Thursday, April 28, 2016

Thrifty Thursday

Gentle Friends, I found a few fun things over the weekend, here's a snap...


... from L to R... a great  - and very heavy - bright cut "Ice Bowl", you know how I love me some bright cut glass!!... and older, cloisonne bowl in really super condition ca 1910...  5 luster ware plates, this is such a hard pattern to find.  I got the first pieces from my mom's house as they were originally from my grandmothers, now I have 13 of them......the porcelain bottle with cherry blossoms is really old, I had been watching it for about a month at the Goodwill and when it went half price I snapped that sucker up!!.... I also found a couple of movies......  so not too bad.  I hit the usual places and an Estate Sale.
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That's about it for today sports fans, thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,
edgar

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

A Little Bakin'

Gentle Friends, I mentioned that we got some wonderful lemons from a friends tree... I  put some to work in an easy treat....

.... from the oven....

... I found a recipe on line and tweaked it quite a bit here's the recipe....

Lemon Bars
1 C Butter - room temp
1/2 C Sugar
2 C A/P Flour
Dash of Salt

6 Eggs - room temp
2 1/4 C Sugar
1/2 C A/P Flour
1 C Fresh Lemon Juice
3 Tbls Lemon Zest
Dash of Salt
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Preheat oven to 350 - line a 9 x 13 pan with Parchment paper, spray with Pam.

For the crust - blend the 1C butter, 1/2 C sugar, 2 C Flour and dash of salt, press into the pan and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until light brown.  

In a clean bowl whisk together 2 1/4 C sugar the 1/2 C flour and salt.  In a small bowl mix together juice, zest and eggs -  add the egg mixture to the flour mixture, pour over the warm crust and bake for about 20 to 25 minutes until pale brown and set.  After taking out of the oven immediately sprinkle with icing sugar and let cool before cutting.
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That's about it for today sports fans, thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,
edgar

Monday, April 25, 2016

A Little Stitchin' on a WIP

Gentle Friends, I've picked up "Sojourner" again now that I've finished up "Santa's Village."  You can click HERE to see where I left off last June..here's a snap of what I've gotten done over the last week....

...I forgot how pretty this piece is and how much I really like the challenge of the different stitches...sorry about the craptastic snap.
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We got a load of lemons from a friends lemon tree and I have a treat baking as I type.
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That's about it for today sports faans.  Thanks for stopping by, do stop again!!

Take care,
edgar

Monday, April 18, 2016

A Christmas Finish

Gentle Friends, over the weekend I finished up "Santa's Village"...  here's a snap...


....  I stitched this on 36ct Natural linen, using most of the DMC and over dyed floss that were recommended.  I did however make quite a few substitutions where I thought my colour choices worked better on the linen.  The last Cottage was stitched using GAST "Apple Cider" and not the called for "Baked Clay."  It was a fun piece to work on!!!!  One of the biggest changes I made was to not break the rows with the red and white stripe bars but to wrap the piece in a red and white frame and then add the hearts in each corner.  

There are a couple of ideas about finishing I am thinking about -  and I still need to acquire some tiny beads to add for Santa, Mrs Claus and Buddy's eyes and the for the gingerbread boys.
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That's about it for today, thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,
edgar

Friday, April 15, 2016

A Nice Little Film

Gentle Friends, not too much going on....and I didn't want to let the Blog go a week without a post.  With that in mind I thought a plug for a good film would be a nice thing to Post about.  Since the TeeVee has next to nothing to really watch I've been watching movies rather heavily lately... and Netflix has come through with some winners lately....  the other night I receive a newer film...

Brooklyn Movie Poster

...  and although there were no explosions, car crash or chases, no comic book characters or robots, somehow a film was made......  and what a film "Brooklyn" - 2015 - with a wonderful ensemble cast from the UK and a story by Colin Toibin the 112 minute film just flew by.  It's amazing what a sweet story and good acting can bring to the silver screen.... Hollywood should take notice!!
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"Brooklyn" is available on both DVD and Blu Ray and I would highly recommend the film!!
Have a super weekend!!

Take care,
edgar

Friday, April 8, 2016

Visiting the Legion of honor - Portrait of a Lady with a Unicorn

Gentle Friends, one of the treats this spring here int he city is the loan of a magnificent painting by Raphael - and after we had finished up with the de la Renta show in Golden Gate Park we headed across town to....

... the Legion of Honor.... it is a single piece on loan from the Galleria Borghese in Rome, where I first saw it while on vacation a few years ago.  It is the first time it has ever been on loan in the US and has been here since January and will be leaving next week, so we had to make sure to make time and see it before it left.

Oil on canvass transferred from panel
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Here's some info from the exhibit....



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The painting was the end of the long gallery full of lovely things... like...

"The Crucifixion" - Matteo di Giovanni  ca. 1490
Tempera on panel
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  Of course we had to visit the restored rooms....


... and of course the lovely Salon Dore from the Hotel de la Tremoille on the rue Saint-Dominique in Paris...

... and gawk at some of the beautiful silver things.....

.... after leaving the museum we walked out into the park and I got this shot.......
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On the way home we drove through the Castro and I spotted someone carrying a bunch of lilacs...
 I had to have some....

.... and the house was filled with their intoxicating aroma......
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That wraps up the long Easter weekend, I  hope you enjoyed everything.  Thank you for stopping by, do stop again!!  have a super weekend!!

Take care,
edgar

Thursday, April 7, 2016

Thrifty Thursday

Gentle Friends, we headed out to the usually places over the weekend and found a few things...

... a great McCoy Duck planter with lots of the original cold paint still left, two bread and butter plates in the Heisey "Greek Key" pattern, and a copy of "Ray" to add to the DVD's heap...
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That's about all for today sports fans, thanks for stopping by....
take care,
edgar

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

"Oscar de la Renta : The Retrospective" Part 2

Gentle Friends, the next two parts are really some spectacular things, the first part were garden inspired things with the walls of the room covered in a sort of pale green fabric that was so light that the slightest movement in the air made it flutter so that with people coming and going they were in constant motion... there was also an entire wall with a video of the de la Renta home and gardens, 2015 -  being projected that added to the out door feeling.....

Evening Dress - Spring/Summer 1994 Green and white stripped taffeta
Cocktail Dress - Spring/Summer 1998 Floral printed silk taffeta

...in the back...

Custom Evening Dress worn by Kirsten Dunst for a Vogue Editorial - September 2006 Blue-and White chine silk taffeta
Evening Ensemble; Overdress and Skirt - Spring/Summer 1999 Sky-blue and white-stripped silk taffeta, yellow silk taffeta


Evening Dress - Autumn/Winter 1997/1998 Chine silk with cut velvet, sable
Evening Gown - Autumn/Winter 1997/1998 Chine silk with cut velvet, sable
Evening Dress - Autumn/Winter 2000/2001 Embroidered jade-green silk velvet , silk and bead embroidery, sable
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This next dress was probably my least favorite one, way too pouffe with about 150 yards of pale pink silk tulle (I overheard a docent talking about it)

....  however i do love and I mean love that rug it is sitting on!!!  The Rug is c. 1900 bessarabian kilim from the estate of Mrs. Paul Mellon.
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These next area was a recreation of a photo shot by Steven Meisel for Vogue, December 2010...

American-Vogue-Cover-2010




... they were really wonderful to see and quite a super group of gowns!!!!!
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The next and last group of gowns were the over the top show stopper pieces  and so worth seeing the exhibit..... it is what I think of when I think of haute couture .....



... these are the Hollywood dresses worn by stars on the red carpet.....

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... the dress to the far right - Evening ensemble; dress and over bodice - Fall 1984 Black silk velvet, gold lace, rhinestone embroidery

... to the right...Evening ensemble; dress and overblouse - Spring 2012 Marigold silk taffeta, black floral-embroidered silk tulle 

Evening dress - Fall 2013 Fuchsia silk faille, metallic embroidery


Evening dress - Pre-Fall 2014 Brown, gold and pink silk taffeta
Evening dress - Pre-Fall 2014 Pink, purple and green silk taffeta

Evening dress - Spring 2011 White silk organza, cotton lace, ostrich feathers, sequins


to the right... Evening ensemble - Spring/Summer 1999 Pink Linen, pink silk taffeta

... and to the left...a spectacular... Evening dress - Autumn/Winter 1999/2000 Black silk velvet, white embroidery and applique

... this was so amazing to see up-close...
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That wraps up the exhibition, I hope you enjoyed all the pretty "frocks!!"  Thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,
edgar


Tuesday, April 5, 2016

A Little Bakin'

Gentle Friends, you know I love the "food porn" on the Internet and whenever I see something super delicious looking I am going to try it at some point.  Well, that happened last week, I read David Lebovitz's Blog "The Sweet Life in Paris" and he posted a recipe I just had to try... the name is what grabbed me "Cherry Poppy Seed Cake"

.. my oven is so wacky temp wise it took about 60 minutes to bake and still turned out delicious!!!  It came together really easy, I used frozen cherries - and - I can see this being baked up again!!  I picked up the cherries Saturday morning on our weekly excursion to the Safeway... and while in line I spyed this magazine..........

.....  I do love my cast iron pans and pots and various things...  and the minute I picked it off the rack I was sold..... so I whipped up....

... some biscuits to go with a meatloaf Rico made for dinner....delicious!!  There are a ton of things I want to try so stay tuned!
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That's about it for today sports fans, thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,
edgar

Monday, April 4, 2016

A Little Stitchin'

Gentle Friends, I've finished up the 11th cottage  "Elves Workshop."  The most major change I made was to change up the elf to from what was charted to...

... look more like Buddy the elf from the film "Elf."  I lifted the idea from SewAmy, she was a blogger that stitched the Village a couple of years ago.  It was a great idea and I made some notes to recreate it on my own Village.  Now just one more cottage and this sucker will hit the finish pile.  Right now I'm working on finishing up the candy cane border.
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That's about it for today sports fans.  Stop in Wednesday for Part 2 of the Oscar del la Renta Post.

Take care,
edgar

Friday, April 1, 2016

"Oscar de la Renta: The Retrospective" at the de Young - Part 1

Gentle Friends, I've been working on this post for a couple of days and find that I have to break it up into two Posts, it just got far to big and too many snaps..... so here's Part 1..... a little background.... one of the fun things about living here in SF is that we have super really top notch museums that get some great shows!!  One of the shows I have been looking forward to since I first read about it last year is this show about Oscar de la Renta, and it certainly did not disappoint, in fact it far surpassed what I was expecting!!  When we took off for the long Easter weekend I knew it would be a perfect time to make the visit......

... the front of the de Young in Golden Gate Park, not the most attractive building, but that's what we came to see... we came for....

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The show was in four main sections and I'll cover the first two today... along with the snaps,
 I took some sketchy notes on some of the pieces........

Evening Ensemble - Spring/Summer 1999 pink linen and pink silk with floral embroidery 
(Reproduction top)..

a great silk/ wool suit with jewel decoration and silk embroidery...

Coat - Resort 1966  Rhinestone-studded Comark Vinyl
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This area was all about the influence of the Far East and Russia.....




Evening Ensemble - Fall 1968 - Jade Green Wool, Silk, Lurex, Galloon Banding
Caftan - Summer 1982 - Hand-painted silk crepe de chine

Evening Coat - Fall 1966 Silk, Fur

Evening Ensemble: Tunic and Pants - Autumn/Winter 1999/2000 Black silk velvet, gold silk applique
Shawl - Autumn / Winter 1998/1999 Wool paisley, sable

Evening Coat - Autumn/ Winter 1997/1998 - Olive Green Silk Velvet, metallic gold embroidery, sable

Coat - Autumn/Winter 2002/2003 Printed Burgundy Wool, embroidery, silk braid, fur

Evening Dress - Autumn/Winter 1998/1999 Green silk taffeta, bead, sequin and metallic thread embroidery, chenille yarn
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This area had pieces inspired by Spain with a huge backdrop reproduction of a Sargent painting called "El Jaleo"


... a pouffe pale green silk organza/tulle evening dress...

Custom Evening Ensemble; blouse and skirt - 2001 navy silk taffeta, ruby-red silk taffeta, black satin
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That wraps up the fist part of the exhibition, I hope you enjoyed it and the snaps.... I'll work on the second part and try and have it up in a couple of days.  Have a super weekend and thanks for stopping by!!

Take care,
edgar

Flowers and Fruit

 Gentle Friends, I wrapped up the centre square stitching... here's a snaperooo... ... I thought about straightening up the baskets and ...