I wiped away the weeds & foam. / I fetched my sea-born treasures home... Ralph Waldo Emerson







Saturday, March 16, 2024

Out and About ~ Thrifts and Food

Hi everyone! Yes it is Saturday. I know it's not blizzards or tornadoes or other big scary things in the news, but yesterday as I sat down to write my Friday blog post, the power flickered, then heaved a big [imaginary] sigh---and died. No excuses, it was sunny, warm-ish, not a speck of wind. A month or so ago when this happened the power company said a mylar balloon blew against a transformer. Hmmm? The transformers must be very delicate if a stray balloon knocks them out. No word yet on this one and the power did return around the time I got all the candles lit, the lanterns and flashlights set up. 

Glad my Irish Soda bread was not baking--it's in the oven now. 

To be followed by asparagus/ goat cheese quiche.



[recipe from my brother], his is spinach/cheddar.




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Anyway. A month or so ago I fell in love with a Halloween quilt posted on one of my Facebook quilting groups. Made by Vicki Stidham who kindly said I could show her quilt here.


Isn't it delightful! You know how I love ''old shirts" quilts [and Halloween quilts]and this one is so charmingly done. 
Those faces.

This is the pattern, though I think I will enlarge the blocks.


And so off I went to find appropriately colored shirts to add to my already robust assortment.

These were a bit less expensive than the blue plaid I showed a few weeks ago. Around $9.99 each.

I also found a few non-quilting treasures, a couple of bowls. The Polish pottery with the stars is for Mo, who likes a straight sided food or water bowl. $1.00




And the art glass bowl is odd for me but interesting. My fave green, my only green.


I bought it for possible summer display of my art glass marbles from Cape Cod. There was a gallery there, in Orleans, that specialized in glassworkers' art; each visit I'd buy a marble. [as I recall in range of $30-50.oo each]. I put the marbles away because small children especially guests/ playdate kids, wanted to handle them. One child put some in his pocket to take home even! So they languished in the highest cupboard above the stove. My quandary now--I'd love to re-seed my beach's seaglass with them, casually dropped now and then. But is that littering? And--maybe sucked up by the Big Trucks? Or simply lost in the acres of sand. That might be bad or useless....So here is a bowl, I'll look at them this summer and consider.



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After hours of shopping my friend and I were tired and hungry. Too early for dinner? Nope!  We decided on this cute and very popular taqueria by the thrift shop.


Not as wonderful as our old place [that fought back after H Sandy, only to be defeated by Covid ten years later]---but delish! And  friendly service too.






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Back to the thrifted fabrics from upcycled shirts. From Penny in South Africa, her beautiful presented thrifted plaids will also go into the Pumpkin quilt. Just a serendipitous gift from her recently.


From Nikki [our Sparrow Mail carrier over the many miles], formerly of SA, now relocated to the US: gift of these fabulously vibrant South African shwe shwe prints. Mine from Nikki have the large trademark DaGama Three Cats printed on the reverse, always makes it so hard to cut into. You can read more about shwe shwe HERE  or search online.

Last, recent great book gifts from Penny and Lori D, feeding my current uplifting brights-are-good mindset. Gorgeous books by Kaffee Fasset, and a darling inspiring Christmas project book by the designer of the Pumpkin Quilt, Cheri Saffiote Payne.




Look at the pages in the Kaffee book, fascinating record or his fabric designs c. early 2000s I think.





All the books are vintage, exceptional finds. Thanks you dear friends.

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The soda bread is fragrant and evocative of so many St Patrick's Days and Parades in both NYC and Chicago. In Chicago, they dye the river green! Or used to anyway. I was fascinated always. 

Mo and I wish everyone a Happy St Paddy's Day---lots of green beer.

                                   





Mo says, Kiss me, mommy! I am Irish!


love

lizzy

gone to the beach.....








[not this year's pics, but the OC just arrived 2024]









Friday, March 8, 2024

Bulb Results and Nature Journal, Scribble Journal

 


Happy Friday to you all. The sun is trying to peek out now, enticing me and Mo out for a longer walk.



The house is filled with my Trader Joe's bouquets.



 and the last of the winter bulbs--amaryllis in bloom.


I like to look back each year at the successes [and failures, those moldy tulips!] of my indoor winter gardening.


Last bulbs first, the amaryllis.


The gorgeous red velvet bulb is doing beautifully. Now in its approximately seventh year, it has less blooms but they are large and showy.


Then there is the ''blue'' amaryllis bought winter of 2022-23. It arrived squished in a tiny box, the bulbs the size of a meagre tulip bulb; amaryllis should be baseball sized to produce good flowering. This year after a summer on the deck and plenty of fertilizer, it did bloom. 


Small RED flowers that didn't last very long.

It was sold as a rare blue amaryllis. 



HaHa! The joy of Photoshop. [It came from China, which I didn't realize when ordering. What a scam.]


Blog friend Penny's amaryllis--in S Africa.

And blog friend Julierose has also had huge success with her spring amaryllis that came as ghostly white stems. "Picotee". HERE

...............

Then there was the second set of Trader Joe's Hyacinths in their cute glass pots. 



At $2.49 each including the reusable vase, it doesn't pay to buy iffy bulbs and attempt to cold them off myself. They were beautiful. 





They become top heavy in full bloom. I cut them and put them in a small pitcher instead. 





................

The Paperwhite narcissus...hmmm. They were nice healthy bulbs, they grew well.


Fun to see, with the blooms appearing over several weeks. 





However. Ten bulbs produced only 7 heads of blooms and the individual blossoms were tiny, maybe 3/4" each.








The tulips, as mentioned were discarded. So far Amazon refuses to acknowledge the issue or refund my money.

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Scribble Journal: February.

Just for fun.




                                     



And Perpetual Nature Journal, February into March. It is very fun now to be doing year two, despite definite lack of artistic improvement.






I had to use a cheat sheet drawing for Mr Winter Robin.






More:





















I fixed the foggy dunes thumbnail by wetting the too colorful additions and blotting. One of the hardest parts of watercolor painting is learning to quit while you're ahead!


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Off topic, I'm still drying gourds from the Fall. The yellow one is taking its time.




On the beach, the giant trucks have appeared to groom the sand pre-summer.  And the much dreaded Daylight Savings Time will appear tomorrow night. 


Have a great weekend!



love

lizzy

gone to the beach...