Blue Baskets and the Sidewalk Shopped Delft Bowls

 

Hello, hello---March is here. Those who think this means spring has come must live on another planet. Or continent, at least. January and February I was all about minimalism, not a quilt to be seen here [the try-out fragment doesn't count],

...except the subdued sorrow of Winter Marsh on my bed. It's ''busy'' but dark and very soft and warm, so it got to stay.

But now it's March. I extracted a few small quilts to bedeck the pine bench by the back door.

Old Blue Baskets,

layered with Julie Porter's Baskets of Blessings, a covid winter sewalong from that not so long ago  winter when we isolated and had only internet friends and online sewing groups for companionship and comfort.

I added  Blue and White Snowballs  mini, one of my earliest rescue and redo little quilts. Still loved, though it is fading badly.

I needed to move the amaryllis off the floor and onto the bench where I could see them develop each day. So far one has a bud. Maybe.

The delft style pots were dumpster scavenged over the years, the McCoy planter is from my dad. I think it had a small Christmas cactus or his giant one outgrew it.

The grocery guy finally brought me tulips yesterday! I ask every week, lol. These are from the NJ grower who does the delivery right to your home, anywhere in the US. These are a bit cheaper, 9.99 for ten stems--but the delivery ones are better quality, fresher. I was thrilled  when I found this bunch on my kitchen counter with the bag of food.

Later, when refolding my ridiculously huge stack of little quilts, I kept these two pretties out to enjoy.  I'll tack them up in the sewing room maybe for a while. [fear of fading]. They must speak to my German/ French/ Swiss roots.

Do you watch Dr Henry Gates' PBS genealogy show Finding Yor Roots. I always imagine if I was the person he investigates. But---my family is boring. The Swiss ones were  cheesemakers who came to the USA, recruited by Kraft to make Swiss cheese, late 1800s.  A French g-g-g-great aunt was brought here to make couturier ball gowns and wedding dresses. Her sister, a ggg-grandmother, was sent by their well to do father to keep the seamstress company, to go to college, and to find a husband. A cousin cousin's German-American dad was a jeweler in Chicago, 1880s? And so on--little lives, little people. Most of us are immigrant stock, aren't we? I see my ancestors' northern European roots in my love of what is so often called here in quilt groups, ''eye-popping color", though no one else in the descendants has displayed similar traits. My mom's fave color was chic beige/ khaki/ neutrals. Jeans were exciting--blue! And when i was very little she had a red denim skirt, oh my.

TQC postcard mini by me/ TQC colors

a FB Marketplace find, an unfinished top.

Today was drippy ploppy rain, chilly, but not frigid. The blizzard's snow in its tenth-ish day, lingers on. Ugly, isn't it.

The snow melted enough me to spy some snowdrops. It's too cold and soggy for them to bloom though.

I cooked before my IV day and weekend to follow.  Small amount of a new ham salad recipe I invented. Diced ham, bleu cheese, diced celery, dried cranberries, walnuts w olive oil mayo. Using up opened bags in the fridge.  I had a bite for dinner and it was quite delish. edit: the power went off when I got home from the clinic. It's 40* today, but the house gets very cold, very fast.

Talk to you soon.

Have a great weekend. (Springfield OH Flea treasures from my brother and SIL.)

love

lizzy

gone to the beach....

Cabin Fever, Winter Garden, Boardwalk Quilt.

 

Hi everyone. February round up.

                                       

I hardly know where to start---and not in a good "I'm so busy " way! The sun is shining, the snow is slowly melting. I made a plan w a friend to run to Trader Joe's for flowers and food goodies

until we realized there's still nowhere to park. Post storm snow mountains remain. Peonies are from December visit.

Quilts:  My four late 2025-early '26 quilts are packed and ready to mail to my quilter.  I still have no plan going forward, are my quilting days done? I hate waking up and having no project; there's been times when the thought of my afternoon sewing hour w Mo has been all that gets me out of bed. Yesterday I fooled around with string quilt: "Boardwalk",

My tryouts. Good to make samples. I see I need the strips to be much paler. Need to avoid blue and white and instead do greys. Otherwise the weathered wood effect is lost. And...the strips need to be about the same width, not random. The inspiration quilt is more complex than at first glance. 

Improv is not my thing. I enjoy a a pattern, a design, a goal.  It seems the kind of quilt I be thrilled to buy and use but not one I want to make.

Then there's this idea,

from.

I had planned to make it this winter, then decided not. Because who needs yet another big Fall quilt. This week I reconsidered: if making autumn quilts makes me happy, why not? Who cares. They're just for my amusement, no one will save them when I'm gone. Dumpster fodder!

Tax prep is the weekend plan  but I also may make a couple try out blocks to see what I think. (as always it is too big; I already know the second from the bottom row will be eliminated.) The Puss in the Corner is a simple block, looks suitably unchallenging.

And these two ideas are grouped on my desk, though I 'm unsure what or where they will become a project.

I'm also sad not to make a US Birthday quilt.

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Indoor bulbs:

More good news from amaryllis land! The bulbs are sprouting. I fed them, in case they were too neglected to rebloom. Maybe next year will be better. 

And!: Big Red is showing a hint of green growth. on the right.

I've had her for maybe 8 years now, so happy she survived the bricklayers' damage last summer. So brave.

On the other hand: paperwhites.

Of twenty plus bulbs, only three grew and bloomed.

Sweet but disappointing.

Most of the plain narcissus, Nazareth? grew leaves but no blooms. The Chinese narcissus I was so excited about--yellow centers!--have just laid there doing nothing.

Next year 'Ill go back to the Ziva species from Amazon.

**********************************

Mo had a vet checkup today. Mo will be 12 in a few weeks.

Better days ahead, 4-ish months til summer. 

Have a great weekend.

love

lizzy

gone to the beach....

2018 snow

Baby Mo in the snow, 10 months old. This is still his fave coat and it still fits!

Checking In - I've never seen so Much Snow

 

Hi!

All is well here so far.

''... [2 plus] Feet Of Snow, Hurricane-Force Winds Expected Tonight" [Sunday/ online notification]

Just a check in post. The blizzard is maybe almost over. I've never seen so much snow fall in one twenty-four hours. I have read reports of winds overnight at 80+ mph and possibly almost three feet of snow in coastal areas here.  Probably more like 18-24" but the drifts on my deck are as high as my head, my front door had a drift chest high against the glass storm door.  [a neighbor just now cleared it/ a safety issue, plus I m claustrophobic]The deck drifts are higher than the waist high railings, though that incudes snow that keeps falling from the roof.

At the height of the storm last night, 4 am, everything was in blizzard white out mode. Roads closed, no emergency services. The local plowing service worked here  thru the night. It was a comfort to know someone was nearby. 

I have the thermostat turned up to an unheard of 67*F, omygosh]

If the power holds on, I think we'll be ok.

Mo's having a lovely snow day. It's frowned upon by friends, guests, and dogwalkers, but I am glad I trained Mo to use his indoor potty station. No regrets.

And I baked very ugly Snow Day cookies.

See ya soon.

love

lizzy..................