Yesterday, I gave a lecture as part of being the invited Guest Artist at the Q.U.I.L.T.. Inc quilt show in Ravena, NY. Standing in front of about 20 pieces of my crazy quilting, I babbled on about how I make my art and a little of the why. The guild was wonderful. The audience was very receptive. I do believe there were a few who were enticed to make their own crazy quilt.
It has been a nice stretch of weather for the garden as well. DH took a few days off from work to stretch out the weekend. Five new fruit trees went in: Dwarf varieties of McIntosh, Granny Smith and Winesap apples, a Belle of GA peach and a Bing cherry. We are waiting on an order of cider apples as well: Fameuse, Sops of Wine, Sheepnose and Calville Blanc. These are in addition to the white peaches, Medlar, Quince, Empire apple, Seckel pear, Asian pear, Montmorency cherry, Black Gold cherry, Roxbury Russet apple, Luscious Pear, Ashmead's Kernel apple, Cox's Orange Pippin apple, Black Oxford apple and two unknown apples which were here when we moved in.
We also ordered some boysenberries - although they are marginally hardy here. DH loves the jam so much, we had to take a chance and try to grow our own. We were very impressed with the plant quality from our order to Burnt Ridge Nursery. In addition to the 10 boysenberries, we ordered a goumi, Chinese Hawthorne, 2 more Schisandra (we have 2 already), 3 hazlenuts to add to our row of hazlenuts, a Korean nut pine, 2 more Oregon grapes and a tea plant. The tea isn't hardy here, but will join my coffee plant as a houseplant.
Sometime this year, I will put together a complete (?) list of plants we have growing. Who wants to volunteer for that particular project? :-)
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Herbs Popping Up In The Yard
It's April 9 and spring sure is slow in making its presence known. In fact yesterday and the day before, we had snow flurries. Today the temperature is reading warmer, but the howling winds still feel brisk! As I was walking around the garden, I noted several herbs that are emerging from their slumber. Here are a few of the many herbs:
Sweet Violet, not the common blue. Smells and tastes oh, so sweet!
Rhodiola. Looks pretty ugly now, but soon it will be filled with rosettes!
Ramps. Delicious wild food!
Angelica just coming up.
Celandine, with its bright orange sap. The appearance of celandine in the spring also harkens the arrival of tree swallows. Sure enough, I saw a pair today.
Coltsfoot, or Son-Before-the-Father, as the flowers show up before the leaves.
Maral Root unfurling.
Stinging Nettles - a power house of nutrients.
Sweet Cicely.
The joy of spring is that every day new life is shown.
Sweet Violet, not the common blue. Smells and tastes oh, so sweet!
Rhodiola. Looks pretty ugly now, but soon it will be filled with rosettes!
Ramps. Delicious wild food!
Angelica just coming up.
Celandine, with its bright orange sap. The appearance of celandine in the spring also harkens the arrival of tree swallows. Sure enough, I saw a pair today.
Coltsfoot, or Son-Before-the-Father, as the flowers show up before the leaves.
Maral Root unfurling.
Stinging Nettles - a power house of nutrients.
Sweet Cicely.
The joy of spring is that every day new life is shown.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Antique Crazy Quilt Motifs
I really love antique crazy quilts. I love to look at them, caress them (carefully of course), study them and admire them. I have a nice collection of not only antique quilts, but antique crazy quilt "smalls". Those are items that have been crazy quilted, but aren't quilts. Things like antique tea cozies, scrap album covers, wall pockets, etc. That's part of the reason I decided to host an Antique Crazy Quilt Study Day on May 9.
Part of the fascination lies in the ingenuity that Victorian needlewomen had when faced with a pattern. Very often, patterns were simply line drawings and it was left to the imagination of the stitcher to interpret the drawing. Here's an example:
This line drawing of a fan was taken from the 1886 Ingall's Pattern book. A lovely fan. Here are some stitched versions of this drawing which I have found on antique crazy quilts.
The fan above was stitched with a metallic thread for the surround. Note the painted flowers and butterflies on the velvet ground.
This exquisitely stitched fan is in the NY State Historical Society's collection and dates from 1884. The fan was in the border of a fabulous crazy quilt. The outer blue portion is a silk ribbon which has been tacked down and then stitched upon.
Here's the same pattern, this time as a block in the middle of a lovely antique crazy quilt. Some of the embroidery is chenille work.
And here is the pattern done in redwork. Okay, bluework. Just an stem stitch, but very effective.
Other options might have been to paint the fan onto fabric. Or to use stuffed, dimensional work for some of the flowers. It's lovely that each pattern was open to the imagination of the stitcher.
Part of the fascination lies in the ingenuity that Victorian needlewomen had when faced with a pattern. Very often, patterns were simply line drawings and it was left to the imagination of the stitcher to interpret the drawing. Here's an example:
This line drawing of a fan was taken from the 1886 Ingall's Pattern book. A lovely fan. Here are some stitched versions of this drawing which I have found on antique crazy quilts.
The fan above was stitched with a metallic thread for the surround. Note the painted flowers and butterflies on the velvet ground.
This exquisitely stitched fan is in the NY State Historical Society's collection and dates from 1884. The fan was in the border of a fabulous crazy quilt. The outer blue portion is a silk ribbon which has been tacked down and then stitched upon.
Here's the same pattern, this time as a block in the middle of a lovely antique crazy quilt. Some of the embroidery is chenille work.
And here is the pattern done in redwork. Okay, bluework. Just an stem stitch, but very effective.
Other options might have been to paint the fan onto fabric. Or to use stuffed, dimensional work for some of the flowers. It's lovely that each pattern was open to the imagination of the stitcher.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Desperately Seeking Herbs
Okay, I'm an herb fanatic. I never claimed otherwise. I have 6 types of comfrey. Dozens of thyme varieties. Several chives (regular, Grolau, garlic, mauve-flowered garlic, curly, dwarf, Profusion, Grande). I'm not obsessed, I'm thorough. Yeah, that's it. There are over 300 herbs in my gardens.
If anyone can tell me where to find or can actually supply me with two herb for which I have been searching, it would be greatly appreciated! The first is Chocolate Basil. Basil, not chocolate mint. The quest for this plant has been going for a couple years. It was mentioned in a forum that someone saw it in the Missouri Botanic Gardens. Emails to the MBG led to possibly they got it from Richter's. Richter's says, nope, not them.
The other herb I am searching for is Curly Sage. Salvia officinalis 'Curly'. Not clary sage. Apparently, it is offered by a wholesale nursery on the west coast. Emails to them as to which retail nursery carries it have gone unanswered. I have a friend in Washington state who is on the lookout for me. Again, if you definitely know of a place that has it, please let me know!
Many thanks.
If anyone can tell me where to find or can actually supply me with two herb for which I have been searching, it would be greatly appreciated! The first is Chocolate Basil. Basil, not chocolate mint. The quest for this plant has been going for a couple years. It was mentioned in a forum that someone saw it in the Missouri Botanic Gardens. Emails to the MBG led to possibly they got it from Richter's. Richter's says, nope, not them.
The other herb I am searching for is Curly Sage. Salvia officinalis 'Curly'. Not clary sage. Apparently, it is offered by a wholesale nursery on the west coast. Emails to them as to which retail nursery carries it have gone unanswered. I have a friend in Washington state who is on the lookout for me. Again, if you definitely know of a place that has it, please let me know!
Many thanks.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Betty Pillsbury on Big Blend Magazine Radio!
Exciting news! I will be featured on Garden Gossip, a home and garden radio show, on Saturday, February 21. I'll be talking about attracting pollinators to your garden, especially through the use of herbs. Click on the link above.
You can also read the article I wrote for Garden Gossip by clicking here
Garden Gossip is part of Big Blend Magazine, a wonderfully comprehensive on-line presence where you can find information of all sorts! The number of topics covered is vast. You have to check it out.
You can also read the article I wrote for Garden Gossip by clicking here
Garden Gossip is part of Big Blend Magazine, a wonderfully comprehensive on-line presence where you can find information of all sorts! The number of topics covered is vast. You have to check it out.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
We have a winner!
Congratulations to VivLyn, the winner of the sheet of cigarette silk reproductions. For those of you who don't know about cigarette silks, I wrote an article about them for the Premier issue of Quilting Arts magazine.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Reproduction Cigarette Silks
Just a reminder that I sell these reproduction silks on my www.BettyPillsbury.com web site. Check it out!
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