Sunday Sundry 5-21-23

It's been awhile since I did a Sunday Sundry post, a smorgasbord of this and that.  I have been sewing, too, so let's start with what I'm currently working on.

This four-patch quilt is coming along nicely.  It started with a pull of some fat quarter remnants and similar scraps I've accumulated over time.  These muted colors don't typically resonate with me when I'm fabric shopping, but somehow, by gift or thrift, I've ended up with enough of them such that they can all now live their best life together in a quilt.  I'm happy to do the honors.

When I saw this pattern on Mary Quilts, I decided it would work well for this project.  It's called Four Patches on the Diagonal. 

I actually have the top mostly together now except for the outer border, so you'll see it soon.  The more I work on it, the more I like it!

Happy Mail!

A few weeks ago, I got a happy mail package from The Joyful Quilter!  She sent me some nice John Deere themed fabric, as well as a couple bags chock full of blue and green scraps.  I was oohing and aahing over the green ones here.

I may be putting these to good use soon, as Jo's Country Junction is doing a YouTube tutorial series on a scrappy star block quilt she is calling Picadilly Circus.  It looks like fun!

Joyful also included a fun mug rug.  The happy colors make me smile! :)

Like Another Hole in the Head

I had my ears re-pierced a few weeks ago.  Yay!  Since I quit in-office work a dozen or so years ago and thus didn't wear earrings regularly, one of them had completely closed and the other needed way too much effort to shove a post through.  So I met my daughter at the tattoo and piercing salon and we made an afternoon of it, shopping and having lunch after the deed was done.

We even stopped at the thrift store and made a pretty good clothing haul.  Dear daughter spotted this colorful shirt on the rack and waved it as I was getting ready to check out, and I gave it an enthusiastic nod (under $4, I think it was).  It's a Lands End rash guard with UPF 50. 

I tried it on at home and it fit perfectly (always an iffy proposition with my long arms).  Having had my first skin check in February this year (and the scars to prove it; nothing cancerous, thankfully), I probably need to get serious about protecting my skin.

Suddenly Spring!

It took forever for spring to arrive—or feel like it was sticking around, anyway—but it finally seems to have made up its mind.  I planted flowers this past week, mostly in pots scattered here and there around the house.  

Lily of the Valley always reminds me of my grandma.  She had a patch of it in one of her gardens, but she also had some kind of scented powder that smelled like it.  

I did battle with it in the flower bed on the north side of my house, but it persists in finding a way through the cracks.  Ah, well.  I pinch off a sprig and inhale and am transported back to Grandma's house on Hubbard Street all those years ago.

Today was also my first bike ride of the season.  We did a respectable 15 miles with a couple rests stops along the way to give my knees a break.  The idea of an e-bike is looking better every year, but I'd like to keep pedaling under my own power as long as I can.  We tend to bike fairly flat trails so it's still doable for now. 

It was about as perfect a day for biking as there could be!

It's rhubarb season, and I picked a fresh batch a couple days ago.  Earlier this month, I used up the last of the frozen rhubarb and some mulberries from last summer in a rhubarb-berry crisp.  Delicious!

~Paulette

Planter-ing

I'm taking the lazy minimalist approach to outdoor flower gardening this year.  I received a wonderful double impatiens basket from my daughter for Mother's Day that sits on the front porch (more of a stoop, really). The red and white blossoms look like peppermints.  Porch flowers = done.

Then I picked up a couple hanging baskets of impatiens for the backyard and some begonias for the planter barrel.  Otherwise, I'm just moving existing stuff around in the flower bed.  The hostas needed dividing so I started a ring of them under one of the big pines, and other things which had migrated from their original spots were relocated.  I had tried bringing a potted geranium indoors over winter and almost killed it, but now that I've put it out on the deck again, it's coming back like Lazarus.  Yesterday, I poked a slip of coleus into the dirt of the same pot, which I'd had rooting in water for six months.  We'll see how that fares.

Apparently, there wasn't enough dirt under my fingernails just yet, so I turned my attention to indoor gardening.  While browsing the greenhouse at Walmart, a low light variety of indoor plant caught my eye.  Our house is fairly well shaded, so low light is the key phrase.

I decided to pot it in a vintage Red Wing planter.  Found this one at an estate sale several years ago.  Clean as a whistle and just like new.  Figured it was time for it to realize its full planter potential.

First, a inch or so layer of rocks for drainage (river stones from the dollar store).

Good potting soil + plant. 

Then a bit of moss for mulch (also dollar store).  Ta-da!

If you frequent the thrifts, garage sales, or flea markets this summer, you will almost certainly find planters.  I don't buy as many figural ones as floral ware, though I have a few.  This cute piggy planter came from Mary last year.  (Squeal!)

They're handy for all sorts of things (like holding old photos I need to scan and return to my sister).

If you want more fun vintage planter ideas, Van at Thriftcore has several posts which are sure to inspire, here, here, and here.

Vintage Aprons and Flower Pots

This week's edition of Vintage Thingie Thursday features the ever-so-patient Dolly, modeling a few vintage aprons and flower pots from my collection. Can she strike a pose, or what? Rock steady, that girl. My camera steadiness, on the other hand, is a different matter.

What can I tell you about the aprons? Well, they all appear to be handmade, except the purple one, which has a tag. Even that indicates it is a "Home Sewed Apron," which is interesting.


Stamped along the selvage edge on the apron tie is "E&W Quadriga Cloth." Apparently, this was a very fine percale that was touted as colorfast and was a major hit with the home sewers, back in the 1930s to '50s, from what I could gather about it. It was made by a company known as Ely & Walker of St. Louis, Missouri.

I think the bib apron is probably the oldest of the group, but I am no expert.

Likewise with the flower pots, I can't put a date on them, but I'm quite sure they all qualify as vintage. Most of the names are recognizable -- McCoy, Red Wing, Brush. Can't read the name on the pink one (USA something), but I seem to remember being told it may also be a McCoy.

You may know more about these things than I do. If so, feel free to enlighten me.

I just know that if I like it enough and the price is right, it comes home with me!

Inside this thrift store pattern was an unexpected treasure -- a little vintage apron pattern had been neatly folded and tucked inside by the previous owner!

I don't see a date on it, but judging by the style and unprinted pattern pieces, I'm guessing maybe 1950s or '60s? What do you think?

It calls for seven yards of rickrack!

While the pattern is not my size, I get the feeling Dolly thinks she deserves to be rewarded for all her hard work today. We'll see.

Thanks so much for visiting, and be sure to stop by Colorado Lady and all the VTT participants!