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.