No Sense Saying Goodbye ~ [Hello Autumn]

 

Good Sunday afternoon, everyone! Tomorrow night is the Equinox [Monday evening], even diehard summer people like me cannot make summer last forever.

And so Autumn begins, despite the joy of endless hot sunny days. It could rain! It could snow, we could have a hurricane--but you know, probably not. 

A hummingbird visited while I quietly sewed!

And this little lady sparrow, Missy, visits daily.

I think she'd eat from my  hand but I' m a bit wary of her getting too friendly. No birds in the house, I tell her.

Mo is oblivious.

The garden pots struggle on, damaged as they were in July and August. They look terrible but they're so brave and still produce sweet bright flowers.

The cosmos and marigolds were the stars this year, in such bright Lizzy colors. The zinnias mostly couldn't renew and regrow, they need lots of babying and care to flourish here.

I  was going to cut everything back, but the hummingbird loved the tall pink cosmos. So they remain. These tiny birds fly about 25 miles a day and desperately need food for their journey south. I put out extra water for the birds too.

In the big cosmos pot these tiny alpine daisies have just started blooming, along with the white alyssum. So sweet, love the color that I think of as blue, but actually it is a purple, isn't it. There's a deep pink version too. No clue what they are, it was a not specific wildflower mix. There's another tiny blue flower also, can hardly see it except in the pics. Maybe catmint?

I am diligently hand sewing Noah's Ark, even as I dither about the too stiff papers I experimented with.

It made a lovely firm edge for needle turn applique, but the water soluble description is a bust.

This week I soaked all the blocks overnight in batches, squeezing gently to soften the paper. Blocked to dry on kitchen counter. When it's done all I can plan is to send it to my longarm quilter for her opinion, yes/try or a resounding no. We'll see.

Since Mo is poorly I've been walking alone twice a day. Looking for nature journal items. Hahaha, so far came home w just these few leaves and this tiny shell from one of my gathering jars.

Not a native shell here, someone's discarded Florida collection, I suppose.

I do like drawing and painting leaves. This is what we call shield weed. [has a real name, like ''lamb shanks''?]. A true weed, quite ugly and gets so big.

And companion drawing from 2024, the awful Lantern Bugs. They're BACK. One landed on me, eeew. 

Another much anticipated migration occurred as always on August 3o. The big dragonflies. My sketch is not what I had envisioned. But not as bad as I thought, maybe.

This sketch remembers my fountain, broken  during brickwork. May try again next year. I was so sad. 

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Old Red Baskets is so fun! Just doing borders now, prewashing  the backing.

In my hunt for my supply of fusible [for a tiny Christmas quilt],

I found more old recycled Basket blocks! I have many many blue Baskets--12?---and one very ugly maroon. Plus these wonderful grey/ neutral  prints. I'll make them into another small table topper for winter. This is so fun.

 You can see two are in very poor condition. This is why I ended up not making a recycled bed sized quilt, just too fragile. But I can repair in my primitive manner -I like to save to original work, poor as it may be] and use for candle mats etc.  

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Since fabric is getting used up or donated or tossed out recently, I treated myself to more from Two Thimbles. So beautiful. Perfectly Fall and Halloween. Quite a few were on sale. Happy mail for me.

This is a poison yellow/ chrome yellow from Pan Buda. Note the spooky Moons! And darling squirrels.

This is a cool find. I collect this odd mourning vermicelli print. Repros and original. Variations turn up fairly often once you take note. No clue why it appeals---I just imagine the 1860s-ish quilter  thinking, well, it certainly won't show the dirt.

Mo is doing  poorly. The vet appointment was lukewarm: "not better but not worse".He has had two of his vestibular episodes that I call a seizure, bec I don't know what else to call them--since his appointment on 9/17, so past 4 days. Vet says he is not in pain, but I feel he is frightened and sit with him etc. All. Night. His lovely dogwalker came to visit him this afternoon and coaxed him out for a small walk on this beautiful day. It did perk him up and I am so grateful. 

Wishing everyone a good first week of Autumn. Go ahead, put up the pumpkins now. It is time.

love

lizzy

gone to the beach....

It's ''clutter'' but sometimes I leave out new or interesting projects on the dining room jelly cabinet, so I can see and love them as I eat and work. Not lost in the little sewing room, at least for a few days. 

 

Quilts Begun, Quilts Completed ! Bramble Berries/Blooms Silent Night/ Noah's Ark and More

Hi everyone. Here we are again, mid-September----heat wave coming, I hear.

These late days of summer have been  surprisingly productive. I finished two large, longtime projects! So I treated myself to some fun little diversions, digressions? Life in the fast lane, yeesh.

But first the finishes: Bramble Blooms is complete , even the possibly tacky ladybug is sewed on, second pic below.

Washed, blocked. [It and Silent Night will have their own posts when I have a helper to hold them up  for pictures.] A peek at the wildly garish back and stripey binding, the beautiful quilting.

I did handwash it, to unify the disparate elements with texture.

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Silent Night, this endless labor of love/hate/ annoyance/ tedium--finished except for the wool Snow Babies and animals' eyes.

My friend washed and dried it in her extra large washer-dryer, what an improvement! Why does washing/ shrinking/ crinkling add so much? The overall cohesive texture maybe? see above too, better, right? Much much softer  and fluffier too and a bit smaller. It drapes now instead of just lying like a three day flounder,.  I am hoping she might wash Winter Marsh too, but I don't want to over-ask.

My walls and wood floors are white, cannot get accurate colors.

The quilting is lovely, Stars in Circles, the photo looks a tad cottage cheese but  in person it is beautiful.

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I have most all the remaining bits of Noah's Ark prepped for the expected beautiful albeit very hot next ten days of outdoor sewing.

I need to stop and soak, rinse the Animals because the new tryout applique paper is like cardboard inside. It is NOT truly water soluable either, I am unsure if it can be softened enough for Lori C to longarm the quilt. Bummer.

Then back to the Snow Babies , for SN completion. I also have some very fun Cheri Payne jackolanterns planned for October fun work.  Finishing projects is so important to me. But I am so glad to see these quilts head for the depths of the storage closet. Instead, going forward, perhaps I will do less, sew less, and keep it all small. 

In keeping with that plan, I threw together  October 2022? Temecula Quilt Company little quilt in two brief evenings.

The card was misfiled and turned up one day when I was endlessly hunting for the Noah's Ark pattern.

So bright and sweet and simple.

So fun to sort my TQC ''Shop Scraps" collection, and choose  fabrics.

These small assorted $6.oo bags are so inspiring and delighting, often they have fabrics from other Marcus Brothers designers, not just TQC fabric.  A joy for someone like me who does not have, keep, use scraps in general.

Choosing fabric is always the best part of a project. I actually do not like to machine sew and sorely miss my wonderful staff of samplemakers who would sew up my ideas so fast.

I enlarged the little squares to 1 1/2" fin, instead of 1" finish. You may recall my machine chews up small pieces. 

 And recently I saw online someone using this old piecing method of setting the squares onto very lightweight fusible. Their version was complicated, but I used to do this when I made tote bags and placemats. Very fast and very accurate.

Some inexcusable whimsy in the borders, sigh.

Blog friend/ pen pal Penny made this quilt back n 2019 and shred her version, below.

Her work is so precise and so beautiful. I'll share mine when actually finished.

And Old Blue Baskets was such a success, I was inspired to make another, this one Tattered Red Baskets. For years I collected recycled 8" [8 1/2"] Basket blocks, planning a strippy Baskets quilt, full  size. I finally accepted that will never happen. Then I saw this wonderful quilt on IG. Why I didn't look and bid is a mystery. HERE @catsonquilts photos

My own Old Reds with Cheddar grew from that antique. The process so far, starting with choosing eight blocks and repairing them, in my own primitive style. Some blocks are pieced in HSTs, some have one piece basket bodies. Mixed them for color and style.

I included two browns and a bright school dress plaid for a hint of Fall. The red plaid was so dirty it looked brown, how does a never used block get so soiled. I soaked it overnite in Dawn and then briefly in Quilt Restore.

A wonderful fragile block with large anchors print. Imagine it in a little girl's drop waist  blouson sailor dress c. 1890. So sweet.

Cheddar sashing, cutaways from a border long ago, and red cornerstones. Tomorrow night maybe I'll put it together more. No hope waiting for a rain day.

So here we go. I love the idea, what a fun table topper this will be. Or rolled and displayed in a crock w autumn leaves or bittersweet?

To finish both maybe---one late night shopping I ordered a few cheddars

Why do I not have much cheddar or pumpkin in my stash?vDo I use it up bec it's my favorite quilt colors---or good cheddars are hard to find.? I chose these two, plus a dense pumpkin orange solid. Love the belly button dot! And what could be more Lizzy than pink roses w teal-y leaves--on, happy sigh, the sweetest softest cheddar you can imagine.

For these transitional days [it's already getting dark so early, despite the desperately intense daily unshine!] I am designating after dinner to be machine sewing hour. Hence the little fun makes.

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I did cave to Autumn vibes online and ordered a small try out tin of Apple Cider  tea. But no caffeine, what's with that?

And I put this intriguing book on my maybe Amazon list. I'm planning ahead, not starting early--think of darkest January, after 4 pm walk in encroaching darkness. So   cold, so windy. Then, a cup of apple tea and a chapter/ story. Maybe winter nights can be as good as summer days?

from Amazon page: "As the evenings draw in – a time of reckoning, rest and restoration – immerse yourself in this new seasonal anthology. Nature Tales for Winter Nights puts winter – rural, wild and urban – under the microscope and reveals its wonder.

From the late days of autumn, through deepest cold, and towards the bright hope of spring, here is a collection of familiar names and dazzling new discoveries.

''Join the naturalist Linnæus travelling on horseback in Lapland, witness frost fairs on the Thames and witch-hazel harvesting in Connecticut, experience Alpine adventure, polar bird myths and courtship in the snow in classical Japan and ancient Rome. Observations from Beth Chatto’s garden and Tove Jansson’s childhood join company with ...'' edit: the font in this book is miniscule, prob have to buy a Kindle version or skip. The quality is poor, esp unpleasant ugly paper too. 

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Mo and his Fan, he loves it. 

Mo has had some wobbles health wise this week, but he is sweet and brave. Important vet appointment early AM Wednesday, Again surgery looms. Wish us a good report? Home now but having a vestibular [inner ear] disease ''seizure'' episode. 

Have a great week!

love 

lizzy 

gone to the beach...............