Every season, before the practices start, the upper classmen are invited to a special midnight practice slash ritual. This practice allows us to start the season at the very first moment available, and is a fun way to begin what is an intense tennis season.
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There are some yellow lady slippers in this shot, not easy to see unless you have someone beside you pointing them out. There are about six orchids in this shot that I can pick out..JPG)
This is another wild orchid, I should look these up the book so I can give you the names because I don't remember them.
Beautiful orchid country, don't know what that haze was about but I don't mind it so much..JPG)
The Orchid Man, an excellent tour guide and friend. See his website here.
Oh yes, it's really THAT beautiful!.JPG)
A little lavender wildflower, but mostly the foilage is what I find striking about this one..JPG)
We came up on a HUGE display of these, even made the orchid man say "WOW!".JPG)
Again with the haze, what's up with that?! There are three pink lady slipper orchids in this photograph, see if you can find all of them..JPG)
Another lady slipper, we even saw a white one which is rare..JPG)
The graceful ones, love how this turned out. Most of the photos I took turned out horribly. But it was a lovely walk, a welcome change of pace.
These are Oreo cookies dipped in dark chocolate. They aren't overly sweet and the cookie retains a bit of crunch. They are the simplest thing to make but they're really wonderful.
These are turtles made with milk chocolate, dulce de leche (which is a South American soft milk caramel) and toasted pecans. Each one has a pecan inside and a pecan on top for garnish. They're kind of big but they fit the sippy cup perfectly. And they're kind of wonderful. I delivered them this afternoon and she LOVED them. And now I have leftovers at my house. I think I did pretty well on that trade!
With a nod to the lovely Ms Melody, here is a photo of my wee garden. It features an old Lithuanian candle house that I bought ages ago and some lil bitty plants that I just bought the other day. I hope it lives (the plants) cause I think it's cute and I'm highly tempted to make all manor of things to go in it.
Two: Is that a quilt?
Three: It does look like a quilt, doesn’t it.
One: *admiring her bracelet along with the new one* I think these look good together.
Me: Oh, I do to.
Two: Can we see what you’re working on?
Three: Maybe she doesn’t want to show it.
Me: I don’t mind showing you. *I take it over to the sofa and spread it out so they can see the whole thing.*
Two: *gesturing* What’s it gonna be?
Three: Well, I think it’s a quilt.
Me: It’s a wall hanging.
Two: You’re going to hang it on the wall?
Three: Well sure, you suppose you could figure out a way to hang it on the wall.
One: *fingering the bracelet* I wore it all the time, never took it off.
Three: Oh I remember that bracelet, what happened to it?
Two: it’s funny shaped.
Three: Why yes, it does have an odd shape.
One: *Holding out her arm* I don’t know what happened to it, and I never got another one to replace it.
Three: Did you lose it?
Two: Did you use Rit Dye?
Three: Why yes, I suppose you have to dye it to get it to look like that.
Me: No, I used a professional dye called Procion Dye.
Two: Oh, see? She used special dyes to make the fabric those colors
Three: Why yes, those colors are very pretty.
One: *toying nervously with the price tag* It really is pretty isn’t it and it’s only $50.
Me: That’s a good price for a silver bracelet made by hand.
Three: That's a good deal.
Two: And are you going to leave it that odd shape?
Three: Yes, it is a funny shape now isn’t it.
Me: Yes, I’ll leave it.
One: *dropping her arm to her side in resignation.* Well, I’m not going to buy it, guess I should put it back.
Me: Oh, and it looks so good on you.
Two: You’re not going to buy it?
Three: Oh, I think you should buy it
Me: Oh yes, it’s lovely on you.
One: Well, alright, maybe I will.
I go to write up the ticket to sell the bracelet to the woman who is already wearing it.
*sigh*
So here is my oddly shaped quilted wallhanging (that I shall hang on the wall) with the hand dyed fabrics (but I don't use rit.) Please pass the bracelets.
I've started the binding, and all I have left is the sewing by hand part and then it will be finished unless I decide to add something else.
And then I added a few others, mostly hand dyed with a few commercial ones thrown in.
And I was just minding my own business making something for my kitchen to replace the winter scene that just has to go.
And something really unexpected
started to happen
and I found the flow
and I got lost in the work
and remembered...
why I do what I do. Yeah.
I recently picked up some seaweed stuff to make marbled fabrics. It’s an interesting process and when I had the gallery I sold many silk scarves by a local woman who hand marbles fabrics. I’ve never actually seen it done in person and would really love a class. I know I don’t have the right dyes for it, mine were a bit on the thin side and just spread out too much to leave behind much vibrant color for the fabric to soak up. I’m pretty sure I’m doing some of the other stuff wrong as well but I enjoyed the process and have some interesting fabrics as a result. So no complaints here.
Though I have a big marbling tray in my kitchen with three gallons of seaweed slime laced with dyes. And I have no idea what to do with it! Does this stuff kill grass? Should I just throw it outside? (And hope the dogs don’t get into it.) I don’t think hubby would approve of dumping it down the drain. Hmmm… decisions, decisions.
So here are some results. They aren’t marbled so much as just an exploration of what the dye did when it hit the surface of the seaweed, I found that far more interesting than the ones who are swirled in the traditional marbling way. It’s the Jackson Pollock in me I guess. Honestly though, there are a lot of experiments left in this process. I think I’ll keep exploring.
Which ones do you like best? I can't decide.
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I used the quilt during the show. I entered folding it a number of times, as if it just came off the laundry line. It turned out to be too much to wrap the baby in, so I never was actually able to use it for its intended purpose but that’s ok. The second to last show it was draped over the porch railing in one scene. By the final show it remained on that porch railing through a number of scenes. I made a rag doll for another scene in the show out of the same fabrics. I think I’ll see that back one of these days, at least I hope so. They said they’d mail it. Thankfully the character that I played is long gone but the quilt remains, along with the memories.
These two small pieces are the first ones to come out of my first experimentation with procion dyes. They are a combination of cotton, silk and linen plus some dyed white on whites and I’m delighted with what the added texture does to the composition though it’s difficult to tell any of that from the photos. 
I believe this patch of tall things are going to burst into lovely peonies soon enough, but I’m little concerned about the vine that surrounds the patch. Hmm… Anyone know how to get rid of poison ivy without succumbing to its horrors? And some lovely honeysuckle below.
And again, lovely batch of lily of the valley, with the sentinel poison ivy… argh! And slippery rocks. Note to self, do not stand on slippery rocks after the rain. (Well, duh!)
This pretty pink thing comes in a bush form, never seen one of these before. But it's pink, so I love it..JPG)
How long will it bloom? What else does it do? I'll be watching..JPG)
Big thorny thing with just a few sprouting rose leaves. Hmmm... I am told it is yellow and something really special by the neighbor. Looks like it has been badly neglected and I'm not sure I'm a rose bush kind of gardener but I'll be watching this one with interest to see what happens. Maybe I could become a rose bush kind of gardener. I remember when I was a child helping with the care of the rose gardens each Spring and Fall, it was a big job but so fun to see a pretty bloom on one of the plants. (Provided you can get it before the bugs do.).JPG)
Another rose, I wonder what this one will do.
I should be walking around my house more, this one caught me by surprise, I hadn't even known these lovely lavender ladies were even there.
I need to spend some time making a plan for my yard. We aren't going to do a veggie garden this year but hopefully some plants in containders on the deck will yield a bit of this and that. That should work.
