Noah's Ark and Storms are Coming

 

Hi everyone. I suppose we can say Welcome Fall, since astronomical, if not climatic, Autumn arrived Tuesday with the autumnal equinox.  (but oh please NOT Fall, y'all, how very very tacky is that, lol) Along with fall come the storms of  October , the winds of November. I 'm never pleased to see a hurricane warning pop up on my screen.

And this scary image! A Nor'easter that might or might not happen this weekend. So far we're only at Wednesday and gale warnings are posted already. The ugly locust tree is waving its arms madly, I wish the HOA gardeners had cut it back a lot more. 30 mph bough waves, I estimate.

I brought in the chair cushions and the shells strings, I am hopeful it will stay out to sea and the kids will just have ''hurricane waves'' to enjoy for late summer surfing.

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Noah's Ark pattern by Jan Patek, with some changes

Noah's Ark quilt  is finished and washed and crumpled. I do love it, it was fun to make. Sorry for the ugly blue tape, it was hard to display, an odd size.

Here's some close ups. The paper inside the animals has softened but is there if one looks or does a finger pinch. I'm coming back around to thinking it's okay. It makes the applique go fast and gives a crisp slightly puffy result.

The lovely quilting is  sort of waves and sprinkled with stars. Love it. (by Lori C.)

The doves I added are sweet, but the ark dove needs to be outlined with embroidery, maybe dark blue or black?

I also added Noah and Mrs Noah. Cute.

My favorite blocks besides the Giraffes,

are the Sun

and the the rainbow. I added the Rainbow freehand using a Kaffee Fassett rainbow fabric.

I also find the whales charming. 

Here is the circle dot backing.

What was I thinking? Looks like hospital gown fabric, always did, always will.  I must have suffered a frugal seizure when the planned red  Animal Crackers fabric was too small a piece, as was the KF Rainbow. Stupid. [more about using the right backings in the next post]. 

It is hard to know how to use ithe quilt  though. I had planned to use it on a Shaker blanket chest, as shown here, when  I display my wooden Ark. 

But it is too big, despite being resized at 75%. And the blue colorway is wrong, the animals and ark  my parents made has semi realistic folkart multi-colored paint. Last year's What Not quilt will work better for the display idea or someday I can make a much simplified multi-colored version, much smaller.  For now I rehung it on my smaller Shaker chest, just to enjoy for a while til I switch to cheddar Fall decor.

It does look cute hung here. Sun fade issues though?

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unknown origin, sorry

Despite all my efforts my deck flowers are ending.

A few surprises still flourish. The gifted impatiens are very messy but so lush and bright and happy.

I bring in tiny posies almost daily.

So now--sadly I say goodbye to Summer. I'll save this list for next year only ten months  away.

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In honor of Fall and the oncoming storms, tonight's dinner will be very autumnal [leftovers too]. Meatloaf with cubed roasted sweet potatoes, steamed cauli and broccoli. A later in the week casserole will be ''dirty rice'', using a rice and bean pilaf mix, ground beef, diced tomatoes, spices like chili seasoning, etc.  Also plan to make a summer squash bake w cheese and parm and panko crumbs. Recipe if a success!

Warm and cosy to banish the dark.

Currently my fave snack is sliced cucumbers w lemon pepper and a dash of olive oil, tuck into halved crescents of mini pitas that are oat bran, flax seed, whole grain. I make a little fridge box of them , they keep surprisingly well for a day or two.

Have great week and weekend! Full moon tonight or tomorrow [9/26 to be exact.] Some call this the Harvest Moon, but my midwestern tradition is that the Halloween moon is the harvest moon and the Thanksgiving Moon is the Hunters Moon.  If the storms stay clear [wind , no rain] the moon sparkling on the black satin ocean should be lovely.

Thanks so much for last week's comments, so many new names, new and old friends.  Made it so special for me.

love

lizzy

gone to the beach.....................

other Septembers...

Nature Journals and Blues

 Hi everyone, posts are out of sync because I had a not-great IV session Monday, plus other stuff going on behind the pages here. I took some time recently to catch up on my perpetual Nature Journal [set of 2]---and finally came to the necessary conclusion that the tiny much loved books are FULL.  Done, complete. These books are only about the size of your hand. 4" x 5" maybe

As always I love words and quotes and these and other  thoughts were pasted in. 

Who knows if they will ever be found and mulled upon.

Space was so meagre I had been pasting in small scribble jottings because there was no space to do a real painting.

A few pressed petals and  sketches  crept in, done on a separate small watercolor pad and tucked in.The red poppies that appeared in the wildlife tub charmed me.

As did the annual giant dragonfly migration last week.

New technique seen on IG. No sketch.

A pressed weed or two. Papyrus vetch?

Some pretty notecards for ideas:

Fun and casual, sadly I am not a fine botanical artist just a lonely woman [covid times] who produces personal blips and blobs. Never will be good. The point was to see and record, to try.

So--the end. I do have a new, larger,  book to use, to begin again. I found nature's finds very sparse here. If I restart this exercise I'll also paint homely items, like, oh, a can of soup or a zucchini. A knitted hat with a pompom.? Right now I am ambivalent--I was dedicated to the accomplishment of the journalling goal, but doing something poorly for three years took its toll. Tomorrow is another day

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Books: while tidying the bookshelf that has really almost no books, I was attracted to this older Minick & Simpson Blue & White.

Such inspiring ideas, both for home decor and quilts.

love this shirting Star!

oooh, acorns.

I have this pattern, can't get enthusiastic about hundreds of pinwheels though. Or sunglasses.

Would love to do this border.

Remember Bitty!? Given away as a newborn gift quilt, never to be seen again. My thinking was a quilt entirely hand appli and hand quilted. I loved making it.

I got a kick out of this small interview w author Laurie S. She said the strict blue and white decor was from her sister, co-author Polly Minick's home design style--for herself, she actually loves orange. How wonderful, a woman after my own heart.

Saving a few weeds and seeds, wondering if, like Polly M,  I will leave the blues , or decorate or Fall. 

I ordered a bag of real gourds, white, dry and prim for the big bowl. And is a new rug a thing for my future. Baby Mo left his mark on the lovely blue rug I have, as he was old 

and so ill at the end of his life. Maybe dunes colors?

In quilting, a quandary. This?

or that?

This is approximately my blog's birthday! 17 years. It has been a constant joy to write. If Blogger glitches us out of blogging now I will miss it. Thank you all for being here. Say Hi, so I know you stopped by? [IG image]

Have a great mid-September!

love

lizzy

gone to the beach......