Out and About ~ A few Shopping adventures

Good evening! Oh my it gets dark early now, doesn't it. Yesterday my friend L and I did a bit of shopping, just for fun. It was very nice to put on pretty clothes, even if just khaki capris and a colorful autumn cardi. Yes, a cool snap has arrived for a few days.

It was chilly enough that the marshes have picked up an early hint of amber and gold. Photos from a moving car, and far away, but we noted the egrets already flocking in the marsh's pools, like bands of avian ghosts.

Of course we went to our favorite Home Goods. 

I give Home Goods credit for still having Halloween items that looked new and fresh.

Blue pumpkins, anyone?

How about embroidered? Lovely hand stitching on linen, from India. Not my idea of a pumpkin though.

More.... I really so do not like this new Fall Y'all  trope. Reeks of phony redneck down home sappiness.

You know I love bowls! Black and white for Trick n Treat candy. (Will T & T even happen this year? Should Mo get a costume or just a Halloweeny bandana? Or?)

I loved this large striped bowl with the pumpkin colored glaze and punkins inside. Not expensive but I know from others I have bought that this line chips really easily and quickly looks unattractive. Pass.

Paper napkins: this photo is for blog friend Kit, A Montana Life. She's a huge football fan.

And I liked these tiered display stands. Love the funny old galvanized tin. Great for showing off collections like carpet balls or fishing floats. Wobbly though, and where would I store it? 

Almost no Thanksgiving items. I hope this once beloved traditional holiday does not fade, squeezed as it has become  between Halloween and Christmas? Politically correct scorn may also be a factor? But Home Goods has lots of Christmas already. I couldn't buy anything , just could not. I guess this is when the best stuff is offered though.

Mo got a new bed, for when/ if he goes on sleepovers in the future. It's his favorite style and brand but so far he has spurned it. Only $19.99.

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A few weeks ago we also went to a new to me Italian deli. Our local one burned down! This shop was tiny but the foods looked amazing, all specially brought over from Italy.

Enormous cooler case of antipasto makings attracted me, but on a hot day I was dubious. I treated myself to their special eggplant lasagna instead. It was very good, though my lasagna or eggplant parm are both better.

All summer I have been reading the Inspector Brunetti crime series by Donna Leon. The series is set in Venice and besides the central crime [which sometimes escapes me, as Italian law is of course different from US law, etc], there is quite a lot of description of Venice itself, people and clothes and food and wines. I bought a wonderful big coffee table type cookbook on my used books site, called Brunetti's Cookbook. All about the foods he and his family shop for, prepare, consume. Too bad the font is so tiny and pale I can't read it. Maybe someday. I'm interested because the northern Italian cuisine featured in the books is very different from the Sicilian cooking I grew up with and make still.

Brunetti's Cookbook

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I am also writing a timeline of the Covid Plague years. 2020 had become a jumble in my recollections. It was interesting to sort out the past year and a half.

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After we got home L and I were texting, making plans for more things we hope to do. Our lives have become so constrained with covid and Delta Covid edicts that even going to buy a dog bed is exciting! Have a great weekend, as we welcome October.

"Is it cold enough for a cup of hot tea?" 

asks Mrs Tiggywinkle,

 when she emerges each October.

love

lizzy

gone to the beach....

PS Mo's ears are still being treated, but he seems so much perkier, poor mite.

                                    

Sewing as a Mood Lift---and Welcome Autumn

 

Hi everyone! Doing a blog post today, feeling---maybe not better but more optimistic. Please do not worry, my health issues will be addressed in the months to come. [by definition, chronic illness never goes away/ is incurable]. My main point is, pls understand if I don't post as often as we like, and maybe can't answer comments right away. Still love comments though, don't give up on me.

Anyway it is now astronomical Fall, 

                                 

the sun sets very early and while the days are hot and sun filled, that darkness hints of winter to come...

                                     

Part of my current problem has been blurry vision, a sudden onset cataract or cataracts that will be treated surgically fairly soon. I am super squeamish about medical issues, so pls do NOT share any eye surgery stories. I just can't deal.

What happened---I was needleturning the Pine Trees on Silent Night but suddenly could not see to sew.  

I finished them somehow! Forgive the wrinkly cotton and seams. Humidity here is 96% with a wind off the water, everything is soggy.

And I went on the the wool animals. Wool is far more forgiving.

Mo:

Stripey and all the other much loved tabby tomcats in my lifetime of loving cats.

I decided not to applique the snow baby children [also wool] until this is quilted, as I do not want lines across their faces and snowsuits.

This is a different quilt, with the same Mo and in this case, Kitty, the feral black cat in my neighborhood. I don't mind the lines on the animals.

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I always love having kits on hand. These are two tiny wool pillows or sachets. The black thread on bright was see-able and I had fun sewing them. I'll fill them with autumnal herbs, pine, cinnamon, lavender, etc, and tuck them in a big bowl with tiny jacks. Orange I think!

I especially liked doing the ''pennies'', a Victorian name for the wool circles.

The sunflower is cute too. I was sad because it got no ''likes'' on IG at first. Has some now finally though, poor cutie.

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My last project was to dig out this tied quilt for evaluation and redo.

It was one of my mom's Midwestern Mennonite quilt tops. She used it as a decorative table cloth. I lent the piece to a friend who to my surprise had it finished! But with poly batting and ties, not quilting.[I believe she asked my ok, it was very long ago. I think I imagined real quilting. But I was happy to share.] Later after I had my mom's other gorgeous top [that had the same fabrics] I asked for this piece back.

My mom's top that I had quilted in her memory.

The blue oxford backing is interesting. Very vintage Ralph Lauren. My friend used this quilt and another on her sons' beds. Not sure how great that worked, lol. Bet they wanted Power Rangers! Marvel heroes?

The border fabric was added later, I believe.

I fluffed it out and smoothed it on my bed this morning. Oh no, it is much more tattered than I remembered. I should make two replacement blocks before I undo it, I suppose. So back in the closet it goes for now.

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Mo went for another big bucks ear treatment today. My Fall home spruce up budget got dipped into again. Mo comes first.

                                              where is my sucker*, mommy?

A few late season potted flowers are blooming in the stalks and crabgrass.

 On Instagram we decided this is a coreopsis, much to my surprise.

As these are what coreopsis look like in my mind.

Good wishes to all! Enjoy the hot sunny days, don't rush through ife looking for Fall and holidays to come.

love

lizzy

gone to the beach...

today's photos from a friend....

*sucker is what we called lollipops...