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.