Daylily Days, Daylily Quilt

Hi everyone! Mid-July is daylily time here at the beach. All those barren winter spaces burst into summer's glorious blooms about now.

Funny to think these are native American wildflowers or weeds, but they grew in massive hedges along the ditches on the roads in rural Illinois. Along with perfectly color wheel coordinated blue chicory and lacy white Queen Ann's Lace. How I loved them. I'd beg my dad to stop the car so I could make bouquets. My mom had a ''patina'ed" aka unpolished squatty copper jug that was the designated daylily vase. [ I wish I had that pitcher now!].

Of course the daylilies withered that evening and I'd be crushed.

My brother must have liked flower hunting too, because he recently sent me photos of wildflowers he had found along the roadsides in his home in the southwest US.
Mo likes to travel under the droopy green leaves. He makes a little tunnel.

We inspect everyone's daylilies as we walk.

These are from Oscar the grumpy hound's house.  [Asiatic lilies]

And tiger lilies at another friend's. [Turk's head lilies]

I've mentioned this quilt but I don't think I've ever shown it here.

It was made by my grandmother when my dad was a very little boy. He remembered going with her to buy the white squares with the printed designs of what he thought were daylilies. And he recalled them carefully choosing the two orange cottons and Nile green for the leaves.

I've never seen another quilt in quite this pattern, not even in a more traditional Tulips version. A hint of Art Nouveau in the styling, especially the stems?

Note the tiny whip stitch used to sew the appliques. Both my grandmother and my aunt [her daughter-in-law] made beautiful applique quilts. They used this fine but visible stitch, unlike the hidden tunnel stitch we use today. All their appliques have held up beautifully.

The quilt was on my bed as a little girl. My first exposure to quilts. My bed was antique cherry wood with post finials shaped like tulips too---or daylilies. [no Disney princesses for this girl,lol.]

Repairing the binding was my first venture into quiltmaking. My dad insisted I cover the frayed binding edges but not remove the original. He showed me how to sew the second binding, all by hand, while keeping the deeper green of the old.

The quilt was  hand quilted by "church ladies'' who did quilting to raise funds for their church.

Feather wreaths.

Outline and crosshatching. Maybe 9 stitches per inch or more.

The batting is a white cotton flannel, the back white muslin.
I wonder what I should do with these quilts I have inherited. Will they be discarded like the memories they hold? Quilts are less valued now, they are not chic or cool for young modern home decor. That makes me sad, but times do change. No sense in making things be a burden.
For now I will label them and store them with care. The future is well, just that---the future. At least these quilts will not be Anonymous.

What do you do with family heirlooms? Keep or discard? What will happen to them when you're gone? Do you care?

I'm off to bake sugar cookies! My partner in thrifting is coming to visit, we'll have homemade cookies with our gelato for dessert. Dinner on the deck! Menu next time, maybe.

love

lizzy 

gone to the beach....

Sunflower Days

Hi, everyone! We are having lovely ''hint of fall'' crisp days this week, here at the beach. I often think that September is the best month of summer...and yes it is still summer, as my exuberant crop of sunflowers can attest.

On my rather small deck I have three large pots or planters of flowers. Two are mostly annuals, this year: cascading petunias. [pretty but the dead heads of the blooms make a mess when tracked indoors...]. And one pot is  a lily garden, begun because my son loves daylilies.

Huge success, in early July. The problem is once they bloom, they are done.

Originally we thought we'd just push the pot aside in August, but this year I planted a packet of mixed ''wildflower'' seeds. Because for a buck or two..well, who knew? [top row, right]

And what a wonderful show those seeds are giving us in September! Dwarf sunflowers, maybe 3 feet tall at the most.

A subtle assortment of size and variety. These are pretty big, 6-8"? across.

Probably more suited to a planter than the fun giants we always also try to grow. Some are tiny, like daisies..

[None of the giants grew this year. I think  the squirrel ate the seeds.]
I also have a few pink cosmos from the seed packet, but nothing else grew.

A sunflower and daisies bouquet this week....

...and some dried sunflower heads, for autumn decor next month.

Next month because unlike most bloggers, who seem to be madly into FALL, I can't imagine autumn til, oh---Halloween? The leaves don't turn here til November. Due to coastal waters' warmth, all season changes come late, which suits me fine, as I am famously late.

On the other hand....I dug out the crock pot! And made a Beef bourguignon here, sort of.  * with my freezer full of unused summer BBQ steaks. Boy, that was sad, all those big bucks, 3" thick NY strips steaks...but better to use than to toss.
(*I had no cognac, who has cognac, anyway...not my pantry!)
And tonight the Harvest Moon is rising, visible tomorrow, Thursday too---go look!

love

lizzy

gone to the beach to see Mr. Moon.

 

 

 

click photos to enlarge....

Seaside Daylilies

July and daylilies...a part of my Midwestern childhood.

Daylilies grow (or grew, back then) in wild abundance in the ditches along the fields in Illinois.
Usually paired with wondrously sky blue chicory, they just epitomized the spacious endless summers of the prairie.

It seems daylilies love the beach as much as I do !

They grow here by the ocean, with at least as much exuberance as they grew "back home".

I know just how they feel! Ooooh the salt air, that briny breeze....the crashing of the distant surf.
 Everyone, everything blooms with joy.

My kids inherited my dad's love of daylilies and we've been experimenting. Besides the giant stands of species or naturalized daylilies near the front of my house...

...we've been choosing special bulbs and potting them up un our deck. We are very happy with the first and second years' results!
Second year of pink Stargazers:

Second year of Lemon minis:

And first  year....New Cinnamon-dusted lime green Asiatic lilies:

Turk's head lilies and Stargazers with a rainbow:

The last few true tigerlilies that I rescued just before yesterday's downpour!

Here at the beach, seaside garden or deck, the daylilies may bloom a lot later...but they still signal high summer, they say, Enjoy, enjoy---it's still July!

love
        
             lizzy

gone to the beach.....

Note: Our lilies came from either local quality nurseies or were ordered from

B&D Llies. [B&D Lilies, ooops]All performed beautifully as you can see. However (I had read in a fav blog, the writer had good success?) I also bought a large box of a three variety assortment of lilies at the big box store, BJs. They were quite expensive, at least as much per bulb as B&D....They said, Guaranteed to GROW. I saved the box, I looked again. Yes, grow. Not bloom. And grow they did, a little. Like shoots of crabgrass. I'll baby them along, who knows?...in three or four years they may do more thanjust grow? Perhaps they'll bloom? Lesson to be learned: that bulb catalog and pro grower are your best friends. Buy from him, not at BJs or Costco. love, l.