Blue Pineapples

 

Hi! March 1st is here. The Lion Wind is howling. Do we welcome March 2021, or do we cringe. It is never a good month, is it, but let's hope for the best.

Today is Part Two of February sewing. while I didn't work much on my Silent Night Stars, Blue Pineapples was on my schedule for this winter and I am pleased with how it has gone so far.

Keep in mind this is a throw sized utility quilt, for chilly cocktail time evenings on the deck or beachy picnics. It could be a play mat for small visitors if I ever again have friends come to visit and play. It can be a sofa throw. Whatever.

Here are my first 13 blocks. 

I plan to space the blue pineapples quite far apart, give the indigo batiks room to show off.

But I may need to make more, as I did with Baby Pineapples last year. [I'm superstitious, no matter what I decide, I will have to squeeze in one more for 14 not 13.]

Going backwards, the idea was inspired by  Baby Pineapples, but with changes.

Here is the pattern drafted and used. 

I wanted the corners more casual--a little crooked, so I cut extra large triangles and trimmed.

This is a trimming template.

I did use some rotary  cutting to have that crisp edge, but marked everything with heat removable 

Frixion pen before cutting one at a time.

The template also is used to trim the stem portion, to be sure it all fits and is square. Left column is untrimmed.

Normally I might cut the templates from matte finish gridded Mylar sheets, but I haven't found the kind I like online and haven't been to JoAnn's to choose in person in more than a year. (JoAnn's is all we have here, so I value the shop despite rude naysayers. My Flags of the American Revolution quilt was entirely sourced at Joann's; came out beautiful, in my opinion.)

The stem and leaves are straight stitch machine applique instead of intricately pieced as BP's were. The edges of the appliqued green should soften and fray over time, adding dimension and a certain Who Cares/ Use It/Wash It! vibe.

Over the next few days I hope to finish trimming the first blocks and doing a partial piecing at least, before clinic day next Monday and the following ten days are wasted. Wish me luck and focus.

This is for Bovey Belle, a blog friend from Wales who is a quilter. She was mentioning a project where she has more or less given up finding a brown solid to complete it. Here were my first try outs ordering online, for brown. Not easy, is it. Blue Pool/ Chocolate Milk quilt rescue [ongoing].

....

I've been collecting worn out cashmere sweaters to make a little blanky for Mo. He likes me to tuck him in at night in the winter. I had planned to cut off the upper body and sleeves, but Mo loves the sleeves!? Pugs have a thing for resting their chin on anything that they find--chair rails, your hand, sofa arms---and he really loves it if I tuck the sleeves under his chin at bedtime. Yes he is pampered, he is my little loyal friend, after all.

Have a good week everyone. 

Talk to you soon!

love

lizzy

gone to the beach....

Baby Pineapples Quilt

Hi friends, another Monday, as April slowly rushes by.

Well this is discouraging - all the photos in my recent blog posts have gone lost on Blogger. I don't know if I should reload them or just let it go. Usually they return but these seem truly lost. I love to do photos for my blog, but they're a lot of work, so that is many hours lost. How annoying.

This weekend was typically springlike---cold and windy, so I got quite a lot done on the Baby Pineapples project. Here are some of the inspiration quilts, though I made my fruits smaller and drew my own pattern.

I made my planned eight blocks:

They go together quickly and are, I think, cute.

This is the layout I had planned.

Lots of grey spacing and wide grey borders with a turquoise frame border, to make a medium sized crib quilt. Small enough to use as a play mat or even hang on a wall, since the child's room is quite large, until she is old enough to use it for naps.

Her crib will become a daybed around age two? but then it also becomes a twin headboard. As I showed the mom the design, she indicated that she wanted a larger quilt that might work on the future twin bed even. This is difficult and confusing, as crib mattresses are very narrow and oddly long at 25" x 51" --a twin quilt would be far too much fabric and unsafe.

We compromised by deciding on this layout,

which will need 18, not 8! blocks, and will be a random size somewhere between crib and twin. Much tighter spacing, narrow or no borders? Use the turq for binding?

Because of course by the time the child can talk clearly she will instead want whatever TV cartoon thing is popular. [Dora the Explorer, My Little Pony, Power Puff Girls? I am out of touch... but I'm sure there will be something she wants instead of Pineapples. (I remember making my son, aged about three, the cutest western, Ralph Lauren-ish, bedding, and he hated it! He just wanted some superhero junk sheets from Walmart!]

The quilt will be more throw size or lap quilt size, so it can be used in the home or as a beach blanket when the little one's taste outgrows it.

Later I'll choose ten more Pineapples and cut all those greens.

The good news is I think it is very pretty in a subtle way. We all love the turquoise ''stop border'' or frame border. The baby's room is palest aquamarine seaglass color, too pale for a stop border, so this picks it up in a slightly punchier way. [sigh] Just a six week lag in fabric orders, as warehouses follow distancing requirements now.

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

Out and about: My neighbor finally took down her Christmas wreath and put up her silk sunflower wreath.  She only has two, so we see them for quite a spell each season. I felt a bit hopeful seeing her summery vibe.

Another neighbor put up a lovely herb wreath but they have left their Christmas candles [electric] burning in their windows all winter and spring. So pretty and so comforting when I walk Mo at bedtime in the cold dark night.

And Mo and I saw a robin! The quiet days must have made it come for a visit, if not to nest. I haven't seen a robin here in years---we have few songbirds; conditions are too harsh.

Welcome to new readers/ commenters! I hope you all have good week. Is the stay at home thing becoming more normal feeling or you're getting the house arrest blues? I hope you all are well.

love

lizzy 

gone to the beach...


photos from my friend LK's portfolio, as I'm staying home except for Mo's non-beach walks. The wind has been so strong.

sequin waves, in summer/ happy sigh

ships

PS I hope to do an Out and About post of readers' sights and enjoyments as you all walk during your brief outings. I have great pics [w their permission yet to be requested] from Kel and Penny and new friend Lynda, so if you have some beautiful spring pics to share, pls send to me at lizzzz.d@gmail.com. 

Little Niggles ~ No Flowers

Hi everyone! Another Friday of isolation here [my week 6] and there where you are too. I can't fix the big stuff --or really even the little stuff. But that won't stop me from voicing my niggling complaints.

nig·gle

Learn to pronounce

verb

cause slight but persistent annoyance, discomfort, or anxiety.

1. "a suspicion niggled at the back of her mind"

   Similar:

   irritate
   

   annoy
   

   worry
   

   trouble
   

   bother
   

   provoke
   

   exasperate
   

   upset
   

   gall
   

   irk
   

   rankle with

   rile
   

   get up someone's nose

   hack off

   get
   

   get to
   

   bug
   

   • 
     

     
     

     
     

     
     

     
     

     
     

     
     

     
     

     
     

     
     

     
     

     
     
     

noun

1. a trifling complaint, dispute, or criticism.

   Similar:

   minor criticism

   quibble
   

   trivial objection

   trivial complaint

   adverse comment

   moan
   

   grumble
   

   grouse
   

   cavil
   

   twine
   

   gripe
   

   beef
   

   grouch
   

   nitpicking
   

   pettifogging
   

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First of all, though the stores have random fresh produce, there have been no cut or potted flowers to buy since early March. Why is that?, I wondered sadly. Probably...the cut flowers I like are flown in from far away, Europe, UK, Ireland, South America. Flights from those places are banned now [though where is our arugula and avocados sourced?].

No pots of tulips for Easter,

no cut hyacinths to fill the house with the scent of Spring.

The fields of flowers such as these iconic scenes in Holland must be unharvested, left to bloom and wither in place.




Planes in my sky are a rarity now, a sky once filled with dozens of planes and helicopters, too. Mo saw one low flying plane yesterday and got quite excited.

Above, my flower photos over the years, to brighten our day.
....

And then---lockdown: Stay at home! "I have nothing to wear!". It's cold here and very windy. Heavy clothes in layers are needed. I am out of winter weight  at-home garments now. Two pairs of sweat pants, washed to thin rags; two old cashmere turtlenecks, hopelessly out at elbows and shrunken from too many home washings. I'm wearing what was a beautiful new sweater last Fall, my 2019 sweater, a pale grey cashmere tweed. Its elbows have massive holes, the neck has sagged drastically and has been amateurishly re-tightened.I'm so sad. I was so pleased with how this looked last November, with dark wash jeans and my charcoal wool Allbird sneakers, plaid scarf wound around my neck, pale silver thin puffer jacket on top.

My ugly New Balance walking shoes have holes too. All worn out from overuse; being home and wearing soft utility clothes is the new normal. I ordered new fleece cargo pants finally. They are so big, you all could fit in them with me. I cinch them in and hope for the best, instead of waiting to exchange; they are soft, have pockets, but are too loose to be warm. Yesterday I ordered a season's end blue turtleneck from  L L Bean. I hope it comes soon.

Mo needs grooming but the groomer isn't answering texts. I'm worried.

I'm finding a few things I need on Amazon, but---Lite Salt for 12.oo?, 100 Ziplock baggies for 45.oo? And in the stores one's reusable grocery bags are now banned because of the virus. NY state banned plastic bags March 1st, just as the virus went crazy. They are awful and clog our waterways but they're sterile and clean. Poor timing. Now we are back to large paper bags that we must pay for. Recycling is cancelled, for paper and plastic. I have no answers, but I always had the notion that reusable bags  are germ factories---things like good lightbulbs and plastic bags were invented for a reason.

I am making masks, but when I wear one I can't breathe or see. Part claustrophobia, part foggy glasses. Bad. Elastic for the ears is about a dollar a yard, should be, like ten cents a yard. It doesn't come anyway when ordered, so I suppose it is no issue.

Gone to the Beach masks, made with Goody hair elastics:

And I have learned a [possibly useless] lesson in shopping and gratification postponed. Buy it when you see it; get stuff done now, don't postpone especially for frugality or budget. I put off having the big Coxcombe Quilt's patterns copied at Staples, thinking, Oh plenty of time, don't need til summer. Now I am stuck and a bit flummoxed, how to redraw such large pieces?

I thought I'd get back to Home Goods for the blue pouffe seat and the seaglass beads. Nope, closed. I didn't get new deck cushions and little tables, who buys that stuff in February or March?

I will say Target is a blessing. I ordered my deck cushions and my Triscuits online. They may come..someday soon? here




Trivial, yes, but important. If I worry about the small stuff, I can't also worry about the HUGE stuff  [''are we all gonna die, mom?'']  {"Yes."]

So tell me, what the most annoying little thing that bothers you about lockdown? Not the fear, or desperate loneliness, or lack of hugs, or the pervasive nightmares everyone is mentioning. No, little niggles...like  no milk for your tea, or my No Triscuits jonesing? It's okay, let's share.

love

lizzy

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