Another Vintage Picnic at Daisy's

Sometimes I wish I could buy a magazine company just so my friend, Daisy, could organize all the shoots, spreads, creative content and distribution of it. She just makes everything pretty.

To kickoff an especially great weekend, she hosted a gal party at the pond down the road from her house. I laughed and bonded in great company, with sunshine, music, food, and an invigorating swim across the pond to make me feel like an Olympian (with a floating noodle assist).

A preparty shot from Daisy

It really doesn't matter how pretty the place is, how classy the drinks or how artfully prepared the food is. Despite matching linens and handmade decor sewed fresh for the occasion, I know that at Daisy's place, I will always feel welcome and special.

Meyer lemon finished campagne from Della Fattoria with local cheeses.

Fresh cherries, apricots and raspberries with St. Germain cocktails.

And that was only the beginning of the weekend ...

Birthday Weekend Picnic Baskets

What a weekend! One of my bestie's had a joint birthday/anniversary party, which turned into an impromptu weekend camping trip. Need inspiration for easy entertaining at your next big turnout?

The culinary highlight was individual picnic baskets, to cut down on dishes. (She thinks of everything!)

Also included were (French Laundry) lemon tarts, fresh fruit, asparagus flatbread, and smoked salmon tartar on cucumber.

Each basket contained: an abalone po'boy sandwich, personally foraged by Daisy's husband, Trout; a mason jar filled with potato salad (the classy Alice Waters one, not the mayonnaisy kind); a homemade chocolate chip cookie and wrapped caramel; and my special caesar salad (recipe to be revealed soon).

Now that it's summer, I recommend food that can be served cold. It's way easier to assemble and you have a little more leeway in serving time. Get an assembly line going for something like sandwiches, and the sides should be one-dish wonders like pasta salad, cous cous, or greens. Make it easier on yourself and invite friends to bring something, or at the very least, wine and apps.

What kind of parties will you be throwing this summer?

It's Fun to Be Fancy

I never imagined there was something better than champagne. There is. It's called champagne with a wild hibiscus flower.

For special nights with special people (and that can include just lovely old you), I highly recommend dropping one of these wild hibiscus flowers in a glass of bubbles. Don't worry, they're edible and come in a lovely syrup to add a blush of color and sweetness to your glass.

Your friends will be amazed and think you're real fancy. Don't worry. It's okay to be fancy sometimes.

Fun with Finished Projects

Here are some shots of my two finished aprons after an all day marathon of learning some sewing machine basics.

Daisy made a gorgeous slipcover for her ottoman.

And pillows, which her dog quickly claimed. He has a thing about pillows.

Here are some other beautiful things she's made for her school. She knows how to make a space pretty and inviting.

We found an old vintage pistol and thought it would bring some pioneer edge to our photo shoot. Unloaded, of course, Ravenous Woman is an advocate of gun safety!

Sewing, Take 1

Last weekend, I embarked on an amazing adventure with Daisy. I'm learning to sew! My grandmother's sewing machine has sat in its box patiently waiting for me to get motivated.

I went to Daisy and Trout's place, where she set up two machines for us to work across from each other. First things first, I need some basics. Good scissors, a tape measure, lots of pins, an ironing board set up, and white pencil for drawing are an absolute must. As is prosecco.

This is a seam gage. I'm still not totally clear what all it does, but it's helpful in helping you mark where you need to cut, pin, or iron fabric. Daisy's being a stickler about me ironing everything before and after I cut and sew it.

Get your bobbin threaded. This is going to take some practice.

The "easy" plan for the day was shortening an apron and adding pockets to another one. That meant measuring three times and cutting once. Then with a seam ripper, I detached the lace from the bottom to reattach to the shorter one. I liked the ripping part. The lace needed to be held in place with lots of pins. Lots and lots. I don't like the pinning part, but Daisy won't let me cut corners, especially on my first day.

We have liftoff! Learning the machine is definitely the hardest part. At home, my machine is going through some major bobbin issues and troubleshooting is an intimidating as a just-starting-outer. First I made a seam, and then set to work attaching the fragile lace.

On to the next project. (Disclaimer, this first part took several hours- not for the faint-hearted!)

Daisy helped me pick a tasteful color combo for the pockets.

... and made a template.

Once I got going, it didn't go as well. This is exactly the same problem I keep running into at home. See how the thread is going bananas? I didn't load it properly. Thank goodness Daisy is a million times more patient than I am. I threw out some c's and t's, which helped a little, but not much.

That's when we decided it was a good time for cosmos. It helped a lot.

All done! Stay tuned tomorrow for pics of the finished pieces.