Thrifting

Hello, everyone! Is the current thaw making lots of MUD at your house? My shiny clean stairs and entry hall are already smudgy, big sigh.

Anyway! The best cure for winter doldrums is retail therapy---a day of thrifting with a best friend.

We went to all our usual spots, plus a new shop I found during my seemingly endless rounds of recent medical appointments.
Such a pretty shop! More of an antiques shop than my usual junking/ thrift spots. Note the perfectly robin's egg blue little table in the window. Oooh.

Very fun holiday things. All holidays...wonderful Valentines from many eras including the delicate honeycomb paper kinds.

Some Easter, some Halloween. And lots and lots of pretty pink Christmas ornies!

I wanted them all. Note the pink polka dots one! And soft pale pink handpainted floral just above it, on the right.

Some wonderful jewelry, like a charm bracelet with a minuscule jewelled perfume flask. And this rare watermelon Depression Glass, just 4 pieces. I have a friend who inherited a set from her grandmother, I have never seen it to actually buy.

We peeked into another pretty shop nearby. Nope, too lah di dah! (Isn't that sad! Next time we'll go in.) And on to a favorite vintage clothing shop. Here is her fun St Patrick's Day window display. I loved all her shamrock china.

 

And the little china girl, like an all white Hummel...holding  a bunch of daffodils, with her pet goose by her side. Adorable.

 

 

My friend always finds treasures here. Besides clothing there is a wall of smalls.

B found a set of 8 English bone china coasters with botanical paintings of tiny spring flowers on the insides. She has nice wood furniture and can actually use these pretties for her spring holiday dinners, soon.
Sweet spring egg cups, below. Hard to resist.

Not that we'd buy---or wear!---but this shop specializes in vintage millinery.

 

I just swoon over the hats. Bonnie and Clyde? Gatsby? So pretty...

Then on to the big junky thrift shop, my personal fave. I passed up this pretty Staffordshire plate...

And actually I bought nothing! This beautiful curtain panel is a previous find, the type of thing I look for , either for collector friends/ clients or if damaged to use for my white lavender hearts and pillows.

B got a new-with-tags! cashmere sweater! And a wonderful ceramic pumpkin. Which just goes to show that one should buy ''finds'' no matter what the season. Christmas in March? Maybe I need to go back to the first store for some Valentines? Or pink Christmas balls?

We had planned to try a new Irish pub for dinner. They have a fireplace! And it is right on the beach. But no parking on a Friday night. Typical. So we did our favorite Thai restaurant instead. They now have a liquor license but I am not sure that's a good thing. Saki-kiwi martini, anyone? LOL, we stuck to tried and true food instead:
crispy, delicious spring rolls

pad thai

mee krob

Yum!
Have a great week!

love

lizzy

gone to the beach

above, horrid huge sand movers' tire tracks damaging my beach!

So freakin' stupid!

Happens every March.

                                                                  * * * * *

                  web food pix.

The restaurant was too dark for my camera.

Spring Cleaning and a Walk on the Beach

Hello, everyone! Hello, March!

some of my Shaker box collection: Blues

 

We only got a dusting of snow this time, the storm missed us. But brrr, it is very cold. And the late winter sun, happy as I am to see it!--is relentless, highlighting every nook and cranny. And each crevice is just filled with sand. It creeps in on our shoes, sneaks in through the old wooden window frames. Marches right in through the front door, oh so bold!

So I began my spring cleaning a few weeks early.

LOL, I flipped up the living room rug and I swear there were sand dunes forming under there. I got out the heavy duty antique TriStar ''motel special'' vacuum cleaner and sucked all the sand away.

Then I washed everything, floors and walls, baseboards, windowsills included. With Clorox [sorry, Mel]. Scrubbed the bathrooms' tiled walls and floors.

I couldn't wash the window frames or screens because it is too cold, but I did sweep and wash the doors' lintels. Then I washed the white slipcovers.  [uh oh].

Just one sofa's covers. IKEA cotton covers.

Man, did they shrink!
I estimate the main cover is at least 12" shorter than it was!
I had to cut the cover to get it back on. And I'll have to replace it soon. I am just glad I didn't wash the other sofa's covers, or the big chair's. But washable slipcovers aren't much good of you can't, uh, wash them. (I even put them back on damp, no dryer time. But---no.] To give IKEA its due, these were ordered online through an outlet, not purchased at the store. Because unlike the rest of the world IKEA does not have a web catalog. [so no returns/ complaints possible.]

I needed a walk afterwards to clear the cobwebs out of my head!

It is cold but here is no wind. You know the summer saying, It's not the heat it's the humidity? Well, here the winter corollary is, It's not the cold, it's the wind! So a calm, still, sunny day with temps in the teens is just delightful. Mmm. Breath of fresh air. Just what I needed.

My little world is sparkling indoors and out. Do you spring clean? Or are you like my mom, whose house was kept so impeccably that there was no need?

love

lizzy 

gone to the beach...

February Finishes

 

 

Hi! Here's what I did this month! It's fun to keep track of progress, isn't it?

I don't care for the quilting world's word ''flimsy'' which means a finished quilt top. To me flimsy means shoddy, and though my skills are not perfect, I hate to think of what I've made as ''shoddy'' or junky. [Yes I know that is not what quilters mean by the word, but it's how it makes me feel.]
So here goes, finished tops and blocks of February '14.

Tah Dah! Look at cutie Lost Quilt!

I was worried that the central portion was too bright, but with the borders and cheddar  baskets, I think it is adorable.

I made up the fancy name Cordelia's Crib Quilt, but I bet in my mind it's always be the Lost Quilt. This is the eBay quilt, below, you can read my post about it here

                                                 (Yes. My chevrons are wrong. I'm over it.)

Here is the backing that inspired me to attempt to copy the quilt I didn't win on eBay a few months ago.
Love this colorful toile.

Perhaps it will have double pink binding, though more likely turkey red.

Not sure about the quilting. I know what I want to have, but am not sure if I or my machine quilter should do it. Not going to hand quilt, probably will sell it?

This is another crib quilt. I began it a year or so ago then never got back to sewing on  the last border til now.

The star blocks are early, pre-Civil War. From Maine. They are so pristine I didn't have to wash them.

Love the fabrics and how each block has a red or pink diamond, so one's eye is drawn all over the surface of the quilt.

I used two of my treasured vintage, but not old, sepia documentary print cottons. One is roses, the other tiny pansies. I have hoarded them both for many years.

Backing will be double pink. Binding may be a different double pink. It is off to the quilter on Monday! Yay!

And here are my first two Noah and Matilda blocks. Remember we are being given FOUR blocks per month, so as of now, I have done 2 of 12. Looks like if I do one per month, I 'll be fine. Four years...plus a border (so 5 years). Hmmm.

                                   Original Noah and Matilda Quilt,
                                    link at the end of post here

My idea is to reproduce the c. 1845 quilt somewhat as it looks now, not as we surmise it looked when new. This means utilizing antique fabrics from my collection, either yardage or simple worn-out blocks.

January.

 

 

This is my February block. I''ll add a photo in a a day or so when I get it entirely done.

Originally I had prepped these diamonds for the tulips.

I even bought myself a tiny iron so I can sit comfortably to prepare these blocks. Pretty great little tool. I know we're supposed to STAND not sit, or so medical science now tells us, but my back screams in agony if I stand over the ironing board too long. Best to sit awhile.

Anyway, those diamonds were too bright, I realised. I redid them in one of my go-to fabrics, an old [ripped] mid 1800s quilt back. Softer colors like the original, though not as pretty.

I also decided I couldn't bear to do 4 years of applique onto plain white cotton muslin. The original quilt was apparently a gift quilt with blocks contributed by many friends of the [?] bride and groom, Noah and Matilda. So I thought maybe in my world the ladies had to use whatever cream or white fabrics they had; I plan to use  variety of neutrals then tie them together visually with setting blocks of just one fabric. (I hope I don't regret this plan,lol.)

Wouldn't it be wonderful if years from now I showed you all the final top! And we could see that by doing/ learning/ trying---with practice!--- my stitches got tinier, my leaf curves got smooth and rounded, my points became pointy with no frays? Maybe. Someday?

love

lizzy

gone to the beach

photos of original Noah and Matilda Wedding quilt used with permission of Dawn, from Collector with a Needle.