Quilty 365 April Dots

Hi! I sewed my last April Dot this morning, yes  I cheated, I'm a day early. Actually I kind of lost track....

Bright green because the first tiny leaves have appeared on the ugly locust tree outside my window here.

It is Dot number 177. At the end of next week I will be at the halfway point if I do 365, later this coming month if I make 400 Dots.

Here's the April batch. Approx. 10-12 hours of work.

I'm filling my pretty box nicely!

A few weeks ago I dug out a neglected fabric bin, searching for cute fabric for upcoming Dots. The box was awesome. It was filled with tropical prints in black & white and shades of brown, neutrals [yes there's another bin with the brilliant Margaritaville shirt prints], and also quilt a few black and white batiks, and brown/ neutral seashell prints. These would make an amazing quilt like the Hawaiian quilts shown on Wonkyworld. Kalakoa quilts, HERE  Maybe a freestyle Log Cabin? Or Kaleidoscope?Something fun to slap together on a rainy day?

I also finished the first blocks off Where [When?] the Wild Geese Fly. here Here are the Pumpkins, I love them. Next I plan to do the moons and stars though that cute turkey is wanting my attention too.

It seems a bit odd to be working on an autumn quilt, doesn't it? But then I've been seeing so many big Vs of geese flying overhead, it seems appropriate.
The Vs are not Canada geese; they are here and nesting. babies will emerge for Mothers Day! No, the migrating geese are Brants, a smaller version of Canada geese. They migrate through in the spring on their way to their nesting grounds in the tundra of Canada and Alaska.

This project will be machine appliqued, mostly. The ''artistry'' will be in making the 200 odd Flying Geese blocks.

And Pokeberry is already back from the quilter!

Look what the postal service did to the box, isn't this scary! Even the inner plastic bag was shredded  open. But all was okay.

My quilter did such a nice job, and so fast! This quilt still has a lot of work to be done---binding of course, plus bead and button eyes and flower centers, a bumblebee and a lady bug or two?; label. Then I think I'll have it dry cleaned. After that, I'm not sure how I will accomplish the magic of the cotton batting puffing and shrinking. I'm afraid to machine wash, it has bits of velvet and wool, and even silk. I think I'll spritz the back with water in a squirty bottle, and run it through the dryer? [or quit while I'm ahead?]

More projects to share soon!

love

lizzy gone to the beach.....

...in my down parka! It got very cold here again. Brrr. Less than one month til summer begins, wow.

Feed me, mommy. I'm starving! NOW!"

Visit Audrey's blog for the 365 Project and link up to other dotty makers: HERE

Flea Market Finds

Hi! Did you all have a great weekend? Sunday I got a very late start and almost didn't bother going to the flea. But it was such a pretty day! Cool and breezy and sunny, so off I went. I got there about 1.30 PM. Late, right? In a way I was glad I went because the market was bustling and happy, though very crowded again. But then,...same old garage sale junk. I'm wandering around, not taking pictures, thinking, What am I gonna tell the guys on my blog? What a downer I am. ''nothing...nothing...nothing...''

sigh.

But then, way across the market, someone waved. A dealer friend. I waved back and indicated I'd work my way over to his booth. When I got there he was busy with customers so I began sorting through this week's array of incredible fabrics. He doesn't always have fabrics, but when he brings them---oh my. Gorgeous. Mostly French, or vintage NYC designer samples. [For those with good memories, this is the man who sold me the tiny autograph book last fall? And the silver pansy handle, and silver thimbles...]

 This week he had a melange of vintage Indonesian cotton batiks, and toiles [maybe], retro silk scarves [no], and hand beaded couturier samples, silk, linen and wool.

I was making my little stack of treasures and PLOP, this landed on my fabric pile. He said,"I was saving this for you. I had it in the truck."

oooh. Just wonderful. Black and white and very old.

He showed me the reverse marks and labels but in my usual hurry I didn't really take the info in, just said ''Oh YES! I want it, thank you!'' 

I thought the central motif was a Chinese scene, a common theme in English Staffordshire china [think Blue Willow] But no. The tiny scene commemorates the opening of the Erie Canal at Buffalo NY in 1825. The Canal was begun in 1817. Who knew?

 Plates like this were popular, an early 19th century fad. Maybe similar to buying a World Series champions mug? The designs were made soon after the events depicted occurred. EBay had a similar plate and its seller dated it 1830.

 The edge design is called "Lace". My favorite part of the piece, plus the scalloped edges and allover grunge but not chips, no cracks aspect.

The price is long ago, not my friend's price.

It's odd now to think of the Erie Canal being so important, but in the days before railroads, it opened up commerce and travel between The East Coast / NYC and the Great Lakes/ Midwest--Ohio, Indiana, Illinois. Almost 200 years ago. My how life has changed.

Back to the \fabrics, I chose this gorgeous square of celery green velvet. It needs to be washed and steamed, of course.

 \\

It's heavily hand beaded. I will make a couple Sailors' Valentine pin cushions with the corners, maybe? Victorian Sweetheart pincushions HERE



A few beaded sewing emery strawberries, and I may even use some to add a few leaves to Pokeberry [being quilted even as I write this! so excited.]

Blues...one for pillows, maybe.

This beauty is silk georgette, hand embroidered with sequins and beads. It may be a scarf for me! [in that sari kantha style?], or a pillow or maybe part of a dressy linen tee shirt?

This small piece is just a fragment, old and fragile. Wool or wool and linen---a challis, with an ikat inspired print design.  Mid-1800s?

And this fun toile. I do love toile and this just spoke to me of Cape Cod in its early rural days. The church is there on the old Kings Highway, the farms, the lighthouse on Nauset Bay. [in a Nag's Head NC  or Sandy Hook NJ sort of way? CC Lighthouses are red and white not black.]

It's cotton, seems to be a curtain panel.
As I stood there waiting for my dealer friend to add up my bill, I picked up this button card and asked its price. The guy shrugged, "Just toss it in, no charge." Music to my ears.

The buttons are tarnished but some cuties...Well worth the price,lol $0.oo.

I did not buy, but wish I had, this odd silk boudoir stocking. Maybe NOT a Christmas stocking, but a dressing table decoration? With what I think of as French silk ribbon flowers. I know I'd buy it to use the flowers and kind of did not want to cut it up. Pretty.

Then from antique to beach kitsch: Look what I found at the Stop n Shop. Tiki lights, torches! Big! If they burn citronella oil, they'll be so cool in my friends' tropical garden? Hmmm?

Have a great week.

love

lizzy

gone to the beach.....

PS: Remember the big black THING far away on my beach? Rocks, trash bags, a beached whale, a shipwreck, a wrecked truck...? This morning early a big black pickup truck came and took the black things away! So we'll never know. [I was sure it was boulders for a jetty, but the guys lifted and slung the black objects too easily for that.]

black jetty rocks

a beach mystery.