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.