Festivities Begin!

Happy Holidays! This was such a fun and festive weekend, kicking off the season of  comfort, joy and peace.

Look at the weather! I dreamed  it was so warm we had refilled the pool for Christmas! We were all swimming and wearing New Years party hats! We were singing that old ABBA song, "Fernando''! Hahaha.
 
                                                             

It's hard to think about putting up the Christmas lights when the deck geraniums look like this, and the evening air smells of yummy last hurrah BBQs.

But I try.
 Friday  my friend L and I did our big gift shopping and got [almost!] everything done. Now we can enjoy wrapping these gifts and shopping for our holiday meals. Saturday began with a warm-day beach walk, then we went to the village's little Holly Berry Fair. Always fun, lots of beachy  stocking stuffers and gorgeous poinsettias.

It's hokey and funny and small town-y---Santa comes and the village tree is lighted at dusk.

Then  my kids and I dug out our boxes of decorations, and planned our Tree Day, which, because we get a real tree, will not happen til next week.
And then Sunday---again warm and beautiful, like mid-October but not windy---I scurried off early to the flea. It was a wonderful bustling, busy market; some booths were so crowded I couldn't worm my way in.

Boy, there's a lot of old plastic super heroes in this world. Also Hess trucks ''In The Box!'' and obsolete CDs.

No thimbles, no old pink ornies.

Did not buy [so stupid] atomic era pastel Christmas napkins [so cute! ''Sputnik'' pattern], a beautiful old Nantucket basket that needed a small repair and a replacement [faux]  ivory whale carving for its lid--I could see the whale shape in the glue residue, and a lovely red and green and yellow fair isle sweater---perfect to felt for a Christmas throw pillow. Sometimes I just get overwhelmed and I don't get everything I love, not sure why....too bad.
More treasures.

In the end, I almost always buy from the same three or four dealers, especially the one guy who is the transferware man, also linen fabrics, silver handles , thimbles, prims. I find great things when he is at the flea. His prices are always amazingly low. These were all from him. Everything here cost total 20.oo.

Prim cake mold and cooky cutter. The mold is prized for its small size and fine tin patina.

It can perhaps be repurposed as an Advent candle, shown here with an old bayberry taper and pine, though I'll probably switch it out to a red candle and tiny mercury ornies instead.

A fine simple heart cooky cutter.

As if I don't have this big jar entirely filled with heart cutters! I always say I'm going to sell my antique cooky cutters but instead I seem to always buy more. [the jar is a handblown with molded top knob Sandwich Glass pharmacy or mercantile display jar, c. 1820. Massachusetts.]

A glass fishing float. It's small, less than 3" diameter, nice color, tiny bubbles---

And funny ''bellybutton'' inside. A blob of the molten glass. These are fairly modern but handblown. 20th century.

Sweet Chinese Babies silk pincushion. Large, and the babies have adorable faces, teeny tiny braids.

Yes I know you can buy these new on eBay or in any Chinatown, brand new, but I like them when they're older and the silk is faded, the colors so charming and soft.

This is a graniteware candlestick, like Wee Willie Winkie, in the nursery rhyme. I guess these were used for bedtime lighting. My dad said they were used to light to the way out to the privy , aka outhouse!

Anyway that was many years ago! I washed it very well, I promise. It will be the base of a make-do pincushion.

I put this calico ball on it just to show you but I like it, the grey polka dots echo the grey enamelware. The tray below will then handily hold your thread, thimble, and scissors. How perfect is that.

Last I fell in love with this tiny autograph book. It is the size of the screen on my [small] iPhone 5. Tiny. 2" x 3.25". And..violets, see the violets?

Note the dates and beautiful writing. I haven't deciphered the words or the owner's name yet, or looked up the towns which seem to be in New Hampshire.

Be good and do good. 1879

Wasn't that FUN! I have more to show you, beach days and shopping, busy-ness abounds! And I want to hear all about your Christmas shopping and decorating too: tree--faux or real? [big or small?]; shop ahead, shop at 6 pm on Xmas Eve, or internet only, please. Which are you?

love

lizzy

gone to the beach

pink Mo in the sunset

Velvet Fruit

Hello out there! Since everyone was sweet and complimentary about my velvet fruit emeries and pinkeeps, I thought I'd show them off today in a bit more detail.

This was the first time I concentrated on making fruits like Victorian velvet theorem fruit. Here is my Pinterest board for you to see some authentically old fruit. here

Sometimes the Victorian fruits were intended to be pincushions, but often  a gathering of the fruits would be displayed in a bowl or basket. [you know how the Victorians loved dustcatcher-y things!]. Mine are meant to be functional, though the silver handled pieces maybe will be just for display?

This was my first pear. Isn't this velvet yummy. I wish you could fee it, it is silk nap on a cotton ground, and it's the most delicately soft velvet you can imagine. Like Mo's ears...so soft.

I cut my patterns by eye out of any old scrap of paper. The toile pear, below, was the second in the batch [sold]. The toile is a gorgeous vintage linen fabric. I weight the bottoms of the pears so they stand up nicely.

Then lots of berries, we all love strawberries, don't we. This is a prim wool applique berry.

Some strawberries are simple and inexpensive. These work well tied to your scissors handle.

And some are more elaborate. One of my favorite flea market quests is the hunt for good silver, or other material, handles for my make dos.
A silver baby spoon:

A silver plate vanity brush handle:

And candlesticks for pincushion bases.

Most of the fruits will be in my etsy shop, and maybe on eBay, for holiday gifting.

love

lizzy

gone to the beach.....

Quilty 365 ~ November Dots

Hi! Yes, it's December, time to show off projects worked on during November.  These are my November Dots for Audrey / Quilty Folks' ongoing sewalong. here
Each day, every single day!, we do one appliqued circle or dot , as a diary of that day. We will do an entire year. Perhaps our dots should express our feelings but I see mine mostly are about the weather. Hmmm.

I began November 5 and the last dot in the photos is December 1.

I like how this is a personal journal, not a get it done/ we're in a hurry/ I'm faster than everyone! lol , competition. Audrey reiterates her wish that each person following along will do the project that speaks to their own creativity, their own heart and journey.

That said, it's kind of killing me that I did not begin at least on November 1st. My fingers itch to add those four dots, I'm sure I could reconstruct the days from my calendar and blog. But so far I've resisted.

 I am mostly using neutral script and text prints for the background, referencing the idea of a diary. I cut a stack of maybe 50 squares, because as the new year begins my ideas may evolve or change. I have a little notebook where I write a few lines about the day's choice [ no What was I thinking!? a year from now, right?]

And I'm enjoying choosing each day's circle, even if I don't get it sewed down til later in the week. Since I set aside Pokeberry and Summertime until Christmas sewing is done, the dots have become my handwork for the days Mo and I can sit out on the deck and enjoy the warm late autumn days.

I have my little Nantucket basket all ready to go.

Maybe not today though. Warm and still but very dense fog. This was before Mo's noon walk;

and this is the beach view at 3.45, just before his dinner walk. If it  gets much darker, he'll be having his dinner at noon, poor little mite. Today's dot will be dense-fog-grey.

I can't show you my Christmas sewing. But I've also finished a few velvet fruit pinkeeps for my etsy shop. Just a peek....

And the house is getting Christmassy.

love

lizzy

gone to the beach....

PS be sure to check out Audrey's blog for more details on the Quilty 360 project. The current post has a linky at the end, so we can see what everyone else is up to. Fun! Visit!

HERE : Quilty Folk ~ Quilty 365