Gone To The Beach

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Snow Beach

Hi everyone! Isn't the snowy beach pretty!? We only had
ten inches here, and no high scary winds.

As soon as the sun came out on Sunday I hurried out to enjoy the beach.

Meringue peaks...

Cool Whip!!

The pristine white of the snow reveals our ''white sand beach's '' true colors of palest grey, ochre, and creamy beige...

The day was gorgeous, looking for all the world as if it was a most perfect summer day....

The hint of ''smog'' smudging the horizon is actually fog.,. on its way north with the much warmer air for Monday. No treasure finds for me but earlier my kids found a gorgeous large piece of PINK sea glass. wow.

After my walk we made Red Velvet cupcakes for my daughter's bake sale.

So cute..and we did not taste a single one!

Love these boxes from Oriental Traders....I hope the bake sale is a big success!

love

lizzy

gone to the beach...

Friday, February 8, 2013

Winter Storm Watch

Hi! I hope everyone is home safe and warm tonight. I can't believe we are preparing for yet another ''monster storm''. There is a surreal quality to the planning---didn't we just do this?

And more than just a hint of ''blizzard, what blizzard?''. The temps are hovering in the thirties here, at times we have rain, at times some frozen, uh, crap? No snow. 30 mph winds, no storm surge.

I did all the usual stuff: Feed the ferall kitties; secure loose stuff on my deck. Dither over the still-broken back storm door...no glass in places.
Made food that does not need refrigeration or heating. Got out batteries and candles.

Winter storms are, alas, a big part of winter at the beach. And before H. Sandy, no big deal. Sure---we'd lose power for a day, maybe two; it'd get cold indoors. But now we worry...what if the power goes out again...for weeks or months? Can we bear it, the cold and dark returning?

After I do what I can, I turn to my quilting. I have lots of hand sewing, on the Porch quilt and bindings of finished quilts/ repaired quilts.
(The view from my swing table windows....below)

And I have my Fall Project to work on, a project that somehow never gets worked upon during the Fall. There is always something, isn't there. I thought last weekend I got a lot done, but now, as I look...well, darn. The fancy mixed borders still need a LOT of work and fudging-to-fit!

These are blocks I have made or collected over many years.

The Tulips [one on right] are the first quilt thing I bought when I moved to NYC after college. They came from a famous folk art dealer on Madison Avenue and were the only thing I could possibly afford.

Various stars and Sailboats are flea market finds and gifts from a quilt dealer friend. I made the Tall Ships from a Bicentennial pattern I found at flea market.They were intended to be a quilt for my parents' Cape Cod home---but were not acceptable, my mom hated the red-white-and-blue-ness, the Ye Olde New Englande look. My dad loved and studied antique ships, made intricate ship models, so I had thought they'd like the idea. But no. (Mother hated the ''subtly luxurious'' Hunter's Star silk quilt I tried next too. I did not try again.)

It's odd and ironic, the quilter's impulse to make gift quilts. All that thought, care, effort---money. And love we put into our work, and wish to share, to give. Rarely if ever are the results wanted or treasured. Now I try hard to remember: make what I like, for the artistry, for the pleasure. No Gifts!

lol.

love

lizzy

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

PS Blogger still does not have the enlarged pix function working. Click to see supersized storm photos; the beach is out there but far away.....

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Doll Quilt

Hi everyone! Today is show and tell with my January doll doll quilt project.

Each January Lori of Humble Quilts [Porch quiltalong blog too] selects an antique miniature quilt for us to reproduce. She give us photos and instructions, and how we interpret this info is up to us.
I love these tiny treasures. The quiltalong has rekindled my love of doll quilts and it gives me a place/ reason to use my tiniest bits of antique fabrics which I collect.

This year's quilt is just adorable! It is a Star Within a Star or Hidden Star block. The hidden larger star is the pale pink points, see it?

So tiny, 12" square. Lori had only a little historic information: "This tiny doll quilt is made from early-to-mid-19th c. cottons, including roller printed fabrics. Originally collected in Tuckerton, New Jersey. 11-1/2″ square. c.1860s. Superb condition.''

From my years of study I have learned that doll or miniature quilts are usually one of three things: a true miniature, made for a child's dolls, possibly made as a learning tool by the child, but the usually fine sewing indicates most were probably made by adults. Or, 2-the mini can be a single or a few full sized blocks, put together for a doll quilt; or 3-sometimes a full sized quilt block has been recycled from what we call a cutter quilt, trimmed to doll size and rebound. Since good doll quilts are rare, this is a possible scam; collectors need to watch for new binding, maybe from more modern fabric.

This little cutie looks fairly old. And the small scale of the design tends to indicate it was intended to be a doll quilt. Not really important here, because it is so pretty, with some pre-Civil War fabrics used. The brown leaf print, w/ pink and blue leaves, is especially old, maybe c. 1830? and is the focal print of the block.
Also note the very fine quilting!

I like to make my version as close to the original as possible. I used a mix of antique, vintage and modern fabrics:

I am not a very precise piecer, so I have learned my lesson. I make a graphed drawing for the quilt block, plus Mylar grid squares used to trim each section to size.

I fussy cut the large toile so there are birds and insects on the blocks...

Lori often uses a Geese in Flight block [the cheddar/ pale blue]; my own fave block is sawtooth edging, so I used the snips leftover and made borders. At first I loved the effect but maybe they detract from the main block? I won't be handquilting this til next summer on the beach so I can wait to decide.

Tell me your thoughts?

Often I have used a vintage feedsack on the back of my doll quilts. I love the graphic advertising grain sacks and considered this one:

But this mini predates the 20th century use of feedsacks, so I'll use one of the fabrics below for the backing. And the pale pink for binding.

If I use the kitties conversational it will be tea dyed and not bright white.

Thank you, Lori! It was a darling choice.

Here is a link to Lori's blog, with her version. And at the end is a linky set-up so you can see all the other wonderful versions of the 2013 doll quiltalong.
Be sure to look. here