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







Monday, May 20, 2019

The Friday Flea



Hi on a Monday evening. Warmer days finally [58, 62-ish], pink pompom clouds in a palest blue sky. Soft west wind blowing  from the city, a hint of warm in its wafts. I do enjoy the longer evenings, don't you? If Mo and I are organized we can get out before dark for his ''bedtime'' walk!

Friday however was cold with spitty rain. I ventured off to the church flea market, got there very early. I did find parking on the street but hadn't planned well and didn't bring  a magazine or catalog, knitting or sewing  to pass the 45 minute wait before the flea doors open. [Yes I had my phone but not my little cheater reading glasses, I'd left home in such rush.] Next week I'll bring lunch, a book, and my knitting.

The flea ladies kindly opened the doors about 10 minutes early. The ''white elephants'' aka the sale stock were fun and new, so I guess it pays to miss a few weeks. BTW The dollhouse has been moved to the far back aisle and reduced to $75.oo, I'm waiting for $20.oo and even then...?

Here are items that caught my eye but I didn't bring home.

20th century polychrome Staffordshire ice water pitcher. England, 1930?





The blue with a rose pitcher/ vase I've mentioned before. English, 1890-1910. It looks nothing like i described from memory, lol. Much too $$, at ten dollars.



Interesting if kitschy mid century modern/ folk art platter. Yolk yellow with brown in a stylized Grandma Moses design. I didn't get to see the back, must research. Some guy was very intent and was crowding me.
edit: I think I found this Royal China, Sebring Ohio. From 1955, called Buck's County. A platter sells for about 15-20 dollars on eBay.






Very turquoise modern Spode repro. Just too too much, not authentic even tho my fave color usually. 


Large low rimmed Stangl serving bowl in the Sunflower-Forget-me-nots design. Very pretty, very large.



Below: Where was this when I needed yellow accent items for my April-May yellow decor!? Pineapple bowl.







Avon?





Love this big glass pumpkin for Fall get-togethers, picture it with white sangria, lots of apple chunks, or spiced cider, how fun! 


And I LOVE this mold, a Nordicware cake mold. I either don't host things like Thanksgiving now, or if I do, no one will eat cake, but I'd love to make a cake with this mold! A fragrant spice cake, maybe just a brandy and sugar and orange drizzle frosting? But. No. 





One thing I keep seeing but not buying is a sweet English white ironstone bowl, in an octagonal shape. c. 1900? $1.00---good for shells or sea glass. I also didn't take a Martha Stewart kit that was a modern bibbed  apron, heavy white cotton, with a stamped redwork embroidered lobster on the front. Red thread still in the package.It was really cute, even tho I hate to embroider. If not for an apron it could make a fun little accent pillow. Sometimes I get tired and just pass up things I could actually use, sigh. Plus the crowd was pushy and aggressive, also tiring, off-putting.

What DID I buy? I've had so much fun and success with the linens I find at this flea, like the green dotty apron and the blue and yellow sheet for Blue Baskets' backing. I rummaged under the  table of awful curtains and found this darling flower sprig sheet and one pillow case.


They are both in perfect clean condition, 100% cotton feeling. I'm tempted after a few more washings to put them on my bed to mid-summer, though the elastic of the fitted sheet seems shot.



Isn't the tiny pleated ruffle on the pillow case so adorable?


Bought for quilt fabric and backings. $1.oo each.


*******

Back home, Mo and I were pleased to find marigolds planted in the beach alley way.


All else there still seems grey and bare, but we're hopeful .



We also saw lilacs in bud, a rare [here] catbird!,



and these lovely if improbable Mothers Day hydrangeas.


*********
I finished but for washing my TQC 1880 Sampler today. We are experiencing ''flushing'' here, where the town--county?--flushes our water pipes twice a year to remove sand and rust. The tap water can suddenly be the color of over steeped tea---or even old espresso, which has ruined many a load of laundry over the years. Somehow the work is always scheduled just when you're spring cleaning and want to wash curtains or bedding, ick. However, putting that last stitch in the binding of a project begun January 2018 was a thrill. I was encouraged to send out three more quilts for quilting, including Westering Women. Exciting!




love

lizzy

gone to the beach...

PS The redchannel  buoy is still on the beach, but whoever is in charge of markers and buoys [Julie here says the Coast Guard?] has replaced it with another out at sea, plus the green and white buoys are reset in place, or also replaced. So the ships and boats are safe, don't worry that they will run aground.

PPS Mary Lee the 1 1/2 ton great white shark who visits every summer, is back! here She is followed via a transmitter, since I think, 2012. She was headed right to the beach here!  There is an area off Montauk where the sharks give birth and raise the babies.  Mary Lee has her own Twitter account. HERE *I was upset to learn how cruel it is to tag these magnificent if deadly animals, but I am still posting about Mary Lee because her story is interesting, her life impressive



I think Black Skimmers. I didn't get too close, they attack.







Wednesday, May 15, 2019

Miscellany ~ Mostly Quilts



Good evening, friends! Hope your week is good so far? Here the rain has briefly cleared but the wind is howling again---I'm not sure which is worse. The high winds off the water make it feel cold as January, brrrr. I was sadly under-dressed when Mo and I tried to walk earlier. Gotta dig out my snow/ wind pants and parka before his bedtime stroll.

Quilts I rec'd from Katy! love!

I promised to give you the Linky info so you can see all the amazing little quilts in Lori's swap, so here ya go: Humble Quilts Doll Quilt Swap 
For those of you arriving via the Linky party, this post tells more about designing and making my quilt to send to Lila, my swap partner: HERE


Remember my contribution and how I struggled to make it authentic and rule-abiding? [above] Well there seems to be more to its story. As you know I prefer to design my own little quilts, inspired by books or photos, or quilts I own [ed]. The final pink/ brown/ purple quilt was based on a blue/ red quilt, but the colors were so odd, such a stretch for me. Then the other day I was sorting through old photos trying to clear out hard drive space and I came across old pics of a little tiny quilt I bought a few years ago on eBay.



It is desperately in need of repair, but somehow I either have the quilt in hand or the fabrics, but never both.







Right now the tiny quilt is missing! It's not where it belongs, so I am baffled. I haven't seen it in at least a year. But what interests me is how similar it is, sight unseen, to my swap quilt. I reproduced it without remembering it, strange.





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

Back from the quilter!

..




Always a thrill. I am working so hard to wrap up some of winter's projects.


Little Red is done, I do love it. Leftover blocks from TQC 1880 Sampler. 4" blocks; Penny reminded me that TQC is doing 3" blocks now instead, so fun.






It is bound and washed, dried and crinkled. I soaked it in Retayne before washing it, no hint of red fade, for which I am so glad.



We had one sunny and warm day, maybe a week or so ago. My deck is not fixed up or pretty for the coming summer but Mo and I enjoyed an hour while I did Little Red's green binding.







Mo is looking for human intruders!



Good times ahead! I have ordered three new swimsuits. Did NOT try them on though.


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

Recently Lori mentioned that our next little quilt sewalong, in the Fall, may be an Amish inspired project. Fun and different! I knew I have absolutely no colorful solids, so in the spirit of Be Prepared, I was trawling the internet for small precut bundles of potential solids. I remembered years ago, Keepsake quilting always had wonderful small bundles. Instead of regular Amish solids I picked up this on-sale pack of my fave Grunge . Grunge is a solid cotton with wonderful colors, overprinted with scrapes and splotches, very subtle but there. I do hate a plain solid [why I own none] and the Grunge seems perhaps a way to bring a modern vibe to the Amish aesthetic of very dark with sparks of bright. 5.99.








On Amish Mafia [trainwreck-type faux-reality show on TV? here  and HERE ] Levi, the Amish godfather, always wore bright turquoise or bright peach shirts with his black suits and black brimmed hat.



If it doesn't work for that, it will be a HST small quilt; the 5 1/2" squares will make forty blocks [or 80?], set into this beautiful almost-black solid called Indigo.

Keepsake also had these wonderful bundles of Civil War repro squares, 5.99 for 40 squares. All new to me.



I'd love to get yardage on these!


....
Back in the little quilt room, I am laboring over La Grande Sajou still!
Hopefully an update on her soon; then three more projects to final prep for the quilter. And that t-shirt quilt project! Have any of you made a tee shirt quilt? Any advice? The size of the tee designs varies immensely. I just sit and look at them: it's not like I can replace any if mistakes are made.

Back soon! PS The buoy is still there on the beach!

love 

 lizzy

gone to the beach.....