Farmers' Market Strawberries, Blueberries

Hi guys!

Ha! I thought I'd come home today from the farmers market with a wonderful picture story about luscious juicy bright red just-picked strawberries. But NO! Seems the crop is very late because of the chilly spring.

But I do have strawberries and blueberries for you, in my etsy shop.

Made from a single Civil War [?] era quilt square!

The faded rosy red print looked like strawberry vines to me.

sold

Some patches were soft sage-khaki. Another square in this group of old blocks shows the calico print pattern was once pansies. sigh. I didn't cut that block up.



sold

Strawberry gelato, creamy/ tan and pink now, 150 years later.

Blueberries--or should I call them blue strawberries?

This one has lots of black, with tiny pale pink-y flowers.



sold

This berry is all cadet blue, obviously a stronger fabric or dye here. [And its presence makes me think these blocks are worked on through the late 1800s?]

 

 

 

 

This quilt was my photo prop today. I wanted to show it to you---it too is a rescue quilt, from my flea. For some reason any quilt that appears there is unloved, tattered, dirty. I feel compelled to bring them home and save them.



''postage 9-Patch'' or ''Single Irish Chain''

Like the blue polka dots quilt I showed you a few weeks ago, I intended to sell this baby but just look at the adorable tiny 1" pastel squares.

 And fine if simple quilting.

Too sweet to end up a ''cutter'' on eBay, right? (I say that as my quilts cupboard bulges like a fat guy at a pie eating contest, lol. I have taken to hanging newer purchases in my winter coat storage closet. The coats can go to storage at the dry cleaner....)

Back to the market: asparagus is still very in season. I made fresh pasta with asparagus, lemon and feta cheese for dinner. Just those simple ingredients , no recipe. Add some butter, lots of black pepper. Yummy on a foggy night.

And peonies were the flower of the week. Peony season---just a short week or two in early June.

 

The display was very creative, all kinds of old milk bottles and pickle jars. My thrifting heart just went a-pitter patter.

 

I loved her twig chair.

 

This grower's flowers were so beautiful, though pricey at 15.oo for 6 stems.

What's blooming in your garden?

love

lizzy

gone to the beach......




still waiting June 4, 2014



piping plovers doing a mating dance

Flea Market Blues---But in a Good Way

Hi! The shopping theme this week has serendipitously been Summer Blues.
Sometimes, sigh, I just get lucky. [in a flea market-y sort of way, no snickers, please.]

Recent finds: lots of beautifully aged blue transferware.

This style is called Aesthetic Movement [1890-1910-ish?], and the designs mimic the patterns seen in late 1800s Japanese prints and also are reminiscent of crazy quilts.

This is a really nice ''chop plate''.

These crescent plates were set at the edge of one's dinner plate to hold one's gnawed-on bones! Ick! I love its crackle and brown spots. The small plates are great for holding scissors and thimbles or beads and buttons, so they tend to just accumulate on my work table.

The plate, below,  is such a sweet pale blue color. The sun was so bright I wasn't sure it it was faded blue-green or just green. Again, cracks and stains, only I love these babies, I guess. 
[I wonder if they're happy---rescued from a dark attic, dusted off, and treasured again with a new purpose? I hope so They bring me such simple joy.]

The dealer was packing up in a huff, I am not sure why because the market was busy. I'd have chosen more things if he wasn't packing faster than I could look.
A tiny ''pretty'' from the thrift shop---Maybe 1940?---love the flowers even if they are just mass produced and printed. Again, sweet holding a spool of thread, or tucked beneath a pitcher of pansies? On a bathroom vanity holding a pretty gust soap or two?

More glass baubles, including [not shown] a new to me glass thimble.

A stop at the thrift shop on the way home was also very fruitful.

Look at this graniteware bucket! The most gorgeous blueberry blue. I will fill it with a pot of tiny daisies for my back door stoop.

 

Or more lavender?

 

 

Nice vintage souvenir seashells for my etsy shop.

These big conchs make great beach house doorstops. Throw open the screen doors and let those summer sea breezes in...

And a seashell box, either for my collection or repurposed as a small sewing box. (Is the purple interior just too awful? It's growing on me...because new ones are red, so this is older.]

 

A primitive antique tiger maple rolling pin with a lovely patina. If it doesn't sell in my eBay shop I will keep it and happily use it. New modern pins just don't compare.

This was a tough decision: An old cheese box, maybe?

Already recycled once with a Christmas painting.

I am not a purist about my box collection: I have pantry boxes that are antique big bucks Shaker, others are authentic old PA primitive boxes, and some [the most treasured] my dad made for me---but is this just too junky? And too huge? Nope! [grin]. It IS huge but it came home happily with me.

 

I plant to paint it with these new chalk paints I've been reading about and am excited to try....

Here's hoping the rains stop for the flea market on Sunday. This may be the last spring / sumer flea market for me because I rarely venture out on summer beach weekends and hard as it is to imagine, next week is Memorial Day! The official first weekend of summer. Have a great weekend!

love

lizzy

gone to the beach!

 

 

NYC Flea Market

channel buoy
photo by LK, thanks!

Hi everyone! So today while we wait for the Verizon phone repair guy, let's go back a week and check out the famous 6th Avenue Flea Market in Manhattan. It is actually on 25th between 6th and Broadway. I found it on the Saturday we went to the green market and returned the following day.

Hmmm. Fun but not fabulous, very urban, kinda, well..crappy? Cool. though.

It is billed as NYC premier antiques flea market....and true to the Paris origins of flea markets [old clothes w/ fleas back in medieval times] there are a LOT of racks and even piles of old clothes.

Not so tempting.

On the plus side, a few real dealers, with the things I like.

I promised myself no more brown Staffordshire china! So I passed that booth up.
Then there are a lot of bead sellers, mostly African beads/ dealer but a few vintage sellers too.

The African beads are fabulous! Expensive though.

I can make an upscale I survived Sandy necklace,

 or bracelets...

I loved the large recycled-glass beads....

Also a man who had neat tiki amulets...

And the African textiles are amazing!

I loved them and had hoped to return to buy one or two to incorporate into a quilt, but that didn't happen. [next time?]

They also had African bead work items, even chairs! And chests and ottamans. I so wanted one of those chairs, far right, [so sad the pix aren't great, sorry...]So fantastic...

These were long strips of all white tiny beads, about 8" wide. I wish I had captured the texture better. They looked like heavily quilted white work.

Then a familiar face! A dealer I have been buying from for years..on Long Island, has relocated to the city. As always his was the booth I loved, filled with graniteware, mason jars, butter crocks, and old dump dug bottles and buttons. My eyes latched onto this crock and I knew i had to have it.

It is BIG! And old.

I love the way the brown slip glaze on the top third is warty and spotty,

 and the prim stamped blue 2...

Great find, great price, fun to see an old friend---see, I told you YC is a very small town, in its own way.....

Lucky for me I was with a guy who was willing to tote around the big heavy crock all day, once I bought  it! Thank you, M!

PS Many thanks to everyone who has asked me about hurricane relief donations.
I hesitate to endorse any specific charity, but pet relief / relocation is always so needed. These poor creatures do not understand what has happened to them; one moment they were warm, fed, loved and cherished/ the next the icy dark water took away their people and homes! And need our help and love.
Large organizations such as the Red Cross and Salvation Army do a good job, so maybe this holiday season toss a dollar into the SA guy's pot and think of us here in NY?

Red Cross/ Sandy Relief

North Shore Animal League/ Rescuing Sandy Pets

[a very fine no-kill shelter organization here on LI]

If you are a sewer/ quilter: here

                                         

I have no personal interaction with any of these groups and am NOT asking you to donate. Follow your hearts and brains...

love

           lizzy


      gone to the beach.....

our red channel buoy
Usually it is out there where the big ships travel.
one each-red/green/white
photo by LK



sunset
photo by LK



Today's beach pix were taken by my friend LK. Thank you, L! NYC and flea mkt pix by me....