Yay! The Porch is Finished

Hi guys! No not an outside porch, The Porch quilt top is finally done.

See! All fifty or seventy or more leaves, finally are on...

I love the birds on the borders...

Probably, lol, you're tired of seeing this project! But I am actually pretty proud that I completed it. It is by far the largest applique quilt I have made.

It was supposed to be done, I think, January 1st? And was a Block of the Month quiltalong with Lori of Humble Quilts http://humblequilts.blogspot.com. Her entire quilt is done: quilted, bound and sent abroad. Amazing.
I will add some button eyes for the kitties and birds and stuffed work ladybugs and bumble bees after it is quiilted. But done, for now.

I am waiting for the backing....

 

I love this purple calico, but who knows when it will arrive. I've had Hancock's back orders appear as much as an entire year later!

 

 

 

I also have enough of this wonderful mud-colored text print. It goes with the border toile and it is pages from an antique natural history field guide. So I don't know yet....

 

I made this decorative panel for the back.

Making this ''freehand'' with just some online inspirations, gives me, now more than ever, great admiration for a designer like Lynda Hall who designed the Porch quilt.
My own panel is a little odd. 
The fabrics were bought during our enforced stay in NYC, a whirlwind run through City Quilter.

The colors are a bit off...but they represent memories of the kind friends who gave me well meant, and correct, but hard to follow advice; "You're stuck there in NYC, you should enjoy it! Mini-vacation." In my shock and disbelief following the evacuation, and the helplessness of not knowing when or if I'd ever return home....well, that was hard to do at first. But, you know...quilters love a quilt shop and it was a wonderful day!

Blue birds for serenity, a yellow bird for happiness...

Below is a hospitality pineapple [remembering the kindness when we were given shelter during H Sandy]. Not perfect. But it was fun to make.

This is the inspiration one from Pinterest, an antique fragment? My triangles are wrong, see? I plan to make it again someday. And get it right.

The pink coneflowersflowers were blooming on the roof garden where we stayed in
lower Manhattan:

Also got this crock that day, remember?

And picked up the autumn leaves on my daily walk along NYC's Battery Promenade.

Yes, in hindsight, good times.

There will be a further panel saying:

The Porch Quilt

sewn on the beach

during the summer before

Hurricane Sandy 2012

and in NYC &-------NY

in the winter that followed.

by lizzy dillingham

''Remember the Good Times''

                                                                                 design by Lynda Hall

[printer issues, sigh.]

I also finished piecing the doll quilt from Lori's other quilt along. I fixed the border ripples after I saw these pix!

close-up, but pls remember you can click on any photo for a supersized view...

It gets its batting and then will be set aside for handquilting on the beach when summer comes.

Yes on the beach.
Still here, still beautiful...to me.

love

              lizzy

gone to the beach....

my feral kitties, my little survivors:
Kitty

and Stripey

 

 

and Gully

 

 

This Was Fun!

Hi everyone! Hope the sun finally shined [shone?] at your house too today!

A couple weeks ago, my blog friend/ reader Anne emailed me to say she was attic-cleaning, would I enjoy a box of vintage sundries and doodads. Oh my! I wrote back, yes, treasure, I'd love it.

Time passed, then this mysterious box arrived! Anne even used pretty stamps!

Whatever can it be?

It was so fun to sort everything inside, all items carefully folded, bagged, labelled...

Vintage fabric!

And a sewer's true scrap bag...

Note the neat old paperbag these scraps were in!

Gorgeous lace and ribbons and silk..

Even a vintage Barbie outfit: a satin halter top and skinny black capris! "Cocktails, Ken dear?'' she murmured sexily...

Buttons, of course, and funny shoelaces!

11 cents! Imagine so carefully storing them away for, what 50 or more years?

A spool of real cotton, American thread. 15 cents....

This adorable blue velvet child's party dress...

Tiny sweet cap sleeves, smocked waist [who wore this? who made it so carefully by hand?]...

Maybe my favorite piece: another party dress,

just the yoke.

Pink tulle and French silk rosebuds, tiniest creamy pearl ball buttons.

And nestled carefully in a pale pink silk boudoir chair pillow, two vintage china plates.

Roses...

Poppies....

I loved everything and spent several enjoyable hours one afternoon, examining each piece, photographing, sorting. I was amazed at how Anne found just what I'd love, and most importantly, what I could really use. Plus in the midst of all her hard work, so sad to have to empty out a loved one's family home...she thought of me! Lizzy, here at the beach, an entire continent away. Cool, isn't it?

MY POV  and style must come out clearly in my blog, hmmm. Anne ''got'' it...the treasure/ recycle/ reuse vibe.

Thank you, Anne!

love

lizzy

          gone to the beach.....

 

 

 

 

Gathering My Thoughts

Or so I pretend! Hi, guys!

Today I just want to share a few small tidbits....mundane-ity? Quotidian life in late winter, as I struggle to overcome this stupid respiratory infection that has now lingered for FIVE weeks, sigh.
Spring sky? Perhaps....

But first, best!
Here is Mr. Mockingbird, singing in the barren bayberry bush, up on the dunes. I have seen only the one mockingbird since Sandy, his lady friend has deserted him, yet here he sings and looks so handsome and hopeful.

I am pretty sure he'll find a mate soon. A pair always nests here in the dunes...

And I wanted to show you my devilled eggs, from Easter.

They were yummy.  My kids asked why I don't make them more often? No real reason, they are essentially the same as egg salad, just finer chopped celery and less mayo. [blop of horseradish, sprinkle of paprika or parsley and there ya go. ] "Jumbo" eggs work the best.

I love the vintage special egg plates! So mid-century American, so Mrs. Cleaver or Betty Crocker---iconish of housewifely perfection and strange foods.

They're a fun item to find at the flea market, anyone can use one or two of the early 20th century plates. But then, you know, you don't need a whole bunch of egg plates, so the shadow of yet another  burdensome dust catching collection does not arise...
This unmarked version has a full blown parrot tulip, tiny daffodils,  and sweet primroses, very Easter-y

[I used to have three. One is blue milkglass, I use it for summer days. But now I can find only this one. I wonder....?]

And today's handsewing, a fun thing to do if you've made a quilt for an older child. I made this flannel Log Cabin ages ago, for my son. He likes it okay but only uses it if he has friends sleep over and someone needs a cozy coverlet to crash on the floor.

But the fun part is that he collects souvenir patches, mostly from his skiing adventures,..

also from friends...

and some golf venues, etc....

 

He remembers to bring the patches and asks me to sew them on, so I know it is something he enjoys. I never remind him or suggest.

He likes the souvenirs of everywhere he has been, I think. It's a fun, no strings/ no stress way for a kid to use his quilt as a keepsake, isn't it? And with today's ephemeral digital pictures, captured in phones that get discarded at least yearly, these may be the only thing he'll have  for a ''scrapbook'' of his life.

More updates in a day or two, things are getting finished and heading off to the quilter~ Yay!

love

lizzy

           gone to the beach...