Dyed Yarn

Pansies I love them. How could I not dye some yarn to look like Pansies. I love this yarn. I have used a sock yarn base with some nylon in the yarn. I love all the purples I got in there. Then the shots of yellow and pink. 

I have done it into a cake already. This might have to be knitted in to socks soon. 

I did this sock yarn too. I kept the repeat a little shorter on this one. I kind of hope the purple might join up when done in socks. We will see. 

Now this one is not easy to wrap. It should give me strips in the three colour families. The pink will be repeated between the blue and green. It will be fun to see how it goes. I wish I had kept track of how many repeats are in the one ball. 

Also caked up to start anytime now. 

I got swishy mail yesterday! My yarn for dying has arrived. I am not sure what I will dye next but I am thinking more flower colours. 

Inspiration can be found! I might have to take more photos this year.  

Look at the dahlias. I had to buy one of these. Kind of wish I could have a whole garden of them. We will see how it does. About 10 years ago I planted some Dahlias and the bugs yuck. I had crazy black aphid things all over them.  I hope they do not show up again. We will see. 

Here is my dad also picking out some dahlias for his pots. This is the Best! the first day at the green house! I love that my dad and I got do this together.  Turns out last year the 29th of April was also our first day to the green house. It was after 6 weeks of lock down because of Covid. And we still live this covid lockdowns. Not much has changed except we have found a few better ways to live. I got one vaccine so far. 

Stay safe! 

To Garden is to have Hope! 

Design Wall Monday Sept 22

I did a couple of block exchanges using Kaffe Fasset collection this year. I finally got them up on the wall. This was one of the groups. Each person send a block to everyone and I sent them a block. I have 4 blocks I did in here. I am not sure if this is how I will sew then or not. Some blocks read like one fabric and have very little contrast in it. I not sure what to do. 

Fall today, so it is time for a summer wrap up, stuff I forgot to post. 

These Jars are canned and dying my fabric. My Surface Design Group got together earlier in Sept and did the canning over an outdoor fire. We gathered many different natural weeds and plants around our homes so that we could try natural dying. The top right is my flowers. The other red one is Chockcherries. We also used golden rod, tansy (a yellow weed brought to american for dying), wild sage,  and some kind of nut thing (forgot the name) on the far left. We added metals also. most of mine have iron- rusty nails, or brass/copper from shell casings. All of my jars sealed, so I can leave then to brew for a few months. I may even leave them till spring. I have some cotton and some wool fabric in each jar. Hope it works. Sure was fun to plan and gather all the plants. 

My new pots. Last winter my husband ran over my two big pots and this spring he bought me 3 new pots. I kept forgetting to take a photo. So this is earlier in Sept when we got snow on the ground. I was using the agility jump standards to help protect the plants when I put a blanket over the flowers. To bad I did not get a better photo when they were looking so nice. 

Gemma and I on our summer holiday last month. 

I have added this post to Judy's Design Wall Monday

WIP Wednesday

I have been working on my Easy Street mystery quilt this week. I had a UFO sewing day with the Leduc Black Gold Quilt Patch on Monday. I had these blocks done a few months back but I really did not like the Grey four patches and I changed them to pink four patches. Big improvement, I am much happier with the pink.

The wall also has my orange Sprout blocks on the left. On the bottom right is my Around About. Both of these are part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2013 that I have been following along. One the bottom left you can see the red and green project, that is a Christmas table runner I have quilted it but need to trim and bind still. I did not get it done for Christmas but maybe I can get it done in time of one of the guild quilt shows and the next Christmas.

Here is my box of patches that still need to be sewn into blocks. I have all the out triangles done but need to complete 21 more blocks. If you want to see more about the Easy Street Mystery go see the pattern on Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville site. The pattern is only going to be there for a few more weeks, as she will take it down and publish the pattern in her next book. 

I have 7 orchid plants flowering now and two more about to pop. This is just one of the plants flowering and it is so perfect today. I hope spring hurries up, it is very much winter here today with blowing snow and drifting. Tonight is the Edmonton guild meeting and I am wondering if I should be out driving in the dark. 

Now back to more machine quilting for my customers. I have a few deadlines for quilts this month. 

I have linked today's post with Freshly Pieced and Needle and Thread Network

Last Purple Saturday

I got two pansy blocks done. I knew I could make a better pansy block then the sad one from last week. I had a comment from Paddilous who sent me this Pansy PDF link. I did not have many 4 1/2 squares needed but I did have the 2 1/2" square and triangles that I could use. So yes, I changed it a bit. I am happy with the flowers now. 

I have added today's post to Soscrappy's Scrap Saturday and I signed up for  Friday Night Sew In with Heidi. I did get some of the blocks done Friday. I sew most Friday nights. 

I got some Spools done this month. This block is a Bonnie Hunter Leaders and Enders Challenge. I have about 12 more cut out to do and to finish up in the last few days of February. What colour will be next for March? I am going to take a guess at Red. Why Red, because Angela has started making Red Dear Jane blocks.  Maybe I will be Wrong and it will be Green for St Patrick's Days.

If you want to join in the fun check out the RSC13.

I got 32 purple butterflies done this week. The Pattern for the Butterflies is at Bee In My Bonnet Row along Row 2.

Here a just two 16 patches. I have been doing 9 of each colours so I am not done yet. Below is the 2" squares I still have left to use.

This weekend is the Edmonton Orchid Show. I went Friday afternoon and bought two new plants and some  new potting bark. I replanted about 5 of my older orchids when I got home. The two new plants are not flowering but maybe next year. One plant is on the far right and is attached to bark and not in a pot. I need to find a spot to hang that one. 

Dog in the Garden

Yesterday the sun was behind a cloud and the flowers were at their best. I took over 60 photos. The softer light was good. Lex, my Chesapeake Bay Retriever gave me some great poses. I think these first two photos are my favourite ever of him. He walked by the flowers and I told him to stay, and he stood for a number of photos. He got looking at the horses in the field below so his ears are showing great interest.

The bad news, yesterday a storm hit after supper. With the wind and hail, all my flowers and veggies are gone. I might still get potatoes and carrots but the rest is a mess. Plants snapped off at the tops and middle trunks. It is a mess. I am not going to take any photos. It is too sad. We had 14 trees down in the driveway, away from the house. Every thing else is fine. No hail damage to the house, small enough ice pellets. I have never seen hail driving sideways so hard, good thing it was pea size and not larger.

Pink lilies that were just starting to look so good.

Yellow and orange lilies

Here is Lex doing his doggy sniff. This is how he normally patrols his yard. Checking out the boundaries to see who may have entered his yard. Down the hill is the dugout and horse field. 

To get an idea how big some of my flowers were, I got Lex to sit in the pathway.  Sadly it is a tangled mess and mostly blown down now.

I had two humming birds and a hawk fly just feet away from us. I took some photos but they were not good.

I am home

Did you miss me. I was away for the week of Spring Break. I went with my kids to Victoria BC. My parents spent sometime there this winter and I have some relatives to visit. They have flowers in Victoria now and we have a chance of snow still. 

My parents sitting in the sun. It was a warm sunny day, the day we went to see my cousin. We spent the time outside moving around the yard in the sun.

Just loved this moss covered toad stool ornament. Very naturally distressed by the outdoors.  This just come with the yard.

My oldest son. He is very camera shy but I got a nice smile here. He had so much fun playing with the all the dogs. There were about 8 dogs around and they all loved chasing down a ball or sticks. There was a mud hole that he just could not keep out of. He kept those dogs good and wet all day long. 

I got some new fabric. Washing it up now. I hope to do some sewing for myself this weekend. I am busy quilting for my costumers as some of my snow bird ladies left quilts with me this winter and they will start to return home soon. Spring must be coming here soon.

Flower Garden

 This is my other hobby. Yes I have many hobbies. I garden. I have a water pond and a few kio fish. I have to show off my blue Delphinia flowers. They are taller than me this year. Maybe over 6 feet high. I get many hummingbird coming to feed.

 Do not look at the weeds. It has been very wet and rainy. When the rain does stop the mosquitoes are so bad. I have not done a good job weeding for a few week now. I plan to quilt most of this weekend.

My Lady Slipper

I grow Orchids. This is one of my special orchids I got a few years back at the Edmonton  Orchids Show. I missed the show this year but do have three flowering now and three more coming.

Wool Flower Wreath

I made this flower wreath using wool fabric. I have given it to my mom, Betty. I am pleased that it is so spring feeling. Any one missing that season yet? The wreath was started in a class with Lynn Roth at the Rug Hooker's Guild. I hand dyed most of the wool myself and I bought a few pieces of dyed wool from Lynn. Lynn dyes beautiful wool. The rose with the dark center is one of Lynn's fabrics. Mom has found a candle to place in the center.



In class we learned the tea roses, an Alberta wild rose, sunflower, peony, lilacs, and the two kinds of leaves. There were a few other flowers too. The class was based on a book about 3D flowers but I would have to find my notes on the class.



This one has a good start to it, but is upside down. It needs some leaves hooked next to the lilacs and more mini blossoms for the second lilac. I also have to trim the peony leaves, some are round now but need cutting down to look pointy. You can see it is built on the linen that we hook on. I am planning to keep this one for myself. The purple lilac fabric is also Lynn's dyed wool. I had to buy it, it was calling to me.

Flowers at Their Peak

I love to take photos of the garden flowers. Here are two beauties at the edge of the pond. The mauve peony poppies are like weeds and have to be kept down. They self seed and can take over any area. I let a few here and there just come up to fill any empty spots. I got the seeds from the boss's wife (husband's boss- I work for myself/customers).
Here is a lily with two blossoms open and two more to come. I have been planting my lily bulbs in pots and then I put the pot in the ground. I have pocket gophers all over the garden. They had tunnels under this one and would have eaten it if not for the pots. Most lilies not in a pot are eaten now. We have gotten three gophers from this part of the garden. Let's hope they do not come back or dig a hole in the pond liner this winter.
We are starting to eat tomatoes and basil from the veggy garden. Peas, lettuces and spinach are done. I will keep you updated on the garden.