Look What Came in the Mail!

Hi! Guess what the mail person brought me recently! I love getting packages in the mail, don't you? Sure we order stuff online, and in a few days a boring brown Amazon box magically appears---but no matter how cool the purchase, it's just not the same as receiving a hand addressed mailer with real stamps! So fun!

I've been blessed with fun presents from my Internet friends. This is a tiny treasure, a miniature quilt from my friend Sue.[Coincidentally Sue lives very near where I grew up in Illinois; we met through our etsy shops. I'm afraid the cornfields and wildflowers are long gone though....]
This is such a treasure! I love dragonflies.

And notice Sue's beautiful work, the tiny heart charm, her lovely fabric choices, the way she used a vintage linen textile with hemstitching.

You can see from the label it is based on a Janet Bolton design. Sue and I both love the work of Janet Bolton, and when I was destashing last summer, I sent Bolton's most recent book on to Sue to enjoy. This is what Sue made.

I love it!
Right now it's on my bull clip display rack, but I hope to find a tiny frame for my Dragonfly. I will always treasure it, and Sue's friendship.

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Mo and I both found goodies in my box from my blog / writing groups friend Mel who lives in Kansas. Mel is an exceptionally talented crocheter. Her work is so beautiful and perfect always.
For me a ponytail hat and new mitts, for dog walking days.

Isn't this yarn gorgeous!

The hat is so cute, it has an opening for my ponytail, which also keeps the hat in place, not squashing down over one's nose.

And I also asked for the mitts. They are perfect. I don't like gloves, I feel like I can't control Mo's leash when I wear gloves. Solution is these toasty warm mitts.

Another cute hat! pretty neutrals to go with my white parka.

 Mel put some reflective  yarn in the pompom so I glow in the dark when car lights finds me walking in the winter darkness.

Mo got reflective wear too. It's especially important for one's dog to be well lit at night. I know when I'm driving I sometimes can see the human, but the doggy in front near the ground isn't very visible; I just see a leash disappearing into the darkness. So Mel made this neckwarmer for Mo.

He wears it every day! [The heart is in the front.]

The yarn looks plain grey heathery, but in the dark it lights up brilliantly. The yarn is very soft and warm, not scratchy. Mo seems oblivious, it's easier for him to wear than a hat that falls in his eyes.

I asked for a heart, which I love. It looks so adorable with Mo's red corduroy jacket! But Mel also made some shamrocks, just for fun. I put them on this week, on the reverse, for St Paddy's Day fun.

Thank you, Mel!
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And today  a package arrived all the way from Lori in Oregon. She sent me the scraps from her Chinese Coin rescue quilt project. Wow! I didn't expect so much or so many different fabrics [c. 1880-1910?]. Lori's finished quilt HERE

First I plan to sit down and pore over each little piece, but my mind is churning---doll quilts!

Or strawberries! Picture an old white bowl filled with strawberries made from these pieces.

And I have another project planned, I've been waiting for just the right thing to use. More later on that idea.
Thank you Lori!

Nosy Mo wants to see what is in his Nantucket baby basket which he long ago outgrew. Maybe he smells hints of Porter and Elsa, Lori's German shepherd dogs?

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On the home front , we are expecting a big snow tonight and tomorrow. As always I worry about the cold, if we have a power failure. Otherwise we have plenty of food and batteries, just have to prep more Pineapples for hand sewing, just in case. Update: Oh a big fizzle, a bit of snow, a bit of rain. Very windy though, so the issue of power failure still looms. I'm a bit worried about my Oystercatcher birds returning Friday, I hope they travel safely.

Yesterday was the last full moon of winter! It's called the Worm Moon, eeew. Any worms who peek out this week are gonna get their little tails frostbit!

Mo is decked out in his jammies. His toy is also made by Mel. It's stuffed with something crinkly, Mo adores it. Yum.

And snuggled into the covers on my bed. Ready for a snow day.

Earlier he helped me sew bits and pieces of WTWGF. Whoa, what a mess/ conglomeration. I hope it improves.

No matter how  plush of a bed I offer Mo in the sewing room, he instead prefers the bin of thrift shop shirts!

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Off topic entirely, but I was kinda thrilled with my lime crop. My friends of the tropical garden asked me to winter over their potted lime tree, because I get better sun [and have a green thumb]. The thing blooms constantly, what a mess. But today I found limes hatching, pretty neat. For drinks next summer?

love

lizzy

gone to the beach...

snowy dunes from last Friday:

Fall Festival Quilt Part 2, Westering Women, Wild Geese updates

Hello! It's the first Monday of March--already! Time for some sewing updates.

Fall Festival is a sewalong with Lori on Humble Quilts. Despite February being a short month, our assignment was BIG! Very diverse blocks  We did all the patriotic blocks, plus the oh so adorable Turkey.

I needed hand sewing to sit out with Mo on the [frigid] deck, so I did Turkey first. Very fun.

Flag..getting good at Flags, we've made a bunch by now. Though why we have the flag of Texas in the quilt remains a mystery to me. (Ok  I looked it up, the flag of Texas is different! But still....)

Then these Stars. big stars. Big pieced Stars. Made in an odd manner with freezer paper and ''eyeballed'' seam allowances.  I was crafty, and cut all the outer seam allowances XXL, so mine worked out okay.

Can't wait to see what we'll so next. Pineapples, anyone! [symbol of hospitality.] Not even gonna put the Baskets on my To Do List, probably save them for a lovely summer day, since I do all hand applique.

Yes, upside down. I know.

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Last night I made my first extra block for Westering Women. My block is called "Prairie Queen".

It's a modified Churn Dash with Four Patch, very humble for the queen! It represents my young pioneer woman in my imaginary travels west. She has used her favorite fabric scraps here, her practical brown dresses and  a pink apron stripe; a bit left over from a Sunday best white polka dot shirtwaist bodice.

Today I was going to make my next WW block, ''Corn and Beans''. But I couldn't face all those half-square triangles today ...

and instead made a bunch of Wild Geese spacer blocks for When the Wild Geese Fly.

The  blue shirts' worn soft fabric is harder to work with than the new cotton prints, I found. I expected to like the blues the best. This is the blue that inspired me to make the quilt, a gorgeous soft French blue.

The wild geese blocks are made in sets of four. Neither fast nor slow, but a workable method from the internet, also being used currently on Temecula Quilt Company's blog.  here
The sewed blocks are overlarge and require trimming, a quilting method that chafes my garment making soul and habit, where a pattern had to fit and fit together  perfectly before being cut. But it does make for neater quilting pieces, I suppose.

 48 Geese done, 100 more to go.
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On the home front, we had a huge change of weather~and howling March gale winds. Power outages even, though thankfully brief.

Brrrr. 

My pussy willow catkins are flowering.

And I taught myself to make origami boats, for my next beach walk! I was so proud, even though I have no understanding of what made this work. I'll fold some tiny boats with real origami paper, and have them in my pocket for my next ''spring'' walk to the beach.

cute but only 2 dimensional

3-D, site suggests pebbles 'or shells!] for stabilty.

Have a great week. Other quilters' Fall Festival blocks can be seen on Lori's blog HERE  Be sure to take a look!

love

lizzy

gone to the beach.....

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