Goofing Off

note the BIG waves!

Hi! Today after my post office run, instead of my planned trip to the big box store, I snuck off to the newly reopened bird sanctuary wetlands park.

The rain stopped, the clouds parted and spring was in the air. Costco can wait.

The overlook of the wetlands area is a high raised berm, perhaps as much as 30 feet above sea level. and it seems to have fared very well.

                                                          Feb 2013

 

 

late summer 2012

 

The marsh itself is, well--wet! The creeks and pools are much larger. Not sure if that is from H. Sandy or today's very high full moon/ storm  tides. And here is a large hunk of dock....

The ospreys' nest looks good too. Either the nest survived or the ospreys are here early and rebuilding. The other nest to the east was entirely blown away, but it is on more exposed land. The platform though is there, and the birds can rebuild, I am sure.

The lower areas were muddy and I wasn't wearing boots....the entry has new clam shells though and sparkled invitingly in the sudden sunlight.

Hidden paths into the marsh...

Too wet to explore today. And all was silent, empty, and brown.

And here is the turtles' nesting area. How do they know this is their spot? It seems very unappealing and exposed but I'll be watching for them too.

I got home and was further lured to my own beach. Look at the soft spring sky!

What are those big black lumps!?

Marsh grass clumps....
The tides, waves and recent storms have been hard on the beach.
It is very eroded now..
This is where that white bench was just a few weeks ago.

Every day brings changes.

I guess that's life....

love

    lizzy

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

"...time had suddenly become exactly what it was: one season turned inward or on end, a point in a great circle." N. Cairn/ Cape Cod Times

 

 

 

Thrifting!

Hi! Almost felt like spring today! Wishful thinking? Guys were surfing! So it's not just me.....

The other day my friend B came to visit and we went thrifting, had a great time. Spring-like weather makes me yearn for the flea market to open but truly the thrift shops have been lots of fun.

We went to a new place, very $$$, mostly fine vintage clothes, not my usual junk I like. I saw a lovely rose velvet blouse, to make more strawberry pinkeeps, but at 32.oo, I just couldn't buy it. And anyway it was too pretty to chop up.

The regular thrift shop had a big batch of white porcelain dinnerware.. with lighthouses! Like  this

 15 dinner plates, at least 12 each of soup plates, salad plates, dessert plates; plus 2 decorative plates with large pictures of famous lighthouses. B wanted me to buy it..and I love it. I think all the pieces, with my discount card, would have cost under 40.00! But I just bought a dozen plain white IKEA-style plates, my everyday plates, a few weeks ago. 2.99? So...no. [I don't want to find myself featured on Hoarders, do I!?].

Here's what I've picked up in the past few months, plus what I did with some of the items:
a possibly tacky souvenir seashell box....

became a sailors Valentine/ sewing box.....

 

 

 

 

 

Set of 4 repro transferware plates. Love the black....

 

 

 

a nature/ guide book.

 

 

 

I love the big warning banner: life-sized poop!  Is it a joke? Or a come-on for potty obessessed kids, or what?

 

 

 

 

Neat pieced and handquilted Flag pillow cover. I had planned to use it as a patriotic wall hanging, or as an outdoor pillow for summer. But it is pretty great! May use it in the living room next summer, for a fun pop of color/ graphics.

 

 

 

 

Men's shirts...

 

 

 

 

 [oooh, that silky Ralph Lauren cotton, yum!] to piece into a quilt backing?

 

 

 

Stick on sew thru quilt patterns, for doll quilts....an experiment.

 

 

 

 

Little purse, also for experimenting.

 

 

 

 

 

 I want to make small purses like these [but you know, not copies, my design] from Hen's Teeth:etsy shop here 

 

 

photo from Hen's Teeth etsy shop

 

I love hers but they don't have loops or strings...and I lose stuff if it's not attached to my wrist....

 So far I haven't even figured out how to undo the frame!

 

 A beautiful conch shell...

 

 

 

 

for my collection, or etsy shop....

 

 

 

[my beach does't have this type of conch, just the big whelks behind it] 

 

 A Fall find...now with mini daffodil bulbs blooming...blue and white small serving dish, c. 20th century.

 

 

 

Pretty, not valuable...French or German, I couldn't turn it over to refresh  my memory.

 

 

 

 

 

Hope your weekend was fun too!

 

 

 

 

                                                    hinting at spring?

 

 

 

love

 

        lizzy

 

            gone to the beach.......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Making Progress

wool ''Calico Kitty" by LN, from Porch quilt book

Hi everyone! The high winds have been keeping me indoors all week. I know lots of you have a blizzard right now, too. Not sure which is worse, probably the snow, but I hate high winds. The house is constantly dusty...the fine sand forcing its way inside. And things blow away! The car doors! My grocery cart and later my  groceries themselves.
Good weather to stay inside and sew. I made a few new sewing strawberries for my etsy shop....

This one was a flop!

I was very excited about the idea, I had just a small scrap of the faded rose velvet.

But no...I was gonna throw it away, but it was sad, yes, my creations have feelings!--so I tied it onto my nantucket sewing basket. I won't mind the flaws.

I am working on the Porch Quilt in the evenings. 34 leaves on the border! And six or seven birds. Plus, Note to self: don't leave sections unfinished, they are impossible to reach once the quilt is put together....I am forced to open seams to sew the date and name bits.
Mostly I am sewing on my patriotic sampler quilt:

I am trying to sew on it an hour or two each day, fitting the borders slowly and

...accurately. [I am slow, I know].

I hate the cheddar calico. I  bought it in desperation a few years ago, thinking it was a much smaller finer scale. Typical catalog flub. But there I was....six yards of the only cheddar I could find, and I'd been hunting for two or three years at that point. Maybe once it is all done, quilted, etc, it will look less '70s, more authentic? [no...].

It is longer than it is wide, not an effect I like, but I think this is enough for now. Shown on queen sized bed.

In my mind I call this collection/ sampler quilt America Hurrah! It just suits it, and I hope expresses the patriotic joy I feel for my country despite all the economic and political woes we face.

America Hurrah was an antiques shop here in NYC that specialized in quilts and folk art. I always loved their displays when NYC had the big Americana shows years ago. And I loved their name. I hope it is okay that it stuck in my mind and I since bestowed it on my quilt.

Somewhere I know I have 6 yards of backing for this quilt. I think it is tan with tiny flags...but I cannot find it, sigh. I plan to piece in a set of oddball star patches my mom proudly found for me at the Cape Cod thrift shop.  If I can't find the planned fabric I think Ill get this large scale indigo, from the Indigo Crossings group:

It will create a wonderful whole cloth quilt on the reverse of the gaudy stars and ships quilt.

And here is the Porch kitty, from my Internet friend LN. Isn't he just so adorable! LN follows my blog and was interested enough in this project to order Lynda's book and make  her own wool version. Note her own kitty's paw in the top right of her pix. Her kitty is verrry interested and is almost always somewhere in her photos.

I love the wool crazy quilt style LN has chosen, very different from our group's prim calicos and Lynda's original wool and homespun.


Next we'll have a recipe!? Talk to you soon!

love

     lizzy

      gone to the beach...