Out and About ~ Costco, Flea Market and other Fun Stops.

Hello! Things look good on the computer and Blogger fronts now! I'll update at the end of this post. This summer my friend Elle [L] and I have been making a point of getting out for some fun shopping [okay, "just looking" every week. It isn't all that hot here but a ride in L's air-conditioned SUV is a bit of a treat for me.

I love the new little church flea on alternate Fridays, often I go alone before doing my weekend grocery  shopping. I have to look hard to find good stuff sometimes---and then there is the one that got away. Big 30% off furniture last week; as I dragged L back to the tables area for her opinion of the beautiful but repro farm table I've been eyeing all spring---painted chubby turned legs, scrubbed pine top, drawer,---two guys with a big moving truck carted it away right before our eyes!

Other fun finds. L collects Wedgwood. Only the matte blue iconic Etruscanware also called Jasperware. here  Remember how she wouldn't buy the rare antique yellow teapot, $3.oo!? Very focused collector. A few weeks ago I found these pieces, plus a teeny tiny blue  with white cherubs teapot, less than 2" high.

I bought the square dish and the teapot for L for a gift to thank her for helping me get Mo to the vet for his annual check up--and well, just because she's a wonderful friend.

I was very amazed to get the pieces home and, with a strong magnifier, see that they are really Wedgwood/ England! NOT  cheap repro. Modern, souvenir pieces, but still. 5 bucks and  fifty cents!
This past week we found these two heart dishes. L passed on them, I never did find out why. Maybe because they're probably parts of card sets?

  I collect these papier mache eggs and always grab them anytime of year! This one was only a dollar, marked Western Germany, so maybe 1950s? Before the country was called simply West Germany anyway. Good size, 4"
Good color, chocolate.

I was a little annoyed that the church ladies put on an adhesive price tag and damaged the image on that side. Really too bad. It's 50-70 years old!

More finds we left behind.
Sweetest bisque cherubs, perfect condition. Love. I'd use them for a white Christmas display with variegated holly and snow dusted pine, white ribbons....

Cow creamer with roses, so sweet. English, 1800s.

Deco? cobalt cocktail glasses ~ [friends said No!].

I do like these weird old flower frogs. Too $$ as a set.

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Another day we popped into the new Costco in the marsh behind the little village where the church sale is. The tubs of Spanish bumblebee lavender were gorgeous. 14.99. Costco is NO bargain.

And the field roses were 13.99 a bunch.

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Here we are setting off for our twice a year trip to The Christmas Tree Shop /CTS.

CTS has nothing to do with Christmas or trees, though I think it began years ago in Cape Cod selling seashell Christmas ornaments.

It is a long drive, made longer by L's desire to go the way her GPS said, instead of by my back route through the sandbar beaches and the marshes.  In Cape Cod there's a CTS or two or three in every town; I wish there was one closer to us. They sell fun seasonal items, always useful and must have-y, at awesome prices.

What I found:

Drinks stuff,

And a useful serving tray $1.25.

Long candle matches and a cool monkey puzzle/ monkey fist nautical rope doorstop.

It must weigh 10 pounds! It was the most expensive item at 7.99 but I did wish I'd bought two or even three because the doors in my cottage blow shut with loud bangs all the time.

Pretty smallish box for quilt blocks:

Outdoor plant pot lights, 3 for $5.oo.

Tie backs and nice shabby chic curtain rods, no curtain rings though.

New, useful size Nantucket repro basket.

Boxes of cards for thank you notes which yes I do write!, and for friends and rels who live in the stone age and do not email or text.

Even a box of coastal Christ,mas cards! Yay.

I always look for totes there. This is a great find, sturdy and well made--a new beach bag!

I love that it is nautical but with tangerine orange stripes and navy trim, it's perkier than classic r/w/blue. And an embroidered pineapple, so cute.

I did not get a stroller or bed steps for Mo, or deck gates; no curtain rings.  No outdoor deck rug so Mo's little feet don't burn. [Waverly, 59.99!@@]. Deck umbrellas were also too expensive, have to manage with just the one for awhile longer. Everything here cost under 70.oo.

This week? Maybe Joann's for quilt backings; Old Navy for on-sale "perfect" tees and tanks. Trader Joe's for reasonably priced flowers. Sound fun!

PS My BBQ contribution salads were delish! This one is from the summer issue of Bon Appetit magazine:

love

lizzy

gone to the beach.....

Blogger issues: With the help of blog friend Nancy I have fixed notifications for your comments. Now I again get an email and will do my best to answer comments. However I may continue to also answer on the blog because I think it adds to the post. And if you are a no-reply blogger , unless I know you and have your email, your reply will be in the blog comments on my blog. Unless you supply me with your email, which you are welcome to send to me at   lizzzz.d@gmail.com  or robin750@msn.com or leave it in your comments. I am pretty good about saving email addresses. Thanks!

One of Those Weeks

Happy Friday! Just a little post today, since I have had endless computer/ internet/ and photoshop probs all week! Couldn't edit photos, couldn't answer emails, on and on--and then my mouse died. Computer mouse that is. Left click was entirely gone...Son fixed it so left click functions went to the right click button, but then I had no copy/ paste/ spellcheck or editing. Fixed that now, so by Monday things should be back on track with a real post.

It wasn't all bad: Mo's beloved groomer has apparently gone off to the Hamptons here for the summer. The new guy was good, but cost a whopping $75.oo. Remember Mo gets no clipping or trim at all, so that was, to me, sky high. My haircuts costs less. And I certainly don't get my hair cut every 4 weeks.

But Mo looked lovely. He was a bit puzzled by the lack of a greasy forbidden jerky treat, our regular groomer's reward for good bath times.

And my friends and I had some fun doings to share on Monday, I hope.

Other thoughts--if you joined the police force ,would you be upset if this was your squad car?  It isn't very manly, is it? I'm sorry but we did laugh at the poor guy. Maybe it is good for patrolling the big boardwalk? (The town's other police cars are --or were!--Dodge Chargers [big sedan] or big beach-capable SUVs, like Chevy Tahoes or Yukons.

Tomorrow's pot luck brings for a BBQ dinner:
*hot bacon / vinegar slaw.

*Tomato salad with balsamic dressing and zucchini curls, corn, tiny new potatoes and fresh basil. Feta on the side for dairy free.

*Dessert is fresh strawberries and coconut milk ice cream, dairy and gluten free.

*I plan to bring my own wine, I can't drink the red everyone is liking this summer. Whispering Angel rose` for me. Have a great weekend!

love

lizzy

gone to the beach...

Bitty Goes to the Beach

Hi! Summer is on a roll now, endless hot sunny days from now until November.

Our heat wave has broken though, Friday it rained!

Rain, just showers, but a front of drier air has prevailed. I suppose there's not a big difference between 85* and 79* degrees---it's the humidity that makes things unpleasant. But one day was so hot I had to keep Mo in and run the AC! In the day time!

This week I was very glad I had Bitty [a crib quilt by Minick and Simpson] all set to be handquilted.

I was too busy and too hot and miserable to enjoy prepping applique blocks, plus the wind at the beach recently has been making fine applique sewing difficult. 

Bitty is a bit large for the beach but okay. [The blue stripes are a beach towel, not part of Bitty.]

I plan to do outline quilting for texture.

I tried blue silk thread for the stitching on the flowers. I found I don't like using silk for quilting thread at all. It is too thin; knots and breaks. Back to regular cotton.

I really need bright sun to do decent quilting, so sitting under the umbrella made my quilting look a bit basting-ish here and there! I decided I would go on and do all the quilting, not be fussy and pick out bad stitches. When the entire top is quilted, maybe twenty years from now I'll reassess and redo.

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I often mention how no one ever wants my quilts---or to be fair to myself, ANY quilts! (''ugh, nasty, so grandma, so tacky, not minimal"). I try to be resigned to that, and just work on things for my own pleasure. But now and then I forget my resolutions. Anyway inside that tent

is a darling baby who I gifted one of my tropical beachy baby quilts. The mom  accepted and she uses it as a beach mat or diaper change mat with the wrong side only being shown, a large flipflop pattern print from Company Store. My carefully planned, lovingly sewed design is turned to the floor always.  The main thing is she uses it. Hmmm.

                             


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After the Fourth I undid the red-white-and blue decor of my house. It felt too hopeful, so "all dressed up with no place to go". We did have a delightful fun holiday, but by Fireworks night everyone was exhausted. Kids and babies and  friends all fell asleep long before the fireworks began at 9.45. So my excitement to have a fireworks evening on my deck was a fizzle. Mo and I watched the firewoorks, just us two---sweat pouring down my face.

I'm glad I did not, in the end, make the strawberry/ blueberry shortcake I had wanted. Earlier my German  potato salad was a hit though, it was entirely eaten, the bottom of the bowl scraped. Bacon, it was the bacon, right?
So my cottage has reverted to its blue and white self.

I love summer daisies, don't you.

And here is the beach.

I did not get photos but was so thrilled to see the  Oystercatcher parents, the couple I mentioned last week, together, carefully shepherding their three little chicks down to the tide pool to learn to eat! Despite all the activity on the beach, there they were, little puffs of grey golfball sized fluff on long stilty legs.

And Gully was there!

And one day we made sandcastles. I haven't had anyone to make sandcastles with for quite a few years. This is a friend's almost-four years old darling little girl.

Have a good week!

love

lizzy

gone to the beach....

PS I don't know why the crib quilt is called Bitty.