Lavender, Lemon Balm, Bergamot

Hello, friends! Do your closets smell delightful?[ Or are you like my mom, always with the closet doors ajar to avoid the odd musty smell of stored linens and clothes?]

I have the answer! LOL, I have been working on a lot of lavender herb sachet hearts for the past week, and as I sew I imagine-audition  copy to use when I post the sachets in my etsy shop.

Mo and the big lavender bush

The hearts are always fun to make! But not something I can just churn out in bulk*. Each heart is carefully designed, each is different. I start by sorting through the special shelf  in my fabric storage area, a shelf devoted to not-quilt projects. There I keep white and  ecru linen fabric, embroidered tea towels, antique fabric, white cutwork dresser scarves and tablecloths, remnants of quilts, ribbons and lace. I sort though, refolding and considering, choose a special few.

 I cut the hearts by hand individually. Sometimes I make a cardstock pattern [old birthday cards or the paper from Joann's fat quarters], but sometimes I cut the hearts freehand. I group the hearts by color, so I can re-thread my sewing machine as little as possible. There. that's a good start, for now, I think, and walk away.

The following day I steam the hearts, then I load them on my tin star tray and Mo and I go outside for trimming, turning and stuffing day.

 Mo likes to supervise. The deck is his outdoor world, he loves it there.

The turning part is tedious, everything must be clipped, poked and prodded and pressed just so. Back outside I do the messy task of filling each heart with herbs, in this case my current blend of lavender, lemon balm, lemon verbena; lavender essential oil and bergamot oil.

I collect these large old silver plate serving spoons, fun two dollar flea market finds. Each heart gets two or more scoops of herbs, then a bit of additional polyfil or cotton batting. I sometimes meka all herb sachets but I truly prefer the addition of the fluff, it keeps the hearts' pretty shape and helps guard against the herbs retaining too much moisture from the air.

The next step, each heart is sewed closed by hand, using the ''ladder stitch'', invisible and strong. A bit of a press and I close the workroom door for the night.

When I return I dig out ribbons and strings, fire up the hot glue gun. I pour out Mason jars-full of mother of pearl buttons/ vintage fancy buttons, pawing through them imagining how they will add to each design. Often I will dye ribbons or lace to fit my vision.

Oooh. Pretty!

Then--photo day. I am struggling with my only camera, in my dying old iPhone. Today Mo was extra helpful. Every time I set up a backdrop or moved a chair he plonked himself down center stage.

He was so happy to be outside that he ignored the fog and driplets of rain showers, watching my every move. (But afterward, when I set the old quilt I was using as a white background on his chair in the sun, he was sulky and refused to go there, choosing an empty chair instead.

Next I'll package each set or single heart in its own little cello bag, often tied with ribbon, lace, raffia, embellished with buttons, shells, seaglass. I think the fun of making the hearts is playing with all my flea treasures! I love sorting through buttons. I am thinking the very Fall hearts in this group may get an acorn or a silk autumn leaf on their bow.

And I almost always ship in recycled/ reused boxes. So if your box is oddly large or obviously reused [though clean and perfect!] you'll know why; I am giving the box a second journey, a longer life.

Tomorrow I plan to start a group of square tiny pillow sachets. Honey colored silk with embroidered honey bees! And  a sweet woodland print in sepia. I am dying to instead work on 1880  quilt, the fabric auditions are calling me. And a nice woman on FB gave me the instructions for the original zigzag setting. So kind.

The other good news is that  this month's SG Album block HERE is very charming and interesting, though again, Mary Todd [Lincoln] is not the most charismatic woman in history.

It's a windy foggy evening right now. Mo is hiding, hoping to avoid his bedtime walk. We may get a chilly night soon! I think...Saturday?

love

lizzy

gone to the beach.....

* I do take custom orders for larger quantities of hearts, sometimes assorted, sometimes all the same. People love them for wedding shower/ baby shower favors, party favors, gifts to groups of friends etc. 

TQC 1880 Sampler and Other Fun Things ~

Hi, everyone. Another Friday, how can that beeeee? This is the first Friday since January without an update on the 1880 Sampler Block of the week project! Last week was the final post here. I'll miss this fun sewalong! It was so fun to see the newest block each Friday.

A page for each block, in case I make it in red next year.

I mostly kept up, in the sense that I'd accumulate 4 or 6 blocks and do them all at once. That was my game plan from the beginning. Finally towards summer's end I had quite a few to do but one rainy day before the last post, I was able to catch up completely.

Such a thrill to open my special  project box and see the stacks of tiny 4 1/2" blocks. To remind you all of size, 1880 blocks are the same size as the Dotty 365 squares.

Now let me mention, to my non quilter friends---making tiny pieced blocks is NOT easier than making ''normal'' sized 8" or 12" etc blocks. Everything is tiny and important, the seams proportionately so big and thick. Finicky. But the colors and designs of 1880 were just so charming and the challenge was not beyond my grasp.

I think it is so very generous of Sheryl Johnson, owner of the TQC shop to offer such a long and intricate project to her fans / readers/ followers for FREE. Yes, free. Thank you, Sheryl and TQC!

 Here are my final blocks.

Subbed crazy blocks and half blocks:

A mistake here and there....

This was not supposed to be a Star but I think it's okay. I didn't at all understand the instructions so I made up my own. I also added my name and the fictitious  date of the quilt.

The final project post shows a way to set the blocks but not the original way.

from TQC blog

1880 original: here

Sheryl says the set in seams were too complex to explain on a blog setting. However I loved the funny zigzag setting and plan to at least try to figure it out myself. For one thing it is not L-shaped sashings with set in, partial seams but triangles set on side and on the diagonal, a setting called Streak of Lightning.

In a week or so, after my etsy shop is restocked, I'll lay out everything and we'll choose my background, so stay tuned.
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One very hot day last week, for  a change of pace,  [and too hot to sit out and sew on Bitty], I picked up a tiny  project from my to do stack.

I think it will be sweet. It was so hot that night that it gave me a migraine, laboring away under the bright work lights and I had to set it aside. I love summer but the sweating, heat, and humidity, the headaches have been nasty at times.

It is my version of an antique doll quilt and it uses the last of the 19th century mostly madder stars from my collection.

Pinterest

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Poor SG/ Antebellum Album quilt is also in the stack, two months behind. Fabric chosen, something very special will be included!---but no time recently. By the next block reveal on Wednesday next week, I ll be 3 months, 6 blocks, behind. I am loving the Hideous fabrics and I sincerely admire Brackman's scholarly writing and the time and effort involved in such an erudite project, but I am finding the women who wrote their diaries and made the quilts this time to be unpleasant and un-admirable, tedious at best. Very unlike the inspiring pioneer women of Westering Women. It shouldn't depress me, but it does; I find I do not want to make the quilt block of a spoiled southern belle who fled North to escape the rigors of war or rich entitled northern princess who assumed lahdidah airs at a Charleston ladies' finishing school.

Another handwork project, the pattern was missing and September Eagles got set aside.

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And just for fun. I removed this patriotic quilt from the pine bench in my living room, too summery,

but instead of putting it away I stuck it in the drawer of the little pine chest in my bedroom. It's a perfect fit!

How fun. Later, maybe, for fall, I'll add my red and chrome yellow and salmon boxes to the stacks of Shaker boxes. Put out a different little quilt?

Last quilt note: Lori of Humble Quilts announced today that her Fall doll quilt sewalong will begins soon! I am excited, I look forward to this event all year. I hope my teal fabrics from my friend BJ are suitable.
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~Something for the weekend ~ 

in honor of the autumnal equinox/ first day of astronomical fall arriving tomorrow, Saturday the 22nd:

I saw this at the supermarket this week. I am not a beer or ale drinker but I thought it was so creative and fun, great merchandising. I am guessing these are local craft beers, but maybe not?

  

Autumn beer and ale selection for your tailgate party, Oktoberfest, for fall picnics and BBQs, for Halloween!

The artwork and graphics on the labels are great. Who is this guy!? A pumpkin in an antique diving helmet? Spooky!

And note the tiny people by the Jack on this box!

Made me wish I'd expand my horizons beyond white wine and margaritas, and take a taste! But, ugh, no.  And Mo got cute pumpkin spice treats too! Chewy.com 



From Chewy.com---since his fave teeny micro treats are out of stock. This is a one time deal, because these are not big but not tiny, too big for an insatiable boy who consumes many many treats each day. [hence the invention of micro treats].

"'Come, Mo?' What's in it for me, mommy?"

You may not know but pugs are entirely food driven dogs. They're somewhat hard to train and while they are smarter than they look and certainly understand commands---Mo knows what he is supposed to do!---they will only do whatever, for a treat. The good news is they love to perform; Mo has quite the repertoire. [Probably they think we humans are hard to train! as they wait patiently for their treat and rewards.]

have a good weekend! Let me know if you try pumpkin beer!?

love

lizzy

gone to the beach....