It's July! ~ June Quilt Show and Tell

It's July! The year is half over but summer has just begun. [Finally.]

On the quilting home front, first up, Lori's Stringalong Project. I didn't get as much accomplished as I'd hoped but I am very happy with what I have so far.

Here is the pieced section on my bed, so you can see scale and layout.

I was rescued from my setting dither by blog friend Penny, who very kindly did a layout for me in Electric Quilt 7.

I was stymied because I have very limited sashing and corner fabric and could not allow myself a cutting experiment/ error. With Penny's invaluable help, I could print out diagrams and make notes for exact cutting amounts and for the always boggling diagonal piecing structure.

My stack of blocks might have sadly languished in their box without the diagrams.

Once I cut the sashings I could then cut the setting triangles. Penny also kindly included cutting measurements but I wanted the big triangles to have their long sides on straight grain, therefore needed to cut a large square into fourths, and I'd need 3 [12] of them?

I spent a somewhat fun evening [in my imagination, I don't even recall who the guys was!] thanking my old middle school geometry/ algebra?  teacher for imparting the basics: a x a + b x b = c x c [''a squared plus b squared equals c squared'', my keyboard won't write this.]; so the square is cut the square root of c.---or 19"-ish. Aren't we so glad we paid attention back then! And we told our parents math was a waste of time, "I'll never use it!"

So here I am , hoping for some rainy days to continue piecing.

I still love my Baskets but in a way I feel that they are soooo simple that they in some ways evade the fun challenge of strings. I can't lift the photos from FB and Pinterest but some of the antique string quilts that Lori has featured for inspiration are fabulously creative and intricate. Something to mull over.

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Bitty is a small someday/ maybe/ future ''heirloom'' [how outdated and dumb of me] baby quilt that many of you have watched me work on for 2, 3 years now.

She was unfolded and taken to the beach yesterday. Of course my Frixion pen wouldn't work in the hot sun.

I was slightly dismayed that the project is not, as I thought, half done. Maybe 1/3 done. But I do have all summer. [The fabrics are white ground, not ivory.]

I do love the texture of the handquilting.

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Year in the Country: June / Rooster is finished. 

So cute! I modeled him on a picture of a breed called Grey Lace Orpington, I love the name! But Orpingtons are usually blond, who knew? Truly he is an all-American Plymouth Rock, I think. HERE

The hollyhocks will all get yellow french knot centers after it's quilted, and button eye removed then replaced. I always have to tack on the eyes so the birds come alive!

This is the only block that did not have the name embroidered on it. So I added it, Rooster wanted recognition.. Not in the photo, he fell on the floor, lol, but I found a little orange plastic piggy on the beach. He will maybe get attached in the end too, it's a farmyard, needs a pig.

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At the church flea on Friday I found this toile valance, $2.oo.

It has really cute, sharply rendered scenes. Part of the reason Hideous was set aside is that it features a purple toile and I've used up all the scenes; what's left is repeats. I was thinking the rest of the blocks can have black toile, or if I find purple dye I may try overdying it.

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Back home: Does anyone know what this is growing in my zinnia pot? Mel? Is it an herb or a weed?

And from Kit, more tea party garden art. Kit has teacup flowers! Aren't they adorable.

Many thanks to those who have asked about Mo and his knee.

He seems fine, he likes his supplement; he is struggling with the sudden heat but that's another issue. I find he loves burbling water, he even likes me to drizzle his water from a bottle so he can lap it as it falls. He may find it hard to breathe when he drinks as his flat face makes his nose submerge at times. I plan to look for a water fountain for him, though he prefers to have ice in his drinks, not sure how that'll work, hahaha.

This was last night, I was getting ready for bed and when I came back from brushing my teeth, I found this! Look at that face, those puppy dog eyes! ''Mommy, you can sleep over there."  He had NO trouble at all jumping up and making himself at home on my side of the bed, on my pillows. "Were you reading my Kindle, Mo!"

Have a wonderful July! Stay cool, but enjoy the warmth and freedom too.

love

lizzy

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

Link to Lori's blog, for everyone else's string quilts: Humble Quilts

Out and About ~ Thrift Shop Moved Again...

...Far far away!

Hi guys! Late summer thrifting and other shopping adventures to share today. About a month ago I finally dragged my friend Elle to the thrift shop with her daughter's discarded clothes, and what did we find!? Emptiness, nothing there except a few dusty shelves. This tiny Easter basket of chickies was the last thing there, on the afternoon of the final day. I hope someone bought them, I am sad that I didn't bother. Lookit those little eyes and smiles!

Signs said Moving to???. I figured we would never ever go there. It was far when it moved a few years ago. Now even further, way further. L and I sadly drove home, with a makes-up-for-it stop on the way [more later.] However it seems my friend B is an intrepid thrifter and when she visited a few weeks later she was perfectly happy to pilot her little Toyota, via iPhone Maps, to the new location.

I thought it looked like it once was a car dealer. Huge. Jam packed with nothing I'd ever want. Cement floors that made me so tired. Musty and cold.

When we finished B asked my opinion and I said, "A one or 2 out of ten." (I really was exhausted.) She always finds good clothes so she gave it an 8 and said it was well worth the drive.

Hmmm. Now that I am showing the photos of my finds I think I was overly critical, I got great stuff.

Beautiful autumn scarf that I guess I bought only because it goes so well with the yellowware bowl. How silly is that.

Not sure how I'll use it, I don't wear camel...maybe with grey or rose? Good colors for me, even if rarely worn by me. 4.oo

The yellowware bowl. You all know I have never not bought a found 2 dollar bowl, lol. It's in perfect condition, medium smallish.

Not entirely sure it is vintage, the bottom looks very new and pristine. [thoughts?]

Sweet little crescent dish for my etsy shop's sewing section. I add a magnet to the base. It's very small for a bone dish, perhaps is meant for tea bags? But it is big enough to hold your thimble, needle, and embroidery scissors.

I was surprised that it is English, I thought German or Austrian, c. 1900: its name is Dorothy, so sweet.

A deck of cards from France. Never opened or used. I mostly bought it for the flower paintings, though I recently realized all the card decks in my hurricane toy chest are missing cards.

The names of the face cards are of course in French and a smidge distracting, but the suits seem fine. V for jacks, villains?; R or Roi for the King, D for the Queen, Dame?

Aren't they pretty! $1.oo

A very useful Depression glass green lemon twister or juicer.

Not the top of a measuring cup but meant to be used as is and with the narrow reamer point for lemons. I use lemons a lot when a recipe calls for wine and I am out or serving to children, so I'll use it a lot. 1.oo [repro?].

And though I am not buying too many Mason jars just now, I did fall for this interesting foreign jar.

I don't know if it is old, it has the circle blobs on the neck to hold a bail or wire closure, but it's very crisp and shiny.

 I thought for some reason the words were Polish but no, Spanish, of sorts. I loved the rising Sun at the bottom ...but it kinda gives me the creeps, like maybe it held a Santeria candle at one time? The words seem  mean Crystalware or glassware; "Praise the Dawn''; and ''Erde'', or Earth [Goddess of] so the motif is the rising Earth, not the sun, I suppose. There is  no trace of old wax, so it's a mystery. 1.00.

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Meanwhile, back to the previous thrifting trip. Hobby Lobby has opened a new closer shop near the defunct thrift shop, so L and I consoled ourselves by stopping in.

I make no judgments about HL corporate policies and my blog is not a political or moral soapbox---I was just being a tourist, right or wrong. I do admire their wares and yarns and enjoyed the bright new store. I love their Farmhouse line of metal ware! It was hard to choose one piece.

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Then there were the final days of the summer church flea. Note the huge ceramic white elephant, at the white elephant sale! I hope the ladies keep him!

I really liked this ribbon and thread display cabinet. It was marked c.1900, store display.  But also $55.oo! And big.

If you look closely you can see the slots for ribbons and spindles for threads, glassed center section is slotted for thread, under lock and key. I think the key was still there.

Worth the $55.oo if one had a place for it.
You'll recall the hand painted Rice canister. That day we also sorted through the electronics and found 3! cords for my Postal Scale. We had tried Staples and were told the type of USB cord is no longer made, the stoner kid said, ''Uh,yuh, like maybe a 1990 Samsung phone charger cord."  Yeesh.

So thrifting can be very good and helpful besides being fun with the thrill of the hint.

The church ladies end the year with a big under the tent flea, but I missed that. It is held during their San Gennaro Festival and there is nowhere to park because the tent is in the parking lot! And the rec hall is filled with folks happily gobbling eggplant parm and zeppoli. And then too---pouring rain!
Maybe next year...
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Of course good finds are not just at the thrift and flea. From Ace Hardware, very cool, well, coolers. I love the melon pink one!

And a great inventive beach cart that turns into a table, lol. [No Mel, these wheels aren't good for my deep sand, but I still thought it'd be cool, my little sewing table! If it got balloon wheels?]

Last, who knew? A beautiful taupe scarf challis and lace, from CVS.

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And coming up in October my neighborhood HOA is doing a white elephant sale and auction! Sadly I have a medical treatment the previous day and cannot attend; I'll have to find someone to go for me, after I peek in the week before.

"uh-uh, not me, mommy!''

Ya never know!

Have a good weekend.

love

lizzy

gone to the beach....

Hint: If your dog [or cat] uses the topical drops for anti tick/ flea/ mosquitoes, and you hate the oily mess...put a child's tee shirt on the pet for a few hours. I much prefer the oral doses but Mo vomits them up. [Yes he really is supposed to have neck rolls,lol.]