Maine friend Roxanne recently wrote that she had connected with an old friend who had moved from Maine and who made really pretty jewelry. Said friend had an Etsy store.
I asked Roxanne for the name of the Etsy store, and here’s what arrived in the mail yesterday.
The earrings are so pretty. They were beautifully wrapped and packaged. And look at those sturdy wires. They also came with plastic protectors, which is good since I lose earrings a lot. Or, did. They’d catch on Maine scarves or coat collars and pop off without my realizing they were even loose.
LOL, I’m really good at giving myself “treats,” which I often justify by saying I don’t drink wine, don’t go to restaurants, don’t go to movies, don’t go to indoor events, yada, yada.
You get the drift of this theoretical move, right?
Anyway, Roxanne got some new earrings too!!
And since I’m mentioning Etsy stores, if you quilt, you might take a curious look at another of my Maine friend’s Etsy fabric store: Sew Me A Song.
I have not in a while done that myself, so…
But I am trying to use up stash fabrics… Which I am now reminding myself.
And tonight is Halloween. I’m going to sit in a chair at the driveway so the kiddos don’t have to ring the bell. For a while, anyway.
The Holly Berries along the roadside where I often walk are so beautiful now. I hope mine in the front of my home turn this very pretty red.
Some days are cool enough now that dinner on the porch is best when sitting in a sunny spot and wearing a sweater. But not all days; the past two days have seen me finding a pair of shorts and a short-sleeve t-shirt–at least in the middle of the day.
The air fryer does a great job with fish filet coated lightly with a gluten-free panko and sweet peppers. The asparagus got cooked in the microwave. The berries are a treat.
Last week a host of repair men were in and out of the house–at the 11-month occupation “clean up” of things needing fixing. I roasted a chicken last Monday, so had some meat for a few days. The cauliflower and baby bok choy was pan sautéed in a little duck fat–with herbs and garlic, of course.
I decided to go back and add a middle line of quilting to the solid bar strips in Traverse–and I’m so glad I did. They just needed…more. I am nearing the end of this hand-quilting project, but have some wide bars to do before I can say “done.” My stitches, front and back, are so much more steady and reliable now.
Yesterday I had dinner with Bryan, Corinne, and the girls–and Corinne’s mother (Cheryl) who is here for a few days. I have not seen her in over 10 years, so it is delightful to see her again. Cheryl is a very special person.
Two granddaughters went with me for a quick walk on the beach late yesterday afternoon–and they went swimming–though the water is colder now. You can just see their heads out among the waves. They warmed up in the tidal pools left up on the beach.
We used to call these pools “buffalo holes,” and I have idea why–it came from my Georgia mother way back in the day.
I’ve almost finished a quilt top made with 1 1/2-inch squares I cut from the Cotton+Steel/Ruby Star Society fabrics. When I had leftover scraps I cut them into useable pieces–based on quilter Bonnie Hunter’s scrap system. I should have a picture to share in a few days.
I’ve heard about this event for many years now as Bryan, Corinne, and family participate. Bryan gets a big kick out of decorating their golf cart each year. This year he hit the decorating ball right out of the ball park. And Corinne and the girls worked on the costumes.
Here comes Bryan and Corinne’s viking ship golf cart as it enters the final stretch of the parade.
This event was an…event. There were lots of people at the IOP rec center, which was hopping with music, speciality events on the fields, children and many adults in their Halloween costumes, and the 54 decorated golf carts that ended their parade at the main rec center building after a route around the neighborhood streets.
Here are some of the carts lined up in numerical order before the parade started:
And here are some of the carts passing me at the end of the parade. I just chose at random as all the carts were amazing.
This “Pac Man” cart was a 2-cart entry. If you know this game, you’ll understand it better than I do, but the crowd loved it.
And here’s Bryan’s viking ship again–which he created with cardboard, pcv pipe, ropes, lots of zip ties, and paint.
Some of the carts ended their parade by going through the white “haunted house” tent building to the left. Many were too high though and just continued back down the street to find parking places.
There were all kinds of dogs at the event as well, many riding the parade. All seemed to be having as much fun as the people.
Here is Bryan in his costume before the parade:
And the family:
It was a warm day, so they did not use the bottom parts of their costumes, like the leggings and boots.
Clearly, Halloween is a huge event here. I am a bit shell-shocked as having lived for 19 years in rural Maine, where children went into town to “trick or treat,” I have not given out treats.
*I wrote this post last week, and this week has been so busy. I’m at the 11-month occupation of my new home, and the builder sends in various subs to fix things that got missed in the first inspection. Sometimes you don’t see things at first, but you do after living in a new home for almost a year. And there are things that range from the simple to the more problematic that need fixing or adjusting.
Grilled lamb chops, baby bok chop with onion and sweet peppers cooked in the air fryer, and rice I froze and defrosted.
Leftovers!
Meatloaf, okra with butter, and roasted butternut squash with fresh garlic and rosemary dressed with olive oil.
Here’s the herb garden these days. The tall plat on the right is lavender, and there is some chive between the sage and the lavender. The oregano is going wild, so I trimmed it back and am drying those stems in the kitchen. When dried, I’ll strip off the stems and save the leaves for winter use.
So…
That butternut squash…
Normally roasted it would have a dense candied sweetness to combine with the garlic, rosemary, and olive oil. I have always looked forward to this dish in the fall.
But this squash was absolutely tasteless. Likely it was picked green and had not had time yet to develop its sugars. It’s hard to tell before one cuts into one of these winter squashes. Maybe if I had held it longer it would have “ripened.” This squash is a good keeper. But I’ll pay more attention next time. An over-ripe one is too mushy. So, I guess it is a bit of a crap shoot.
And it was the second one I’ve seen in my flowering plants in the past week.
I was surprised as I would have thought the Monarchs would have headed west before they get to the South Carolina coast.
But as it turns out that there is a very, very interesting thing going on with the Monarchs in South Carolina: some here on the coast stay here all year, which is a conclusion made after years of study. Here is a quote from the article linked below from the South Carolina Division of Natural Resources:
“The recently published research indicates that monarch butterflies live year-round in South Carolina, relying on swamps in spring, summer and fall and sea islands in the winter. While these monarchs rely heavily on aquatic milkweed (Asclepias perennis) as a host plant for their eggs and caterpillars, they were also found to use swallow-wort (Pattalias palustre) – a viney relative of milkweed that grows near salt marshes and was previously unrecognized as an important host plant for monarchs.
“This research adds another layer of nuance to the fascinating story of the monarch butterfly,” said SCDNR associate marine scientist and first author Dr. Michael Kendrick.”
The Patchwork Gals met last Wednesday, and as always, the “Show and Tell” was awesome. The turnout for this meeting is strong, about 25-30 very talented women.
This group had been working on a “mystery” quilt for some months, and during this meeting, they started sharing. Each person made the quilt differently, of course. I could not get ALL of the versions, and there will be more next month, but I wanted to share these three. But know that every single quilt shown was so pretty.
I really loved the scrappy nature of this version. Of course, I love green, but even the sashing was scrappy.
This 2-color version in blue and white is dramatic and graphic. This version took the 4-patch into the outside borders, which extended the line of squares, which I very much liked.
This one is made of 1930 reproduction fabrics–and next on my list is to tackle a collection of those fabrics which has been residing in my stash for nearly 20 years. I had thought to make another churn dash quilt, but I am drawn to this type of scrappy “Jacobs Ladder” form. Maybe I’ll do this type of quilt, though it would mean separating the various 1930s prints. Who knows? I may also look to the Modern Quilt Society patterns for ideas for my collection of 1930s fabrics.
After the meeting, one of the women told me about the Charleston Modern Quilt Guild, which will meet next Tuesday night. This group of women is separate from Cobblestone and might belong to the Modern Quilt Guild organization. This group also sews together monthly on a Saturday. I’m going Tuesday night, for sure.
THE TUNIC
I’ve wanted to make this tunic for some time now. I acquired this pattern back in Maine, and some months back I got some cotton fabric to try it out. I wanted a longer tunic that covered my bum to wear over some luscious leggings that Tami gave me for Mother’s Day. They are a soft aqua color.
I had to order tracing paper as I could not find any locally. And last week I traced off the pattern and cut out the tunic.
It’s so, so cute! And it fits! I like the curved hem. I will layer this top with a t-shirt given my old-lady droopy skin arms.
Note that the back is longer than the front–and it curves very nicely over my bum.
Here’s the back.
And here it is with the color of the leggings.
Someone with better legs than I have now could wear this tunic over shorts.
Also, the cotton fabric above works great for the tunic, but I also think a lighter, more “drapey” fabric would work even better, like a lawn or a double gauze. And I’m wondering about an Essex linen, which is thicker but which drapes really well. Note that this pattern was “fiddly” to make, given the construction of the bodice piece and the side pockets. I liked a lot the easy construction of the bias binding armholes, however. It’s perhaps not a good pattern for novice garment makers.
I ordered this fabric in warmer weather, and it now feels too summery for our colder weather. So I ordered a darker color of flannel that I can wear with the leggings maybe. But I’ll be trying out a different pattern–and yesterday I traced it out and am ready to go when the fabric comes on Monday. I can always wear this other flannel top with my jeans or knit pants if I don’t like it with the aqua leggings.
Here’s the tunic I’ll make this next week–it’s the orange one in this picture.
Last Sunday we gathered at Mike and Tami’s to celebrate Debbie’s birthday (Tami’s mother). Mike and Tami had been hard at work with various garden projects, which resulted in this kind of “beggar’s lice” sticking to their pants. And, to the dogs, which took some days to rectify once the seeds got wound up with the dogs’ hair.
“Beggar’s Lice” are seeds that a “weed” plant produces. The seeds have POWERFUL gripping power if one brushes up next to the host plant. I grew up with the name “Beggar’s Lice,” but there are other regional names for this seed. And, several plant species that produce this kind of seed.
While Michael was organizing our dinner, we women gathered to try to get the “lice” off of the various clothing items. Tami had already spent about three hours the night before trying to get the lice off a pair of her pants. (Debbie is on the left and granddaughter Mina, on the right.). We tried the flat edge of knives, spoons, and a carrot peeler to scrape off the seeds. It was easier to get them off the jeans than the knit-type fabric in the above picture.
While we “persevered,” Mike made us a beautiful dinner. Here’s my bowl–which is missing the beautiful sliced heritage tomatoes dressed with minced herbs, avocados, and fresh mozzarella balls. Mike grilled the chicken breasts, zucchini, and sweet peppers. The grain salad is barley and contains more diced veggies. It was dressed with olive oil. (You could add an acid, like lemon juice or vinegar.) Mike’s salads are always fun: this one had radicchio included, which I love. And the hard boiled eggs are a colorful and nice inclusion.
I can say that we were “eating the rainbow” with this meal.
The five white azaleas out front have struggled with how the sun hits them all summer. They are badly sunburned–and now you can see them trying to “green up” their leaves as the angle and the intensity of the sun has moved into fall/winter coolness. These plants were a bad choice by the builder’s landscape sub, given the intensity of the summer sun and no shade until about 3 pm.
Today I got help from Andres Hernandez with moving and replacing these plants–which was a great relief as I did not want to dig and augment with sand and compost another five holes in the clay.
The azaleas will be much happier on this shady side of the house–and the Asiatic Jasmine will continue to grow up around them.
We replaced these azaleas with five white Encore azaleas–which are a cross between rhododendrons and azaleas, are much sturdier, and will bloom until it gets too cold.
Here’s one with a bloom intact:
Here’s the front bed now. These new plants will get about 4 feet by 4 feet. We moved two of them in the middle forward to give the Chinese Holly more room, but the Encores will form a kind of understory to the hollies. BUT, I do not want this front bed to get too tall for the windows behind it.
It was a really nice morning–and I watered while Andres rehomed and planted. So now, it is about to RAIN. LOL, of course it is.
It is Muhly Grass, and I see it planted everywhere. It’s around homes, and it’s in islands in the middle of roads, and it’s in shopping area parking lots. It’s everywhere in this region. And it is a “sweetgrass” plant.
It also comes in a white version that I saw just the other day. Here is the pink variety along the entrance to my development.
When the sun catches the blooms, they glow. The white ones literally look like spot lights swaying in the wind.
All of these blooming grasses have delighted me over the years, and I had other blooming grasses, not the Muhly, in my Virginia and Maine gardens. Muhly “sweetgrass” is new to me.
The road outside of my development has palms and Muhly grass planted. But this Muhly grass won’t be blooming this year, and that’s because it’s being “harvested” by local people in the dark of the night for “sweetgrass basket” making, which is a big market here. The harvesters pick stems from the middle of a Muhly grass, leaving the outside stems intact.
Here is a link to more Muhly grass information from Clemson University, which has a big horticultural division.
I was down to a few choices: the leftover roast chicken, a small Delicata squash, a small zucchini, a few sweet peppers, a small head of radicchio, and a handful of the leftover roasted broccoli rabe.
Here’s what evolved…
…a chicken salad made while the air fryer cooked zucchini rounds, sweet peppers, and delicata squash rings. The chicken salad had the last of the broccoli rabe cut into small pieces, some diced onion and grated carrot, some dried herbs, and some homemade mayo. I put the chicken salad over some radicchio leaves.
Delicata squash are known for their candy sweetness. I cut mine in half, seeded it, then cut it into narrow rings. I left the skin on, but this squash was a bit old, so the skin was fairly tough, but it was easy to slide off the sweet, sweet meat. Mainly, I just ate the skin–good fiber, you know. Delicatas are not really good “keeper” squashes, so use them now if you can get them where you live.
Last night’s supper was a reprise of dinner. And today, for my noon dinner, I had these various dishes alongside some fresh asparagus quick cooked in the microwave and dabbed with some of the mayo. I sat on the porch and thoroughly enjoyed this meal.
I have enough of the salad to make a supper–alongside the asparagus. I’ll enjoy a bowl of fresh berries with a tiny bit of maple syrup.
And now I’m going upstairs to trace out the tunic pattern and, hopefully, to get it cut out.
Tomorrow the Patchwork Gals meet, and I’m looking forward to that meeting.
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