Good evening on a cold grey Sunday!
First, thanks to so many friends who sent caring message about Baby Mo. He is doing better! And I am hopeful he will recover completely. It was a very frightening and totally unexpected episode. I thought he was having a stroke. Below is two days after.
Before all this started I felt well enough post-Covid to work on a small quilt! Yes, Whatnots.
I started the center since ''everyone'' weighed in that the center is crucial to the design. [I still disagree, but what the heck].
This is the pattern, not too detailed, and poorly drawn.
So far, as my machine chews up corners and spits out seams,
this is as far as I've progressed.
Yes the corners on Row 4 are wrong. I struggle with this always.
The design ends up making tiny 9-Patches but is created with diagonal strips. Horrors. Add in the poor machine performance and --oh ick. But I remember [now sadly ironic] Peace and Plenty, a Humble Quilts SAL called Cascadia. It is my favorite small quilt. Maybe this will be a success despite the same poor seaming.
For the muslin, I'm using coffee and rust dyed fabrics that Julierose and I made a few summers ago. She has a very good method involving sun dying.
It's hard to imagine but soon it will be warm on the deck for sewing time. I want this ready for hand applique by then! Raw edge w black thread appliques, as Cheri Payne always suggested. That will be the fun part.
Cascadia/ Peace and Plenty post and pics HERE
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See the weather:
I don't make this up. Though I realize elsewhere the weather is even more dire. And we had a warmish day---just the one! yesterday.
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Spring flowers. I'm drying the daffodils for an online project but otherwise cannot remember what or why. Hahahah. It's easy enough to dry them, maybe I'll remember?
Saved a few solo for my drawing journal. I do find them charming, despite being shriveled. [will anyone ever say that about me someday?]
Drying the baby pumpkins too. They take years!
Birdwatching: I'm still observing the migratory birds in the ugly locust tree, as Mo and I are having low-key days just now. These big black birds arrived the other day. Not crows, not starlings, not fish crows . They have long graceful tails and yellow beaks. And they waddle and bob on the ground foraging grass seed in public areas. I believe they are grackles, though the days are too dull for me to see the brilliant iridescence of grackles, an attribute I recall from childhood feeders.
And late one afternoon the oddest beautiful fairly large flock ---of what?--arrived. The leader was much stockier and larger, distinctively a rose breasted grosbeak! [Google images here/ all]
But the surrounding flock was small, and sparrow-like but with rosy sides and breasts. I thought house finches.
But then I found pine grosbeaks. This is exactly how they looked. Do the species mix? Travel together in migration? Forage for food? Did this male have a harem of little pink ladies? I must investigate further.
** I must mention that most of these birds do not stay here, they are migrating, passing through, using the coastline as a navigation guide.
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for Jean and everyone, here is the old soft sea glass bottle my friend found after that big storm last week. The patina is so soft and fine, so beautiful.
I haven't identified it so far but I think it's an eau de toilette/ toilet water/ cologne bottle c. 1890-1910.Dating from before deodorants and daily showers, scent was splashed on to smell nice. I picture an art nouveau violets label. Maybe my gramma had one, she loved and collected old European perfume bottles, esp violet and lilac scent. Labels like these HERE and HERE See, I don't make this stuff up.
Picture this belonging to some cute flapper girl, staying at the pink hotel above the dunes. My island wasn't permanently lived on til the early 1900s.
Have a great week. April is coming!
love
lizzy
gone to the beach...
gorgeous Kansas sunRISE from friend Mel.
And Mo and I found snowdrops before his illness.
Droopy snow drops. It's been so dry. They look like weeds! Hope gardeners do not pull them out.
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Relieved to hear that Mo is healing.;)))the little "What Nots" quilt looks like it will be charming...
ReplyDeleteI can see you on the beach doing those little applique pieces sipping some lemonade in the warm summer days to come;))))
Take care Hugs, julierose
Love that summery image on this dismal ll ast day of March!
DeleteLizzy
I'm so glad to hear that Mo's doing better. I hope he's back to his usual self very soon.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to hear that you felt pressure to make the center of Whatnots like the pattern when you thought it wasn't important. I hope you love it when you're finished! It's an interesting way to make those blocks that look like 9-patches. I think you said they are 1½" cut size? I remember that Cheri's patterns were very casual (or, as you say, not to detailed and poorly drawn). I think creating quilts was Cheri's forte, but making patterns probably wasn't a strength.
I think what you've sewn so far looks great. Sorry that your machine doesn't like corners.
It will be great for summer sewing. Those appliques will be delightful! Are they really tiny? (I can't tell the size of the finished quilt....)
I forgot how wonderful it is to have dried flowers. Yours look so good!
Looking forward to what you find out about the birds.
The sea glass bottle is beautiful. Maybe it was in a ship wreck and ended at the bottom of the ocean to roll around for 100 years! The stories we'll never know!
You've made a great start with Whatnots. I like the fabrics you have chosen. It will be fun to watch it come together. Such interesting birds especially the rose breasted grosbeak - he looks so debonair. We have the usual urban birds around here (which I appreciate) and it's always fun to see what is common in other parts of the country and world. Glad Mo is on the mend - that was quite scary for you, I'm sure. Curious find with the bottle, it leaves "so much scope for the imagination."
ReplyDeleteI'm so pleased that Mo is feeling better and hope he goes from strength to strength. What beautiful birds. Birds have such beautiful colours the world over, and very important in attracting a mate. To me the most majestic of them all has to be the Peacock. I have a large number of peacock feathers which started when I was a child on a visit to Drayton Manor Park and Zoo with my parents and great aunt. Since then I have found them over the years, and also a girl I taught at Secondary School kept peacocks and peahens and brought me in quite a bunch one day.
ReplyDeleteI'm a keen birdwatcher too and have three feeding stations plus nesting boxes in the garden.
As a fellow collector of beach treasures when on holiday as well as being drawn to interesting bottles, sea worn or as new, I was intrigued by your intact one. I have found several larger items of sea glass, stoppers, part wine glasses, some pieces with recognisable markings or words and bottle necks. I too did a bit of research on Google. At first I was lead to pain medicine bottles, including opium, but although the shape was right , they didn't have the ridge where the neck joined. Then I added the words America and toilet water and up they came. You will no doubt find the actual one. The stoppers on the ones I saw were cork and metal.
On another note, you used the word "Island," I didn't know you lived on an island. I'd like to find it on Google maps and get a feel ot where you are, that's if you don't mind disclosing it.
I do enjoy reading your posts.
Jean.
Hi Jean! It's so cool you actually found the bottles on Google. I must do more research.
DeleteYes I love the birds, but stopped feeding them bec one flew into my house. 2 AM, I opened the door for Mo's bedtime pee and it flew right in. Migrating that time of night, I imagined? I carefully took it back outside but I was terrified and I think it became very stressed and injured.
Do you follow Martha Stewart, the American style icon---she has beautiful peacocks on her ''farm'' including white ones. Imagine owning peacocks!
I'm so happy you visit and enjoy my posts! If you'd prefer a private blog response email me w your preferred email? Otherwise I answer comments here, esp British ones, as it seems to be the custom there.
love
lizzy
I've heard of Martha Stewart but don't follow her. My father used to keep a large number of free range chickens when I was a child. He used to sell the extra eggs we didn't need. He used to breed the chickens so I spent many happy hours as a little girl surrounded by fluffy yellow chicks. As I got a bit older I wanted a peacock, we had the ground. I didn't get one though. My uncle's garden backed onto a property which did have peacocks but they made so much noise, which is probably why we never had one.
DeleteI'll certainly think about a private blog email response, I wasn't aware they existed. I will have a look for your email address but for the moment I'll continue this way until I get chance.
Do Google your bottle using the words I did, the images came up straight away. The one that caught my eye was a famous brand name and I think it was lilac scented, but it had a particular marking on the glass which possibly yours doesn't. I didn't search any deeper once I'd found the images , but if you try you will possibly find your actual one.
In another message I will tell you about a bottle I found buried in our garden about 7 years ago and which started out in America and evidence and knowledge I have suggests that it likely got over here in the second World War, long,
long before I was born or my parents even met or bought this property once married.
Jean.
Update. Just a quick regoogle of images and I found the one I saw which was 1910 Colgate perfume, lilac. The other one I saw was the California company and violet scented. Have fun researching.
ReplyDelete"The truth is out there!"
Jean.