Welcome! Join me in the lovely world of crazy quilting and all things herbal. I am a textile artist, instructor and herbalist. I'll discuss Crazy Quilting & Embroidery as well as my herb gardens and herbal products.
The Alliance for American Quilts is having their annual fundraiser. Usually, they ask artists to create a 12 x 12 inch square, quilted in any way. This year, they have asked it be a house-shaped 15 x 19 image. All art is donated to the Alliance and are sold on eBay. So, I made a fairy house in a tree. I'll take another pic to show how dimensional the bark of the tree is. Behind the door...
Here is my "block" for January for the CQJP (Crazy Quilt Journal Project). Each month I will do a paisley. They will then be hung from my Ease "valance" as posted below. I crazy quilted the front, used Timtex in the middle and a plain fabric for the backing. I beaded the edge. The Timtex gives the paisley a sturdy base, so it doesn't flop.
1. freedom from labor, pain, or physical annoyance; tranquil rest; comfort: to enjoy one's ease.
2. freedom from concern, anxiety, or solicitude; a quiet state of mind: to be at ease about one's health.
3. freedom from difficulty or great effort; facility: It can be done with ease.
4. freedom from financial need; plenty: a life of ease on a moderate income.
I decided to make a header, or valance of sorts, to begin the project. I embroidered the word ease and then added florals and fairies around. From this, my monthly crazy quilted pieces will hang. You'll have to stay tuned to see how this comes about!
2012 Herb of the Year – Rose
Betty Pillsbury
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
― Abraham Lincoln
Rose 'Alchymyst' growing in my garden
Think for a moment of standing in the garden on a warm June day. The sky is a stunning blue, the sun is warming your back, bees drone lazily in the background and roses are blooming with wild abandon. You approach the rose bush, first taken in by the beauty of the flowers. Just standing next to a rose, you catch the delightful aroma of its gorgeous blossoms. Leaning in to take full advantage of this olfactory delight, you inhale deeply. Immediately, a sense of peace and comfort envelops you. That is the magic and medicine of rose.
Roses are necessary in a garden for no other reasons than their beauty and that emotional response of comfort. There is healing in the witness of beauty. It’s a balm to the psyche. The momentary pleasure of the sight and scent of roses really isn’t momentary. If you allow, you can recall that moment in the sun later when you need a sense of calm. “God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December”. – J.M. Barrie
In herbal medicine, roses are considered to be cool and dry by some and slightly warm and moist by others. Sounds confusing, doesn’t it? Roses have a gentle, but powerful action. I find roses to be physically slightly cooling while simultaneously warming the “cockles of the heart”. Rose petal infusion makes a lovely, soothing anti-inflammatory for irritated skin.
My embroidery for an herbal thesis quilt.
Roses are most definitely antidepressant. Recall inhaling a fragrant rose and the sensation of calm and contentment that envelops you. The effect is also achieved by ingesting tea, tincture, acetum or glycerite of roses. Or, perhaps by enjoying rose petal jelly on your morning toast. Rose petal honey is lovely, as are candied rose petals. The uplifting sensation is welcome to me especially in the winter when fresh roses in the garden are a memory of last season.
My granddaughter, Salena, helping me harvest rose petals in my garden.
“Gather ye rosebuds while ye may.”
My crazy quilt, "Paisley", won a blue ribbon in the New York State of Mind Quilt Contest at the Farmers' Museum in Cooperstown, NY this weekend. It's made completely by hand. I fashioned the wired ribbon roses in the center, embroidered the paisley, added beads and such. The center fabric is a paisley tone-on-tone silk brocade I have had for some time. The green velvet I fashioned into a quasi-Moorish arch to frame the main embroidery. Then, I bordered it with crazy quilt panels on two sides. There is a lot of hand embroidery throughout the crazy quilted portion. I added velvet ribbon borders. The pink ribbon treatment around the outer two edges was inspired by an antique crazy quilt. I had a lot of fun making this wall hanging!
