What's Done is Done! 2016 Quilt Finishes Part 1

Happy New Year! What would a New Year be without a look back at what we did over the previous year.....

Mo with his handmade jellyfish from Mel!

First up, Our Porch 2/ Summer Porch/ P 2 project has finished. My top is completed on schedule. That makes me happy.

As I hung the P2 top to take its picture, I marveled at the result, the real-ness of this project that less than a year ago was a pretty and hopeful photo on a pattern envelope.

I would never choose to make this quilt on my own, but I enjoyed every moment.  The design and Lori's quiltalong were inspiring. I loved the happy fabrics, and the freedom to mix and match prints by emotion and style, not genre. (So you'll see a mix of modern Lecien and Riley Blake florals, CW and 30s repros, even a few batiks.) I loved having the handwork for me and Mo to sew each afternoon this painful summer. I was so happy I gave myself permission to machine applique the hated leaves.  I especially enjoyed the baskets, and the Whalies, which don't  really seem to ''go'' but add a certain whimsy. Oh and the Watermelon! So fun.

But my favorite part  was designing my own blocks. I love the Kitty and Books, and the Kite [bows to be added after quilting; they will be 3-dimensional].

And I especially loved finding simple Pinwheel blocks and others for the filler spaces.

Originally I bought this pattern with it in mind for me to make, with a friend, as a hope chest baby quilt using the upper right quarter as inspiration. It was too folky for her but I may make this section again someday.

I didn't want my quilt to have the usual wide [expensive] Jan Patek borders, so I did narrow borders in the double pink of the geranium posts.  I dislike rectangular quilts, and was hoping this would square things up a bit. Hmmm. Okay.

Now we come to the teeny tiny clinker. The design looks unfinished!~ It needs---yes! The Big Sawtooth border from Summertime. Just on the two sides.

I love this! I can either steal Summertime's borders [and sub squares like its other border] or  make new ones. As I recall they went together fast, so...?

I also recently came across this wonderful nautical children's toile and coordinates. Perfect!

P2 is perhaps the only quilt I've ever made that one of my children sort of liked. We agreed it looked like Summer, and have renamed it "July" .

''July is dressed up and playing her tune...summer breeze makes me feel fine...."

I'll end here and show you the first sunset of 2017, below. And so apropos, a crescent moon.
More 2016 finishes on Wednesday.
You can see other versions of The Summer Porch quilt on Humble Quilts

love

lizzy

gone to the beach.......

Happy New Year!

Good evening! As I type this post, the year 2016 is drawing to a close---and snow flakes are gently falling from the black wintry sky. I do love snow if I don't have to drive in it or shovel it. 2016 had its low points, and days and weeks of pain, but it was not all bad. To me any year where I am with my friends and family and Mo, where I can sew and watch my ocean, is a gift to be treasured.

So let's enjoy each day! And welcome the New Year!

Happy 2017!

love

lizzy 

gone to the beach......

''For each new morning with its light,

For rest and shelter of the night,

For health and food, and love, and friends..."

 Be thankful, find joy.

                                         Ralph Waldo Emerson

and a hint of the promise: Spring will come...

After Christmas

Hello! I hope everyone has been having a wonderful holiday. For me Christmas is so fun, so exciting, such a joy to gather friends and family [as best I can] around my table to celebrate the season. So much anticipation---for months!

So much planning and effort, yes, enjoyable, but...then....boom. It's over.
There was a cute Snoopy cartoon online, "Christmas is over, I'm ready for summer." It's a letdown!



When I was a little girl the festivities lasted the entire week or more, all through until January 5th, tree taking down day. We got off school the week before Christmas, so the holiday seemed to last forever. My parents often hosted a big grown-ups-only party during this week. I loved seeing my mom in her chiffon cocktail dresses and very high heels. One year her dress was apricot!, instead of black. I loved that dress. My parents would almost entirely redecorate the house for New Years. The tree would stay but the holy-pine-Santa stuff would be gone, everything would be silver and gold, with ornaments hung from the ceiling lights, trays of glittery glasses and intriguing bottles of obscure liqueurs to sneak a taste in thimble sized crystal goblets. Champagne at midnight in vintage ''flutes'' with hollow stems that showed off the champagne bubbles.

Some years my dad would make masks for everyone, silver and gold with feathers; another year crowns for all the partiers, again silver and gold with glitter. Oh and those funny loud paper horns, and sparklers!

Some years they were into cocktails...there was a glass and chrome shaker and more specialized glasses. Martinis/ Manhattans---eeew when you're six or even ten. But also Grasshoppers and White Russians, Bellinis and mimosas.  My dad often cooked--filet mignon and duchesse potatoes* at midnight on New Years; party foods like Kentucky ham and pheasant and roast pork loin would appear on the buffet.

New Years Eve dessert was a ball of peppermint ice cream, frozen extra hard in a round mold, then rolled in coconut to form a ''Snowball''. These would be set into a stemmed crystal cup on a bed of chocolate sauce or creme de menthe. A single birthday candle would be stuck in each and lit: ''Happy Birthday! Happy New Year,'' we'd scream.

The  point is: my expectations are high. Here's my menus.

Christmas Eve

savory antipasto, with cheeses and three kinds of salami, olives, hummus. 

Champagne brought always by a good friend.

Main course

lasagna

spinach stuffed mushrooms.

Peppermint ice cream

Cookie and sweets [marzipan etc] tray for dessert

Christmas Day

"sweet" antipasto: apples/ orange/ lemon slices; sweet cheeses, 

cocktail cookies from Trader Joe's.

Horseradish crusted Prime Rib with gravy

creamy horseradish sauce/ onion-garlic chutney

Wild rice pilaf

asparagus with Bearnaise sauce and fresh herbs

creamed onions

 assorted red wines

Dessert~ Cranberry lemon bars.

I was so busy cooking and serving I did not get good pictures, too bad. But all was tasty and enjoyable. The new butcher provided us with a delicious roast, the main event!

I was exhausted, but not in too much pain, so I consider the dinners --and gifts, well-liked!--a success.
Today I rearranged some things in the house. Mo and I were able to sit on the deck and sew---60*.

New Years will be quiet, as my family is elsewhere now. Mo and I will enjoy a quiet midnight, watching for fireworks on the ships far out at sea.

What do you do for New Year's Eve/ Day?

love

lizzy

gone to the beach...

.................................................

Duchesse Potatoes

Use a muffin tin or 3 1/2" tart pans

use both parts of a  store bought pie crust to make tiny tart/pie shells. 

Bake 350* for 12 minutes. 

Filling: mashed potatoes, sour cream, grated white cheddar, minced onions, butter, to taste. 

Bacon bits optional. 

Whip the filling with a fork til fluffy, then fill the tiny tart crusts. 

Mound the filling up pretty.

Dab of butter in each center, plus a fine sprinkle of paprika. 

Bake about 25 minutes until the potato tops are browning lightly.

Remove carefully, I use a fork.

Serve with bacon-wrapped filet mignon grilled in the open fireplace. 

Hollandaise sauce

And Champagne.

Yum!