Yearly Archives: 2021

………………………..On one of the trips Angela and Chantal took to my house, we went to the warehouse where I stored all of my Linea and some Anne Klein samples. I had asked them if anyone wanted this beautiful antique hand paint farm house hutch Jac and I bought many years ago, that was also stored there. When we added the “gathering room” onto the house it no longer had a place for the hutch, and it sat in the storage facility for years. Angela said she would love to have it. We made plans for her and her husband to come and get it…but…..he couldn’t make it, and she and Chantal would come and get it on their own!. I told her it was IMPOSSIBLE for the two of them and old me to move this massive solid piece….but she said they were STRONG ITALIAN GIRLS…..BULL SH–! I arranged for Lou and Franco to meet us at my house at 2pm and we would all go together. It’s a good thing they came or this hutch wouldn’t have made it two feet with just the three of us. It took a lot of lifting, maneuvering and tilting to get this piece out into the hall, down the elevator and into the truck, which was the hardest part, but we did it! We let the guys go and the three of us went back to my storage room where they commenced to fill four or five huge garbage bags of sample Linea clothes, a few Anne Klein pieces, plus many plastic containers of sweaters…..Off we went back to the house! It was now about 4:00 and we had a 6:00 dinner reservation at a restaurant in Rowayton call “The Restaurant” It’s a sweet little fish restaurant on the water….charming and good food. We had wine and some of the things I laid out to munch on….cheeses and crackers, celery and carrot sticks with dip, radishes, guacamole, pepperoni, figs, chocolate covered almonds, and some clementines to while away the time, and relax before we had to get ready for dinner. Angela asked if I would pick out Linea clothes for them to wear to dinner, so earlier in the day before they arrived, I chose two outfits for them to wear with accessories. After the turmoil of getting the hutch and all of the samples we needed a rest. We were sitting and relaxing when we heard the girls, Lily and Sammy, outside barking like lunatics. Angela got worried, but I said they do that all the time when they see rabbits or squirrels….but….she had to see for herself so Chantal and I followed her out side to see what all the commotion was about…………..It wasn’t bunnies or squirrels!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

…………………….To our horror!!!!! we found Lily, my sweet Lily and Samantha in a battle royal with a ground hog! What made it even worse was that they were fighting and biting each other under the wood bin so we could only hear them and not see them!!!! At the back of the wood bin, next to the house there was a space so Angela and I could see what was happening and who this fight was with…….I don’t know how we did it but Angela managed to get Lily and I was tugging at Sam’s hind legs that were sticking out from under the wood bin. Finally, I got her loose from biting the ground hog. Her mouth was covered in blood! We quickly got them into my car and drove them to the emergency room at the Cornell Vet Hospital. Due to Covid there is a big procedure. We had to leave them in the vestibule, and the assistant then entered to get them. The same procedure took place when we picked them up! They finally took the girls and said they would call me at home when the doctor saw them, but there were many dogs ahead!. I explained what happened and they had to be checked out for wounds! By now it was dark….we missed out dinner reservations, so I lite the fire and we commenced to drink……..I had baked a cake with corn meal and strawberry jam that was going to be for desert after dinner….so instead of desert we had it for dinner….with fresh cut strawberries and strawberry ice cream on the side….not so bad after all…..sorry no pics….at this point our heads weren’t about taking pics. We just couldn’t believe this all had happened. We had planned a lovely early peaceful twilight dinner then back to the house for wine and desert…all by the fire place. Angela was going to have a show and tell of all the loot they got….but we sat eating the cake….drinking the wine instead…..and waiting for the phone call!

…………………….Finally, the call came and we went to pick up the girls. The doctor said the girls didn’t have any bites on them…only some minor scratches, but there was a lot of blood on them, probably from the ground hog….it was two against one! She gave them both rabies booster shots and said to bath them……So….when we got home Chantal said do not put them down with all of that ground hog blood on them for fear of contamination, and that we should bring them right to the tub….which we did. Chantal volunteered to bath them. I gave her medicated soap that I give to the groomer….so that’s what she used plus some Johnson and Johnson Baby shampoo , no tears, for their little faces!!!!I stood and watched as Chantal bent over the tub to wash them….Angela was in charge of photo taking. The girls were angels and enjoyed their tub, but the water was as red as the Nile! The ordeal was OVER! Now it was time for them to rest in their beds in the kitchen……We three went out to the wood bin to see if the ground hog was still there…maybe dead from its’ wounds, but thankfully it was gone……Now it was adult time….to start the partee where we left off earlier in the day! Angela had her “show and tell” and went though every piece of clothing they packed away….This lasted until the wee hours of the morning…..We finally went up to bed at 1:45am!

…………………Weds. morning we all got up….showered….not together!…..and got ready to go out for breakfast. That’s a pic of my strawberry cake….yummy!…..We missed dinner so breakfast was a must have. We drove to Darien and had breakfast at the “Sugar Bowl”, a favorite little dinner type restaurant…..After breakfast we went back to the house and packed up the car…..it was stuffed with furniture, clothes and sweaters. I even told them to take rolling racks I had in the storage room that were now empty, but they could only fit one……next time!…………………..Off they merrily went in their truck, and I went straight to my reclining chair and took a needed nap!…………….THE END

……………………..Cotton MATTE JERSEY is a very special fabric. In the designer world of fabrics, silk, silk/rayon or 100% rayon matte jersey are used for day and evening dresses. The quality of the fine yarns used on these slow, special knitting machines makes the fabrics very costly. The fabric has to be constantly checked to make sure there are no flaws. When I found a “COTTON JERSEY” made on matte jersey machines I was thrilled. This was something very new…..Only the very finest cotton yarns can be used on these machines to fit into the needles to make COTTON MATTE JERSEY…..perfect for hot weather…..The dresses above were made in this cotton matte jersey from Italy.  The strapless dress looks like a simple criss cross wrap top…….but it was built on a full bustier as any good designer strapless dress should be. There should always be some kind of underpinning for security and to give a good bust shape. Some bustiers are full length to the waist and some are just to the upper rib cage depending on the design of the dress. This bustier came just above the waist. The beauty of a good bustier is that it does its’ job without you feeling constricted or uncomfortable in any way.  The bustier was made out of light weigh mesh and boning to keep it light weight and comfy! It should look effortless and “unconstructed”, but the inner bustier gives a women the security she needs in a strapless…..Ralph Francisco was one of my pattern assistants. He had amazing hands, and could drape the most marvelous things. Jac always said Ralph made the best bustier she had ever worn and that’s saying a lot. When AK closed the couture division he went on to work for Vera Wang in her bridal division……The halter dress with the pleated soft tulip skirt was cinched in with a wide calf belt………”THE CATCH OF THE DAY” necklace was the piece de resistance!