 last February. He's taller than me now.

I <3 April Cornell

I was so sad when they closed all the U.S. stores a few years ago due to some financial reorganization issues. I loved shopping there. Shopping online for clothing like this just isn't the same. I want to see and touch and feel all the pretty fabrics. It drove my daughter crazy because I would spent hours picking out one dress. So when we were in Philadelphia last week, I had to go the store there, one of only three they reopened in the U.S. I was thrilled to find that they were having a sale and I was able to buy three dresses for a total of $90. This is the "Fable dress" in black cotton with crocheted trim.

The "Genevieve dress" in celadon cotton with lace sleeves and bodice that remind me of those machine made lace tablecloths.

And my favorite, the "Mayur dress," in this fabulous rayon art deco floral.

I LOVE the embroidered ribbon trim!

So now I have my April Cornell fix for a while. And best of all, I got it in Pennsylvania where, unlike Texas, there is no sales tax on clothing!

June 28, 1970

I was reading the Pink Penguin yesterday and totally freaked out when she blogged about buying this pattern at a thrift shop. I have this pattern, and amazingly I was able to put my hands on it!


But what is even more amazing is that I was able to find this picture of me (and my first husband, John, before we were married) wearing the dress that I made from it. And yes, it really was that short!

Blogging on vacation

We are in Philadelphia for the RTOG meeting, which started on Thursday. I talked Mike into taking a few days of vacation and we went to Lancaster County for the beginning of the week. We stayed at the Vogt Farm B&B and went to Gettysburg for a day. Mike is at his meeting, and here I am...blogging while on vacation. Some photos from our stay...it is an actual farm.


With this lovely farm house...


Complete with a grain elevator...

and cows...


and corn...

and a gray barn cat...


This was our room. Kind of 80s country decor, but very comfortable. And you will notice that the windows were open. They had temperatures in the 90s the week before, but it was wonderfully cool when we were there. We even got to sleep with the windows open...something that never happens in Houston. I slept like a baby!

Here in Philly we are staying at the Loew's Philadelphia. It's in the great old art deco PSFS building and right across from the Macy's in the old John Wanamaker store. I happened to be there Thursday evening while the organ recital was going on...quite a unique experience.

Soap opera box

I came across this great vintage wrapping paper in some stuff from my grandma that I saved when we closed down her house 6 years ago and moved her into assisted living. It is so classic, and I am always looking for "masculine" wrapping paper.

Well, of course I didn't want to actually use it and have it be torn off and thrown away. So I decided to make what my friend Margie and I call a "soap opera box." If you have ever watched a soap opera (All My Children has been my guilty pleasure for the last 30 years :-) you may have noticed that when anyone gets a present, it is always in a box that can be opened by just taking the top off. I didn't do a very pretty job of this from the inside...

...but the outside looks great, and it can be used over and over, year after year for Fathers' Day and birthdays as well. And he probably won't even notice.

Best salmon ever

We LOVE salmon and eat it at least once every other week. I must admit that I usually buy the fresh farm-raised Atlantic salmon, despite the whole wild vs. fresh controversy. It's cheaper and tastes better than the "previously frozen" wild stuff. Well, it's the season for Copper River salmon right now, which is apparently the best salmon you can buy. I say apparently because it is between $30 and $40 a pound at Whole Foods and Central Market. So when Randall's (aka Safeway) had it on sale for $14.99 a pound, I ignored my dislike for shopping there and bought some. It was gorgeous.

And now I am going to share with you the recipe for the best salmon ever, even if you are using farm-raised or previously frozen. These are the ingredients you will need:

First, make the sauce:

1 stick unsalted butter
2 garlic cloves, sliced
1/4 C. soy sauce
2 T. American-style mustard
1 T. ketchup
1 T. Worchestershire sauce

Combine all the ingredients in a saucepan over low heat. Simmer until the butter is melted and the flavors are well blended, about 15 minutes.


In the meantime, start your grill. We use a charcoal Weber, but I guess you could use a gas grill, just as long as it has a cover. When the coals are HOT, brush the salmon fillet with a generous amount of sauce. Put the salmon skin side down on the grill and cover. Cook for 8 -10 minutes (we like ours on the medium rare side). Uncover the grill and slide large spatula between the skin and the meat. Leaving the skin on the grill, remove it onto a platter.

We have served this at numerous dinner parties (and had probably eaten it a hundred times ourselves) and it always gets rave reviews. Try it and let me know what you think!