scarf for December

My choice for December is any old Liberty scarf from my collection.

Chosen not because I particularly love it ( though I do ) or wear it more than any other Liberty scarf , but because it happens to be the one I am wearing today.

Its a never ending delight to shove my hand - or arm-  into one of my Liberty scarf boxes and pull out something just right. Always luscious colors, always a pleasing design, always something new to discover.
Plus I don't have to think about wearing anything but black pants and top

I have over 800 Liberty scarves and I don't intend to stop collecting any time soon.

we bit the bullet

We bit the bullet and hired our window washers to string the winter lights on the pine tree in front of our house.

They arrived with a long, expandable  pole that had a hook at the end. It reminded me of "The Lamplighter" , my favorite childhood poem.

Of course, we had an indoor tree as well.  A Fraser pine , one of the best from our local supplier.
" The most beautiful tree in the world" according to its main decorator.

                                                MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE.

from Isabel and Barbara

My good friend Barbara Muir, an artist and teacher, surprised me at the end of a market day by bringing me a huge bag of scarves that belonged to her mother.  Isabel died last year and I know how stressful it is to 'get rid' of things.

Included was this very interesting old silk cravat from Vera...seems to be from 1947 - early 50s judging by the label.

Also 8 ( yes, eight!!) Liberty scarves, some groovy ones from the 1970s

and this one, again 70s, that I have never seen before.

Barbara also gave me Isabel's chic 1950s Persian Lamb jacket. I hung it on the side of the van as I was just packing up.....to our surprise  it sold within minutes. I thought Barbara was going to cry seeing her mums embroidered  initials walking out on a lovely, very happy young woman, I know I was near tears.
I never met Isabel but she obviously was a very snappy dresser and a woman after my own heart.









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701

Checked the magic numbers last night and found I had reached  700 sales in my etsy shop foulardfantastique

Hooray...will blog  and crow in the morning.

 It has not taken me too long from the previous magic number post, or the one before that.

The morning bought another sale.....701.....

777 here I come.
I suspect that will take me quite some time.

95 cents well spent

Marja, my old friend, had mentioned that her local thrift store was having a sale of vintage needlework items. I paid her a visit in the east end of the city. I overshot two turnoffs  on my way out there and got lost on the way home!

This thrift store knows what they are doing.... Alas,  the special display  of old needle craft had been up for two weeks and, of course, completely picked over.

But I found some patterns that I have not got, the booklet has the cover and center pages missing, and about 25 grams of old 3 ply wool.

I spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying  reading the patterns and plotting  my next project. Cheaper than a movie or a coffee at Starbucks!

 95 cents well spent.

Satisfaction.

The quince jelly was late this year.  As usual I received a basket of fruit from my friend Sandy that she pinches from her neighbor.

But this year our own quince bush produced  six huge quince.....the first time it has fruited and it is 15 years old!

Also put up are 5 - 6 jars of quince chutney, from a recipe by Lucy Waverman in The Globe and Mail.  Have not tasted it yet but it was dead simple.
Unfortunately I took the jelly off the boil a few minutes too soon and the first couple of jars have not set that well.
There is nothing like a few jars of preserves to give one a sense of satisfaction.

Scarf for November

Its the end of the month and I still have not posted my scarf for November.

Here it is.   The Festival of Britain souvenir.1951.

Not only do I love the strong graphics

but I have been looking for this scarf for ever!!!  I found it last week.

Unfortunately there is a wear/tear area over Oxford University so I am not sure whether it is sell-able  ( or is that saleable) or not. In fact, I am not sure whether I want to sell it at all.





 

Thrifting today

A day out at the local thrift stores. I had not been for a couple of months and was having withdrawal symptoms.

The back of my van revealed the days loot. Up front a Horn Brothers emerald green blanket.

An unusual applique,  depression era quilt that is rather dirty so it is now soaking in Oxyclean.

A nice length of romantic barkcloth.

 A picnic blanket or car rug from Cape Breton. I never knew they had their own tartan. This pic will be put in my blanket label collection.

A crazy quilt top, foundation pieced from the 1940s.....perfect, never used condition.

 Dresden Plate,  just needs a couple of small seams fixed. Actually it is bright yellow, don't know what happened to this photo, it was a very grey day.

Some embroidered tablecloths that I need like a hole in the head! Only one has a stain. Into the soak with it as soon as applique  quilt comes out.

A lovely piece of needlepoint.

Of course, there were some scarves, but they will have their own post.

A quandary

What to do?  This is a  perfectly nice working mans  wool quilt from about 1940 or earlier, just needs a couple of seam separations fixed.

The underside has a largish tear revealing a much older 19th century, turkey red quilt inside.

Should I take the whole thing apart and retrieve the older quilt or not?  Wool quilts are a hard sell and I have several. Perhaps I would be better off selling the  antique cutter quilt and a vintage  wool quilt top.

I hesitate to put the ' as is'  quilt up in my etsy shop as it is so darn heavy the postage would be
astronomical.

Goodbye and Hello

Our old Miele washing machine finally bit the dust.

goodbye

So we bought a new one.

hello

  Our old friend was 21 years old and had stood up to almost industrial use. Used not only for family but for my vast stock of

blankets, 

quilts,

vintage fabrics and drapes

and vintage sweaters. 

It was also abused by other members of this family who overload, use the wrong detergent and wash everything on the highest possible temperature so that underwear elastic disintegrates immediately.

New machine ( at great expense I may add)  seems promising if I can work out the IT settings.

quilt show

The York Heritage Quilters Guild held  held their tri-annual (is that the word for every 3 years?) exhibition this weekend at Edwards Gardens here in Toronto.

I went along.

This was my favorite quilt, made from fabrics collected whilst the maker was touring France. I think she started it while travelling.

One of the very few  real ' scrappy' quilts on display. ( below)
  Although there were many magnificent quilts to be seen,  I am not intrigued by the ones that made from pre-packaged  matchy-matchy  fabric bundles.

Technically proficient, but they reveal very little about the maker.....perhaps she/he is unsure of their own taste.

Some were for sale at IMO very reasonable prices. $600 for a huge, original homemade quilt! You can pay that for a factory made item just because it has Ralph Lauren written on it.

You can see my taste runs to the more traditional patterns and blocks.

Reproduction cottons below, the maker wanted to use up her scraps from the previous quilt and had made 64 two and one half inch fans that were used for the border,

Smaller art quilts or wall hangings around the corridors, 'Urban Growth' caught my eye.

I was exhausted, so I sat down for a coffee and scone

to peruse my treats.

catch me if you can

Quilts on the line for an airing in our somewhat ugly side drive.

There is always something hanging up, like this very nice 1930s tied star quilt made almost entirely of printed feedsacks.

Pretty red work, dated 1928,  alas has some color bleed and fade. Hanging on the line gives me an opportunity to assess items as well as giving them a rinse if it rains.

Made in the 1980s  I would guess with nice hand quilting in a simple  dahlia motif.

Not a hand made quilt, but a commercial bedspread from the 1950 s  ( have to get rid of that small stain when the washing machine is fixed)

Catch me if you can........next to a mid century curtain panel that need a soak in Oxyclean.

Roman Stripe with a floral back, you can see it here. They usually stay up on the line for a few days.

 Expect more of these posts as I am home till January.