a maple staple

 Let there be life!

I thought they were goners, but these anemones and ranunculus have really taken off.  I planted these in the ground yesterday and only one was rotten.  I love seeing the green...

...and in probably a month, I'll have this!

It's been pretty chilly, but we have a few bulbs blooming.  Hyacinth and daffodils make a great pair and bring a really cheerful spring feel to the mantle.  I've planted many different types of daffodils, so while the really tiny golden ones are dying now, other patches haven't even bloomed yet!

I love delicate scilla in the tiniest vases.

I'm even making small bouquets with the scant new growth outside...mint, dead nettle, daffodils, and vinca.  Nothing fancy, just something nice to see on the kitchen counter.

I re-hydrated one of my favorite geraniums and it's blooming on a low table in our dining room.  Geraniums are pretty easy to overwinter...just bring them inside, water them maybe once a month, but increase in the spring.  I've had this one for years.

Peonies are starting to pop outside, too!  It won't be long now until beautiful color everywhere!  

Other signs of spring:  these bags are appearing on maple trees all over town.  It's sap-collecting time!  To make syrup, all you have to do is boil down the sap...and the syrup is not just for pancakes. As a child, I fell in love with the description of using fresh-made maple syrup to make candy in Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little Girl in the Big Woods:

“They could eat all they wanted, for maple syrup never hurt anybody. There was plenty of syrup in the kettle, and plenty of snow outdoors. As soon as they ate one plateful, they filled their plates with snow again, and Grandma poured more syrup on it. When they had eaten the soft maple candy until they could eat no more of it, then they helped themselves from the long table loaded with pumpkin pies and dried berry pies and cookies and cakes.”

Who could resist?  Not me!  Todd and I purchased some of this homemade syrup at our local town's Maple Sugar Festival a couple of weeks ago.  Now all we need is a little bit of snow!  :)  

More spring things:  deer are everywhere, eating up those tender spring shoots.

Birds are building nests.  This nest on our front porch has been used by different birds for four consecutive years!

Rabbits are out and about, too.  This one hopped up the steps onto our front porch to nibble at the pumpkin leftovers from last fall! (not-great cell phone capture)

Speaking of rabbits, I decided to use them as the subject in my next embroidery project.  I traced Happy Rabbits by Yumiko Higuchi...

...used a light box to illuminate the pattern...and then traced it onto light green fabric.  I selected my colors and will be ready to start soon!  

More rain is expected this week...

...but I'll be out working in the garden when weather permits.  

Have a great week!  

pumpkin has-been

 It was warm enough this week for a little hike.  Our woods are full of beech trees, which are marcescent...meaning that they retain their dead leaves until spring.  Some theorize that the dead stem base protects the tender buds that are forming beneath.  

Lots of berries, too!  This is a smilax vine, a woody perennial with wicked thorns.  Early U.S. settlers made root beer with its roots, and the old-fashioned drink sarsaparilla is also made this way.  

A woodpecker has been here...

I was happy to see a little green...the putty root orchid!  Also known as the Adam and Eve plant (so named for the paired nature of its corms), the putty root orchid doesn't actually flower until May.  Still, it takes advantage of the bare treetops in winter to soak up sunshine with these thick, leathery leaves.  People used to repair broken crockery with a substance pressed from its corms, which is how it got its common name.  

I love seeing the different types of pine cones,  Each of these little sections is a seed!

Speaking of seeds, I finally was able to work on our porch pumpkins this week.  They were rotten, and the seeds were swimming in a foul, stinking mush.

I took way too many, and laid them out to dry.  I need to separate the bigger seeds from the stinky fibers, but I haven't quite gotten to it yet.  Yuck!

Goodbye, pumpkins!

Business as usual around the house.  We've both been working a lot, with a little help from the kittens.

Since I have my new glasses, I've slowly started looking at new projects to try.  I haven't embroidered for a long time, so I tried a small, easy flower from a Yumiko Higuchi book.

I'm pleased with how it turned out, but a little of the blue marking pen showed through.  It's water soluble, but it's always a pain when you wash an embroidery project.  Enter the wrinkles.

You have to somehow iron around the stitching, or lightly press it beneath fabric.  An iron will flatten french knots (here, the yellow flowers).  I do my best with the iron and try to get the rest of the wrinkles out by evenly stretching the fabric.  This week, I'll cut a piece of foam core and try to mount this properly.  Finishing details are my least favorite part of any embroidery/knitting/quilting project, because I have a heavy hand and an impatient spirit.  Still, it's good practice and maybe this will be my year to slow down and fine-tune.

Have a great week!  

a "grate" week

I finally finished my Yumiko Higuchi embroidery panel!  I took her center design of the red snake and contiguous designs and then augmented with random patterns taken from her books.

photo is askew...sides are straight in the original project!

It was originally meant to be a sampler for me to learn different stitches, but I tended to stick to my favorites...stem, chain, and french knot.

Since I did the transferring of design with charcoal, I now need to CAREFULLY wash it and dry it without distorting the stitches.  Another issue is wrinkling in tight spaces.  I'm hoping that I can get it washed, ironed, and stretched over a wooden frame within a week or two.  

Another stitch project completed just in time for Christmas - Todd's "NASA nerd" t-shirt.  

It's cross stitched...not one of my favorite things to do, but I worked on it a little every day and got done in plenty of time.   

This was my first time cross-stitching on a knitted (store bought) t-shirt.  One of the problems with cross stitch is working on the stiff woven fabric that forms the guiding Xs for your needle.  It's great if you want a bookmark or maybe a wall hanging, but not for much else.  But now you can buy a water soluble sheet to stitch through.  Attach it to anything, stitch, wash, and the sheet just melts away.

It's a little bit awkward, but I love that it opens up a whole world of possibilities!

Another Christmas project:  a long knitted cowl for a friend.  It's designed to puddle under your coat collar and also be pulled up over your nose if it's extra cold outside!

My favorite feature is the little leather tabs for the drawstring ends.  I picked them up on Etsy and I think they are fantastic!

I'm already almost halfway through another knitting project.  I started a cowl for myself, a beautiful stranded knitting design inspired by Portuguese tiles.

photo courtesy of Kate Davies

I'm knitting one long tube...fifty inches!...and when completed, I'll block it and then stitch together the ends to create an enclosed circle.  One side of the pattern is light-prominent...

...and the other side is dark-prominent.

You can see the contrast if you turn the work on its side:

It's really pleasant work and nice to stitch on for maybe an hour every night.  Now that my hands aren't getting sore from knitting, it's a delight.  I already have my next project picked out!

So, the Christmas pie has been put away...

(SOMEONE couldn't wait for Christmas lunch!)

...and our mischievous elf has packed up his bags...and threats...for another year.

Now life will take on a slower pace for a while.  I'm ready for it.

Have a "grate" week!  

red snake keepsake

It seems like we've got a lot of creatures here who are "making hay while the sun shines."  Grasshoppers are still whirring in the undergrowth or crouching motionless, torpid in the hot sun.

It's a great comfort when I consider the tangled mess that I've cultivated out back, knowing that at least I've created a massive food source for so many little creatures.

My little jungle is still producing pumpkins...

...and amazingly, dahlias...although I didn't prune, stake, or feed them.

The dinnerplate dahlias have collapsed under the weight of their massive heads, but they can still be salvaged.

The smaller dahlias have such a tight, tidy petal formation.  It's very appealing!

So lovely!

In the dark of the early morning, I hear barred owls calling, "Who cooks for you?  Who cooks for yooouuu?"  A few hours into daylight, the turkeys add their chorus.  Our back field is a popular hang-out spot, and we've also noticed them on a side slope.  We counted close to 40 turkeys - in one day! - last week.

After a summer of silence, we've started hearing coyotes yowling at night. Yes, the season is marching on!  Sunrises are suddenly more saturated with color...

...and the deepening reds of our apples is a reminder that we should pick, pick, pick before it's too late.

I'm bringing the season inside, with little touches like tiny felt pumpkins...

...and wreaths made from my garden flowers, dried.

We are starting to see a bit more color in the leaves, although the weather isn't really cooperating (still in the 80s this week).  It is really starting to feel like fall, and I'm contemplating several cold-weather projects, like this brilliant embroidery piece by artist Yumiko Higuchi.

photo courtesy of Yumiko Higuchi

Todd and I are both looking forward to a peaceful and productive October.

Have a great week!