bee creative

playing with fabric

playing...

 

Onion skins, raw silk, a little beeswax. 

 

A stencil and a big brush. 

 

The top of a cork.  

Haven't washed the beeswax out yet.  I'm going to do more. 

this weekend...

 

Was about helping at a garden sale (which was luckily warm and dry) and time with family.  It was a glimpse of the moon before the storm moved in.

It was a bit of spinning and a bit of crochet.  And dashing out between rain showers to plant a few things.  I'm very excited to be adding elderberry to my garden. 

The gray is left over commercially spun yarn from a pair or socks, the many colored stripes my hand-spun. 

And finally, this weekend was about split pea soup...one of the best comfort foods. 

possible projects

Possibility 1 and 2:  Last week I accidentally wore my garden jeans to work.  They are in pretty good shape except for the patch on the back.  I'm thinking I might do a bit of embellishment on the leg to remind me that some jeans are just for the garden.  This little bit is sewn from another pair of jeans.  I'm thinking of patching together old jeans to make a cover for my futon.  Might be fun to do this on the leg of my garden jeans....

Possibility 3:  This morning I started to spin some roving into some yarn.  The colors were so much more interesting as roving though, that I ended up felting it.  I wasn't trying for a solid piece, but rather one with holes and long stringy pieces.  I was going to stitch it down to another piece of wool as just a layer of fabric, but I see the beginning of a jelly fish...

"I can scarcely wait till tomorrow when a new life begins for me, as it does each day, as it does each day."  From "The Round" by Stanley Kunitz

reputation

I wonder if we sometimes let the reputation of something scare us away from trying. 

Making cheese?  Must be hard.  Well not always. 

Growing orchids?  Reputation, fussy.   This cymbidium orchid I've had for over seven years is the most neglected and abused plant you could imagine (little did I know that it actually likes the way I treat it-not too much water in the winter, cooler temps).  It has a few blossoms this year...

from the kitchen: curds and whey

A little history on Little Miss Muffet is available via the link.    The top picture is my "curds and whey pizza."  Dough made with whey and curds on top for cheese.  Curds and whey are formed when milk is heated and something acidic (vinegar in my case) is added.  It needed something salty.  

The bottom picture is goat cheese I made last summer and froze.  It came out of the freezer beautifully.  The bread is made with whey.  I've also been experimenting with substituting whey for milk in chowder recipes.   On top, local honey.  So good! 

A few resources I like for cheese making.  Should be available at the library to review, I ended up buying them:

Home Cheese Making by Ricki Carroll

Wild Fermentation by Sandor Ellix  Katz

left behind

The crows were back today.                All that is left of my prayer flags. 

Still it is nice to know they are tucked in a nest somewhere. 

nest building

This morning as I opened the back door I surprised a crow in the act of shredding one of last year's prayer flags.  He/she flew off with a little bit of cheese cloth in it's beak.  I'm guessing it was taken for nest building material.

I created my pillow much like the crow's nest will be built:  a bit of lint from a wool sock, threads from the selvages of fabric, little bits of yarn.  All carded together with wool roving and then spun and knit.   Reclaimed wool blanket for the back.  I'm spinning further down the path...

I have another idea...

making things

A little food for thought:  I like the question asked at ArtSpark Theatre, "What's Your Tribe?"  And this conversation at Make & Meaning about the concept of "cognitive surplus (that would be the time we have in our lives that isn't directed towards survival)."  What I particularly liked about the idea expressed on the video posted at Make & Meaning is the idea that perhaps we are moving from being a society of consumers to one of being participants.  At least in some ways...

overacheiving

At least I didn't put homemade cheese on it....

Tonight I was frustrated because I couldn't quite create what I was visualizing.  Had to remind myself to take a deep breath and remember that not everything comes at once.  And who would really want it that way? 

currently reading and a random thought