Summer is Back!

Hi! Time for our walk on the beach. It's warm and sunny, 65*, no wind. Let's get out and enjoy the day. C'mon...

Look at all the footprints, heading to the beach. I'm not the only one who thinks this is a beach day.

Despite the balmy air, the sun is low in the sky. The dunes weeds create an autumn tapestry.

The roses will bloom through December, scenting the air with a hint of remembered summer days.

But sunset comes shockingly early.

Beautiful as it is.

love

lizzy

gone to the beach...

Grey Rain, High Winds---November/ Quilting

Hi guys! We're supposed to get a storm wind, but so far it's just a grey and drizzly week. Perfect days for my little craft space, and I can just leave the mess when I have to go out.

Right now I'm wearing wet jeans---Mo and I mistimed our walk. At least it's not cold, instead a soggy and very humid 60*. That doesn't sound too appealing, does it! But I do love November---summer's craziness and heat has finally gone, the days are short and quiet. Autumn is finally here.

Mo has made a nest

This is a useful little trick I recalled from my days in the garment industry. The samplemakers' tables had yardsticks on the fronts. I just glued an inexpensive wooden one here. 

I've been spending quite a bit of time in my craft room. Stand by for some patting-on-the-back, lol. First I want to show you this interesting new project. It comes from Audrey at Quilty Folks. Check out her link here : Quilty 365 because I know she explains it better. It is a one year quilt diary, 365 squares, each day with an appliqued simple circle that embodies one's feelings or experiences about the day. [and maybe I'll even finally figure out how to add the quiltalong badge to my sidebar....]

I hesitated because I have never managed more than a few days with a written diary. I keep nature diaries and beach sketchbooks, but the only journals I ever succeeded with were the shared journals my mother and I wrote and swapped for years. [I don't read them now, they make me so sad, but they're boxed and cherished for someday.] I miss that ongoing mindfulness of each day's passing, so I was intrigued by Audrey's project. 

It's meant to be personal, not showy or competitive.  Though hopefully the result will be graphic enough to create an interesting textile.

But then I look at the few dots so far---too literal? Instead of a dog image on a dog park day maybe a bright yellow patch would be better, because the day with Mo made me happy? Is ''happy'' yellow even?--- maybe it is blue?

I made my block a smidge smaller, 4", and used a jam jar lid for my circles. No excuses that I lost the template; I can always buy another jar of marmalade. I also plan to make brief notes in a little book for each day, to remind me why I chose what I did.

I hope I continue. 

I know I am too tired at day's end to do decent applique. The blocks will accumulate. As I told Audrey, I  am picturing myself next summer on the beach with 300 little dots to hand sew.  Huh.

I also prepped and put aside a Cherie Payne Halloween mini quilt. here  I just could not finish it. It will maybe be my New Years project. I like to have a special little project planned for when my family all leave for skiing the day after Christmas through New Years. Temecula Quilt Company is also doing a mini holiday quiltalong that is a candidate for that project. ''We Wish You a Mini Christmas''

Poorly cut strips hang on my scissors caddy, here. I'm trying to learn to use a rotary cutter; results are NOT pretty.

And I caught up on the fall portions of the Spring Break [aka Summertime] quilt by Jan Patek from Prim Quilts and Projects magazine.

This is a BIG quilt, or will be. It gets another approx. 18" all around. This is my queen sized bed.

I think on the last border, the block border, that I sort of lost touch with my color scheme. [blueberry /lemon/ raspberry].It's muddy? I'll decide about redoing it when the entire quilt is pieced.

.

I'm having issues with the complex Nine Patch cornerstones, next on my to do list. I had planned to make them the same as the ones below, here, but they attach to a pink sawtooth border. The pink in the four-patch will visually make an odd oblong. Should I sub lemon yellow? Or the stripe in the ugly block border? Obviously I will have to cut some audition versions.

Here's a pic of the magazine page: {I changed the colors.]

Primitive Quilts and Projects, quilt by Jan Patek

I'm still enjoying my wool work too, on days when it's warm enough to sew outside. Though this ever shrinking felted sweater has me baffled. Toss or save?

I also made a wool strawberry with folky applique. Do we like it?

I'd been planning it for months.

Here is my emery sand, being sifted after a few days drying in the sun. It just exactly filled my old quart Mason jar.

On deck: velvet or toile pinkeeps. And if the rain stays,  another block of Pokeberry.

Busy days are fulfilling. Too bad I forgot to buy tomato paste for tonight's spaghetti and meatballs dinner. Or the cans are rolling around in my car somewhere under my beach chair. That's okay, it's Project Runway night anyway---we'll have soup and salad. 

How about you? Fave rainy day dinner? [My friend of the yoyo's , Sue, was making split pea soup!] And how about November--love it, hate, just another month to get through, or what? Tell me.

Mo says hi! "Let's play!"

love

lizzy

gone to the beach .....

here's Audrey's link again for the Dotty project

Quilty 365 Quilty Folk blog

The Adventures of Mo

Hi! In the past few weeks, as summer finally fades away and life gets quieter here at the beach, Mo has seemed a bit lonely, in need of canine companionship. Quilting is boooring, mommy, he whines.

Today it was cool enough to take him to the dog park. Finally. He saw me get his water bottle and my car key and he scampered fast as he can to my car.
Sniff sniff, he checked a couple of other white SUVs parked nearby but, darn!---he sat right down by my Jeep and waited to be buckled into his car seat. How does he know? Scent, maybe?
He always thinks the dog park will be more fun than it is.
There were no little doggies in the small run so I had to let him into the big dog run. At first he was fine but the big dogs---just playing!---chased him, and he got scared. His tail uncurled and he was bug eyed.
We'll keep trying. It's so funny to see Mo with ''regular'' dogs, like today's Labs and collies--he looks like another species entirely.

The dog run is pretty nice, set in the dunes, the ocean is just behind the sea grasses here.   Well, sort of---the actual water is about a half mile away, just like at my house.

I always say that ''peak color'' for Fall occurs here between Veterans Day and Thanksgiving. The leaves are beginning to turn now.

Look at this blue sky!

More blue, a confused late blooming hydrangea.

And the morning glories are ---well, in their glory. The leaves may shrivel but the vines bloom profusely until December at least. They love the cooler days.

Mo finds the falling leaves a bit puzzling. Maybe they smell of birds or squirrels.

Our wild kitties are more visible, now that it's quieter.

Stripey, who must be at least 10 years old now.
We also saw Smokey,
who is the grown up child of Stripey and Kitty---
but the other cats were mean
and chased him away!

Baby Spook. She's new.
She lives near the koi pond.

And look who is back!

Mr Mockingbird, again rules from the tip top of the ugly locust tree or the neighbors' pine. I believe they nest in the bayberry trees in the dunes in the summer, but he returns each Fall and winter. He too has been coming around for many years. I put out dried cranberries on my deck and he even visited one afternoon, as I sewed on my It's a Crock. I was thrilled, he was only a few feet away, oblivious to me and Mo.

Back home Mo had to take a nap. Immediately,lol.

And I made an apple/ carrot/ walnuts salad. I used light mayo and a fuji apple vinaigrette from Panera. 

We can add turkey or chicken if anyone wants to make this a meal. I love it for snacks too.

Hope your week is good. Remember to slow down sometimes and enjoy the little things passing by.

love

lizzy

gone to the beach

PS The flea was busy and it was a beautiful day, but not a treasure to be had. Next time? Hope springs eternal...