Gone To The Beach: 01.23.2015

Friday, January 23, 2015

Little Projects

Hello there! I love January. I get so much done.

I love the long quiet days and cozy nights. This week, with no moon, the night sky has been spectacular, Orion overhead, the big stars and planets blazing like diamonds in the black sky. I usually have scented candles burning, like these.here I must have Peach Bellini for next summer, and Tiki Beach.
Mel recommends Fresh Apple and Firewood, too, from Henhouse Candles , they are also on my list.

snow fog and early sunset tinting the beach palest pink

The quiet is such a change after the chaos and frantic fun of the holidays. My family traditionally all leave right after Christmas for a long week of skiing, and the sudden silence is such a change. I always plan some fun small easily finished but enticing projects for that time. A new venture wards of the melancholy of ''gone too soon...." in early January.

This year I had two things to work on.
This is the table runner I planned for the two dishtowels I got at Christmas Tree Shop in December.

Folkloric...

I love the birds, so happy and fat, with their pompom collars.

Pretty colors: tomato and sage-y blue-green.

India print backing.

One of my current frugality efforts is making a No Cut Flowers rule, unless I need them for photo props. 10.oo a week equals 500.oo bucks a year---and right now Mo just eats them anyway. But I had to have some tulips last week.

And I finished The Twelve Days of Christmas tiny quilt. [Temecula Quilt Company free pattern]

I like my candy cane stripe binding.

Quilting and washing / shrinkage improved it a lot, I think. It looks more cohesive.

before

after

Next on my list is to hand quilt my Peace and Plenty [Cascadia] doll quilt. And I have my eye on this wonderful quilt by Jan Patek. I ordered the book but it hasn't showed up yet. I think her website response is quite slow? I am wanting another warm flannel quilt for my bed for winter. My Porch quilt is cozy but too brown. I want to do the new quilt in black flannel [plaids, checks, mottled on black, with a more pastel palette] with touches of wool mixed in with the cotton.
Black is possibly a mistake since pugs shed a lot. I sold my black ground Amish quilt while I had my other pug. He was a good boy and slept on the bed. So far Mr Pissy aka Mo is banned and I have a shower curtain on the bed to discourage visits and deposits.

Here's the Pokeberry Quilt :
The pokeberries are what ''make'' it. They 'd be wool on my version. The wreath needs work and I don't think I can face another eagle. And that horse has to go. Maybe a black kitty?

Beautiful day, so I'm off to the beach. Yesterday Mo locked himself in the bathroom while I was out beachcombing. I was frantic when he was nowhere to be found when I got home. Having a puppy sure changes one's life, doesn't it? Before Mo I'd have taken my knitting out to the beach, found a sheltered sunny dune, and I'd have sat there quietly knitting for awhile. Like meditating....