All the Pretty Poppies

 The majority of my time in recent weeks has been spent here:

Pookie in the Outdoor Studio West

Or here...

Outdoor Studio East -- in "The Grove"

And sometimes, here...

Yet another stitchy spot - moving with the sun

We've had a pretty nice summer -- though, truth be told, it's been far too dry, and often, far too hot, resulting in an inordinate number of wildfires all over the country, and precipitating an agricultural crisis here on the prairies.

Today it's chilly, damp and grey, with overcast skies that have yet to make good on their threat to drop much-longed-for rain.

A perfect day to catch up in a blog post!

As the title of this post implies, once they recovered from the frying, drying heat wave we had in June, my gardens have been coming along nicely.  Under the big double willow in The Meadow, I scattered poppy seeds -- a gift from my neighbour -- with abandon in the spring, and they've not disappointed:

First double poppy under the willows

All the pretty baby poppies under the willow

My first bird-planted daylily in the Grove

As a result I've been doing well with my stitching endeavours, making good progress since my last post.

"Here Be Dragons" from Modern Folk Embroidery, is finished -- and needs a frame:

A Dragon in the Sunshine! 😉

I've just finished a little red sampler from Thames Path Samplers on Etsy.  Note: I got this as a PDF download; I'm not certain, however, that it's still available.  Sorry.

Modification: replaced part of the bottom border
with my initials and the year.

I really enjoy monochromatic stitching; I've kitted up a few more of these -- and the next one, I think, will be done in variegated blues on a tan or caramel-coloured background.  I set aside Thursdays for these, so stay tuned...

My current Sunday Stitch is "Keziah Campbell 1796", which I'm personalizing to memorialize my father's family, descended from the Rennies of Kilsyth, Scotland.  I've moved down to the house and lawn, full of -- as Brenda of Brenda and the Serial Starter would say -- "the damned grass!" 😉😆

Given the adjustments I had to make to fit in the initials of my father's immediate family, there have been more tweaks made in the spacing but it's all working out.  And yes, that's a cat you see next to the lady in red, as befitting my status as a Certified Cat Person!

In other progress, "Shalom" -- a Hanukkah/anniversary gift for friends -- is coming along nicely (though I haven't an updated photo to show you!)  And I made some progress on "Nevermore" -- but am now waiting for more floss.  That's what happens when you fail to read that you need two skeins of something and order only one...sigh...

Since this photo was taken, I've finished that second motif, and have found a third that I can do with the floss I have on hand...but it will require serious counting and concentration, so I've left it for now.

In my July 2nd post, I showed my progress on "Barnabee's Quest - Part I" -- a 22-year old pattern from Just Nan Designs.  I've now finished it, except for the beads and charm, and have dug out Part II, which I want to stitch on the same piece of fabric.  (These are teeny-tiny!)  I erred and did the verse in black instead of bright purple, but I like the effect so I'm going to be consistent and use black for the verse in each of the three pieces:

Last week I spent a few days with friends south of Calgary -- both very fond of textile arts.  One's current focus is hooking rugs and art "mats" and the other's current love is black work so we spent some time sorting their stash and sharing supplies.  I made some progress on my canola scene which is my first attempt at my own design:

I began by updating the colour of the grain bins to a more accurate silvery-grey, and the fence posts to a more solid brown.  I then finished the grass in the foreground.  Now I need to tackle the sky, for which I'm using this photo I took locally some years ago:

I'm procrastinating a bit...so I must take courage and just get on with it! LOL!

On the knitting front, I finished the Balvraid hap and gave it to my friend Anne, who loves it!  Here she is modelling it...

You can tell by her outfit that the hap suits her colours!

I also finished a simple hat for the giving box...and have put the last bit of this green yarn into my rug hooking stash (it's also in the grass in the landscape shown above).

With all the wildfires going on here -- the latest being the evacuations in the NWT (Northwest Territories) and B.C. (especially Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley) -- I've started another hat, the fourth in this batch, and am determined to also add to my pile of comfort quilt tops, in the hopes of getting them finished and sent to where they're likely to be needed as the fall and winter approach. So many people have lost everything.  I have more stash than cash, so am doing what I can and live in hope that it will be of use.  

I was horrified by the wildfire that took most of Maui, but am unable to manage to send fully quilted quilts that far away, so have decided to try to help those closer to home.

This new hat is the "Morning Coffee" pattern, free on Ravelry; I'm making it from more Paton's Classic Wool Worsted, and have omitted the rolled brim:

As today is rather cold and gloomy -- still no rain and now the air is smelling smoky -- it's just right for heading into the Indoor Studio for some time working on my scrappy Butter Churn blocks.  I've finished 69 of a desired 80, and that would make -- with borders -- a perfect comfort quilt to add to the pile.  These are small enough I can sandwich, baste and quilt them myself, and so make them available when needed.

I continue to have an art quilt idea percolating...but am not "there" yet -- that point at which it wants to be brought into the world.  Time will tell!

I'll leave you with a link to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday -- wherein this week she's reminiscing about publications and blogs gone by.  Do you have favourite blogs that you miss?  Favourite websites that are now a thing of the past?  Check out what she misses, and take a walk down memory lane.

Blessings for the waning days of summer and until we meet again here on this page... a bientôt! 

Everything's Growing

 I seem to be able to manage a post only once a month...but that may be due, at least in part, to the fact that summer's here and there's lots more to do outdoors than there is in the winter.  Despite periods of barely tolerable heat, and a long stretch of drought, we've at last had some rain and everything's growing!

A few years ago, I bought the empty lots next to my home -- they came as a pair and total 104 ft. x 130 ft. -- when they'd fallen into the hands of a bankruptcy trustee.  Unserviced, all that was on them were scruffy shrubs and an over-grown willow "bush", left when the prior owners (before the bankruptcy) cut everything down but didn't remove the stumps.

I've been working on 'taming' the trees, and turning the dandelion-filled grass into a meadow.  Without a lot of money, it's a slow process, but it brings me a great deal of pleasure.

This year it now sports 2 apple trees, 3 Saskatoon berry bushes, a cherry shrub (edible, not just decorative), two raised beds for veggies, and two flowering beds under trees.

I've been fighting spiders on the apple trees, and drought everywhere, but it's still a pleasant place to sit in the cool of the early morning, with coffee, my journal and some knitting.

"Outdoor Studio East" in "The Grove"

This week I ordered some wild flower plugs -- of the Prairie Meadow variety -- from Wild About Flowers in southern Alberta.  I hope to get well over a dozen plugs, so I can plant them here and there over the expanse, optimistic that over time they will work away at taking over.  

I don't mind the dandelions, per se -- I make jam from the blossoms, after all! -- but I would like a bit more variety.  To that end, I've inserted daisies, irises and lupines, and am allowing the natural spread of red and white clover, alfalfa and Northern Bedstraw that have appeared on their own.

In the beds under the trees I've added poppies, bachelor buttons, brown (or black)-eyed Susans, more irises and some hens-and-chicks, just for fun.  So far, their progress has been slow -- especially due to heat and drought since early May, but "instantaneous" is not part of this gardener's vocabulary!

Grasses and wildflowers under the willows

While I watch my garden grow, I love to "grow" my textiles too.  I've not done much with the Butter Churn quilt blocks -- that's inside work -- but I am up to four dozen or so of them...another 3 dozen or more to go!

But the Tour de Fleece has started, as well as a Summer Spin-in -- both via groups on Ravelry -- and I've been trying to spin at least an hour almost every day.  My bag of Mystery Mauve wool batt has dwindled appreciably.  I'm almost finished spinning a fourth bobbin, and once I have four, will ply pairs together to get two 2-ply skeins.  Stay tuned!

I've set aside the Swan Lake shawl temporarily, as I've been 'growing' a Balvraid Hap shawl -- the small size, in the four-colour option -- from woolly wool my daughter gave me last Christmas (I wrote about that gift HERE).  It's been growing at a steady pace, and I'm now on the last bit: the outer-most lace edging:

Edging started -- June 28-2023

Here's a close-up of the edging, which you apply as you go:

And a detail shot of the tri-colour border:

I cast on this piece on June 12 -- and might just finish it by July 12.  That's how much I'm loving this project!

There's been 'growth' on the stitching front too.

"Bernarda Bellon 1838" was fully finished and mailed off last week.  All the crowns are done on "Keziah Campbell 1796", and I've charted the initials I want to place under them, but have yet to begin that.

Instead, I started and finished a delightful little stitch from Maximum Cross Stitch: "Road Leads Home".  I was inspired by the verse on the sampler, attributed to C.S. Lewis, as I connected it with the theme of a recent sermon by our parish priest.

I used the called-for DMC (except the black, which is "Carriage Black" from Weeks Dye Works), and stitched it using one thread over two, on 32-count "Smoky", a printed linen from Zweigart that I got from Embroidery Marketplace when she had her pop-up shop at Fibre Potpourri in Red Deer in mid-May.  It's too big (I think) for a pillow or flat-fold finish, so I'll try to find a frame for it.

I then finished the red sampler I was working on -- a little piece from Red Barn Samplers entitled "Jemima Fortune Cunningham 1883" (a free pattern).  I worked it on 32-count something-or-other linen, using a single strand of #8 Elganza Perle cotton from the Sue Spargo line, in the variegated red colour-way "EZM 89".  I found that at Quilting from the Heart in Camrose a while back, and was excited to try it out with cross-stitch.  It's lovely!

Next, I returned to "Barnabee's Quest - Part I" from Just Nan (a pattern from 2001!) and it's growing too:

As you can see, I've got the text and the bottom border to do, as well as adding a bee in the bottom row of flowers -- and then there are beads and a charm to add, in true Just Nan fashion.  I'm doing this on a high-count mystery fabric that's linen-like but likely not linen (!) using 1 strand over 2 (or over 1, as required on occasion), and my own DMC colours-to-match-as-closely-as-possible.  I bought the charms and beads with the pattern eons ago, but not the silks!  I've enough space on this piece of fabric to do Part II, and then another scrap of the same for Part III, and will likely create three small pillows with them once the series is complete.

But...Yesterday was Canada Day 🍁 -- so of course I had to have a new start for the occasion!  I set out a couple of months ago to find just that -- and found a reproduction of a Canadian sampler, at a mail order shop in -- of all places! -- Red Deer, an hour's drive SW of here!

The Essamplaire has an amazing array of original antique samplers and reproductions thereof -- from all over the world!  She also has a few of her own designs. Who knew?!  The ordering process is a bit 'old school', but it works just fine, so I ordered "Julia Amelia Hounslow (1848)" -- a wee marking sampler stitched by Ms. Hounslow in or around the town of Sweetsburg in the Eastern Townships of Quebec.  I had ancestors from the Townships, so that suited me down to the ground! Here's my start from yesterday:

I'm stitching this one-over-two on 36-count "Cream & Sugar" from Fiber on a Whim -- a wee remnant that I bought from a vendor at the SAQA Conference in Toronto in mid-April.  The piece calls for Soie d'Alger silk, but I had only 2 of the colours.  I'm using those, and the rest I've substituted for DMC in colours I think are "close enough". 😊  I finished the top and the left-hand borders first, to ensure I have enough space on this little bit of fabric.  It's close, but it will do.  It may end up being a pillow -- or mounted on a small canvas, or put in a small frame.  Time will tell.  Meanwhile, I've discovered I really love interspersing more complex pieces with the simplicity of alphabets and numbers on marking samplers!

Now, in addition to "Julia Amelia", I have brought out "Betty Sumner 1822" from Red Barn Samplers, and am working it as well.  Both are in very light, breezy summertime colours -- perfect for lazy, hazy days!  Here's that piece from a June 29th photo:

Today the weather has cooled significantly and may be a mix of sun and cloud, reaching a high of about 17 C (low sixties Fahrenheit), so this afternoon I just might return to those Butter Churn blocks --  to keep that quilt top growing!

Meanwhile, this morning we're supposed to have an outdoor church service at the family farm of one of our parishioners, with a potluck to follow.  Hmmm...looking out the window at the moment, I'm thinkin' it might just move indoors!  

With that I'll leave you with my usual link to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday.  This week she has a guest blogger: her daughter Tess, whom we've watched grow up over the years, and who has now published a book!  

Happy July 4 to my American readers, and blessings to all for the next while -- à bientôt!

"Time it was, and what a time it was it was..."

 The content of this post references "Bookends" from Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel...but only in a very general way.

On August 24, shortly after my last post, I had a test for COVID -- and the next day it came back "+ve", as I pretty much suspected it would.  I hinted as much then...and I was right.  (I have my suspicions as to where it invaded...i.e. the hardware store in a nearby village, where at the time I and 1 other customer were the only ones wearing masks, and I let my guard down briefly...just long enough for the delta -- suspected because I was fully vaccinated x 5 weeks -- to grab hold.)

There followed a couple of Very Miserable Days, with incessant coughing, nose-blowing, fever and chills.  That said, by the evening of August 24 I was feeling much better -- and paid for the privilege by having my senses of taste and smell disappear!

There's something really weird about not being able to taste the toothpaste when you're brushing your teeth!  Just sayin'!

I recovered gradually over the course of the next week-and-a-bit, so by the time I'd finished my designated isolation period -- the morning of Sept. 3 -- I was well enough to go into town to run some errands.  

By Labour Day Monday (Sept. 6) I was ready to go-go-go -- and in that week mowed all my lawns (east and west) and dug sod for a modest 'wildflower island' bed.

But in between and every day...as I recovered and past that...there's been a wide assortment of quiet crafting going on.  I'm going to try to summarize it, because it's easier that way...

Starting with the yard/garden -- a few "autumn approaches" photos.  

I ordered some seeds for native (that would be Alberta) wild flowers (see wildaboutflowers.ca if you're interested) -- and I chose the "Wildflowers for Bees" mix, because the mix for birds and the one for butterflies, and the one for all three at once didn't quite suit my purpose or my plan for a gradual approach. 

At the same time, I knew that these seeds would have to be planted this month, because they need to over-winter to get started in their germination, so I created this wee bed at the base of the Big Old Willow(s) -- part sun, part shade, depending on the time of day:

Wildflower bed created around a two-trunk old willow

I also researched online for options re: dealing with the sod, and found that my instinct to pile it up -- upside down -- was pretty good...so I added to the "bed" you see behind the "island" in the above photo, and then put down a new "bed" (sod upside down) at the base of the small Mountain Ash (Rowan in the UK) across the way.  It needs to be covered with newspaper and mulch over the winter; in the spring I'll remove the mulch, put a good layer of topsoil over it and go from there!  

I bought a special pack of wildflower seed for this bed -- the "Wildflowers for Kids" mix (😉) because it includes some "instant gratification" seeds that should flower next summer.  The mix for bees is for perennials which -- with respect to wildflowers -- can mean several years before anything much appears.  I knew that I'm just enough of a "kid" to want to have some "immediate" results in order to be encouraged and motivated to continue this project!

Sod bed created at the base of 
a young Mountain Ash

The seeds arrived Friday in the mail, and yesterday (Saturday) I was able to get them planted.  I have yet to prepare the sod bed, but that should happen later today.  Then there's cutting back the spent perennials and so on and so on and so on...

But is there stitching?? (I can hear you asking.)

Yes!  When I was recovering and in isolation -- but before I had my full energy back -- we were blessed with abundant pleasant, not too hot, not too windy weather.  

• I added more motifs and borders to "What Remains is Love" -- but took no photos.  Sorry!  
• I got Serious September Startitis: Knitting Edition.  This means I...
• Finished my Socks from Stash August socks, mentioned in my last post, which will be a gift to my daughter for Xmas (yarn colour approved);
• Decided Sweater Weather was approaching and started -- not one but TWO -- pullovers:
• "Turtle Dove II" from L'espace Tricot, in Gathering Yarn's "Haynes Creek Heathers Aran" in a glorious teal -- purchased at The Crafty Lady in Lacombe before she took her show on the road.  (NOTE: Lori -- TCL -- still carries Gathering Yarn products, which can be ordered online at her shop HERE.); and
• "Ranunculus", designed by Midori Hirose -- yes, I fell down a rabbit hole!  I've been pondering this pattern for months -- ever since I heard a fleeting mention of it on a YouTube 'cast from The Woolly Thistle.  

When I went to Edmonton to visit my daughter (more about that another time), I stopped in at The Fibre Nook (a favourite shop of mine there) -- by appointment due to COVID.  I was the only customer, and boy! Was I treated well!  I had a wonderful hour with the young man who was serving me -- and I bought 3 skeins of the most beautiful yarn -- BC Garn 'Bio Shetland' GOTS (now discontinued) -- in a dark navy, the last 3 skeins available.  In the shop there was a Ranunculus pullover made of yarn in a similar weight, which confirmed that I had enough in the 3 skeins to make one of my own. 

 About 10 days -- or so -- ago, I stumbled onto Selma and her Little Big Knits 'cast on YouTube.  She's Canadian -- from Ottawa, a place that has many special memories and meanings for me.  And she's made multiples of this sweater...and has been running a Knit-ALong (KAL) on the "Little Big Knits" group on Ravelry.  Well, then.  That's when I fell.  Hook, line and sinker.  So...I'm on the yoke now.  Fingering-weight yarn on 6 mm needles...with a top-down pattern that's simple but challenges the mind.  It definitely rivals the "Turtle Dove II" for a spot in my current affections...

 

The start of my Ranunculus pullover

It doesn't look like much -- yet -- but I'm having fun with it and it's going to be great!  😊

Of course, there are always socks!  This month's theme at the Socks from Stash group on Ravelry is "Food and Drink"; I'm making "Lollipop" socks in a self-striping, marled yarn in shades of purple and blue, with a bit of grey:

Pattern: "Lollipop"
Designer: ela m.
Yarn: Queensland Collection "Perth" in "Royal Blubell"
(yes, that's how 'bluebell' is spelled on the ball band!)

One finished September Sock

And...in yet another "Startitis" knit...I'm making a pair of fingerless mittens for a cousin of mine (late DH's family) who had a bad fall a good 18 months or so ago.  She sustained nerve damage that particularly affects her right arm, and her right hand is always cold.  A while back, when I still worked part time at The Crafty Lady (who still stocks the Queensland sock yarn, above), I was given a sample skein to bring home.  It's lovely stuff, and there's just enough of it to make these mitts, with perhaps a bit left over.  The first one is finished now:

Pattern: "Reciprocation"
Designer: Michelle Hunter
Yarn: Mirasol Sulka Legato in colour #13
- "Purple" -- for obvious reasons! 😉

The cable pattern is really cool -- and will be the mirror image on the right hand!  The yarn is 60% wool, 20% alpaca and 20% cashmere, so I think my cousin-in-law will love these as much as I love 'em.  (I have another ball -- a different but equally lovely yarn -- so I think I just might have to make myself a pair too!)

In betwixt and between, I've been sifting and sorting yarn and fabric.  This has resulted in a purge (pretty much 100%) of anything "bulky" in my yarn stash -- i.e., anything requiring needles larger than 6 mm...and even some of those.  A bag-full went to the local charity Thrift Store earlier this week.  Photos were taken of yarns being kept in my stash, and stash quantities have been up-dated.  To ensure I kept on track with Things I Want to Make, I put yarn(s) and patterns together in storage, so that I can grab a "kit" and immediately cast on a project.  I also ensured that WIPs/UFOs also had the patterns and notes that I'll need when I come to finish those projects.  A couple of "I'll never finish this!" projects were frogged!!

A labour of love, to be sure -- but at least now I know where I stand!

With respect to fabric...

I've cut up a batch of bits-and-bobs into squares and rectangles a la Bonnie Hunter -- i.e. her Scrap Saver's System -- and bagged them.  I found I had a batch of left-over half-square triangles (HSTs) from "Frolic!", so I turned them into this year's "Leader and Ender" challenge -- "Fish School".  Of course (Murphy's Law of Left-over Quilt Materials) I don't have enough to make anything significant, but at least there's an idea started...

My "Grassy Creek" top went to Sylvia-the-local-long-arm-quilter this week, to be quilted.  Here's my version -- before quilting.  Miss Pookie approves!

And here's the back -- mostly polyester, from my "inheritance", clinging to the rails on the back stoop (it was starting to rain and there was a breeze!)  My late friend Joan, who supplied most of the fabric in this quilt, was the "Queen of Polyester"!

There's been a bit of artful play, too.  While I was recovering, I dug through my magazines, and found an article in Quilting Arts -- April/May 2018 issue -- featuring the practice of Canadian Maggie Vanderweit of Ontario.  I decided to play with plant and rust 'bundling', and so created a couple of bundles from two old white tea cloths.  

• I soaked one in the water from cooking purple cabbage (I ate the cabbage; it was from a friend's garden and it was delicious!).  I'd added a bit of powdered milk to the soak as a mordant.  
• I soaked the second in the milk solution only.
• Then I bundled the "cabbage" one with outer leaves (removed from the cabbage before cooking and saves for this purpose), some 'rusty bits' (I have a collection) and some assorted red and yellow onion skins (ditto).
• And I bundled the "plain" one with more 'rusty bits' and more onion skins.
• I steamed them for several hours, and then put the pot aside in my back room to cool; I left it there for 3 days.
• Then I unbundled everything, threw out the leaves/skins, put away the 'rusty bits', rinsed the cloths and hung them to dry:

I think the one on the right had the cabbage soak.

These are now dry and ironed lightly, set aside for the moment when I'm inspired to work with them.  I expect they'll be cut up into smaller pieces and worked by hand, but one never knows.  It'll be up to them and the Muse!  

To wind up the past month* (!), yesterday I joined Joe Cunningham for another "Quilt Freedom Workshop".  This session, the topic was "Secondary Patterns" -- how the use of colour, block placement and other design elements can create movement and interest by leading the eye to more than one pattern in the same piece.   I dug out 3 fabrics from my stash, none of which I'd used nor had any idea what to do with, and came up with this:

 I call it "Secondary Rhythm"
and no, it's not perfectly rectangular; it's
a bit wonky!

I'll quilt it and face the edges, put a sleeve on it and see where it takes me.  The process has given me an idea for my strings...

And there you have it.  *I counted, and yes, it was really four weeks since my last post.  No wonder there's been so much to share in this one!  If you've read all this way, then I thank you, Gentle Readers -- you are more than patient with me!

If you want to read more, you can follow this link to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday blog, where I'll be sharing this post, too.

Here in Alberta we're in a Public Health State of Emergency because of a Comedy of Errors and Egos (too much to go into here!), so we're all trying to cope with a return of public health protocols, dealing with Rebellious Nay-sayers, Vaccine Refusers and others, and just trying to manage with as much patience, kindness and civility as we can muster.  Our health care personnel are exhausted, overworked and underpaid.  So...it's good to work with one's hands out in the yard and garden, and inside in the studio -- and to be able to share it with you.

Take care, stay safe, remember your manners and healthy practices -- and I hope to connect again soon!

P.S. One more thing!  My SAQA Benefit Auction piece comes up for bid in Section 3 -- you can see it and all the wonderful pieces available by going HERE.  You need to have a (free) account to bid, but you can look and enjoy without one.  Thanks!

Always Be Humble and Kind
(C) 2016

More Fun with Dye and Paint...and Other Things

 We're not under "Heat Dome" any more (apparently) but this has been the hottest summer I can remember while living Out West.  I grew up in SW Quebec, where summers were hot and humid; out here, since my first summer in 1977?  Not so much!

I'll admit that it has made the "Summer of Slow and Quiet" easier to do!  No one can move quickly in this heat, and blessedly none of my neighbours have conspired to be noisy.   No late, tipsy evenings around a fire pit, for example.  It's just been too darned hot!

So...what have I been up to?

Early mornings are given over to knitting (even with cotton it's too hot later in the day), and taking a good walk -- unless I'm mowing the grass.

I began some weeks ago to mow 'selectively' on the east side of my property, as I'm trying to encourage clovers (red, Dutch white and sweet white), alfalfa and some wildflowers to propate.  Here's most of the current selection:

Meadow Salsify

Meadow Salsify at seed

"False Dandelion"  (looks a bit like one but isn't)

White Sweet Clover (there's a yellow one too)

Alfalfa

I also have a few daisies here and there, and have transplanted in some Brown/Black-eyed Susans and catnip.  So far the catnip has been completely ignored -- not only by Miss Pookie but also by any and all cats in the neighbourhood.  I suppose that for this I should be thankful! 😉

There has been harvesting too -- 

Broccoli -- the first of three planted

Zucchini -- just a sample!

Raspberries -- the second picking so far, 
with at least 1 more to go!

And my flowers continue to suprise and delight.  Years ago a former neighbour gave me some agapanthus transplants.  To date, they've always given orange coloured blossoms.  This year, too -- but then they also offered these...

Agapanthus Day lilies in yellow -- first blooms

I'm told by a florist friend that these aren't 
"agapanthus" as I first thought -- they're 
day lilies!  Who knew? 😉

Then there's the bush I fondly call my "Old Lady Rose", given me by that same former neighbour (they'd been planted by his mother decades ago)...She's blossoming in bunches this year, despite the heat and drought!

Getting away from the gardening...

I've been doing some painting.  Some of this has been 'work' -- my kitchen cupboard doors and drawers -- and some, play.  I'll spare you the B, S & T (Blood, sweat & tears) of the former and share the latter, which I'm sure you'll enjoy more!

Between January and March this year I took part (loosely) in an online class by the talented Susan Purney Mark.  I admire her work and have been blessed to take a short workshop in person with her at a SAQA Regional retreat (Western Canada) a few years back.  This class was titled "Cloth to Codex" -- and it turned out to be more about mark-making and book/scroll assembly than interests me, but I continued to observe, and to mark time till I had the space in which to "get messy" (out on my back stoop) and play with some of what she taught us.

I was most intrigued by the fabric painting and "dipping" processes, and have experimented with some of these.

I began with some 'dip-dyeing' of assorted fabric -- mostly linen embroidery scraps, but also a piece of closely-woven cotton...

Fabrics folded, dipped and drying 
on recycled Styrofoam trays

Dip-dyed linens, unfolded and dry

My favourite dip-dyed piece!

This one absorbed colour all over --
but especially in the folds

I also played with painting fabrics.  I did so by placing them on pieces of 140-lb water-colour paper, so that the paint would go through:

Painted organic cotton slub 1

Painted organic cotton slub 2

Painted recycled pillow cover fabric

Painted synthetic sheer fabric

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with any of that fabric yet -- but pieces from two of the watercolour paper underlays have been turned into these...

Accidental Landscape - "Marsh Mist"
-- matted to 8" x 10"

Accidental Landscape -- "Summer Slough"
-- matted to 5" x 7"

They make me happy! 😊

While I was looking for fabric to paint (above), I came across a scrap of fabric that had 'blotches' of colour on it.  I think it was simply a 'blotter' from an earlier fabric painting episode, now long gone from memory.  That said, it reminded me of a butterfly on flowers, so I sandwiched it up, stitched it and here it is!

"Garden Fantasy" - matted to 7" x 9"

"Garden Fantasy" - close up

I eventually found the fabric for which I was looking, and -- inspired by a painting of an autumn scene done by an artist in one of my FB groups -- I created a single piece that, in the end, looked better sliced in half and stitched.  Today I mounted the pieces -- each is 4" W x 8 1/2" L -- mounted side by side on painted stretched canvas, and eventually I'll take it to be framed:

Autumn Reflections (2021)
on 12" square painted canvas

Close up - left

Close up - right

Yes, there has been knitting, and some hand-stitch...but that will have to wait until another day.  This is enough for now.  I have some charity quilting to do and have three (count 'em!) library books to enjoy, which will carry me through the next few days, all of which are expected to be extremely hot.

Till next time, friends, may you be well, be safe, and be creative!  I'm linking this up with Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday and wishing you blessings for the rest of the weekend.  😊