July

 So far, July has been packed with projects and flowers



 Indigo and cochineal shibori scarves


 


Hand-spun silk yarn dyed with  woad


More Naturally dyed embroidery silks


 


Inspiration!


 

Gratitude

Plenty of rain


 

Wild campanula


 


First sweet pea flower


 


 

 Happy harvest


 


Thank You.

New roses

Rose  Henrys' Gold

June 16


Portulaca

It's very hot with temperatures in the 90's and high humidity.. Outdoors really smells like summer.. The scent is both sharp and sweet. It reminds me of summers past.

The heat makes it hard for me to work on anything besides spinning hemp fiber into yarn. and dyeing it with indigo.


 


I've also kept up dyeing the silk thread.


Silk threads dyed with indigo, coreopsis flowers,walnut hulls and madder

May 10, 2018

Redbud  (Cercis Canadensis)

How quickly the days, weeks and months rush along!  Every day there are new amazements. I like to spend my time in the garden and pay close attention. The only trouble is that I don't get much done indoors.


 

 Milkweed (Asclepius syriaca)

As I was emptying the old potting soil from  a flowerpot, I discovered several pods of milkweed that had dropped into the soil and been covered up.These seed pods had overwintered here and are now sprouting.


 

Back to normal...(cold!)

After two days of sunshine and warmth, the cold winds and gray skies have returned. I'm trying to keep the sweet pea youngsters from getting too cold while still giving them light.


I know they don't mind cool temperatures, but surely they don't like freezing. I've been carrying them outdoors in the daytime and back in at night. This morning  I made a little tent for the containers with clear plastic to let in the light and keep out the very cold wind.


Happily, the scilla doesn't mind at all. Patience, endurance, gratitude and cheerfulness live in the garden.

Warmth and inspiration!

bBloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis)


 Suddenly it's warm! The garden is joyful and beautiful. The back-yard colors inspire natural dyeing.


These silks were dyed with walnut hulls, coreopsis flowers, weld and indigo


Crocus


Violet shades from madder, lac and indigo


King Alfred Daffodils


Greens, yellow and blues from weld, coreopsis flowers and indigo


The very brave Scilla


Indigo


Warm morning sky

I'm very grateful for this rare, lovely and warm Spring day.


 

Still cold

It's still cold here without the occasional warm days. In spite of this, the brave daffodils, tulips, scilla are holding on. Some are even blooming.


Scilla


For the first time in ages, I'm growing sweet peas. Thought they are prefer cool temperatures, I don't think they'd like to be outdoors in 20 degrees and ice.


 




 

Spring green

Snowdrops


Daffodils



Silk, indigo and weld

January wonder

Just when it seemed too cold for anything but cozy indoor projects, an outdoor wonder appeared.


 When the ground is frozen and the world is ice cold, I toss seeds and crumbs to the birds. Today this fine feathered beauty was waiting and watching the festival of sparrows and pigeons from the power lines



 Those feathers!



I think this is a red-tailed hawk.


What surprised me the most was that the birds on the ground didn't seem to mind him at all.  Also that he simply watched them for nearly an hour.

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