bee creative

garden update: end of August

This brings my total harvest of tomatoes to 10...that's from 8 plants.  The worst tomato harvest I've ever had.  Oh but I am proud of that pale yellow one on the far left.  That would be the first tomato grown from a seed that I saved from another tomato and that I then planted.  The pale yellow tomatoes on the right are the same variety, a bit riper, from a plant my mother started from seed she bought. 

 

I have the most beautiful winter squash plants I've ever grown (as a result of my lovely homemade chicken manure compost), but it's just starting to set fruit and we've started having near record lows at night.  Maybe next year....

What's done the best this year:  garlic, potatoes, and sour cherries.  Peas would have been good too if the dogs hadn't eaten them. 

 

moving forward with a few beasts

I've been feeling like my lion-tiger lily needed to be grounded.  While I was playing with some of my great-grandmother's lace, I decided one of the round motifs would make a good "flower."  The two little ones I crocheted for a bit more variety. 

And then I played with the crayons:

I love how the crayon blended all the edges between the face and the petals.

I also used crayon to create a base for the dragon-cow.  She looks much more comfy. 

recyling: a "ruff" project

As I'm mending all my blankets, I decided Lola needed her own blanket.  I was going to take a picture of it hanging, but this is more fun.  The material is from 6 shirts (several are flannel), 1 pair of pants, pieces of an old duvet (mostly for the back) and scraps from various projects.  It's built of approximately 6 inch blocks pieced together for the front.  The seams don't really match anywhere.  I sewed the front and back together right side to right side and then turned it out and stitched the bottom and edges closed.  Lola likes paw at the blankets so I thought she'd like the loose puffy quality of the two layers left without quilting.   

I'd say she approves.  I hope she'll share with Briar. 

in season: peppers plus a little more sighing

Who says green chilies need to be used for chile rellenos?  What about Italian peppers?  For a stuffing I used some of my homemade farm cheese; the coating is a bit of egg white and cornmeal.  It was so good....  Tomatillio salsa in the background.

The egg yolk ended up in the ice cream:

I have one more variation to try with this recipe and then I think I'll have just the ice cream I want. 

"Sigh" underwent a bit more transformation.

A side panel, some loose threads (because isn't that part of regrets?), and a bit of my great-grandmother's crocheted lace.

One more little detail, one more "what if"  to try and then I think it may be ready for a backing. 

still sighing

As she unfolded her wings, the butterfly noticed little dots had appeared on her body. 

I'm also stitching on my cowboy quilt.  It's a quilt that I made several years ago.  I'd like to say that one of the cowboys came to life and somewhere along the line caught the quilt in some barbed wire (been thinking about this video by the group A-ha).  But the real culprit is Lola the chihuahua.  She's up to about ten holes on it now. 

Might make some little tiny star patches for some of these holes.  Others I'm going to leave slightly mended, slightly ragged. 

sigh

She gathered all regrets into her twilight wings and with a little sigh let them go into the universe....

I've been doing a bit of outline stitching on this piece and decided to fill in the center of the flowers. I love the dimension the stitching gives. 

For comparison, an older picture:

dividing line

Or maybe it's the mixing line.  The spot I liked the best.  Where silk soaked in marigold dye bath met fermented red cabbage dye bath. 

 

For my second batch of marigold dye I started with warm tap water and let the sun heat everything up, rather than using boiling water.   The color was much less intense. 

But I got my first strong shade of green so I'm happy (marigold and then red cabbage). 

problem solving

During record breaking heat, I decided to work on my sweater.  I'm so close to done...

What did I learn as I attached sleeves to the body and started the yoke?  That when in doubt, follow the directions.  When a place of confidence is reached, trust intuition.  A generalization that might cover a lot of ground....

How to not heat the kitchen up too much?  Rather than bake bread, I fried up a bit of dough on the stove top.  It's not deep fried, I just used a tiny bit of oil.  A bit of sugar, cinnamon, and honey for a topping.  The sugar and honey might have been a bit much (I thought of honey after I'd put the sugar on), but it was oh so good. 

balance

The past week was a very busy one for me and yesterday a very full day of playing (I took this picture at a concert held down at the bay).  A bit out of balance, but maybe a good thing for me.  Maybe being out of balance leads to growth? 

This morning while I was working on how to do a wing for my dragon-cow

I realized that he wasn't about taking the time to rest as I thought, but rather about balance. 

He is resting on the edge of cool water, the warmth of sun.  He is still and watchful, but growing wings and will fly soon...

in season: berries

I used a recipe for strawberry gelato, but substituted a mix of blueberry, raspberry and strawberry.

The mix makes a pretty good popsicle too.  

Should have some blackberries for dyeing soon.  This is red cabbage (the velvet), marigold (the cream-ish strip, it's a bit more yellow in person), and yellow over-dyed with a commercial blue dye.  It was time to make a little bag for my bus knitting.