I wiped away the weeds & foam. / I fetched my sea-born treasures home... Ralph Waldo Emerson







Friday, February 17, 2017

Another Friday



Good afternoon!~ Mo and I are waiting for the groomer van! She is running very late, but Mo needs his bath. He always looks so white and fluffy afterwards. And he'll smell like coconut shampoo!


Not much else is happening here at the beach, unless we want to talk about potholes, mounds of dirty snow, and high winds. Grrr, I do hate windy days.


The grocery store has forsythia to force into bright yellow spring-like bloom. But I had a mental blip and bought white tulips instead. Huh? I love forsythia, have to go back tomorrow maybe.


Indoors isn't going as planned either. Not bad, just--random. I started my Turkey block for Fall Festival, instead of making the weird Stars and the Flag. Oh well. Isn't he fun!


I made the last block, number 12, of Westering Women. ''Road to California''.



I again set the blocks out on my bed, sorry not a good photo and not in order, to decide if I want 12 blocks with a wider border like Brackman suggests. Or 16, with a narrow border and square shape.


I'm thinking four more pioneer inspired blocks: Corn and Beans [meals on the road, can you imagine walking all day behind the Conestoga, then having to cook a meal!? Yeesh.] ; Log Cabin or Schoolhouse [their first home]; Basket [their first harvest/ successful settling]. And I love this, Prairie Queen, to represent my young traveler. The quote attached to the block is along the lines of "If a woman don't have strength and determination, she don't belong on the ranch!" My girl is so happy she isn't in a soddy in Nebraska with the snakes and bugs! She is proud of her one room cabin in Cali.
I'm not finding much about the travelers' ending in California. Where did they go, what did they build? Crops or gold?  What about settlers on the so-called Santa Fe Trail? You get to Santa Fe, and what? Buy Native jewelry? I'm not picturing a huge population burst out there? A mystery so far...Lots to research and learn.

And instead of sewing my 147 Wild Geese  for WTGF, I decided to put together the Dotties. It's fun to revisit them and despite some mistakes in seam direction they have gone together easily and well. I think I like them. Two sections done, through row 13; 14-19 left to be done.


I'm surprised how often fabrics show up side by side. Unintentionally, weeks apart, as I sew the rows of twenty, this happens:


Or worse, this--- not only ugly but one is upside down, below the lighthouse. Most I wouldn't redo, but I think I'll rip this one out and do a sub . Is that cheating?


The other interesting [?] thing is that the fabrics, chosen to represent each day, mostly don't have even a hint of insight or recollection happening for me. Sure I know it's a birthday, or Christmas, but the everyday days are meaningless. I'm glad I wrote the diary to go with; not sure there is any point to the project if the Dots fade into oblivion, as most days do.


My Dotty will have small simple border but I found this on Pinterest. How great it would have been to have a wonderful top [or bottom] border to add interest and info. It is too large for that, planning ahead with much smaller dots would have been an  option. Too late now.

Chasing zinnias:
Love! How adorable!
[from Pinterest, no attribution yet.]

The Dotties' 4" squares are going together so delightfully that I am inspired to at least consider reproducing this antique Amish wool quilt, though in cotton. Pinterest again, see my Dot Quilts file for a better picture.


Mo has not gotten me out to sit with our deck's glacier but maybe tomorrow?





And even I who loves Winter had a small hankering for spring. A robin's egg blue Weller bowl snuck out of the bowl stack!



love

lizzy

gone to the beach...