bee creative

there is always more to the story

This is where I confess that the ocean is on my mind because  I just got back from California.

I took a lot of pictures through the car door window...it adds a little texture to the images.

 

And while the ocean is amazing, this trip I found myself watching the rolling hills for all the beautiful flowers too. 

This is the lupine along the coast.  There is also a yellow variety.  I am wondering if the purple is an escapee?

Native Rhododendrons that were growing inland.

I also saw incredible ceanothus (California lilac), Broom (invasive but beautiful), iris and other flowers in bloom.

And there are beautiful gardens, so many things blooming. 

The color here is from an iris in my aunt's garden.  The purple was made by pressing a mushy flower bloom down on the paper; the greenish-blue is from soaking that flower in some water. 

More color experiments to come...

P.S. I am not sure I will be able to respond to comments.  I am receiving them via email but can't see the comments for the last three posts on the blog. 

 

thinking of the ocean

My current knitting project. 

It's a secret. :)

I've been looking through old photos.

This is my grandfather and grandmother.  My grandfather was an extra in the movie Frenchman's Creek (1944).

And this was the pirate ship in the movie.

 

 

 

to be so many things (going big)

I used to worry (and every once and awhile still do) that I loved to do too many things.

The worry is/was driven, I think, by being part of a culture that values specialization. Success is often defined as becoming very good at one thing. 

That's just not who some of us are.

It's not who I am.

A few months ago (I know I should have paid more attention to where but I can't remember or find where) I discovered an artist that I wanted to know more about, Meryl McMaster.

So, I ordered her book. It arrived at the end of last week and it is full of wonder.

Buffy Sainte-Marie, in the foreword, writes about how it wasn't always that people were specialists.

We knew how to do many things. 

After some of the other reading/listening I've been doing recently (Nick Offerman/Wendell Berry in particular), it really clicked into place that we lose something really important when we specialize too much.  It's not just about not knowing where food comes from or how something is made, but how we might be and interact with the world around us.

There is a loss of faith in our ability to be something more than a consumer. It shows up every day in the news.

And as I go out into the garden every day right now and collect or harvest for projects or food, I am watch all the changes that are happening so quickly in this season. I am thinking about how much I learn from being curious about growth, about nurturing a garden. Thinking about how a garden is always a process. 

About how it influences me as someone who makes things; how I make them and why I make them.  A garden is abundant with possibilities. 

This is partly a response to Grace's and Jude's posts regarding making, but also something that I am almost always thinking about...

"Tell me what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"  Mary Oliver

 

learning from mistakes

Gibson and Widget were napping on one of the rocking chairs.

Timber was napping on top of the armoire.

I thought, here's my opportunity to cut out some fabric!

The fabric wasn't even unfolded before I had all three cats playing peek-a-boo as I shook it out.

I retreated to the front porch...

First cutting the yardage in half and then laying out my two pattern pieces.

The top is from, The Act of Sewing and the skirt is one that I self drafted. 

I rounded the curve in the arm hole a little bit as I cut the first piece. 

The first layer was used as the pattern for the second layer.

I've found that I like this top better when I use the neckline for the back on both sides.

***

This afternoon I've been listening to presentations for an online early childhood education conference.  There was discussion on the power of making mistakes. 

I thought about how many pieces of clothing its taken me to reach the point of being comfortable making clothes that I am happy with. 

To reach the point where a pattern is a suggestion and nothing else because I know what I like and what works with my body type. 

There have been a lot of things through the years that were cut up and used for something else or that are still waiting for me to imagine another use.

Thinking about how mistakes are only mistakes when we imagine a desired outcome, when we are expecting a certain result. 

***

Thinking about this:

"Our culture has beheld with suspicion unproductive time, things not utilitarian and daydreaming in general, but we live in a time when it is especially challenging to articulate the importance of experiences that don't produce anything obvious, aren't easily quantifiable, resist measurement, aren't easily named, are categorically in-between."  Ann Hamilton (found here)

And, from Neil Gaiman's book Fragile Things (which I am getting my own copy of as soon as possible!)

“600 professional dreamers would have been needed, to reveal the nature of things hidden beneath the roots of the trees and in the deepest mountain cabins and the depths of the seas for the map to be worth anything needed to contain the visible empire and the invisible.” Neil Gaiman Fragile Things Chapter 2

Professional dreamer...that's the job I want. 

 

making things, growing things

Salve making:

Olive oil (about 1 cup) that  calendula petals have been steeping in + beeswax (about 1 tablespoon).

I usually dry any plant matter before adding to the olive oil.  This keeps it from molding.

I have a dedicated jar that I use for melting the beeswax in and use a frying pan as a double boiler to heat the oil and the wax.  Once the wax is melted, it is poured into the heated oil and stirred (I usually use a wood skewer).  If you try this, be careful with this step and don't walk away. 

The salve will solidify as it cools. 

The proportion of wax to oil will impact how hard the salve is.  My proportion makes a fairly soft salve that can almost become a liquid on a really hot day. 

Sewing:  This was dress length.  I never really wore it much and it's been sitting in a "re-do" pile.  Today I cut it to just above knee length and am now hemming it.  I will probably make a bag with the fabric I cut off.

Growing: 

The ginger has sprouted! I will put it in a planter and give it a good dose of fish fertilizer (recommended by a local farmer who grew it to sell at the farmer's market for many years).

The cherry, plums, pears and one of the apple trees are blooming.  This cherry has never set fruit.  It's supposed to be self-pollinating but I don't think it is!

Eating:

Pasta + homemade ricotta + sorrel (garden) + oregano (garden) + asparagus (garden) + hazelnuts and hazelnut oil (local, farmer's market) + parmigiano reggiano (from far away Italy because I am not perfect and I love it so).

Listening to:  Where the Deer and the Antelope Play by Nick Offerman.  Interesting, sometimes funny, political, and seriously concerned about the state of our world. He sometimes seems to go off on a tangent, which might drive some crazy, and he has what I would call a "potty mouth."

I am not quite done yet, but am pretty sure one of my favorite things he discusses is about how disconnected we become from our  environment and what it means to be a community, when we are only consumers... 

random thought

Earlier this week I was wondering what the world would be like if we put flowers in unusual places more often...

And, over the last couple days I've been working on this

 

and this

Enjoying a quiet moment here and there.

waste not

A new challenge has been on my mind and it is pure coincidence that I am posting about it on Earth Day.

This is what I am starting with: 50 projects that use up what would be commonly considered "waste," weeds or salvaged materials.  Depending on how long it takes me to get to 50, I may keep going.  I've already got ideas to start with such as making a rag rug, making paper with paper scraps, pieced clothing, baskets and...

Dandelion wine!

It will be a small batch as I really don't know whether I like it or not.  Two cups of petals are now soaking in water for the next week.

This could qualify as a project although it feels a bit like cheating.  All I did was gather some vines and put them in the tins.  Mom was the one that tended the fire.  The top piece of charcoal is from Mom and Dad's fireplace. 

Along with some other things, my aunt sent me this beautiful table runner that has tears in it.

So many possibilities!

This isn't a daily challenge, I am just going to take my time and see what I can do. 

 

 

lazy day

There was a long nap.

And some list making.

I choose flowers a lot.

There probably won't be any new posts for a few days...

#97 doodle lines at the end of the day

Permission to be tired...

#92 flying is an option...

It's a rock now (although maybe in disguise):

Today's mark making also included painting one of the origami butterflies I've learned to make.

I found the directions as a suggested post on Instagram.  Maybe a little tricky unless you already know some origami as the directions go fairly fast.

Today's adventures also included chasing the neighbor's chicken.

It took three of us to round her up.

The cats were fascinated.

She can fly!