Tree Trimmings ~ Diamonds and Ice

Hello and Merry Christmas! As we count down the days and excitement grows, we check each item off our To Do list. [outdoor lights! door wreath!.... politically correct holiday cards!, gifts that must be mailed!/ stamps? / cooky dough! . Gifts and donation for local animal rescue shelter, that's a big one.] 
For me tomorrow will be Christmas Tree day.

I will decorate my tiny tree and wish again, secretly, that we still got a mammoth  real tree from the firehouse. I am celebrating by sharing a new selection of my upcycled  chandelier crystals,  all shiny and bright and carefully wired onto beautiful spiral hooks.

These are from a large box I got at the flea awhile ago. They're in amazing condition and the glass must be of the finest quality as they are so clear and skillfully faceted.

I love the big drops! They're best on artificial trees or strung along your fireplace mantel on ribbons. They're not as heavy was the long prisms I sometimes offer but they have a bit of weight.

The small to medium drops are equally gorgeous but somewhat lighter, so they're nice used on real trees and smaller table trees. I was thrilled when sorting and washing to see what a fine selection I had snapped up one fall morning.

I do like to add a small twist of silvery ribbon sometimes. And I can add the bows for any friends here on my blog. Pls email me to request though as etsy convos attached to orders quite often go lost.

You are welcome to come visit me, just to enjoy my shop! I hope to add a few more pretties before it's too late for Santa's gift bag.

Hope you're having a fun December.

PS I mixed up dates and rushed off to the Christmas market held by the flea market church ladies, earlier today. I found an empty parking lot and locked doors. Puzzled I knocked gently and a lady poked her head out.

"Isn't the Fair today?" I asked.

''No! Tomorrow, 9 AM."

Hmmm. I didn't expect the fair to be on a Sunday morning, but that's okay.  I hope I make it back, plus there's two more fairs on my list. I just love hokey old fashioned Holiday fairs. Do you?

love

lizzy

gone to the beach....

Out and About ~ A Little Thrifting, A Little Christmas

Good Sunday evening, everyone! So now it is December, time to put on our shopping ''hats'' and get to work? My thrifting friend B came to visit for our annual pre-Christmas shopping outing. We have fun and she patiently rolls her eyes at my ooohing and aaahhing over the Christmas lights in the dark neighborhoods when we head home. [I adore Christmas lights, unless they overstep and look like Disney World on crack.]

There's a blog I read and usually enjoy, where the blogger is a flea market-thrifter like me, though in the UK they call them "boot sales" and ''charity shops"? So she mentioned her Christmas finds but rather snidely added that she isn't ''one who has to show off each and every find"! Well, poop, I want to see everything. Here at The Beach, sorry, but not really sorry, you get to see each thrifted treasure and hear all about my plans for their futures!
Because that's the fun of it all, is it not?

I am sorry to report I didn't find any fun stocking stuffers at the thrift shop. This is the shop that keeps moving further and further away. We tried it a few months ago and while I was unimpressed [far! traffic! less than fresh smelling!]. But when I wrote my blog post about it, I reconsidered, having actually found quite a few fun things.
So we decided to give the shop a second try.

OMG, the traffic. OMG the roundabout GPS journey we got sent on. I started looking for the lighthouse at Montauk, or vineyards. Hours passed in bumper to bumper disharmony. It got dark! We got hungry!

We need new destinations, new horizons for our adventures.Though when we go in January I have a huge donation bag to give , so I am not sure what will happen.
.....................................
Since I'm not sure we'll ever go back, I did get a stack of nice men's shirts for quilting.

Have to give Ralph Lauren's design team credit, someone really has an eye for wonderful colorful plaids.

Just to remind you all, here is a recently finished quilt, all the plaids are thrifted shirts, except a few wools!

This shirt to replace some of the rare tomato soup red ones that got used up.

Pastel and bright for my free form planned throw :

I dithered over this stripe--it is a definite bright summery olive in real life, like extra virgin olive oil, maybe? Now I love it, it will add a bit of ooomph to wherever it ends up.

Blues for Blue Baskets, still just a dream because I can't decide on the Basket design I should use. And these dull old fashioned shirts, planned for another group of future projects from an older book called The Blue and the Grey [Civil War inspired.] here

I chose at least four quilts for my Maybe list! I love the subtle drab palette and interestingly simple yet intricate patterns of the book's design.

book photo

book photo

I got interested reading about Nancy's quilt, on her blog Joy for Grace. When looking for the book to buy, I found it for an eye-popping $140.oo on Amazon [more recent listings now are more reasonable! But still as much as $90.oo new.] so I borrowed a copy from  my book-a-holic friend BJ. My blues will include subtle small plaids

and I thought this odd ivory stripe looks just like an 1860s men's shirt. Yes it is a bit textured but I enjoy the make-do, use it anyway look on repro quilts.

Speaking of books I got this $1.oo anthology, in case of winter power failures and no Kindle service. I no longer read novels in book form, only Kindle or iPhone, so this way I'm prepared for weather outages. I was lured by Louise Penny's name written big on the cover! Turns out she is the nominal editor or story gatherer but there's nothing written by her in the book. No little extra wintry visit w Inspector Gamache and Reine Marie to be a little treat. [new book is out though: Kingdom of the Blind ]  order thru Amazon or ask at your library. I highly recommend Penny's Canadian series, though it is perhaps best enjoyed from its beginning. This is about Book 12?]

Another interesting textile.
$4.oo

At first I thought it had a feeling of a Marimekko design and the fabric has weight, like a fine linen. However the label says Pakistan and 100% cotton. The circles are traditional motifs called suzanis, I think. My favorite soft duck egg turquoise with chocolate brown and white, quite lovely

The scale is large. Here it's on my bed.

One edge has buttonholes, perhaps a curtain panel? But for me it will be a winter tablecloth when I redo my home after Christmas.
And  I picked up this cute small size candy jar. It is about a quarter of the usual volume, familiar to all of us as hard candy or nut dispensers. I love how they sit sideways.

I kinda bought it for strawberry emeries or my thimble collection but it was on the counter, just washed and polished and I filled it with my new winter teas. Oolong and Stash's Double Bergamot Earl Grey.

B found nothing! We then put our faith in the GPS even though it took us on a wild goose chase to the thrift shop, and went to the good big Marshall's, where B got two beautiful pairs of boots. The store [before Black Friday, who knows now] was a Christmas wonderland of lovely clothes and gifts and decorations.

a pugly Xmas sweater!

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Another day my friend L and I stopped by Pier One for pretty S shaped ornament hooks, for my crystal drops, soon in my etsy shop.  This is always our first holiday stop because it is located here in town near the grocery store, no GPS required. And they have parking!
It too looked very festive and beautiful.

I love their Scandinavian theme.

Too bad their candles have so little [ or no] scent, because they're so fun this year.

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I missed our town's tree lighting and holiday market due to my usual medical treatment, but I have two local holiday fairs on next weekend's agenda. I love handmade goodies and cookies and overpriced poinsettias, all for good causes. So that should be fun.

My house is almost all decorated except for my tiny tree.

But then Mo had a bout of tummy upset, brought on by garbage can surfing. Yes he has learned to undo the bungee holding the cabinet shut, tips over the bin and YUM! I won't be too detailed, but if it was a white sofa with a pretty red toile Christmas pillow on it, his aim was perfect! And then while I frantically cleaned up, he ate my old fashioned cut spaghetti casserole dinner which was on the dining table. When scolded he rushed off and puked in my bed.
I don't think Mo likes Christmas? Maybe he had a bad experience last year when I made him wear those Rudolph antlers?

How are things at your house? ;-)

love

lizzy

gone to the beach....

Walking Towards December ~ A Beach Walk

Hi everyone! All the leftovers from Thanksgiving should be finished by now and it's time to get out and enjoy the brisk late fall/ early winter beach. Some of these photos were taken earlier in the month, before we had the shocking and anomalous deep freeze last week. Oh and that snow!

Beautiful November colors in the dunes....

Could these green leaves in the center be the velvet leaf weed I am searching for?

All fall we have been watching the dredging boats, working on H Sandy beach repairs, an ongoing somewhat sporadic project done by the US government? and the Army Corps of Engineers.

The boats used are multiple---one very large barge with suction pumps and hoists and who knows what all. This ship siphons up sand from the seabed and sends it through a 12"? diameter tube, a quarter mile long, up onto the beach.Then there are large but a bit smaller boats, plus each has its own tugboat! These smaller boats are in charge of setting the suction tubes and the flotation devices that hold the tube in position. There is also a strange superstructure on the beach, called The Crab, which is a lookout post and a site evaluator, and a surveying tool.

Meanwhile back on land huge equipment came and pounded large pilings into our dunes. It was pretty awful, my house shook like an earthquake for weeks and Mo was scared. The constant rumbling and shaking was oddly upsetting or nerve wracking, even when one knew it was not indeed an earthquake.

Not thrilled with these pilings, they are ugly and much taller than any natural dune formation. They also spoil my view! Will they help collect sand as the years and even eons go by, or will they be expensive eyesores? I don't think anyone really knows. 

So anyway, the sand sucked from the seabed will be moved with, again, giant machines to form faux dunes. The dunes they built a few years ago have settled in nicely, so that may be okay. Will sand be pushed into the piling forests mechanically? We don't know, yet another mystery.

All this background is because....the dredged sand is already yielding up new and interesting beachcombed treasures. The lure of the beach hunt has returned.

Here is a large patch of rare pink sand!

My friend found this  very large, fortunately used, old brass gun shell. A 20 mm round marked USA 1943. You can see how big it is.

Research shows us that this WW2 shell was an anti-aircraft round, from small ''cannons'' used on US warships. More info HERE

How? Why? When, where? It must have quite a story to tell.

Then seaglass has returned, but for now at a rather far away beach near the surfing beach.

My daughter came home one morning with quite a haul.

Some beauties, a cobalt bottle neck:

A green milk glass or Jadeite shard with fluted edges.

The beach is too far for me to walk there and back especially after my recent fall and thrice daily Mo walking duties. If we get a warm gorgeous day I think I'll get a lift over to the surfing beach, then I'll walk one way home, maybe three miles?

Sunsets have been long and so beautiful. Very much ''of Autumn"; not a winter-y sky.

Mo was happy to don his coziest fall plaid jacket that frigid 19* day.

But mostly he'd rather just lie in bed on cold grey days.

I'm excited to welcome December soon. My holidays have evolved since my kids were wildly excited Santa believing toddlers, but every year is wonderful because we are together. New memories, new ideas, new traditions.  (Money not Legos!)

"Simplify"?

Your thoughts?

love

lizzy 

gone to the beach...

A more technical description, with wonderful photos!,of a similar ongoing operation, from this past summer HERE  The main difference is here they are adding to the dune structure, filling areas that they believe are flood channels [ooops, no, guys, maybe NOT! Here is the flood break, about 50 feet east of the piling installation, sigh]

and in the other project they are widening the beach. If they widen MY beach I am going to buy a golf cart, my beach is huge in recent years.