October Blue

Hi guys! And if you're visiting from Lori's blog Humble Quilts, Welcome to the Beach.

I love Fall, I do. I just don't love it in August when "everyone" gets all excited about autumn and back-to-school. The ocean keeps things pretty warm here through November, but this year we seem to be gearing up for a crisp, clear, authentic New England Fall. Huh. Who knew?



market stands say "autumn"

I'll start my Fall decorating this week, to be all autumnal by Columbus Day. (Maybe. Is two months of orange/ brown/ black just too, too much?  Lately I'm so inspired by Autumns blues. Just look at that sky, top photo!).
So far my only gesture has been to switch my weekly flowers to autumn inspired jugs.

This is a very pretty spongeware primitive jug. The yellow glaze always makes me think of corn and squash and harvest time. Without being, well, orange.

And these hydrangeas! Is this not the best, most beautiful blue shade?

I'd love my little cottage to have shutters this color. With a bittersweet red door! Maybe someday, somewhere.

 

Taken with a different camera---another wonderful blue appears.

 

Then I dug out this big half-gallon cobalt blue milk jug.

It is also spongeware or spatterware in a dark blue Bennington-type glaze.

It's old but unmarked, just a nice prim farm pitcher.

These are a change from my favorite blue and white Staffordshire pitcher I usually use. It has been retired until baby Mo the pug is not so destructive, as it is rather valuable and I've had it for many, many years.

I harvested my deck sunflowers. I'm drying them to fill a wooden bowl, then I'll hang them out for the birds, if any, this winter. When dried, they fade to a lovely textural taupe and white.

Our growing season here is delayed by the ocean's proximity. Morning glories don't bloom til October.

cobalt, or almost-purple blue

sky blue

Oh but then! Short-lived but ''glory'' suits this wild weedy climber. Another beautiful sky blue shade, these are "Flying Saucer", I think.

Mo and I do love our walks, and seeing the fence flowers bloom. Pugs do not flourish in hot weather, so I had to be careful with baby Mo all summer.
The wild berries and sunflower seed heads will attract migrating birds soon.

 

 

Cooler days are making our walks much longer now. We're up to a mile or more at lunchtime. Yay! This is a mossy boulder we see in a neighbor's yard. Doesn't it look like fairies and elves should peep out from the tiny ferns?

See you soon! Remember to leave a note on the Comments thing if you're just dropping by? And I hope you'll come back again.

love

lizzy

gone to the beach.............

 

my front yard, of sorts
palest grey blue sky

 

ships on the horizon at sunset

"Lying off the roads"

awaiting morning's tide to unload

October Beach

reflections

''October had tremendous possibility.
The summer's oppressive heat was a distant memory,
and the golden leaves promised a world full of beautiful adventures.''   ― Sarah Guillory

 

 

October---My beach becomes, once again, stunningly beautiful in October. The bird fences are down, the people are gone. The lush dunes and white sand soar into infinity.

 

 

Hi, guys! Come for a walk with me! The sun is warm but the air is dry with a hint of crispness. You can wear your shorts, bring a hat---no sweater needed, not yet anyway. It's such a beautiful day. We'll hike on past the dunes, down to water's edge.

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 A hidden, secret pathway up into the dunes. To be explored another day....

 

 

Tonight there's a chill in the air. Not a damp cold summer sea wind, but a dry stillness. A half-moon is hiding behind cold wispy clouds in a dark velvet sky.  

Mo is practicing his hiberation tactics.

Welcome, October!

 

 

 

 

love

 

lizzy

 

gone to the beach.... 

hello little Gully!
Next time I'll bring food!

 

Flag Quilt: "I dun my Best!"

"I dun my best!"---supposedly the motto from an 18th century schoolgirl's [less than perfect] sampler.

Hi! Maybe the quote is just a folk myth (I don't think the phrase 'urban legend' can apply?), but I know how the little girl felt. I'm just happy I got all four of the pine tree blocks finished. They were our September assignment.

This guy went well! Flag of George Washington's first naval vessel.

I didn't want the embroidered saying Stairway (Appeal) to Heaven [how Led Zeppelin] on my quilt. The story in the book says this was also shown with grass instead of words, so I subbed the sawtooth strip.
But then. My hand injury/ arthritis thing started. Oh wow. Painful, not just to sew but to use scissors. I pushed on though, no pain-no gain.

This is a version of the Bunker Hill flag / jack :

Pine Tree flag:

Representative of all New England states, a symbol of strength.
I was so happy to find this dark green star fabric in my stash. It is a vintage Jan Patek print maybe 15 years old? I saved the selvedge with her name on it, to sew somewhere on my quilt acknowledging the designer.

Another Bunker Hill flag:

It was the last I worked on and the little tree is so crooked.

I expect I'll redo it, and so I machine stitched the tan square. I sewed this block on Sunday at the beach, a beautiful day but a gale blowing hard. Windy days knot the thread and toss tiny bits about. My hand hurt so bad! Like our anonymous school girl, I done my best.

Today I laid the blocks out with the central eagle. When I showed our project to a friend who is not a quilter but is a quilt collector, she had said the design is rather ''potchka'' which in Yiddish means a bit busy---scattered or messy or without plan. (I explained that that was the charm of primitive quilts.)Yet now as I am cutting the blocks I see an underlying pattern of rectangles and squares. Perhaps I will set my blocks in a more orderly way? It's an option.

Because heaven forbid my quilt is potchka. LOL.

Come see everyone's blocks on Lori's Linky on her blog! Humble Quilts

by Jan Patek

love

lizzy

gone to the beach....