All Is Not Perfect at The Beach (but not all bad either...]

Hi everyone! Remember I told you the weatherman says we'll have 70* temps this week? Beach days? Ha! Not sure what the weather guys are smoking but  43 with a 25 mph wind is not my idea of a balmy spring day. More March, business as usual. Cold and icky.

And then my kitchen flooded. Maybe not exactly a flood, I guess---but water water everywhere, under the sink and cupboard floors, invisible to the naked eye but detected  by the evidence of wet socks. The floor tiles are dry but the grout is soaked. Missed the Flower Show waiting for the emergency plumber, but at least he came on a Sunday afternoon. The dad of a friend of a friend.

The good news is : Look what I found when I emptied out the sink cabinet! I don't look under there often because I am terrified of bugs. So I found a few cute crocks and these cool pitchers. All are chipped from living under the sink, poor things. I think except for the white ironstone, English, c. 1900?, they are TJ Maxx finds.

The white giant pitcher/ ewer has pretty wheat sheaves motifs.

The flag pitcher will be so cute for flags on the 4th of July.

And this is wonderful, it actually may be vintage, I have no idea. It will go great with my blue and orange Wild Geese quilt, for Fall, in a few years.

Then when I was rearranging my jelly cupboard to store the pitchers more carefully, I found this [in my humble opinion] beautiful table runner, never used. Made back when I used my own imagination and love of antique fabrics in my quilt designs, instead of relying on patterns for inspiration.

It had some shell and turquoise bead work which I removed so it can be washed and so Mo won't eat the beads. It is a seashell toile with antique Japanese indigo fabrics.

This past weekend I made my March block for Barbara Brackman's Westering Women. It's called Indian, in a shrug to political correctness. I used fabrics inspired by my small collection of Native American / Indian silver pawn jewelry. Turquoise and coral red.

The bad news is despite every effort the block is not exactly 12 1/2 " square. This is a problem I encountered years ago with a pieced sampler BOM. I can have good points or exact measurements but not both. You can see the 1/2" of the February block showing behind Indian. I suppose I will have to add frames to make the blocks fit or if I feel really patient this week I will try again, and make a new block.

Pokeberry is together except for the stripey borders.

I had allocated January and February to finishing this project, then March and April for finishing Summertime [Spring Break]. Obviously I missed my self imposed deadline and I'm annoyed about that.

Mo has spring fever! But he hasn't run away recently. If the wind is less tomorrow, I plan to take him to the park.

Thanks for listening! I do know--things could be much worse! Every cloud has a silver lining. And so on.

love

lizzy

gone to the beach

PS oh yeah, and my Kindle needs an update or it will no longer function. I'm not terrible with computer-y stuff but this has me stumped! Anyone else? None of the prompts in the fix's directions show up on my Kindle's menu. Son or daughter to the rescue, I hope. [I suppose Amazon wants me to buy a new Kindle, is that what the real story is?]

Here's some ''sunshine'' to brighten our day:

The Colors of the Harvest

Hi guys! The following photos were taken at the farmers market the other day.
Aren't the colors wonderful, so rich and saturated and joyful! Just walking through the market taking pictures makes my heart sing.
please click on anyphoto for large pix / slide show. So pretty!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love the contrast of the old weathered baskets and burlap used by the farmers.

 

 

 

 

 

I can see this day inspiring new quilt designs and color ways, perhaps in an Amish tradition?

The Muted tones of sage, khaki, grey, tan, cream with black, like some of the baskets....(notice all the shades and textures! especially all the deep and varied purples.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

a few stripes or texture?

 

 

 

 

 

dull shades and black
with tiny pops of fuchsia and orange?

 

And I also am attracted to the brights--should I even say "brilliants"? Set against a dusty tan, with a border inspired by the tomato red and tan stripes, below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am thinking a Baskets  pattern would be so suitable for this idea, maybe a Liberated Baskets pattern like Lori's, here, which I believe is a design by Gwen Marston, though I know I have a version also from another designer. How fun to not be matching points, just luxuriating in the dense colors of early Autumn!

 

Fun to play with ideas, isn't it. Especially if they mean I don't have to cook, now that we are having our September heat wave.

 

(No sewing and especially no cutting or hand sewing/ hand quilting for me! For awhile....no clue what's wrong. May try to go to the new emergency care place on Monday, you may recall we have no ER here since Sandy, and no xray facilities etc. So far rest and ice are helping. But gee! I can't even knit! Mel's gonna have to Fed Ex me her Buffy CD collection soon. Thank goodness for Kindle and a day with Jack Reacher here....)

 

 

 

love

 

lizzy

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Hi from Mo!

 

PS Car update: Here is my new Jeep at the farmers market. It's a smaller version of my personal choice/ favorite, but I love it, despite all the too-fancy-for-this-girl gadgets it has.... I never had a white Jeep before.