Summer and Lots of Pictures of Ruby

 Five Days old and out for a walk

 Eight days old

 Father's Day, and one week old

 June 20th, David's birthday

 Fourth of July,  Almost 8 weeks old

Hi everyone, I didn't mean to disappear for so long!  Starting to put pictures up of Ruby to make some kind of chronological picture story of her growth. Of course I could flood the entire blog post with just pictures of her, but I resisted and inserted a few family celebrations and fourth of July. I had to work on Father's day....oops forgot to ask for the day off, so David spent the time with the kids while I was at work for 4 hours. The night before I marinated some flank steak using my favorite recipe I found on Pinterest. Then Monday was our 35th wedding anniversary! We went to Chez Panisse for dinner and it was a really lovely ride over to Berkeley, as we went on the back roads. One day break in the celebrations, then it was David's birthday.  He decided he wanted to spend the day in Berkeley and Oakland having lunch and visiting some of his favorite shops to spend some birthday money.  We stopped by one of our favorite chocolate shops in Berkeley called Casa de Chocolates, ( click on name to check out this great shop.) and bought some Tres Leches cake to celebrate at home with Caitlin and Ruby...Cyrous is teaching summer school so could not be with us. We saved him a piece of cake though!

Ruby, Ruby.....what can I say? She is a delight and a dream come true, I'm really enjoying being a grandparent. We are fortunate to live so close to them that we can see her at least once a week. I have taken quite a bit of photos as you can imagine, so get ready for most of my posts to have pictures on this sweet angel baby. On fourth of July she wore that little knit onesie I made with my first adventure on my serger. She many not get to wear it very much, since she is growing so fast! She is already almost 12 pounds and almost 24 inches long. We think that she is going to have her daddy's long legs. It's fun to see each week how much she has changed. When I look back at the first few weeks of her life up until now, she is a whole different little baby! Her cute little personality is starting to shine through and she is now flashing real smiles at us. She also loves to stare intently at us and we have all had fun having staring contests with her.  She's a joy!

Summer so far has been quite nice, due to lovely weather. I can't even complain as usual. It makes for a nice gentle pace, and because of this I have been spending more time out on the patio enjoying the new humming bird feeder we bought. I use to have this really neat red glass feeder, but it leaked sadly, and it seemed not to be visited as much. So we bought this old school one and some really nice nectar with electrolytes and other nutrients in it. They sure are greedy little guys. The other day I took the feeder off the hook to replenish their treats, and one hovered in the empty spot and stared at me through the kitchen window quite disappointed and flitted off. Soon as I hung it back up, he was back in a matter of seconds. The feeder is near our neighbors giant apple tree, so I think they feel really protected while consuming their treat. In the mornings I love to sit on the patio and watch them zoom in and out. Lots of fighting between them as well, but for the most part they are civil.  Best money I have spent to date!

Last week I got two cape orders. It seems each year it gets earlier and earlier, and always is hard to cut hot wool on a summers day. After I got the orders, I realized those were the last two that I could make since I ran out of wool. I quickly called my supplier and thank the lord above they had a whole bolt of it. I raced over there and this time bought the whole bolt from them. Usually I buy a handful of yards as the orders come in, but I decided to be better prepared for the cape season and go for the entire bolt. I stopped by the sewing machine shop, that I bought my Bernina, to also by more special red thread for the heart embroidery that I do on them. The sales woman gave me a demo on the newest Babylock serger. Man oh man.....I was impressed and really want one now. I had told her that it took forever for me to use mine because the threading etc. She said that shouldn't be the case if you had one that worked as well as the Babylock one. She was right! So simple and endless creative ideas could unfold with it. Price tag is steep, but I think I'll start saving up for one. Plus they said they would take mine in as a trade in, so it could knock the price down a bit, not much I'm sure, as mine is a low rent Brother. Well.....it's now my new goal though to have one!
I'm still working on my new merchandise ideas...slow going, but it's getting there.

Well guys, I'm off to enjoy the day....hope summer is treating everyone well.

It Was Ten Years Ago Today.....

Before I launch into what I have been up to since I last popped on here, I'd like to reminisce a bit on having a blog for 10 years. 10 years! I can hardly believe it has been that long, and yet when I scroll through my archives, I see a lot of life lived in those ten years. I miss people actively participating on personal blogs like they use to when I started back in 2008. I think the blog that started it all for me was Alicia's blog, "Posie Gets Cozy." Her blog sparked my desire to start my own and document my ordinary life, and also to share some recipes and sewing projects. Having this blog has come in handy many times when I want to remember what I did for a holiday or a flower arrangement I wanted to do again etc. I have also made many good virtual friends as well!  Do you also remember when blogs were super popular and we had giveaways? I loved participating in that. I won some pretty good stuff and  I also gave away some great prizes. I also loved "corners of my home" posts, because who doesn't like to snoop in homes and see how others live? Instagram really put a big hole in people writing personal blogs. I do love Instagram though, but I like writing my thoughts in this format a bit better. I would have liked to do a giveaway of sorts for my 10 year anniversary, like I did in the past when I hit a milestone with this blog, but I feel that people are shy to leave comments and participate  on here, so it would be a bit odd to do one. I just want you to know that even though I struggle to get on here and write posts, I will continue doing my best even though it seems like I have disappeared for an eternity.

Ok, enough on that topic. Since I last posted, I had friends over for dinner, which I haven't done in a while so that was fun. I made Osso Buco, and an epiphany cake. This cake didn't turn out as good as last year. Not sure what happened with the pastry, but the flavor was tasty at least.  The main reason for my absence is mostly because I have been working on Caitlin's baby shower. I can't post very many pictures of what I have been working on, except the little flower letters that are pictured. That little project was super fun to make, and I'm impressed with how far silk flowers have come! I usually shun them, but for a cute little project like this, they can't be beat. This will be part of the decor for the shower and later for little miss Ruby's bedroom. I can't wait to show you all the details of the shower when I can. As you might have already guessed, I'm also sewing up a storm for baby girl too. I'm trying not to get too carried away, because I want to see what her coloring is and how big she is so that I can better gauge what to make, but of course I have to make something tiny for now :)

This past weekend we went to St. Helena for brunch with Caitlin and Cyrous, to a place called  Archetype. It was pretty good, and I loved the decor of the restaurant. You can click on the name and it will take you to their site.  I really love the drive to St. Helena, because you get to see all the beautiful vineyards and everything is in bloom right now. Fields and fields of mustard flowers and cherry blossoms. I was hoping that the horrific fires we had this past fall didn't damage too much. I was pleased to see mother nature has began to carpet the landscape with green grass and wild flowers. You still could see the scorched trees, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would look. On our way back home, we stopped in Napa to visit the "Ox Bow Public Market." I had no idea this wonderful place existed! Now I know where I'll be going for lunch next time I'm roaming in that neck of the woods. The photos above show a little bit of the market place. There are quite a few restaurants that will have to be tried. We were short on time when we walked through, so I can't wait to go back and take some more time looking around.

The patterns pictured are a couple I purchased last week, and I can't wait to sew a little something for myself once I finish my Ruby projects. The pattern on the right, I'll be making the blouse version instead of the dress. For the "Tea House" dress I'm trying to find some nice rayon or really soft linen. I'm not sure yet. I bought some cotton lawn ages ago, and I might practice with that fabric before I commit to something on the more pricey side. The fabric store I go to in Berkeley, sews up samples of these indie patterns and it's so fun to see how they turn out. I really loved the Tea House dress, so I'm looking forward to making it. The liberty fabric came the other day in the mail. They had a sale of sorts on Fabric.com, so I decided to grab some of the ones I have been wanting. Also, there was a print called "Lillian's Berries" that I use to have, and made a little top out of it ages ago. I loved that print, but sold the shirt and thought I could get more. Nope, it was no where to be found in all my searches. So, I decided to ask around on Instagram to some fabric IG people to see if someone had some in their stash that they might want to sell. Bingo! Some sweet person in England had a yard and sold it to me, and I received it today. I'll be hoarding that for bit, and will be making something for Ruby in the future.
Well, I'm off to watch a bit of the Olympics.

10 years people......10 years. Lets hope I'll still be on here for a bit longer!
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Summer's End

Oh wow, I didn't realize I let my blog collect dust since August 3rd! I'll do a quick round up of what I've been up to. The first couple of pictures are at the Alameda Flea Market. We took our niece Natalia with us, along with Caitlin and Cyrous, to wander through 800 plus vendors of all sorts of goodies. I love going to this flea market, yet I always arrive around 1 and it shuts down at 3, so I never give myself enough time to really look at more than a dozen or so. It was still a fun day, and we ended up at the St. George gin distillery that was near by. We love their product and had lots of fun trying some of their other spirits.

Not long ago I came across a funny post on Instagram that read: August is the Sunday of summer. I thought that was pretty funny, and envisioned sad summer lovers kicking and screaming because the season is almost over. Meanwhile I'm already looking everywhere for signs of fall with joy in my heart haha. Caitlin and I took a little walk around Berkeley not long ago and I snapped a few pics of the beautiful leave that you see above. I know that technically Fall isn't official until late September, but soon as I turn the calendar to September....Summer is OVER hahaha.

We are finally finished with all the peaches on the trees!! Sheesh there were so many this year, that I just ran out of things to do with them and started giving them away for others to enjoy. They were so beautiful this year. I never ended up making a pie with them like I had planned. I think mainly because I made a lot of rustic tarts, and was just burnt out. I also don't like having too many desserts hanging out in the house.  The tomato tart that is pictured was so good! It was such a simple recipe from one of my French cookbooks, that I really wondered if it was going to be any good since it was so simple in the ingredients. I could easily make another one of those. They only taste good of course with those beautiful heirloom tomatoes, and soon those will be gone in the markets.  I also managed to make my favorite blueberry coffee cake not long ago, after I over bought some blueberries. It's what I do all the time...I go to Berkeley Bowl and have a zillion ideas for meals and treats, then over buy. I seem to forget there are only so many hours in a day, and I can't possibly be making elaborate meals and get other things done, like pieces for my Etsy shop, and my part time Anthropologie job.

Speaking of my shop, I just completed the little outfit above and it was very fun to make. The embroidery part turned out nice I think, and I want to do more pieces like this.
Today I worked on a co-workers baby gift, and tomorrow I'm making another outfit for the other lovely lady that is due a month after. Both are having girls, so naturally I had to make them something. I hope they like what I chose to make them. I see both of them on Friday and will present them with their little gifts.
The picture of my living room is the day of the eclipse. I didn't go outside to try and see it. I just watched how odd the lighting got in the house, and laughed when my little Riki bird got weirded out and thought it was time to go to sleep. He napped for a solid 20 minutes, something he never does in the morning hours.
 No other news from my camp, just chugging along. I'll share photos of the gifts I made for my co-workers in my next post. Right now I have to get in that room and get cutting and sewing the last outfit.  Catch you later!