Happy St Patrick's Day

 

                                                   🍀  Happy St Patrick's Day🍀

                                                                   Green beer, mommy. Yum! Cheers!

love

lizzy and MO 🍀

March ~ so Far

 

Happy Saturday everyone! Mo and I are staying in on this wintery afternoon, unheard of! Mo had a good walk [well, sort of] with his new alternate walker and with the winds now up in the almost 40 MPH range, I have to admit Old Man Winter has won this round and we are staying indoors. 

I hate rain mommy!

Before grandiose internet weather reporting, this would be just a cold rainy/ sleety day...but No! We're having a bomb cyclone. You know how I feel about that designation, lots of ooooh, scary, not much meaning in real life. (Though now the snow has started, little mean ice pellets! Yep a day to stay in.)

The low pressure and and cold make my joints painful and create migraine headaches. I won't dwell but this has not been my most productive week, I admit. New glasses again, so many trips to the eye surgeon, blah blah blah. Will I ever see clearly again, I wonder late at night when I can't sleep.

Anyway! Moving on, I did make some Hourglass Blocks for my antique block challenge project

I am calling this little quilt Lucky in Love, or LiL, but you won't see why anytime soon. 

                                   

Some Instagram quilters present WIP blocks that are absolutely perfect and immaculate. I tried. It's good to take a photo and post it online though to evaluate one's progress, imperfections and all. And lookit my good matched points. But  I do see that I need more browns, and reds, maybe cream, black? 

Off topic---what is your opinion: When I am given  precious prized, saved fabrics, shared by a friend, I love to use them in a quilt. But I wonder if that is right? Should I instead collect and cherish these fabrics, unused but much loved, in my little Fav Fabrics basket?

                                            

Last week I said I'd post a better pic of Candy Cane Lane, inspired by Barb Vedder's Tiny Trees, on her blog.

The blue is the quilt on my bed.

Here it is with the adorable matching tags I saved from a friend's Christmas gift to me. Stripes would be so cute.

Backing.

And below, new labels I am trying out. I like the idea and they are well made, but too dense to hand sew through. The idea may need some evaluating.

*****

Winter reading: I'm so enjoying this nature guide, written about England's shores and rivers, but apropos for my beach too. IG: @london-mudlark  daily finds, great history included https://www.instagram.com/london.mudlark/

It's very well written. Most field guides, one leafs through for pertinent info, but this one is very readable, cover to cover. I read a few pages when I have my late morning tea, waiting for Mo to return from his exercise walks with the professional walkers, or later another few pages as again I have my tea after he and I have our afternoon ramble. Highly recommend to beach lovers, 5 stars.

My beach has very little plastic, but it is an interesting idea to look for.

*****

And here: seaglass bottles on a dolly dish, I've been adding twigs and other spring finds to them, just for fun. 

The faux blue hyacinth is plastic and probably ghastly, but my favorite color, so it came home in my pocket the other day.

The square bottle is a hand blown into the mold ink bottle, I think dump dug by my dad, not a beach bottle. I found it again when spring cleaning the other day.

Speaking of cleaning, my $$$ professional cleaners have yet to return for part two : the bedrooms. I did like what they did so far, but oddly many things were out of place. 

This wire chicken basket was given to me by an elderly lady whom I befriended and took shopping, to appointments years ago. She was also my beachcombing inspiration, her walls of books and paintings all interspersed with Mason jars of found coins and seashells. [not seaglass, though.]. Anyway the wire egg basket has lived with other folky animals on the heart plates rack for years, but the cleaners couldn't fit it back up there after cleaning. I see it is becoming a bit rusty. Any ideas how to oil it or preserve iit? Please let me know.

****

This week the grocery store personal shopper texted me about which chew treats I wanted for Mo and informed me there is again a Charmin shortage, as well as jerky twist treats shortage. Huh. Anyway I texted back No to pig ears [!] and Cottonelle [yuck!] but asked her to add a spring bulb potted flower, 2.99 in their flyer but not available online.

This is what she sent me! I love it, such a pretty and dainty white hyacinth for my table this week.

And! I saved the best til last. Week eight of the indoor bulb project. The replanted paperwhite narcissus have grown and bloomed.

I am so proud of them and me both.

One of my mantras , all my life, is Never give up. I am so glad I redid the bulbs and gave them a chance.

                                                        

Only one bulb is not growing yet. It looks pretty dead but I do see roots forming, so I will give it its turn, whispering kindly, "Strike three here, baby, last chance."

This is surely a long post for someone who had nothing to say. See you soon, who knows, by next week maybe the latest glasses will make me actually able to, well---see ya!

love

lizzy

gone to the beach...

Out and About ~ Spring Inspiration

 

Hello, hello. If you came over from Instagram, welcome. And Hi to all my regulars too of course!

Ah, spring. As covid fears lessen and mask rules are rescinded, it is now more than ever time to get out and enjoy shopping on these bright sunny days. Spring is my least favorite season, but even seeing the first snowdrops, or sunset after six PM, does lift my bah humbuggy spirits. Though...yesterday I was fooled, walked Mo without putting on all my extra layers---no wind pants, no inner down vest, no barre socks, no UGGS---and with the wind blowing hard from the east, I like to froze, so cold even my hot tea afterwards failed to warm me. Today I layered, no more lazy girl dogwalking for me until July.

 

Where is my puffer coat, mommy, 

my feeties are so  cold!

The Dollar Store has become a fun habitual stop for me and L. It's right by the bank, and we often stop in. This is not the Dollar General that had rat infestation, this is not a chain or franchise, just local. I was very pleased to find inexpensive cooking knives and a chopping board spatula, all under 4.oo each.

Pretty ribbons too.

And yes I finally succumbed to the lure of their expensive faux tulips. They look so real to me. And knowing we'd probably not get to Traer Joe's for real flowers this week, I decided they were fine, good enough for me.

Another day we drove over the bridges to Home Goods, another fave destination.

Isn't the water beautiful. Navy blue! No exotic rafts of ducks but the geese are pairing on the marshes, waddling around on the roadway verges by the bridges. [though none in my phots, taken at the requisite 70 mph there]

Home Goods:

 

Pleasantly quiet, though very long wait to pay. 

The store wasn't very focused. Still some Valentines items. And Easter!

\

Boho Style again, maybe we missed the big winter stock up of things from faraway lands? I didn't really notice the vertical blue items on the right. If those are trays, I wish I had stopped to look and snap them up.

Hilarious Pug paintings. Only pugs, no Frenchies, no Labs or Goldendoodles, just pugs.

Mo is underwhelmed by that idea. His portraits from Chewy are better.

The coastal look this year is vintage-y Nile green not blue. Not for me.

I loved the blue and white outdoor pottery. Imagine these clustered on my deck, filled with colorful zinnias.

This very big bowl would have been perfect for the solar fountain I am still wanting, maybe with a few water plants. Maybe 18-20" diamter, no drain holes. Sometimes I don't think as fast as I should, Home Goods can be overwhelming.

                                              

This year's art glass garden stakes, fishies. Not as wonderful as last year's hens though.

I did get a few things using another Christmas gift card. 

New pans. A medium sized skillet and this two handled baking pan. I have been looking for years, my old one is so beat up. Now I know---they are called paella pans. I like them for roasting chicken or other meats, the pans are easy to handle, then can go right onto stove top for gravy or sauce making. 

Both pans were only 12.99 each.

 [yes there was a le Creuset "paella pan", which would last a lifetime and more; but it was so heavy I couldn't lift it and cost almost $200.oo. Baby aqua, sigh. Pass.]

And this cute mini canister set from Rae Dunn pottery. 

So my table looks neater?

I wonder if she [he?] ever worries about the massive overabundance of her word pottery, discounted everywhere, saying everything, anything. I am still a fan though. Rae Dunn pottery

And some Easter things, I will show you them closer to Easter decorating time. Somehow I didn't get home with my best find, a wonderful wooden spool with  sort of faded prim polkadot silk ribbon. I was pretty upset, I loved it.

...

Wish list outings:

The big Flower Show Show, last two weeks of March:

And, again, the fun indoor brewery farmers market. It will be much more manageable without a mask, densely fogged glasses and huge puffer coat soon.

Hope your weekend is good!

love

lizzy

gone to the beach....

some pics from Mo's most recent sleepover. The beach he is at does not enforce No Dogs December to mid-March.