January is Flying By!

Hello hello, how fast the winter days go by. It's almost February. Last year at this time a huge blizzard was arriving and my eye surgery was January 31, as I recall. In many ways things have not changed much---like the movie Groundhog Day, events keep repeating, repeating. We are again, still? in a cycle of cancellations and fears of Covid and other illnesses. Three--3!-- special celebrations were canceled this week, due to non-Covid/ non-flu related respiratory illnesses; one of my dogwalkers has Covid, blah blah blah. We have to wear masks in public. Again. And I still have severe double vision! 2022, below

The good news, in addition to the warmish temps, is that there has been a sudden shift in the sun's setting time. Mo and I can go out at 5 PM and not be in pitch darkness.

January has not been a productive month, time just slips away. Too much time spent reading trashy free offerings on Kindle Free Books! 

This week was mending, not quilting. Do any of you mend undergarments? Since Covid lockdowns made it so hard to shop in stores--and buying bras and panties online is a real crapshoot, loser's game!--I find myself ''making do'' and mending underwear. Nuff said. And my beloved Eileen West nightgowns cost a fortune, are never on sale, so, yes, I patch and repair. Eileen West

I also patch the elbows of my work sweaters. I have a thing for cashmere turtlenecks, my winter uniform. Lest you think this is hugely extravagant: 1-I am always very cold and they're warm but not bulky; 2-I look for sales and specials; 3-some I have since before my mom died that were gifts from her---and she passed away in 2009. Value per wear? Pretty good, pennies per wear I am estimating. Then I have a method: every few years I buy a new sweater for going out and I retire a sweater to a home wear sweater. These are the ones that get elbow patches. 

When these finally have shrunk to baby size from machine washing, I recycle the arms as leg warmers and the bodies as cuddle blankies for Mo.

This year's new sweater, very much on special when I bought it.    Lands End Sweater Today LE asked for a review. I love the sweater, was willing to say that. But then the questionnaire asked for age, gender, height, weight, size. These are not bits of info I wish published for millions of shoppers to see and also spyware to have. Deleted that page real quick.

More mending of household stuff. Some shells do better with a coat of white paint!

Scribble journal and try-out perpetual journal. The PJ will ostensibly have better more perfect illustrations, not cartoons like the SJ. Hmmmm...

I mulled over a few possible ''this looks fun'' sewing projects:

This is adorable, but all so tiny. 1" squares in the center, tiny applique motifs, most 2" or less. Needle-turn app gets harder the tinier the bits and pieces are, as does piecing actually. And really, how many tiny placemat sized quilts can a person make? I made way too many last year, I notice. Useless after the fun of making is done.

Or this one? Just that I can't seem to break it into approachable blocks of now-and-then segments. Must think more, so I set aside this one too.

Mo as always cozily supervises.

Undecided and unfocused, I just went back to making Flying Geese for Winter Marsh. I need about a hundred more. And the Sun, a snow day project, if indeed it ever snows? Fine with me if not.

Here are the huge skeins of geese that inspire my Flying Geese quilts. 

Seen in giant flocks yesterday, not just on the marshes but overhead driving home from Target. We also saw flocks of brants [smaller geese] and cormorants, and rafts of pretty winter ducks in the water.

I did cook this week, Mongolian Beef, seen on Instgram.

Mine, below, looked so pretty, just like the vid, tasted gloppy and bland. Gave me a stomachache too, so I tossed the rest. Had planned it to be meals for three days.

The premise of the IG story was that the recipe is cheap and fast. Okay it didn't take long, but the steak for a double recipe cost * $23.99! Horrifying. And so wasteful. Pretty sure the local Chinese carryout could deliver for a LOT less. [*I had asked for one small ribeye steak, grocery sent pre-packed two rather large steaks! Wish I had only used one. Steak is a big treat for me, hard to throw this dish out.]

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All my spring forcing bulbs have arrived so I am collecting flower pots. Hopefully that's our next post here. Lots of prechilled bulbs, very on sale, look on line if you want to grow spring flowers with me. Even an on sale, leftover from Christmas amaryllis bulb is fun in deepest winter. 

Have a good week, welcome February! Dry hands and feet suggestion, smells so good:

love

lizzy 

gone to the beach.....

longer days means longer Mo walks despite the gale winds.

And the beach ball--so sad, so evocative of summer gone by and not returning for 6 months still....

PS back from walk, we played out on the deck and noticed many people [20? 25?] on the shoreline of the beach. Long zoom, lenses. Probably not a wedding, in January.....Something in the surf? A body, a buoy, a seal, a whale? I hope not the Snowy Owl, as they are looking in the shorebreak. 

Too far and too dark to walk out though.

Making an Angel

 

Good evening friends! This has been the oddest week, I think I was in a bit of a fog for some reason. Is it the weather?

One grey day blending into the next, and more to come. Look at the Feb. long-term forecast!

Blog-friend Julierose and I live fairly close as the crow flies, though far far away via NY highways and bridges, but we share similar weather. We are determined to value the warm-ish temps and be grateful for no snow. But still...?

Before I start talking about making dolls and angels, here is your laugh for the weekend. Amazon sent me this via my IG feed, says it is a Top Seller! Whatdaya think, guys, is anyone a fan? [She looks deformed, imho]

Angels: I love[d] making primitive dolls and angels but in recent years had created only a few. My angels are varied, each one of a kind. I always worry that they will not be cared for and cherished, so in the end I stopped making them except by special order, and I just kept a few. 

But this past December a very valued customer emailed me out of the blue, asking if I had any dolls for sale. At first I said no, but then remembered this prim doll who has kept me company on my sewing room shelf, waiting for her final dress to be made. I'm not sure why I had not finished her [and had no intention to sell her], but then I knew---she was destined to be an angel for E.

A principle I learned designing clothes is: Never give the buyer a choice; have an idea/ POV and sell it, you are in charge. But again, I have worked with E for years and enjoy her input so I offered her a selection of vintage and antique baby dresses:

Knowing really that with her love of old white linens and dresses she'd choose the long dramatic 19cth century-1880? baptismal gown. Note the gorgeous handmade lace and many pintucks.

And I somewhat reluctantly shared an antique doll petticoat from my own collection, too. [I owned two, after all.]

While the clothes soaked in mild Quilt Restore and OxiClean, I first had to create the face.  The face, esp the eyes, is the personality and soul of a doll. And angel faces are much harder than doll faces. Dolls can get big, mismatched, sew through button eyes, embroidered/ beaded/ or button mouths. Folky.  Rag hair, toothpick or old rusted nail noses. But angels must be other worldly, delicate and serene. I wanted her to look like she was singing a beautiful olde carole, sending sweet joy to E.

Real shoe button eyes, c. 1900?

Her feet...not shoes, maybe angel don't need shoes? Instead she wears ankle bows of old silk ribbon and rusty bells. The bells were found, a gnarled pipe cleaner twist of bells, on the beach after a storm, years ago.

This angel also wears bells from that find.

Next, I always make knickers for the dolls, using my stash of old hankies, cut freehand, tied with tiny ribbons and accented with little rosebuds. Perhaps never seen but I love how they look.

The back of the doll is signed and dated before her bloomers go on. Now she has a face, a name, a personality!

I added her halo of tarnished tinsel. I tried quite a few haloes first: a rhinestone circle pin, a strange faux jeweled clasp, buttons, other tinsel, tiny pompom string. But no, the angel, now named Estrella, was set on tinsel. I was lucky to find some!

The dress and petticoat, now beautifully white and dried, carefully mended, starched lightly, and ironed were put on. The petticoat fit perfectly. The dress needed gathers, held at the neck by a faceted mirrored button brooch. Another scavenged find, sidewalk larking, saved since the winter of Covid.

A woman on FB said my angels look like pillowcase dolls. Not sure what that was, but sounds very 70s crafty-wafty! I was a bit put out. But then I did have the notion that all input can be useful. If my supply of tiny 19th century dresses runs out, white pillow cases with the fancy crocheted or knitted lace might be a wonderful idea instead. I have quite a few of those pillowcases, as both my Swiss and French-German [Alsace] ancestors made them for their coming to America trousseaux. pillowcase doll

All dressed, wings attached, silk and wool crazy remnant heart in hand. I toyed with having her hold sheet music, I have Silent Night papers, but for ease of storage and also longevity of display time [she could stay out til Valentine's Day?], I went with the heart, my trademark touch.

And here she is: Estrella ! 2022.

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Mo had such a treat this week. On the only sunny morning his dogwalker took him on an extra long hike, all the way over to the main/ only road here! The recently installed high back iron fence makes it safer for Mo to indulge one of his fave things, chasing cars. She said he had a blast, silly boy. The marsh I often mention begins across the street, behind the hedge of brambles and bittersweet. A pair of cardinal has nested in that tree for maybe 20 years.

And one cold day, to ward off the damp chill, I made biscuits, then later classic meatloaf, with brussel sprouts, and boiled tiny red potatoes. The potatoes were exceptionally good---steamy hot, slightly squashed, w salt/ black pepper, butter and parsley, dab of sour cream. Very retro menu, but once in a while, so delicious. Lovely leftovers all week too.

have a good week! January is almost gone, imagine that.

love

lizzy

gone to the beach...

photos from friends:

We have a snowy owl visiting. I saw him just now. I was too excited to take pics, these are from friends who are also seeing him. We think he roosts in this overgrown cabana park. What a thrill. He is HUGE. Mo must stay indoors and not be dinner.

Scribble journal: