Memorial Day

Memorial Day weekend really does seem like the beginning of summer to me. We are staying at home doing some catching up and puttering. It has been nice.

More Fabric Play

I worked on some more fabrics for my journal quilt project. You will recognize the checked fabric from a previous post. The other two are fabrics I silk-screened. I painted a little blue into the green one. I think it needs a bit more color.

I discharged another piece of the blue, thinking I will probably use the checkboard for a border and I may want a curved top border. All of this checkerboard fabric needs some complexity added to the color, in my opinion.

Trying out yet another way of printing on fabric, I made a stamp using self-stick craft foam on a little square of acrylic and printed this little piece to use for a crow that will be on the piece.

Birthday Party

The weather was beautiful on Saturday, which provided a perfect opportunity to celebrate Emily's birthday a few days late with the first outdoor dinner of the season. Sofia slept through the first half of the party, but then she woke up and charmed everyone, including Uncle Andy who had to take a few pictures with his phone.

I even made a birthday cake. It has been a long time since I made a cake. I had planned on a beautiful layer cake, but when I got ready to bake it I couldn't find my round cake pans. I have a feeling I threw them out at some point. They were pretty dented and battered. I think there may be more birthday cakes in my future. I'd better buy some new pans.

The deck chair behind Emily is one of her birthday presents.

Potato Salad

I made potato salad for the dinner. The first of the season. I believe that potato salad should only be eaten in the summer. Ray barbequed salmon. We also had a green salad and olive bread. It was a great dinner and we are still enjoying the leftovers.

I think maybe potato salad is passe. It seems like one of those staples of the '50s and '60s, like jello molds and meatloaf. For years I thought my potato salad was very boring. I have finally learned to make really good potato salad. I am very picky about potato salad and almost never order it in a restaurant. The mayonaisse-y glop they sell in supermarkets is disgusting. My Aunt Pat made the best potato salad ever. It was famous within our family. After her funeral her family served lunch featuring potato salad made from her recipe. It was good, but not as good as Pat made. This morning when I walked with Beth she mentioned that she had made an excellent potato salad this weekend as well. I'm sure it was good. Beth is a great cook. But she favors sweet gherkins and a sweet dressing. That just seems wrong to me. For me potato salad must have dill pickle and some of the juice from the pickles in the dressing. I also add some dry dill weed to accentuate the dill-ness. I fear that good potato salad will die out with out our generation.