Street-combing

~ Liz A ~ 14 Comments

For many years (decades actually) our family spent the third week in June at the Outer Banks. But between Covid and work schedules and sports tournaments, that week became unworkable. And when last we went to Avon in 2022, we realized the surf had likewise become something we could no longer handle.

So last year we headed to Folly Beach in South Carolina. And this year we’re going to Grayton Beach in Florida (on August 10th … the only week when all the schedules aligned).

In the meantime, I’ve been dreaming of sun and sand and sea breezes … wishing I could be beach-combing instead of just walking through the neighborhood … picking up rusty bits for Don’s assemblages to keep my eyes occupied …

Happily, he does have a way of putting some of my finds to whimsical use …

N.B. I’ve just started on a gift project that will likely take several months to complete, so I probably won’t be posting much about cloth and stitching for a while.

A baker’s dozen

~ Liz A ~ 24 Comments

I’ve made thirteen linen napkins to go with Don’s 70th birthday table cloth …

using Malka’s hand-dyed linen and Deb’s magical threads, worked in complementary colors with the hem stitches proudly visible …

And if the linen looks a little wrinkled, well that’s as it’s meant to be, in my humble opinion. My modus operandi after laundering linen napkins is to give them a good snapping shake, smooth out the wrinkles on a flat surface (seen here on my bed), and then hang them out to dry on my bamboo drying racks (which I also use for all my other laundry) …

After all, why waste electricity on ironing after saving it by not using a dryer (which also does horrible things to linen).

Speaking of the dryer … ours was 14 years old and the auto-off switch no longer worked. I only ever used the dryer for a few minutes to shake out wrinkles before air drying my laundry. So when a critter got into our dryer last week and died a horribly malodorous death, I decided I didn’t really need a dryer any longer. No more wasting electricity on drying and better yet, I now have a wealth of new storage space in the laundry room. That’s a win-win in my book.

And speaking of winning, I felt a great weight lifted this past weekend with the news that Joe Biden nobly stepped aside. After which I became one of the small-dollar donors who contributed close to $50 million to ActBlue yesterday in the name of making a positive difference.

I dare to hope for the best come November.