Birds of a Feather

I am including more photos of my Hoffman Challenge quilt, "Birds of a Feather". Scroll down to the previous post to see an overview.

Fruitful week!

It's been over a month since I posted last. Been very busy! Our anniversary was July 5th and we took a little trip to the Robison York Herb Gardens in Ithaca, NY. I've been there many times, but not since they revitalized the gardens. What a lovely job they did. We also went to Baker's Acres nursery, which is just north of Ithaca. Tremendous gardens and wide selection of plants. I came home with many new things for the garden including a hardy gloxinia, acanthus and lavender mint.

Middleburgh, NY has started a farmer's market on Friday afternoons and we have participated as a vendor. Really good turnouts.

We had a garden club tour the gardens and it was a lovely group indeed. Lots of interested, interesting ladies. As they were leaving, a reporter from the Catskill Mountain Guide magazine showed up to do an interview about the gardens. The August issue should hit stands soon and I'm eagerly awaiting to see what was written!

Then, I was off to the Maine State Quilt to teach for a few days. Never mind driving through horrendous rainstorms, tornado warnings and hail to get there!! White knuckle driving, to say the least. On the way up, I decided to take a side trip to Avena Botanicals and Deb Soule's gardens there. Be still my heart! Deb has created a magical fairy world of plants and I was lucky enough to experience it. ~sigh~

Green Spiral Herbs was asked to set up an herbal display for the Schoharie County Fair, which is running this week. We were happy to oblige. Saturday, I will be on hand to answer herbal questions.

Wednesday, I had my interview with David Winston to see about getting accepted into his 2-year herbal study program. The answer is yes! I'm pretty excited about this. I've done other herbal studies, but am looking forward to this particular program. Hooray!

Today, I found out my crazy quilt wall hanging, "Birds of a Feather" won an Honorable Mention in the Hoffman Challenge. There were 579 entries. Considering I didn't put a single quilting stitch in this "quilt", I think I did well. It is entirely hand pieced and hand embellished/embroidered.

Oddity in the garden

While working in the garden, I spied this large nest with three huge eggs in it today!! What do you suppose laid these eggs? A dragon? Bluebird of Happiness? Bird of Paradise? I suppose time will tell.

Pictures of the Garden

Paul's Himalayan Musk on the gothic arbor.

Daylilies and William Baffin rose.
Foxgloves, lupines, campanula and lamb's ears.

Borage. I will eat the flowers while working in the garden. I also have a white variety.

Apothecary Rose. Fragrant!

Yellow foxglove.


And the pink foxglove.
William Baffin roses near the birdhouses.

I've been tagged...

Tina Sams, of The Essential Herbal, just tagged me to answer the following questions and invite other bloggers to participate:

Ten years ago...
I was living outside Omaha, Nebraska. I worked as a medical transcriptionist. I belonged to a lot of fun groups including the SCA, EGA, ANG, (apparently groups with three letters) and a few others. My rheumatoid arthritis was becoming very bad.

Five things on today's to do list ...
~ meet with a producer at the local public access TV station (he wants me to do a few shows on herbs and crazy quilts)
~drop off a wholesale order of Green Spiral products to Wellington's Herbs and Spices
~work on the Hoffman challenge quilt
~harvest chamomile, roses, arnica and lemon balm if it doesn't rain
~read the latest Hollerbeier Haven herbal newsletter that came two days ago and I haven't had a chance to look at! www.ThreeSistersCenter.com

Snacks I enjoy...
Fresh cherries, peaches, strawberries and raspberries
Ice cream
Baked goods - which can easily be a meal
Popcorn (no salt and very little butter)
A square of good chocolate


Things I would do if I was a millionaire...
Make an artist's retreat and invite my friends to come create, laugh and play
Help out my kids
Really expand the gardens and put in that castle tower in the back 40 I've been wanting

Places I have lived....
New York state along the Canadian border
England
Mojave Desert
Great Plains
Catskill Mountains
Virginia Beach

Other bloggers:
Allie
Leonie
Marie

On Crazy Quilts and Roses

I'm stitching a piece for this year's Hoffman Challenge. The featured fabric is the peacock fabric. The deadline is one month away! But, this wall hanging is EXTENSIVELY hand stitched and embellished. It's slow work, but good work! The central peacock I stitched with silk embroidery floss (Pearsall's silk).


When the garden is this beautiful, it's difficult being inside working on a project. Right now, the roses are really starting to bloom and the air is perfumed richly. This is Apothecary Rose (Rosa gallica) and is an ancient rose that was used in official pharmaceutical preparations. I make Rose Petal Jelly and Jam, vinegar, tincture, glycerite, crystallized rose petals, rose butter, rose couscous, and anything else I can think of that incorporates roses!



This rose is Constance Spry. She's a beauty and highly prolific.
This is William Baffin, one of the Canadian Explorer Roses, which means it is exceptionally hardy and does extremely well for us in Zone 5.
We have many, many other roses and Paul's Himalayan musk is enchanting us with its scent. How can such a diminutive rose have such a huge olfactory impact?
Today's chores included making cider/sage jelly, Healing Comfort salves, planting more carrots, beets and various herbs as well as stitching. It's a good life.

Full Moons, Solstice and Fairies

Last night there was a full moon. Tomorrow night is Solstice. Talk about magic in the air. As any good fairy lover knows, a full moon or a Solstice are prime times to perchance view the fey folk as they go about their business. When the two events happen so closely, it's sure to double your chances of spying a fairy. So, armed with my camera and a shiny rock (should I step in a fairy ring and be whisked away to another world, I needed a bargaining chip!), I ventured forth. I kept my mind and my heart pure and sent out a psychic call to those of the Other World. Very gently on the breeze I could hear laughter and the tinkling of bells. Silently I crept closer to the commotion. There!, down by some creeping thyme and Jackpot tansy, there was a convocation of fairies! And I wasn't the only one who had happened upon the group.



Obviously, a very important fairy speaker was addressing those assembled. I couldn't make out the voices - to my ear it was just a faint whisper in the air. But I imagine the topic might have been the value of thyme blossoms in a potion or a discussion on the luminosity of fireflies.

The bumble bees also flitted in, offering drinks of freshly collected nectar...