daisy & delphinium

We woke up to no power again this morning and really considered pulling the covers up over our heads and sleeping all day, but then our alarm clock started flashing about an hour later so we decided to do something with ourselves.

Today was a garden and yard day. The lawn got mowed and the garden got weeded. The delphiniums and daisies are blooming. The delphiniums are so loaded with blossoms that I had to stake and tie them in place. They really look good against the red wall of our kitchen.

(This photo setup is becoming a trend here - same red wall, different flowers.)

I'm back to work on the embroidery project. We stopped at a craft store tonight and I picked up a pillow insert and a zipper. I'm considering this embroidery project pillow 2.0. I'm going to sew it together with a zipper so that the insert can be removed for ease of washing.

Have a great weekend.

weaving project #4

Tying off some loose ends here. It feels good to wrap something up and clean up my workspace for what's coming next. I'm not sure what I'm going to be working on, but there are several unfinished projects lurking in the corners of our house.

I found another wooden fence to snap photos of. I've discovered that I have a fondness for wooden fences. The more distressed the better - and if it's tangled with vines and flowers it's even better than that.

I think this weaving project is the softest project I've made to date. I didn't weave it very tight, and then when I was finished with it I placed it in the washing machine with cold water and a little soup for under a minute of agitation. It really helped "puff" out the fiber. It filled into itself and now it's soft with a flexible drape.

I can't wait to wear it - in November. (Actually, I can wait.)

We're gearing up for the weekend and then the holiday after that. Hope you all had a good day.

happy summer

The summer already seems like it's flying by and it's only the first week. We're back on track after the storm. Our electricity came on just as I was getting home from work yesterday. We've been trying to get caught up on cleaning up the yard and the house now that we've got more than just "people" power.

I'm almost done with my current weaving project. I just have to find the time to tie off loose ends and put on the finishing touches. This week is going to be a busy one, because we're trying to wrap up a project at work before the holiday next week.

Isn't the opening opening shot lovely? (I'm not trying to brag on myself - it's just the flower surprised me when I sat down at my computer to do some editing.) It's geometry calls to mind a stained glass window, or the fragile structure of a snowflake.

I love surprises like that image.

Just when you think you "know" what everything looks like - you realize you don't. That's a good thing in my opinion.

candlelit summer nights

We haven't had power here since Friday night.

A storm blew through our neighborhood with some pretty powerful straight-line winds that took down two trees in the neighbor's yard directly across the street from us and blew transformers and fractured power grids across the city. The word around the neighborhood is that we won't be getting power back until (if we're lucky) this Wednesday.

Thank you Mom and Dad for the generator. Right now we have it plugged in to our fridge and freezer, the neighbor's fridge and both Garrett and my computers. We're probably pushing it, but it really is amazing how much a little generator that runs on one gallon of gas for 6-8 hours can power so much stuff.

This makes me think about all the superfluous stuff that I have "plugged in" to my life that I probably don't need. I really missed my computer though - not to mention the crisp, cool fridge.

Well, we're hanging tough around here - we still are kinda finding the candlelight romantic. I don't know how long that will last, but I'm really grateful for all of the city crews working 16 hour shifts to clear away the trees and re-connect the power and get our lives back on track.

Thank you.

farm roads

The grassy road above is my favorite road in the whole world. It leads to a shady forest with a lazy stream (and a bunch of ticks this time of year) - as well as a vast collection of childhood memories and stories. Somewhere out there is a time capsule my cousins and I buried and lost the map to and weedy campfire rings that haven't been used for almost a decade, but they're still out there waiting - possibly for the grandkids to discover and use again.

What a lovely weekend here. You couldn't ask for better weather today. A breeze is tossing the tree tops around and lacy clouds are moving over in slow motion. I have a rhubarb crisp in the oven and the whole house smells like cinnamon spice.

I'm expecting Garrett home any minute and we'll be grilling and hanging out in the back yard. Maybe we'll have a fire later on and get caught up on the events of the past two weeks as the sun sets. Is it Monday already tomorrow? Feels like the weekend should be starting now.

weaving project #4

I set up the loom in our porch this evening and had the pleasure of looking out at the garden as I worked. The dianthuses are finally blossoming. They caught me by surprise. I love their ever-varying shades of magenta. I think each dianthus plant in the garden has its own signature hue.

Can you see the hot blue stamens on the lighter pink dianthus? For a second I thought my camera plugged that color in, but it really is there and I'd never noticed it before.

So far this weaving project is working out as I had hoped. There have been some surprises. I'm very happy with the smooth color transitions, but just adore it when a fleck or stretch of random color pops out for a moment before blending back in.

Handspun yarn keeps you on your toes.

I'm using single-ply of the same color-way for the weft and weaving in the double-ply that I spun up last weekend. I like the stripes that are showing up now, so I'm going to try to maintain them with whatever pattern I work into the weave. Here again, I'm hoping for a slow color shift. We'll see what happens, I guess. At this point it's all still an experiment. 

Happy weekend, everyone.

sun day

As I was putting this post together, I realized that I've surrounded myself with flowers this week. There are flowers at my bedside, doorstep and windowsills. Everywhere I look fragrant flashes of color are sending me warm wishes.

Work continues on the embroidery, and I'm setting up the loom on the porch later on - so soon I'll have too many irons in the fire again. That's just about normal, I guess.

The afternoon is too beautiful to stay cooped up in the house. The weeds in the garden are taunting me, so off I go to get dirt under my nails.