Little Projects

Hello there! I love January. I get so much done.

I love the long quiet days and cozy nights. This week, with no moon, the night sky has been spectacular, Orion overhead, the big stars and planets blazing like diamonds in the black sky. I usually have scented candles burning, like these.here  I must have Peach Bellini for next summer, and Tiki Beach.
Mel recommends Fresh Apple and Firewood, too, from Henhouse Candles , they are also on my list.

snow fog and early sunset tinting the beach palest pink

The quiet is such  a change after the chaos and frantic fun of the holidays. My family traditionally all leave right after Christmas for a long week of skiing, and the sudden silence is such a change. I always plan some fun small easily finished but enticing projects for that time. A new venture wards of the melancholy of ''gone too soon...." in early January.

This year I had two things to work on.
This is the table runner I planned for the two dishtowels I got at Christmas Tree Shop in December.

Folkloric...

 I love the birds, so happy and fat, with their pompom collars.

Pretty colors: tomato and sage-y blue-green.

India print backing.

One of my current frugality efforts is making a No Cut Flowers rule, unless I need them for photo props. 10.oo a week equals 500.oo bucks a year---and right now Mo just eats them anyway. But I had to have some tulips last week.

And I finished The Twelve Days of Christmas tiny quilt. [Temecula Quilt Company free pattern]

I like my candy cane stripe binding.

Quilting and washing / shrinkage improved it a lot, I think. It looks more cohesive.

before

after

Next on my list is to hand quilt my Peace and Plenty [Cascadia] doll quilt. And I have my eye on this wonderful quilt by Jan Patek. I ordered the book but it hasn't showed up yet. I think her website response is quite slow? I am wanting another warm flannel quilt for my bed for winter. My Porch quilt is cozy but too brown. I want to do the new quilt in black flannel [plaids, checks, mottled on black, with a more pastel palette] with touches of wool mixed in with the cotton.
Black is possibly a mistake since pugs shed a lot. I sold my black ground Amish quilt while I had my other pug. He was a good boy and slept on the bed. So far Mr Pissy aka Mo is banned and I have a shower curtain on the bed to discourage visits and deposits.

Here's the Pokeberry Quilt  :
The pokeberries are what ''make'' it. They 'd be wool on my version. The wreath needs work and I don't think I can face another eagle. And that horse has to go. Maybe a black kitty?

Beautiful day, so I'm off to the beach. Yesterday Mo locked himself in the bathroom while I was out beachcombing. I was frantic when he was nowhere to be found when I got home. Having a puppy sure changes one's life, doesn't it? Before Mo I'd have taken my knitting out to the beach, found a sheltered sunny dune, and I'd have sat there quietly knitting for awhile. Like meditating....

who, me? Not me!

Those days are G O N E.

[yes, he's worth it, but still...]

love

lizzy

gone to the beach.......

Looking for Spring

Another Monday, mid-January. Hi everyone! Time to plant the flower bulbs for indoor spring blooming!

It feels like we've had a whole years worth of weather in a couple of days! We went from very cold, to warm with torrential rain. Here is Mo in his new spring raincoat. LOL he looks like some alien being. Mo now has quite a PUPPIA wardrobe! He's a little fashion doll.

And here he is being carried home from a playdate. He couldn't slog through yesterday's flooded walkways. But we're oh so glad that precipitation was not snow!

Mr Mockingbird has resumed his winter perch in the ugly locust tree. I am so happy he is back! His feathers look so bright and handsome.

And today is lovely, it feels just like a blustery autumn day. 

I had to hike out to the dunes junk pile for wire to finish my beach wire Valentine/ summertime garden fence hearts....

They've been curing on my own fence for over a year! Nice and grungy rusty. I'll spray them with sealant before I sell them.

During the rain yesterday I worked on my etsy hearts.

Mo helped...

''Mom this is boring,'' he whined.

And today I finished cleaning out my deck flower pots---still lots of green!--- and then I planted my spring indoor bulbs.

This jello mold tin [inside the yelloware bowl] holds paper whites and a single stray yellow daff.

And this year I am trying hyacinths. They're a beautiful deep blue, at least on the label. They were very on sale in November. I've had them in a cold spot to tease them into indoor blooms. [it may not work]. Two are showing green sprouts so they went into glass jars on the windowsill.

This is supposedly a vintage hyacinth vase---Danish modern?, a find by my mom from the Cape Cod dump's Swap Shop.

Then I planted the rest of the bag of bulbs in this blue delft hyacinth bowl. A dumpster find! So far nothing I've ever put in this bowl has grown...maybe that's why it was by the dumpster? It's in a bucket, rehydrating the unused soil disk that came with the paperwhites.

I also redid my plate rack and sideboard's transferware collections. The shelf is mostly black and white, just a few special blue pieces for now.

The pine dresser I kept simple. White ironstone and two very pretty, spring-like chintz ware jugs, c.1890?

Back to work for me. I'm hoping for a sunny day tomorrow to photo my hearts for my shop.

Mo wouldn't wear his hood so he was still wet.

I hope you all had a lovely long weekend. Is all your Christmas stuff put away? Are you sneaking in bits of spring?

love  

lizzy 

gone to the beach

snow squalls

or not

PS If you didn't buy spring bulbs to force, you can buy very inexpensive forced spring plants now/ soon at the grocery store. You can then unpot them, rinse off the soil and set them in Mason jars or whatever container you like, with water and seaglass or pebbles or marbles. Looks great and requires less planning ahead. I am planning to fill my pastel McCoy flower pots soon, with primroses or grape hyacinths. Lily of the valley, tiny Tete a Tete daffs. Whatever is cute. Have fun!

Sleigh Bells Ring....!

or...''Dashing through the snow, in a one horse open sleigh!"

and..."The horse knows the way to carry the sleigh ..something something ..."

Hi guys! Yay! Blogger was fixed by my son, thank goodness for children, right?
And no I haven't reverted to Christmas-y posts. But today [or when I wrote this, lol] we have a feeling of snow in the air and I have a beautiful antique sleigh blanket or buggy rug to show you.

It's from the summer flea but not a rescue since the condition is quite good, though I did have it drycleaned before I brought it in my house. [ya never know].

These date from the late 1800 s through the early 20th century. Before cars---and cars with heaters!---in the winter folks traveled in unheated buggies or sleighs. You do see cast iron and brass foot warmers sometimes at antiques show, but I'm willing to bet almost every vehicle had what nowadays we'd call a throw.

Many carriage blankets were wool, or wool and velvet. This beautiful quilt is made up of small-ish---5 x 7"? rectangles of beautiful woolen fabrics, classic suitings, tartans, twills.
It has a couple frays but the woolens are in amazing condition, so beautiful.

The blocks are hand pieced with a running stitch then the seams are decorated with a fascinating array of fancy embroidery stitches similar to what we'd see on a good crazy quilt. Sadly the stitching has deteriorated a bit, but it's still lovely.
These are some favorites.

The back is a somewhat rough plaid, not a fine tartan but that sort of multicolored plaid. The textile is just two layers with no quilting or ties. And it's quite heavy!

Until I took these photos I didn't realize the design is a central one-patch with a rather chubby piano key border on three sides.

I love the touch of bright cerise-pink. The quilter distributed the bright accents evenly throughout the quilt. The pink is a tightly woven wool sateen.

The best touch? Just one sweet freehand rosebud.

Did the maker finally get bored with her handiwork task? Or was there a sudden cold snap and the blanket was put into use unfinished. Or maybe it's a signature--her name was Rose!? I love that idea.

So when was this quilt made? Could it have been made as late as the 1930s or 40s? I had to look up and find out when car heaters were invented. here I loved this comment: " There were after market heaters for Ts, but they were never an option, at least from the factory. Dealers may have installed them, though old Henry frowned on what he called 'spurious parts'.'' Apparently a good car heater wasn't invented until the late 1930s. (And here I am 80 years later, loving my heated / AC car seats and heated steering wheel!)The beautiful Victorian crazy quilt stitching leads me to believe the blanket is earlier, maybe 1890-1910? Lovely condition since it may be 100 years old!
Speaking of cold weather, here is Mo being cozy! Isn't this just a classic exhausted baby photo.

Mo loves the cold and we are taking long fast walks these days. We miss seeing the bright Christmas lights but check on the neighbors' koi pond daily. It's frozen solid! Poor koi. Can they even breathe. [no one is ever around to be nosy and ask.]
And yesterday I was thrilled to see a few crocus tips peeking out from under the melting snow.
I'll be back soon, we have catching up to do!

love

lizzy 

gone to the beach

  PS If anyone has a link for more info about quilts of this kind, I'd love more info. Thx!