I wiped away the weeds & foam. / I fetched my sea-born treasures home... Ralph Waldo Emerson







Friday, January 5, 2018

L@@K, L@@K! ~ 2017 Quilts




''Hey guys, you gotta see THIS. In the past year I made 4000 quilts! Of which 5000 went to deserving veterans, and three thousand to homeless and sick Make a Wish kiddies; 300 were for my great grandkids, twenty went to my kids' homeroom teacher, and one for the little  troll who lives under the bridge! 
''I made all these quilts with mom's scraps circa 1960 [love that doubleknit polyester, don't you? It's gonna survive the Apocalypse, I guarantee.] and grandad's neckties, wide, silk, and ketchup stained. I am so effin' proud of me!''

LOL LOL. It's a custom on quilting [-ish] blogs to  recount all the quilts that the blogger made this past year. I do enjoy their posts, especially those whose work has focused on design and growth and personal best, as opposed to massive quantities, fast as they can. I can't give away one quilt, what the heck would I do if I made 100 quilts a year? Who would pay for these, at about 150.oo a pop to batt and quilt alone? Where would they live? Where would I live, as my walls would be busting.

That said here's my list of 2017 finishes. [Um, no, really, I didn't make 4000. That was hyperbole, me exaggerating, just kidding!].


Big quilts ~ (Dotty, Wild Geese, and Sand Pails will get their own post[s] when the snow clears and I can access the grey fence where I hang them.]

"Summertime" from Spring Break pattern by Jan Patek



''Summer Porch'', or "Fourth of July" - pattern with my variations, by Jan Patek


 ''Dotty- Quilty 365'' sewalong with Audrey E of Quilty 365 blog


''When the Wild Geese Fly" ~  I love this quilt so much I hated to finish it and fold it away. I loved everything about making it, no pressure, no rules, casually sewing now and then when I had time, looking for plaid shirts at the thrift. Love, love. pattern by Jan Patek, recolored and some changes by me.


Remade antique ''Russian Sunflower'' top, quilted.


Small quilts~

Crib quilt : Sand Pails and Starfish", my design with vintage star  blocks:


"Muddy Waters" Parmateer Point Sewalong, Lori/ Humble Quilts [every Fall]:


Swap extras: ''Wild Goose Chase''


" Wild Geese" Swap quilt, Lori/ Humble Quilts blog [every spring]. My pattern.





Tiny Temecula Kit Quilts ~




Mittens: ["Sometimes I knit." ]


Violettas cowl:



Unfinished..but I put in a lot of hours!
''Bitty'', top. Pattern by Minick and Simpson




Westering Women - sewalong from Barbara Brackman



Fall Festival Pattern, with changes, by Jan Patek
Gotta change that date!


Let's hope these appear next January as Finishes.

My favorite part of quilting is the endless perfect hours Mo and I spend, sewing and, well, snoring on my deck overlooking my beach and ocean. Mo keeps me going, he demands his sewing hour daily.












 Thanks for looking back with me.













love

lizzy

gone to the beach.....

PS on a Cyclone/ Hurricane update note, the storm has passed, though the winds are very strong, creating horizontal ''snow'' and big drifts. I'd guess we had 18" of snow [I was wrong!] but with the drifting it's hard to tell. My deck is chest high in drifts. It's so cold I am seeing little birds huddling on neighbors' window sills, in the sun and where perhaps a bit a heat is seeping out. I can't open my deck door to feed them. Yesterday a friend had to come and dig out my front door because we were drifted in. The wind blew so hard and the air pressure was so odd, that snow forced its way through my outer windows and inner storm windows, making drifts on my bedroom window sills and floor. I loaded buckets of snow to dump into the bathtub to melt. Never saw quite that before! I used tape and plastic dry cleaner bags, and old towels to block the snow coming in. A bit trailer park, but who cares.












our sewing chairs


the flashes upper left, lower one, is where I live.
No thunder for us though.

Mo has a good snow day plan, doesn't he.






Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Just Checking In ~ Winter Hurricane Watch

edit on Thursday noon: lots of snow and wind, but safe and warm indoors, so far!


Hi! Who ever expected my first post of the New Year would be a hurricane watch update! The weather folks have been having a ball all day with their dire warnings and forecasts. "Bomb Cyclone"!  LOL. Who thinks this stuff up?


My clinic treatment , which NEVER is changed, is rescheduled for Monday, sigh.
Personally I think the storm will miss us here. Which would be a good thing!  Look at this sky!








No ominous at all. Except for the dark band of clouds behind the ships. This photo is looking south southwest, New Jersey coast to far right, out of the photo.


I will try to add posts if things deteriorate. So far, all is very calm, and not quite so  cold.
Note they are calling for barometric pressure as low and winds as high as H Sandy. [last line, below]


That would be bad and I may lose power. However I do not have a migraine aura or any migraine symptoms yet at all, which is what leads me to hope the storm will stay out to sea. Very low pressure is my greatest migraine trigger; H Sandy was one of the worst headaches I have ever had.

Mo is ready!






He looks so tiny here! But he is not! And he jumped on the dining table and ate a huge bowl of steamed veggies, when I went to the kitchen last night, left him briefly unsupervised. He is waddling.


But  what Mo really likes is the winter sun warming his bones all afternoon.





He glares at me til I fail to move the bed as the sun shifts.


He especially likes lying under the dappled shade of his lime tree from the summer deck. All is right with Mo's world when he can enjoy a sunny nap. [yes, I know the lime tree looks poorly, I'll trim it back once I harvest these last fruits.]



On another more fun note, look at what we saw at Home Goods! They were hard to photograph, and pushy ladies kept shoving me ''outta the way!''...but so inventive and adorable! Giant tin cooky cutters!


Waist high so 3 1/2 feet tall? If I have a place to store them they'd have come home with me for sure, especially the snowman. Wonderfully exact replicas of traditional shapes. [I wish I'd bought him too bad!]



I got a little lavender plant for my thrifted sugar pot, I'll show you next time. It smells so good when the sun hits the tender grey green leaves.
Tonight we're having stirfry, lots of nice vegs on brown rice, leftover beef and pork loin optional. I have plenty of food on hand, so all should be okay. Stay warm!

love

lizzy

gone to the beach...


old New Years photo but a fave of mine.
Beach graffiti!

Who me? I didn't...