Off the Wall and into the Herb Garden

Volunteer in a crack

I had planted these cute little pansies last year in the planter boxes.  It always surprises me when volunteers pop up the next year in bizarre places.

Sage, working up to blooming

Thyme

My herb garden is in its third season.  It is a work in progress.  The Thyme has spread out well.  There are some deadwood I need to get cleaned up. My Sage is doing really well.  I love it when it blooms!

Garlic infused olive oil

I love to upcycle things.  I loved the shape of these bottles.  I used one to infuse garlic in olive oil.  It is getting strained into another bottle.

Straining the oil

I use a coffee filter to strain oils and vinegars.  I am really enjoying the herbs and infusing.

Thyme Vinegar

I had cut too much Thyme for a recipe.  So rather than tossing it, I put it in a bottle with vinegar.  This is the strained vinegar.  Again, a reused bottle (Rose's Lime Juice).  Note the fancy pants label!

I love it when the chives bloom!

The real project of the day.  I had remembered that I saw a blog post about chive blossom vinegar last year.  At the time, my blossoms were past their prime and dried out.  So when I saw my chives getting ready to burst open I did a search for Chive Blossom Vinegar.  There were several different blog posts on several sites.

Rinsed then spun dry

I took heed of one post and soaked my blossoms in water and then rinsed and spun them dry.

Packed into a jar

Vinegar added

Only one of the blogs talked about using hot vinegar.  I decided not to heat my vinegar up.  It is difficult to photograph the liquid in the jar.  I set it on my window sill and we will check back in 2 weeks and see how it turns out!

Brutus

I had received a package on Tuesday containing my brand spanking new Kitchen Aid mixer!  I have wanted one of these big boys forever!  I am going to use him this afternoon to mix up some banana bread.  I am going to have to completely rearrange how my kitchen counters are filled to make space for this guy.

Some weeks you find a lot of inspiration in the studio.  I found none there this week.  I found a lot of inspiration in my herb garden.  I love the various greens and purples that are showing up this week.  I love to brush my hand against the plants, the scent of the herbs is so wonderful and soothing.

This is my Off the Wall post for the week.  Check out what everyone else is up to at Nina-Marie's blog.

Inspiration in a small town

Connie

Connie's art piece

Close-up

Connie's crayon piece.

Show and Tell

Wonderful quilting

Project of the day

New idea for stitching bowls together

I belong to a quilt group in a smaller town about 15-20 miles Northwest of here.  My town, the big town in the area has about 6500 people.  Wales has maybe 250.  The group in Wales has members from several of the small towns in the area. They are a fun bunch.  They welcomed me with open arms when I first moved to the area. A lot of them are traditional quilters.  That is where I began my quilting journey and I still enjoy making traditional quilts even though my focus is now more on art quilts.  Last month I had brought my round robin fabric with me to show.  I talked about how I had started the piece with rust dyeing.  Well this month I had 2 ladies tell me how inspired they were with the idea.  They went home and did some rust dyeing with muslin they had on hand and bits of rusty junk that is widely available in Rural Utah.  Then during show and tell Connie said she was inspired by me to bring some of her more arty pieces to show.  I love the window scene with the lilacs.  Connie is wonderful!  She drives the school bus for the town (the kids go to nearby towns for school) and always has a humorous story to tell! And always has a smile!  I find myself inspired to smile after being around her.  I had showed how to make clothesline bowls at the last meeting.  I forgot who brought their bowl, but she had sewn it together using a 3 stitch zigzag, how inspiring!  I would have never thought to do that, I will have to try that on my next bowl.

I have read some blogs recently where some of the arty type quilt artists feel that they are shunned and don't fit in with some of the traditional quilt guilds. That makes me sad.  I have been lucky to find some wonderful groups in my quilting life. Everyone is welcome and all styles are appreciated.  I am thrilled when I have inspired someone, and am equally thrilled when I am inspired by someone else, especially when it comes from the least expected avenue.  I also believe that the more you give of yourself, the more you get back.  To make a group successful, everyone needs to share and contribute.

This is my Off the Wall post for this week.  Check out what everyone else is up to at Nina-Marie's blog.

Blogger's Quilt Festival

Peaceful Woods

I saw that Amy with Amy's Creative Side is having another online Quilt Festival and decided to participate. 

I made this piece in December for a friend's birthday.  It is 12"x12".  I layered some fabrics to look like woods and then covered it with some netting before quilting it.  I added some dragonfly charms and used a wood grain fabric for the binding.  It was a rewarding piece to work on, I made it in 3 or 4 days.  It was for her birthday, 12-12-2012.

I am entering it in the Art Quilt Category.  Thanks for stopping by!  Check out the main page at  Amy's blog.

Tea Bagging

The wadded up mess

Before the rinse

Rinsing in salt water

Dried

My recycle the teabag experiment turned out, hmm, well, ok. Not great.  The first soak in water released a lot of the tea.  Then I soaked it overnight in salted water.  I wrung it out, did one more quick rinse and then let it dry.  The dried photograph is a bit on the light side.  I still think that this idea should work.  The last time I tea dyed something in a full strength solution, it was really dark and then I tried to put it in a bleach solution to lighten it a bit.  Which barely helped.   

I am now saving the tea bags and letting them dry.  When I have a bunch saved up I think that I will start with a wet piece of fabric and re-wet the bags.  Maybe even take out the leaves from the bags. 

As for the first piece, I am going to cut it into fat quarters.  I will use one with another experiment using coffee grounds.  One will stay as is as a control subject.  Maybe I will add rust to another and maybe use the fourth for the second round of the tea bag project.

Has anyone done any experimenting with tea bags/coffee?  OH, how about red wine?

Design wall

Almost done with the swap blocks

I am still working the swap blocks.  I have 2 more sets ready to run through the machine.  I just need to cut one more set and that is the end!

Challenge fabric

Wednesday at the Wales quilt group we were given a fat quarter of this fabric.  We need to use it in a recognizable amount on a quilt.  The challenge is due at the September meeting.  I like the fabric, just don't have an idea yet.

Hexagon layout

I brought my bag of hexagons.  I only have 15 flowers sewn together, but I do have a large bag full of basted hexagons.  I think this is the layout I want, starting from the center and making some sort of medallion.

This is my design wall Monday post for the week.

One year!

I started writing this blog one year ago today!   Thanks to all who have read my blog.  I appreciate the wonderful comments and encouragement.

Mid-April in Utah

Yesterday we woke up to 6 inches of snow.  Welcome to April in Utah!  My daffodils were just starting to open and now they are buried under a heavy wet snow.  Hopefully it will not hang around for too long.

Tea bag dyeing

I have started to drink tea in the afternoons.  2-3 cups of it.  As I was washing out my insulated mug, I realized it was getting some tea stains and it occurred to me that I could use my used tea bags to tea dye some fabric. So I tore off a yard of washed muslin (I don't have any PFD around right now) and wadded it up inside a plastic grocery bag.  I am tucking the wet used tea bags in the fabric and then closing the bag to keep some of the moisture in.  I have been doing this for about 5 days now.  I will give it another week or so and then check it out. I drink a variety of teas, so the colors should be a bit different than if I had used all the same type of tea.

Art Cloth Round Robin

About 6 months ago I blogged about a fabric round robin that a group of my friends invited me to join.  I started my piece of fabric with some rust dyeing. I got my piece back the other day.  I like it!  The photographs are a bit washed out,it is a bit darker. The first  person did some dyeing after blocking the rusty spots with a resist.  Someone else did something with some keys and also gave me a couple of old keys to use in my finished piece.  I like the gridded blues.  I kind of have an idea of what to do with this, but will let it sit for a bit since I don't have a clear vision.  Luckily the deadline has been changed to a later date.

This is my Off the Wall post for the week.  Check out what everyone else is up to at Nina-Marie's blog.

Lost and Found

My Bountiful Basket!

Plain sight

Scraps for bowls

Missing sets of swap blocks

Coffee bean burlap bag.

Last year a friend got me hooked on Bountiful Baskets. We got several baskets before our garden started producing.  I usually get them every other week since there is just the two of us feeding off of the basket.  This is our first basket of the year.  And I am pleased, it was a good one!  I hope to get another next week.

A couple weeks ago I had blogged about losing my swap blocks and how they must be in a very safe place.  Sure enough they were in plain sight!  I have a couple of hooks on the side of my cutting table. I use them to hang scissors, rotary cutters, measuring tape and a bag into which I throw my skinny leftover strips for bowls.  I must have hung the bag with the swap blocks on a hook so I wouldn't lose it.  Famous last words.  I have been working on the blocks.  I really need to knuckle down and get them finished and in the mail.

I have been roasting my own coffee for a few years now.  The company I order my green beans from have started to package the beans in these cool burlap bags!  I made a lined knitting bag for my friend and it turned out nice. I have a bunch of these bags (we go through a lot of coffee in this house!) and want to make more for my Etsy shop.  Hopefully if I get the swap blocks finished I can get a prototype made up, I need to improve the design from the one I made for my friend.

This is my Off the Wall post for this week.  Check out what everyone else is up to at Nina-Marie's blog.