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
........................
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.
.............................
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.
...............................................
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.
.jpg)
