Finds - May Flowers

April showers bring May Flowers, so they say. We've had flowers for weeks, and rain at the same time, so I'm not sure which came first! Here's some bright choices that Are getting me through my cold and rainy days.

A dapper choice for a clean Spring time look! Flowered bowtie from TrendyGents, perfect for a picnic or brunch.

A dainty bit of decor in May's flower - Lily of the Valley. Fantastic stitchery from ConeBomBom, perfect for a Victorian tea, or a wild day in the park!

Perhaps it's a good day for spinning? It's been raining here for a week (It's Colorado, that never happens!) so I've been staying in and crafting. But this bright roving will be cheery on the greyest day! Hand-dyed by SpunDreamz.

And do you need a fancy spindle? The magic of 3-D Printing means that a sweet, colorful, exciting spindle is super affordable too! TurtleMade for your spinning enjoyment.

Then, having spun and plyed your yarn on your fun little spindles, get knitting! (Yes, let's pretend you did this all in one day, and you have all the free time in the world, ok?) Adorable spring time yarn bowl from GlyntPottery.

Right now, in my Etsy Shop, grab yourself some May Flowers (or Trees, or Birds or...) and get FREE SHIPPING with coupon code FLOWERS. Enjoy the blooms of spring!

Finds - Summer Solstice

 Once again the wheel has turned and we are at the longest day of the year! The sun is lingering far into the evening, and the summer heat is starting to linger. One of the joys of Colorado is that the shade is still cool, and the nights chill everything nicely.

Painting by PamelaJonesArtStudio.

 Get the house decorated up for the summer with a colorful wreath from WillowgaleDesigns

 Get gussied up for a warm evening party with this classic print dress from CruelCandy

Liven up an outfit with a touch of spring meadows, this lovely pendent by MaggieJonesEnamels

If you're feeling Crafty, make your own solstice time yarn from the hand-dyed roving by TheCritterRanch. Remember, it's cooler to spin the wool than to have a pile of it in your lap while knitting!

Or, for an even more hot-weather-friendly craft, try this summer time cross-stitch pattern by ColorfulCrossStitch.

Whether you plan to drum down the sun around a mighty bonfire, or just toast the longest day of the year with a cold drink, enjoy your Solstice!

Dandy Jam!

 After my last jaunt in dandelion land I was inspired to try my hand at making dandelion jelly. The soft scent of the blooms, and that rich yellow color seemed to promise a delicate lovely spread.

I picked a huge basket of flowers, easily done since my yard was blanketed in them! I had to move carefully to avoid stepping on a bee, and I picked only the flowers that were fully opened. Don't worry, there were still plenty left for the bees.

 Then began the grueling process of trimming all the flowers. The stem and green bit on the bottom of the bud is rather bitter, so i carefully chopped off most of the green bits. This diminished the volume of flowers quite a bit, and as we worked (I drafted the boyfriend into flower dissection duty) the petals seemed to shrink more and more into the measure cup.

 Finally! Four cups petals, four cups water, two cups honey, and some lemon juice. I simmer that a while, then strained out most of the flowers.  I wanted to keep a few petals in the mix to give it some body and color. I added 1 1/2 packets of low-sugar pectin. One packet just wasn't doing it, even after cooking down a while it was thin. I ended up cooking it down quite a while to get it syrupy enough.

 I canned in the usual way, it made 9 wee little jars (Not many for all the hours of prep work!) The jelly set up fairly thick (much to me surprise and delight) and spreads nicely.

I'll be gifting many of these, you guys better understand what a precious thing this is!

My breakfast the next morning was light and flowery! It's a spectacular yellow color, and has a subtle honey taste. Just perfect for a spring morning.

Have you ever made Dandelion Jelly? How did it go?

Finds - Spring has Sprung

The trees are finally greening around here, even with late snow storms passing thru they just cannot wait! I've been springing up the house to get in a flowery mood. Here's some Etsy pics to get you in the mood too!

Illustration by TonySheltonFineArt.

 

Add a 'welcome' to your front door with Forsythia, Wreath by ATPitman.

 

Bring the carpet of fresh greens inside with this crochet rag rug by TupperRugs.

Funky Handknit sweater by Tasssha, with pops of bright color and wild buttons!

Or, make your own spring time lovely, hand-dyed yarn by Gynx.

The First Dandelions of Spring!

As spring rolls around (slowly here, it's been snowing) there's a plethora of wild plants out to enjoy!

A personal favorite is Dandelions, pretty, prolific, and very tasty! And of course there is no shortage around my house, I've been pulling whole plants to enjoy the roots and leaves, and gathering baskets of flowers.

Dandelion is a rich source of vitamins A, B complex, C, and D, as well as minerals such as iron, potassium, and zinc. The leaves are usually enjoyed in the spring, and make a great cleansing salad. Leaf teas are used for the kidneys and as a diuretic. The roots are thought to purify blood and cleanse the liver.

The plant is also used as a natural dye, the flowers make yellows, the leaves bright greens (no surprise there), and the roots can make a rusty red, or a light tan.

The flowers are also of course a great boon to Bees, especially this year. All the flowers were slow to bloom this year with our late snows and unseasonably cold nights, these quick blooming flowers were there to feed the first emerging bees. As a gardener and a honey lover I try to support these pollinating wonders whenever I can!

 I've also enjoyed lots of dandelion tea, both flowers and roots. It's light and mellow, easy to enjoy. A little honey just makes it even more the treat. And since I can gather it myself, it's the perfect home herbal treat.

 The flowers are also noted for making wine! I've started two batches of mead with dandelions. One has cups and cups of flowers, the other has root and leaf, plus burdock and ginger for a refreshing spring brew. One more reason to be thankful for those bees!

 What's your favorite spring flower? Do you gather dandelions?

Also, I may try making Dandelion jelly

http://rockfarmer.me/2013/04/05/eat-like-a-bee-dandelion-jelly/

Yum!

Flowers in the Snow

 Today dawned cold and snowy, a far cry from yesterday's 60F. Perfect day for stitching! I've gotten behind in my seasonal needlework, so I'm still working on Imbolc's heather. But that's OK, it looks like Imbolc outside...

 I'm still working around the wheel, those big white blooms are chamomile for Yule, next will be roses for Eoster (which was cold and snowy too!) Still debating whether to make the roses red or yellow... hard choices right?

What sort of stitching do you do when you're "snowed in"? And yes, those are flowers on the table runner, it's that time of year yaknow?

New Embroidery Project

After last year's Wheel of the Year project I was searching for a new theme to continue the season centered crafting. I settled on doing eight flowers for the seasons, in a circle of blooming goodness.

 For Midsummer we have Lavender, I made a technical sketch first. Then divided out the fabric into eight slices and transferred the shapes. I had a bundle of fresh colors to pick from to find just the right shades and tones...

I love the raised textural qualities of crewel work. Each leaf leaps off the rich burgundy ground and gives it already a realistic feel. I'll keep posting updates as progress continues!

Merry Solstice!

 Today those of us on the north side of the planet celebrate the longest day of the year and look forwards to the slow waning of the sun's light. This is a time of fruition and fertility (in ideas as well as fields and beds.) and a time to work on projects. I'm celebrating by burning pretty things...
   "What! Burning what kinds of.... oh no." That's right, after finishing my Wheel of the Year embroidery I started on a smaller wheel, this four seasons tree of life was made entirely to be offered up as sacrifice. "Sacrifice" doesn't just mean killing the fatted cow, it means "to make sacred" so anything that is offered before a deity is a sacrifice. In the traditions of northern Europe a sacrifice would be ritually destroyed to ensure it could not be used by anyone and was truly a gift. Clay and metal items were dropped in lakes, wood offerings were burnt.
   "But you're not going to destroy all that hard work..." Yes. Yes I am. It's a piece of art for the Gods of old, and it was made with this purpose in mind. I admit, I'm giving it to someone else for the actual destruction, it would be a wee hard to do myself.

And I don't have time to dwell on last years piece, the wheel spins along. I picked up some lovely maroon linen and a variety of colors for this year's project. I've chosen flowers to represent each of the eight high days and the seasonal changes. Tomorrow I start embroidering Lavender for the midsummer. Here's to another year! I hope everyone has a blessed solstice!

Rose Harvest

 I am lucky enough to have two sprawling summer roses on my property, one yellow and one red. Each one explodes in a shower of blooms this time of year and gives off a heavenly scent into the yard. While a lovely flower, one cannot overlook the practical uses of roses as well.

In order to get the best harvest, I pick the petals carefully. You see, the fruit of the plants - a rose hip - is every bit as desirable as the flowers, and I want to have my cake and eat it too. I wait until the petals of the flower are starting to wilt and fall off a bit themselves, then I carefully pull them off, leaving behind the stamen and pistil to allow for the fruit to mature. This careful act also lets you shake out any insects that may be hiding in the flowers.

Now the petals have a slight astringency to them and are recommended for stomach ills and ulcers. They are also delicious! I like to throw some into iced teas and herbal concoctions for the yum factor. Since they are so light one can easily dry them in the bowl you used for gathering, simply turn and fluff them a few times a day as they sit in a cool dry place. Be sure to stick your nose in the bowl every time you check them, just because you can.

 While these yellow ones are destined for teas and tinctures, the bright pink bush is being collected for a special project. I just decanted my first two batches of mead into bottles, and I'm starting a batch that will become a rhydomel, Greek style rose mead. After the initial fast ferment I will add as many cups of rose petals as I can muster to (hopefully) make a nice pink boozy sparkling beverage.

That's not all! I also like to use pink ones to make a rose syrup, perfect for cocktails and teas, perhaps even lemonade? The hips are a great source of vitamin C and make a perfect addition to immune boosting teas in the fall and winter. Many people even make jams, but I'm not sure my bushes are big enough for that kind of shenanigans. Have you checked your yard for flowers that are edible or medicinal? You may be surprised at what you find!

The Wheel Doesn't Always Turn One Way...

After a few weeks of very warm weather and a weekend of 80+ F degrees, it spent the last two days snowing. This is actually fairly normal for Colorado, skip Spring and go straight to Summer, then come back around to a little bit of Winter.
I know better than to trust an early season, so all the seeds I've planted are frost hardy. There's a reason we call them "Snow Peas" and Radishes hate warm weather. Of course the tulips didn't miss a beat. In fact the moisture was a huge boon to them! My table will have a fresh bouquet on it for at least two weeks from now.
I finally started on the fourth and final stage of my Wheel of the Year project. Spring will be a light colored tree with small buds and pink flowers. I'm looking forward to bringing the whole circle together, and already plotting a project for the coming trip around the sun. Nothing like crafting to make us enjoy every single season!
What does spring look like for you? I feel it's the season that people are most in touch with, we've kept so many of the old traditions celebrating fertility and rebirth (like spring cleaning, Easter, Earth Day and May Day) that even in modern society we all recognize the return of life. Be sure to get outside and watch some flowers blooming!

Sprung

The unseasonably warm weather has brought out the flowers a little early this year. The Plum tree is bursting out in delicate white blossoms, the apricot is in full flower, the cherries are preparing to bloom. I'm hoping the weather allows for fruit set on, and the harvest is good!
The bulb flowers are springing out as well, the bright colors are starting to pop out on the front lawn and bring color to the yard.

Is spring showing up around you? What is coming up in your garden?

Indoor Blooms

My paperwhites are blooming and making my whole house smell like a dream! It's nice to start these bulbs inside as a precursor to spring flowers, hopefully the crocus' will be peeking out soon, and tulips after that...

The Lotus and the Buddha

Mister Crafty Bitch got a gift today, a table. "Why would you give your loving boyfriend a table?" you may ask, for religous purposes duh! He is making a small shrine to house his buddha and make a nice place to sit and chant, Nichiren style - nam myoho renge kyo - which translates roughly to "it's all about the lotus sutra yo! So I went searching to find what makes lotus so special? The lotus was a sacred symbol in Asia before the spread of Buddism, and to Buddist is represents the enlightened mind rising above, as the flower blooms from the mud.
What better place to start then Origami? Not just any Origami, fabulous yellow and orange chirogami washi lotus hair flower. Swoot! MissManatee has carefully folded this for your hair, then shelaced it for postarity. The first uses of paper when it was invented in Asia was for religious ceremonies, usually folded and sometimes worn. It took a while for someone to think of marking on it, but let's be glad they didn't forget how to fold!

If you fancy candles for you worship, perhaps one of these lotus shaped pure soy wax pieces from LotusSfyn is the one? An awesome candle and awesome use of one of Asia's other treasure, the soybean. But that is a collection for another day... In the mean time light up and chill out!

Take one look at BeadStyle's photo of a blooming lotus and it's not hard to see why the flower was revered in Asia. Glowing pale pink over undulating green, even the spent bud on it's way to seed is a lovely thing. The root of the lotus plant is also edible, called renkon in Japanese, it has holes in it that look much like the pods, as though the tubes run the entire length of the plant.

Nichiren is of course a Japanese school of buddism, so I was looking for very Japanese style depictions of a lotus. This kanzashi made with real chirimen fabrics is both cute and traditional. Petalmix has a number of Japan inspired kanzashi which are the traditional hair acuterments of the Geisha and Maiko. They had a different flower for every month to show the seasons, now that is classy!

How about a great bag to ride to and from the temple with? This one truly caught my eye, and as you all know I love making things with lots of fabrics and applique. GypsyTree's messenger bag is sleek and petite, just right for small trips around town. Or if you are going for the ascetic minimalism it's just right for a spiritual pilgrimage.

If you don't want any rice paper blowing around, or you just want help holding a scroll open, how about this sweet glass paperweight from LucidOpticLab. The roundness is harmonious, the glass brings clarity, and the look evokes images of old-style hand stamped batiks.

And here we have the lotus and the moon, shimmery glowing moon stone and sterling silver by AnnaArtiste. Like the parable where the moon and the... Ok, I'm making it up, I don't know any buddist parables, but they like parables, so it seems like there ought to be one right?
One more fun fact about the lotus, it's seeds have the longest shelf life of any known plant. Botanist have germinated seeds discovered in caves that had been laying around a few hundred years. The wisdom of the Buddha has been around for 2400 years, so perhaps this is a good comparison ^.^
Here's the link from our visit to the Joenji Temple where they practice this type of Buddism.