Looking for Spring ~ March Has Arrived with Its Doldrum Days

Good morning! It's as grey and dull a day as you could imagine here at the beach. March is a big blah, neither winter nor spring. Sure, we woke up to snow, but just a dusting on the grass, much to Mo's urinary delight. My friend L and I have been doing some recreational shopping to brighten these midwinter days. My goal is to find a few accent items in sunny yellow to go with my soon to be sewed yellow pillow covers. I'd love to find a yellow striped jug or bowl, like this but yellow?

...maybe a few yellow carpet balls? Yellow must be my least favorite color [after forest green] because I have nothing yellow here to use. I do love daffodils, forsythia and dandelions, yellow tulips too---but as for a yellow and white quilt or pot or table runner/cloth, that's a fail.

Pier One looked interesting online, but was dull and tired in real life. Instead of spring colors they have a lot of grey, white and black? Black gingham, black bunnies. [yawn]

Very modern, simplistic bunnies.

Even bejeweled Bunny was a bit subdued.

These coffee tables were interesting, with their inserted sea glass. and lovely natural wood. Far too modern for my house though, I'm hoping for a farmhouse find someday.

I bought wax melts for my Mason jar thing. They smell like deodorant so far, huh.
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Yesterday we hit Home Goods. Nothing yellow but bursting with traditional spring and coastal summer items, plus a few  some fun finds.

This was my on-sale treasure.

Should I paint this distressed chalk white or leave as is? It is another thread spool holder, my spools are multiplying like bunnies.

L had gone to get the car and as she parked I was like, "Oh look! You have to see this, it was on sale! Look at the cool china ABCs! So cool! Don't you LOVE it!" Jumping like a fangirl. And another woman walking by came over to look too, she loved it, she wanted it!  Prob I could have resold it for a profit, lol. Love the old china labels, not wild about the very modern steel screws though I suppose they'll be rusty by the end of summer anyway.

Flowers at the grocery and TJs. Eye-popping brightness. Sajou flowers.

Confetti roses.

TJs candle of the season is Lemon Cooky, nice and warm sugary but fresh lemony too. 4.oo.

Back in the kitchen I made bread this week. I used the no-knead dutch oven recipe again but I wanted seeded bread.

I love seeded or whole grain breads!

This came out so perfect [though a bit misshapen], just as I imagined.

I used TJs "Everything but The Bagel topping plus a bit of coarse raw sea salt, fennel seeds, caraway seeds, flax seeds ,pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds.

I drew on my previous breadmaking experience to get a chewy not crispy crust. I  brushed the top of the loaf with olive oil before adding the seed topping. The dutch oven is preheated at 450*: I then added a fat 1/8 C of water before I plopped  in my dough and covered it really fast, trapping the resulting steam. The steam softens the crust. Then when I did the last 10 uncovered minutes I added a bit more water, a sprinkle around the edges. And I was careful not to overcook the loaf. Slices perfectly, chewy dense texture.

My only drawback is the seeds make a terrible mess . Seeds everywhere, especially the flax seeds. I think I will make it without the topping next time, just put seeds in the dough?

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In between working on quilts I have started a bit of spring cleaning. Oh my windows need a big wash but it's too cold. The wind forces sand right thru the wooden window frames; I find little sifted piles where there's air leaks. Instead I emptied and washed the fridge, ugh. And today's chore was to empty the utensil drawer in the kitchen, sort the useless junk [old corks? three rusty can-openers, saved for the Apocalypse?] and to wash all the divider thingies. They're all air drying now.

Mo has been a very sweet boy, except he has moved on from kitchen bin rooting to attacking the laundry basket. Every time I look, all the clothes are strewn everywhere, clean or dirty, he is not a connoisseur. On one windy day---I think Monday? , hiding from the noise, first he built a nest on my bed....

then in his bed, under the computer desk. I think the hard drive is warm:

...then he got spooked and rowdy and built a fort on 'his'' sofa. He was very proud of his cushion pile/ mess.

Two  found washers this week. No coins. Paperwhites finishing week five.

Have a good weekend!

love

lizzy

gone to the beach...

February Show and Tell: String Baskets, Sajou, A Year

Hi! February is almost over and I have made great progress on my ongoing projects this past month. I have to admit I am quite pleased with myself, which is a nice change from feeling overwhelmed by too much to do and no time or even interest.

I have a teeny tiny urge to wail, "But there's a whole week left!" as February has a few more days to go. But my Feb String Baskets are finished and today is the day to link up to Lori's Stringalong on Humble Quilts. I'll put the link at the end of this post.

Blue Baskets

I made seven blocks this month, for a total of eleven made. I am estimating 25 in total. Unlike some strict-planning sewers I am not giving myself  a quota each month. If I get the quilt done and the sewalong is ongoing, I will start my Stringy Pineapples and continue to participate.

These blocks are sooo fun. The string portions go together so fast, I was tempted to make all at once. Even the Cheddar handles are easy and fun. [see?  I keep saying ''fun''! Yay!] But the rest of the block is a bit of a puzzle, a smidge finicky, especially as I am mixing in a few random other backgrounds. So I plan to make about six at a time.
I added just a hint of cheddar/ indigo plaid in one baskets. I like it.

I used my Christmas gift card to buy a little Sunbeam iron. It sits to the right of my sewing machine on a quilted pad. It has steam! And has already proved so helpful in keeping the Strings crisp and smooth.

I couldn't resist planning a setting, actually a necessity as it makes a difference in how many blocks I will need. Here the blocks are laid out with a white ground/ black sprig calico. I think I have three yards. I like how it looks, but this is the background I planned to use for Hideous, so, hmmm.... tough luck, Hiddy?

 I can't do a traditional zigzag setting, too much white, not enough fabric;

...instead I'll do a trellis setting which gives a zigzag look if there are no cornerstones, I hate trellis settings but I think it will disappear into the background in this case.  Then a narrow cheddar border, then a 4" sprig border if I have enough fabric.

Hideous will have to get the off white pompom calico. It's important to me that the Blue Baskets get a true white ground [unless I switch to blue check] for an authentic vintage look; Hideous can manage with the much more prevalent off white sold currently. [If anyone knows of a current white ground/ black or dark navy sprigged calico pls tell me.]

Binding will be scrappy blue plaid. Though this is all just playtime planning, I also considered a blue strings piano keys border. But no, too fussy, too much work that could be invested in the Boardwalks Blues design instead.

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Sajou

Next I have Sajou, my once Petite Sajou is now Ma Grande Sajou at 40 plus inches square so far, another Humble Quilts project. I sewed the last Wild Geese border on Saturday. I was so pleased, a FINISH.

But then I taped her up in the living room.

Uh oh. She says she is not done after all. Hint: see the red cabinet to the left?

 Yes a wide bold red red red border. Perhaps with little purple stepping stones in the corners.

 Stash search, internet search.

I put Sajou away! For now.

Side note: this quilt is wildly bright. I carefully chose each and every fabric for its brilliance, interest, saturated colors and or dainty French-ness. It is not a scrap quilt***. I was very inspired by the appearance of the Paris shop that this project was named after , Sajou here.



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Year in the Country

I prepped February and March and if it snows on Wednesday I'll get the appliques sewed down. After Sajou's rebellion, I turned to my Sarah Sporrer BOM project, which I call A Year in the Country. [Yes, Mel, I know it should be my images and be a Year at the Beach! Someday....]

This is intended to be, like When the Wild Geese and also Pokeberry, a no-stress project. I'll machine applique some pieces, hand sew others. Sometimes it's faster to handsew a little detail than it is to make a new bobbin, re-thread the machine and do the bit mechanically.  The fabrics will be wools with cottons and even velvets mixed in now and then; most grounds will be splotchilly tea dyed.

I'm noting the  writing/ embroidery but plan to start that in May when Mo and I can sew outside. Unless I can get my friend L to do it! I'm not a fan of embroidery, do I even own a hoop anymore? Penny, who  gifted the patterns to me, pointed out that the embroideries are done in a variety of thread colors, a hint that I had not noticed but like.

I love the designs! Isn't the Crow so cute! This block gets white * snowflakes embroidered all over it. It's a bit less gaudy in person, darker.

This is March, Mr. Robin. See how photos are useful? Here I have fallen into my bugaboo habit , choosing for color not value. He is too pale! But I love the soft velvet tummy so maybe he'll stay.

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A Giveaway!

***Speaking of scrap quilts. As you may know I am not in favor of hoarding fabric scraps and/ or finding pride and pleasure in utilizing every stamp sized bit instead of using up the fabric that we all own to excess. I usually do not even have scraps, but I was searching for backgrounds for  A Year and found a bin that had a few baggies of yes, true scraps.

The bad news is they are really really scraps, crappy scraps! 

The good news is there's vintage-y 30s housedress fabrics and some earlier 1800s antique fabrics in there, plus a few antique but not gorgeous quilt blocks, c. 1890s? If you love scraps and want this bag, about the volume of a Medium Flat Rate Box, USPS, leave me a comment here saying so.

If you win, pls don't be offended by being mailed a box of [s]crap. LOL. I'll choose the recipient, if any, on Mo's fifth birthday, March 19th, so new friends from Lori's linky will get a chance, if indeed a chance is wanted. Good luck?

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We had a ''clear storm'' today, bright sun but winds as high as 65 mph. Too windy to run non essential errands or go to the beach. Mo's walks were curtailed as the sand harms his eyes and hurts him. Pugs' eyes are very vulnerable, so I err on the side of caution and encourage him to use his deck potty and play out there too.  He was good with his potty but he was scared by the blowing metal deck chairs! Hurricane winds.

I made a big pot of marinara sauce; I have meatballs in the freezer, plus some fresh arugula/ parm raviolis, so we should have cozy warm-tummy foods for a few days. Oddly TJ's does not sell tomato paste? I used these tomatoes instead, squished them in my mini Cuisinart.

Aren't the cans beautiful. My colors! I plan to Mod Podge the labels and use the cans for spring herbs seed starts, or even tiny Easter plants like primroses. Recycling at its most charming.

The cluster of spices made me think of my mom---her sauce recipe of course, but also every so often she'd get out all her herbs and her clean sterile Smucker's jelly jars and she'd make spice mixes, all measured [by eye] and mixed ahead of time, so she didn't need to drag out a bunch of jars every time she cooked. She made one version for Italian, another for roasts, stews, steaks and marinades. So efficient! I wonder how she knew the proportions. She told me once she learned to make the mixes ahead in one of her gourmet cooking classes she enjoyed. She said, "We made herbes de provence, how useless...."

Have good week! Snow coming?

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

love

lizzy 

gone to the beach.....

Lori's Stringalong at Humble Quilts 

Paperwhites at week four: