bee creative

a few projects

The last couple days have been spent mostly indoors...it's been raining. 

I did get out today for awhile to appreciate the last of the apple blossoms, pull a few weeds and transplant some lettuce and spinach.  And to check on an experiment...

Mom gave me some Ollas (pots used for watering plants) for Christmas.  The whole idea fascinated me and I did some research. 

This is one way of making one...bury a clay planter, with the hole stopped up by something (I went with a cork for now) and then place a saucer on top for a lid.  The lids are off right now to collect rainwater. 

I am also going to try these for the squash and cucumbers (that's where the ones Mom gave me are going). 

As for being inside...the sewing machine is set up again and I am starting to work through some fabrics that I had stashed away.  The first project was making pillow cases with the indigo dyed velvet. 

More to come!

how it might be

A pink moon?

I think this might work.  I am knitting a collar as a separate piece.  I don't have enough of this color though so I am starting stripes with the pink above. 

If it doesn't work, the strip will make a great scarf and I will try something else for the neckline.

Garden time today included a lot of looking and dreaming.

This is Kerria, a shrub that is related to the rose family.  Along with a dog rose, it fills a whole corner in my garden.  

And this is the rose that has, in the past, filled the other corner.  It had become very tangled in the blackberry vines and unfortunately most of the canes were cut off while I was cleaning up the corner.   I am so happy to see it coming back from the base!  Mom started it as a cutting from a rose in her garden, so I know it's not root stock. 

Now all I have to do is keep the blackberries from coming back...

everyday

Earth pigment, the soil from my garden.

A different perspective.

Foot level, just after sunrise. 

I am on staycation again this week and am planning on working on at least one project everyday. 

Today I finally got around to making clothing for a doll I've been working on for quite awhile.

I named her Primrose...last year or maybe the year before? 

Time gets away from me. 

The blue is indigo (ice dyed from the fresh plant) and the purple hollyhock; all fabrics silk.  The piece of fabric with the dots was originally dyed with onion skin and pennies as a resist and then dyed in the indigo.  It's one of my favorite pieces of fabric that I've ever dyed.

Still more work to do on Primrose, but first I need to find my felting needles...hopefully that won't take me another year. 

favorite things...well some of them

I love watching ferns unfold themselves. 

The occasional heart shaped arrangement when they face each other.

My favorite primroses are blooming...auricula. 

They are like velvet. 

Everything local, except the olive oil which is from California.

Wheat berries + radish + salad turnip + asparagus (from the garden) + feta + dill + hazelnuts + apple cider vinegar + olive oil.   The asparagus was added raw.

 

Layers. The duck photo is from one of my grandmother's collection. 

Thinking about thinking.  A recently discovered poet, Mary Ruefle: 

"I believe there is no difference between thinking and imagining, and that they are one." 

From On Imagination

(I found Mary Ruefle via Austin Kleon's website and then she popped up as a link in one of The Marginalian newsletters.

There's a rabbit hole...)

 

maybe we need a new word

There were a few things I hoped to find as I was sorting.

This was one of them.

It's a strip of squares pieced together.

It will eventually be a fabric basket, cube shaped.

One panel is a sleepy baby dragon made during one of Jude's classes.

I am hoping to work on it for about 10 minutes each day until I can call it done enough to assemble. 

I've been thinking about what it means to finish something since I wrote this as a comment on one of Jude's posts,

I think for me, when I think of unfinished…it’s the stage between started and useful for something other than the process of making (which is a useful thing for mental health!). Once it’s reached functional… I guess I think of it as in a process of change, and maybe just that? Maybe this is why I gravitate towards blankets/pillows/containers/clothing…. I’ve got to think about this more.

This continues to feel true to me.  Once something reaches a point of telling a story or being useful, it feels finished to me. 

But this doesn't mean that there might not be more to do.  There will be.

The story might change; the purpose might as well.  There may be mending to do. Everything is up for revision.  Everything is always transforming as it ages, always becoming.

The garden is always growing.

Perhaps it is only finished when it is consumed? I have finished the last of the peanut butter...it is consumed.

Can an idea be consumed? 

 

almost

I am almost ready to start sewing again.

I did a lot of sorting today. And prioritizing.  There are things to be made, mended and refashioned. 

Or it could just be a cat bed.

I also spent several hours in the garden today.

The wild currant is especially beautiful this year. 

Fritillaria affinis, chocolate lily or checkered lily.  Not the one I was hoping for (Fritillaria camschatcensis), but still very pretty.

All the fruit trees are almost in bloom. 

Enchanted April (I watched the movie again!) has begun...

another fool

This one is a mixture of cream and skyr yogurt (local and my current favorite).

Today I potted up tomato starts.  They are in a sheltered place with row cover over them to keep them warm enough.  We've had some low 30's but are moving towards lows in the 40's.  There are some peppers too. 

This is a little risky but if the temperatures don't dip again will make for an earlier start for tomatoes and peppers. 

It's been so good to work in the garden...

more or less a fool

The first of the rhubarb cooked with a few of last years strawberries, stirred into yogurt. 

The pear trees began blooming today. 

So many things happening in the garden right now. 

It makes me almost giddy...