End of Summer On My Windowsill

Today I had the onerous task of putting the garden to bed and bringing in the deck furniture. Although we haven't had a killing freeze yet, we have come close and it will come soon. I decided to take advantage of this relatively mild day in the 50's to complete the chore. The annuals on my front porch still looked pretty and it killed me to take them away. I tried to compensate with some pumpkins and mums to keep things looking spiffy.

These geranium still looked so pretty that I put them on the windowsill in the kitchen. They don't really "go with" the rest of my autumn decor in golds and bronze and yellow, but what the heck, all colors go together in nature.

Happy Halloween!

All tied up

Last week Cathy Perlmutter, who writes a very clever and witty blog, posted about a quilt she had made with many recycled neckties. I thoroughly enjoyed looking at it and hearing about how she had acquired so many unusual ties. I left a comment telling her how much I liked it and telling about the things that I had made with them. She prompted me to do a blog post about my works.

None of these are new works, but since I haven't made anything new in a while, I thought I would share these with you. Mine are not whimsical as hers are, but I did have fun making them. My husband was alive at the time and he let me dig into his considerable stash ( I have mentioned before that he was a clothes horse) and I also purchased some at thrift shops since I was looking for particular colors.

This first one, Tailspin, Tie Spin, uses only red and black ties. I bordered it with red silk dressmaker's fabric and I love the intensity of the colors. I used a pattern that used just one template. The tie silk was backed with a lightweight cotton iron-on interfacing, which made it much easier to handle.  This quilt was featured in Janet Elwin's book, Ties, Ties, Ties. It measures 32 inches square.

I hand-quilted it with black quilting thread an inch from each seam, as we did back in the day. I really love this quilt and always thought it would look great in a man's office.

This one uses the same one template, but in reverse, which makes a star. My son and I used to enjoy watching Wheel of Fortune and one of their categories is Before and After, so this one is called

Star Power Ties. ( Get it? Star Power, Power Ties). It measures 36 inches square and uses only tie material, including the binding. It was featured in Quilter's Newsletter Magazine, along with patterns and instructions.

I  hand-quilted this one in concentric circles using navy quilting thread.

Remember back when we were all wearing vests? I made sooooo many of them. Sadly they are out of style, but I can't bear to part with them since they were so much work. This one has a fan pattern made out of ties and the rest is Dupioni silk. 

I machine-quilted this in bronze metallic thread.

On the back I quilted the fan pattern. I don't know what happened to the other tie vests I made. I know I made at least one crazy-quilt style using the tie fabric and fancy stitches on my machine. I also made a couple where I used narrow bias strips cut from ties and appliquéd onto men's wear suiting material along with tie labels. I know I sold at at least one and gave one to my sister. I think mine got moth holes in the wool suiting.

This is a scarf which I made just last year. I may have shown it before. It uses strips of tie fabric, using the sew and flip method on a thin cotton base and then backed with red fleece.

Silky and pretty on one side and warm and cozy on the other.

Have you made anything with ties?  Let me know and put it up on your blog, if you have one.

I'm linking up with Off the Wall Friday.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

At the Library

I was in New Mexico when my FiberWorks group hung our annual show at the Newtown Library. I have been so busy that today was the first day I got to see it. I've taken pictures of all the quilts and of the artist's statements hanging next to them. Please read the statements because they tell you so much.

The show was smaller than usual because our group is smaller, one member was out of commission with surgery, and some of us who usually make two (ahem, ahem) only made one. But it's still a great show and I urge you to get over to the library if you are in the area. The show is up until Oct. 28th.

Whew!

My tag sale on Saturday is now past history and I would deem it a success. I got rid of a lot of stuff and made a respectable amount of profit. I still had a lot left over. Funny, but the things that I thought would sell quickly were left behind and some others that I had some doubt about were sold.

Today I loaded most of the leftovers into my car and they will go to Savers tomorrow, a resale store whose profits go to Brothers and Sisters. A very few things that I think are quite valuable will go on Ebay, something I've never done before. My great niece, who lives out of town, came over today and since she has young children I gave her the Halloween things, including that fabulous witch puppet. Her husband took a few of the leather jackets and vests, free, of course (I sold two at the sale). I thought he looked very handsome in them and I think my husband would have been pleased. The rest will go to Savers.

It was a beautiful day, weather wise, although it was very cold in the morning at 7:30 when we set up. It was only about 32 degrees, but we were dressed for the occasion. It warmed up very nicely to the low 60's and thankfully there was no wind. We peeled off the layers as the day wore on.

I probably won't do this again, but it was a fun day.

This picture only shows a very small portion of what we had. It was up and down both sides of the driveway. My two friends, Claire and Suzanne, each had a couple of tables apiece. The rest, sorry to say, was mine.  

The next big event in my life is my sister's moving two doors down from me next Friday. She is coming from Long Island and I am so happy that she will be so close by. More about that later.

More tag sale

How did I accumulate so much stuff?  And why did I hang onto it for so long. I keep unearthing more "treasures" every timeI go into the basement.

Here is just the tip if the iceberg:

I had this regulator clock in the kitchen in my old house and loved to hear it chime the hours.

A preponderance of blue and white things. I'm still blue and white, but no room for these.

                                                                  or these.

I have a table and a half of Halloween and Thanksgiving things. The wonderful witch is a large hand puppet.

I've come to the sad conclusion that I'll probably never be a grandmother so there is no use in saving this charming rosewood child's chair that was mine as a child and for which I made a new needlepoint seat.

Two very heavy Stiffel lamps with shades. They looked great in the living room of my old house but too big and heavy looking here.

I also came upon several framed pictures, some original oils and they are going out, too.

Right now everything is on tables in my garage. Two of my friends are also having a couple of tables and we are meeting here at 7:30 AM to haul the tables out into the driveway. I have a two-car-wide and two-car-deep driveway and it will be pretty full. Stop on by and say hello if you are anywhere near.

I'll let you know the results after I recover.

Tag Sale

I moved into my current house fifteen years ago, after the death of my late husband. My former house was much bigger and I got rid of so much stuff. I had two huge tag sales, one of them I advertised as "It's a Guy Thing" where I sold tools, car stuff, etc. The other was just a regular tag sale. I hired a woman to help me and we did quite well.

Because this house has a large unfinished basement I brought way too much with me. Things I  thought I would use someday, and most of it has been languishing in the basement all these years. I have given a lot to Good Will and Savers and that's where all of my unwanted clothing goes.

I decided it was time to have another tag sale. I started putting things together in the garage and basement and planned to do it in the Spring. One thing or another got in the way and then it was summer and too hot. So I thought I should take advantage of this beautiful fall weather we are having and my sale will be this Saturday, one day only, 9-3, no early birds (those annoying people who get there when you are trying to set up so they can get the good bargains).

My late husband was a real clothes horse. I have hung on to these gorgeous leather coats and vests for way too long. My son does not want them so into the sale they will go. His other clothes went to charity, shortly after he died.

I also brought some art with me that did not go in this house. I remember buying this large signed and dated print in Newport, RI. It was perfect for the beach house we had in RI, but does not fit in here.

I have more and I will also be selling some of my Garden Studies (for the same price as they are on my web/blog)

These Lizzie High figures are collectible and I have several. In my old house I had a big bay window seat where I would set up seasonal displays, like this Thanksgiving trio. No place to display them here, so out they go. I also have Halloween Lizzie High and a quilting one (of course) so cute!

This is just a tiny sampling. I will try to get up some more pictures tomorrow. If you live near Danbury, CT, please stop by. 

Land of Enchantment

That's the nickname of New Mexico where we just spent eight glorious days. The skies are so blue that they look artificial and the low humidity lets you see forever. We were on a tour and visited Albuquerque, Taos, and Santa Fe. I had heard so much about this part of NM and was anxious to see it. It was just as beautiful as I had heard. I didn't take as many pictures as I usually do and I will only share a few with you.

We visited the Georgia O'Keefe museum and Ghost Ranch, where she lived and painted

I loved the architecture which was so prevalent in the cities we visited. Apparently Santa Fe has strict building codes  to keep it that way. And yes, that really is the color of the sky.

This was actually a hotel, made to look like an ancient pueblo.

The ubiquitous Chemisa plant, which made all of us sneeze.

I always try to find a Santa ornament when I travel and this little guy with his cowboy boots, sombrero , and cactus Christmas tree was perfect. 

The holes that you see in this cliff are actually caves which were the homes of ancient cliff dwellers.

Santa Fe is known for its huge arts scene. The famous Canyon Road is just one gallery another. Fabulous! One of the stops on our tour was to visit  the studio of Somers Randolph, a stone carver. His work was amazing and he was most entertaining. 

Me and my travel buddies, Claire,  Ruth (my sister), and Mickie. We've been all over the world together and always have a great time.