January/ Quietude

qui·e·tude

noun a state of stillness, calmness, and quiet in a person or place.

Good evening! It's mid-January, the quiet depths of winter are settling around us here at the beach. I'm  surprised reading your blog posts and comments how many of us enjoy the slow quiet months of winter. 

It took me til now to finally eradicate holiday items in my house. Last to get cupboarded were my mercury glass jars and bottles. The house is softly blue again, with wintery touches of brown and black.

Please forgive the bath towels on the sofas! It was a rainy day and Mo adores a muddy winter garden plot or wet nasty puddle, in his best doggy fashion. Then I took the pics, not even seeing, oh well.

Not much new here: the blue seashell toile cushions. Someone asked me if they button on and off, and yes they do, making it easy to switch to the reds or cheddars. The larger pillow covers have envelope closings and can easily be switched too.

Here I'm auditioning a lovely blue and grey ikat inen for future pillows. The ticking will be the backs.

This lovely quilt, by Denise Davis, anchoring the grey farmhouse stripe runner and my turquoise metal tin. 

I filled the tin with extra large pine cones and seashells, a found under the sofa sprig of pine---a winter-y mix but not Christmassy. 

I love how the turquoise container picks up the similar subtle duck egg blue in the quilt.

On the big chair a knitted Fair Isle sweater pillow with the quilt remnant Coxscomb pillow behind it.

A not often used but beautiful blue polka dots Star of Bethlehem quilt over the arm.

I had left the red and white china but probably will change it out this weekend; not fond of ed Valentine decor. 

Also have out white ironstone, 

and can't resist filling the pitchers with spring flowers, already appearing in the grocery store.

The bride's bench corner:

 My H Sandy/ NYC Flea market large crock filled with winter berries,

Another beautiful swap quilt by Barbara Black. 

and the big wooden bowl has its Valentine nod of heart shaped molds and cooky cutters. This corner has become a fun display area for me.

I thought this stack of textiles was interesting. I had pulled together linens for the switch to blue, then decided bare polished wood was better for winter. I must look for some lavender-lemon beeswax polish on etsy or a recipe for it to make myself. [Mel?].

Such an eclectic mix: a fine but sadly overused quilt remnant, a runner made with Japanese indigos, ikats. A small calico doll quilt, A handwoven Swedish table runner, Suzani print tablecloth from Pakistan. As the winter progresses I will rotate some of these pieces into my rooms for a change of "eye-interest".

My winter candles are: ''Fireside" and, well, "Winter".

Of course my days seem filled with endless frigid Mo walks. [However will we cope next week when it may be as cold as 7* and windy.]  I am already impatient with the layering needed to stay outdoors: on top of usual underwear, two pairs of pants, the outer one being wind and snow proof hiking pants. Two tee shirts, one cashmere turtleneck one Patagonia knitted fleece vest, a down parka. Wool socks, leg warmers. Scarf, headband, optional woolly pom hat. Outdoor clogs or Uggs. Fingerless mittens with thin Polar-Tec gloves underneath. My worry---if I need this when it's 30 out, how cold will I feel when it's zero!

Mo and I go out  at 5 now--still light!--to inspect the daily work of the giant earth movers. We dare not approach when the men and their trucks are operating.

They are so----exuberant, enthusiastic, piloting their giant beasts among the usually forbidden dunes, often at quite high speeds. It looks like they really enjoy their jobs.

 All work must stop by March 1st for the returning plovers, I hope.

The flood area was covered today, as were the big storm drains. And the ancient ship's timber that I loved, 3 feet + diameter, even tho squared---is gone/ buried. Probably no one but me knew it and loved It all these years, but still. I'm sad.

Now:

2011, same exact view:  "the shipwreck"

On our earlier walk we go the other direction sometimes.

Today we inspected the icy  koi pond. The koi are there, motionless, looking like frozen carrots under the skim of ice.

I'm not progressing as planned on my fun projects, too bad. Instead I tackled a big walk in closet that was stuffed to the rafters with ''someone else's" clothes. Suits, parkas, and golf shirts galore. I need the space to store my quilts , especially ones I plan to sell. They need to be measures and inspected and accessible. And I parted with two table cloths, I was a little uncertain about that, but they aren't useful to me...fun holiday themed but daily use cotton cloths from when my kids were small.

We donated everything to a local church that runs a soup kitchen for people in need; they will sort out warm clothes that are useful and donate or sell the rest, as fine Italian suits may be less than useful to their clientele. I was happy knowing the clothes and old paperback books would in part go to real people in need. There's more in that closet to remove but after filling 5 contractor bags with heavy wool suits and wooden hangers, I was so sore and exhausted that I had to cancel my thrifting/ dinner outing this week. Better now, but....?

My gesture to minimalist home, I suppose.

The weekend may be icy. I postponed breadmaking til then. And I plan to make a big dish of roasted veggies: parsnips, miniature sweet potatoes, tiny cippolini onions, green cabbage---for a variety of uses. I esp love the roasted vegs mixed with quinoa or farro. Have a good weekend! Stay indoors if it's icy.

love

lizzy

gone to the beach....

Below, I think this is cancelled? It will be too warm for accumulated snow. Fingers crossed.]

WINTER STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM SATURDAY AFTERNOONTHROUGH SUNDAY AFTERNOON...* WHAT...Heavy mixed precipitation possible. Total snowaccumulations of 3 to 5 inches and ice accumulations of up toone tenth of an inch possible. Winds could gust as high as 35mph.

PS I saw a great story, maybe on FB?: A woman responded to a minimalist guru whose rule is Keep only what you love and brings you joy; throw everything else away. The woman wrote in her Amazon review: ''I kept all my fabric  and I threw away your book."

January's Projects

Hello, everyone. January went by so fast! I do love winter and I feel like I have not sufficiently treasured the beauty of these January days.  The good news is I have been right on schedule with my  quilting projects. I have three! quilt tops ready to be sent to the quilter this week.

Here is "July" aka Porch Quilt 2 or P2 .

It was finished for the sewalong on January 2nd, but  then I added the sawtooth side borders. I think the big sawtooths make the quilt look more cohesive/ intentional. (The random blocks of this type of quilt, while so fun to sew, can often look too scattered and random when finally sewed into a top, I think.]

Summertime, also from a pattern by Jan Patek, published in Primitive Projects magazine, is also finished and ready for the quilter to work her magic. Huge quilt, 90" square.

Its medallion format is less chaotic than Patek's primitive designs. All those borders were hell to make fit, despite my constant measuring throughout the construction.

It looks a bit bare because the deep pink buds, 3-D yoyos---about 70 of them, will be attached after quilting, as will be the birdies' eyes and other details.

Somehow a hole appeared in the upper center border! Oh no! I fussy cut and appliqued a butterfly there. I like the butterfly a lot. Not so sure about the whole quilt, mostly I hate it, poor thing.

I also finished restoring this gorgeous Sunflower quilt top, in hopes of saving it and using it.

I love the tan areas that were once red, but proved fugitive and are now tan.

 I love how the good red bits turn up now and then in the beige flowers..

I used a vintage, ugly but appropriate olive green solid  for a stabilizing border and to replace some areas that were so deteriorated they fell into dust when touched. It is beautifully hand pieced, but the circles and biases make it impossible to keep square and without bubbling.

There is some thought that tops should be cherished as is and not finished, but to me such a fragile quilt top's only hope of survival is if I repair it and strengthen it with batting and quilting.

It's  a wonderful pattern and probably one I could not afford if it was a completed quilt.
My quilter will maybe be able to do a wreath or other circular pattern. She'll advise me when she finally sees it in person. If not I hope she can sew or baste the squares of the blocks which I will then hand quilt. [Ideally this top deserves to be entirely hand quilted but again, I think it's better to save it than to insist on it being just so authentic.

I sewed the last blocks of When the Wild Geese Fly too. Pine trees. The only trees we have here are big pines, so I thought they were appropriate.

They didn't come out how I envisioned them, but I like them. [yet another Jan Patek design].

Just because I did the final blocks doesn't mean this quilt is almost done! There are 147 Wild Geese blocks in the border. So far I made 8, experimenting with two different methods of construction. They will all be the correct size when trimmed.

Here's the book cover to remind you guys of how the quilt will look. My version is blue shirting plaids with orange of all sorts.

Here is a closer look at the original's Wild Geese sashings.

I made a tiny start on Lori's [Humble Quilts]new sewalong, Fall Festival. I decided that while I love participating in her projects, this time I won't let myself get so stressed about keeping up. I'll just enjoy at my own pace. More on that next week, for Block One reveal.

Speaking of sewalongs, it seems this year has been extra bountiful and tempting , with so many sewalongs I'd love to do. It's very hard not to jump in....and find myself in way over my head. So far I'm resisting. The real temptation is here: Temecula Quilt Company. What a great antique inspiration quilt.

February's projects are Westering Women, 2 blocks not done, plus 4 more I plan to add. And progress on Dotty 365. Audrey's final linky reveal of all our versions will be May 1, though another quilter will continue to host the project during 2017.

Mo and I are now trying to take an after dinner walk each day. Not far, but something we both love. Here we are at Mo's bench.

And on sunny days Mo insists we sit out on the deck in the afternoon. I just imagine us there some snowy day,lol. Pugs adore routine. Here is Mo watching me write this blog.

He prefers to sit on my lap and we look at Doug the Pug and Pork Chop the Pug on FB.

Oh and Mo has learned a new trick! He can now dance on his hind legs and pirouette, just like the little girls on Dance Moms. [video soon]

Have a good week! Welcome February!

love

lizzy

gone to the beach....