breezy, 73 degrees and sunny!

We had sun today! That meant tackling some exterior house projects this morning. When that was over I started harvesting lavender stems from what remains of my lavender cutting garden. Haven't replaced the plants that didn't survive over the last, few wet winters, 8 plants remain and only 2 or 3 are really producing, due to my neglect, I guess. Since I've developed a sensitivity to working with the dried lavender, I only work with it outdoors. This year's harvest won't yield a lot to make wands with but it will be enough to supplement the already dried bundles from last year.

I was just shooting a few pics to remind me of this summer's lavender work and waiting for some busy bees to come into the frame. It was a little breezy and not late enough in the afternoon, to catch them clinging to the stems in drunken stupors.




And finally a little worker bee----


Hope to re-open my lavendertrifles shop in the next week with new lavender wand-making kits and finished lavender sachet wands.

Home from Rhinebeck

It was a chilly, crowded, woolly weekend in Dutchess County, NY at the Sheep and Wool Show! Knitware was not only appropriate this year but necessary. From my vantage point it's a parade of glorious wool that's been knitted, crocheted, woven, felted etc.

Thanks to all that dropped by A29---to sniff the lavender-emitting kits and sachets, hear the lavender wand explanation and view my embroidered wool button display. And a big shout out to my longtime friends Sue and Jamie for giving me a home away from home for the weekend!



Though I missed the ravelry action outside, I did find two authors whose books inspired my needles in the last year. In building 26 I found Linda Repasky aka Woolen Whimsies in her well-appointed stall displaying framed samples of her punchneedle work, wool threads, kits to make colorful "standing wool" mats, punch needle tools (the best ones!) and her wonderfully done vinegar grained frames (which I hope I can find when I unpack!). Her book, is an inspirational and helpful guide for your punchneedle ideas. On another break I passed by the book signing area as things were winding down to find Lynne Barr and thank her for her book, Knitting New Scarves, full of interesting knit constructions inspired by modern architecture!

The road home...leaves have peaked, I couldn't find my camera, but I did have my phone, so while driving the Taconic...





Ahhh, I miss the leaves already!

Fiber Tribe

6 more days! Countdown mode to next weekend's show, October 18-19, at the Sheep and Wool festival in Rhinebeck, NY. It's a fabulous fiber event amidst the rolling hill and dale of Dutchess County awash in Fall color where breeders of sheep, goats, llamas, alpacas, bunnies...) show their animals, their fleece and spun yarns, where spinners, dyers, mills and creators show their stuff and ply their services and yarns etc. I want to mention my talented boothmates--- The Paisley Studio and Thimble folk---here's my Thimblefolk sheep pincushion treasure from last year overseeing my work table. I'm hoping to snag a few hooked pumpkins from the Paisley Studio this year.



Working diligently to amass more lavender wands with the velvet



ribbon I dyed this summer and assembling lavender accessory kits, writing patterns, tagging and pricing. Still have lots more buttons to embroider with the wool I've been over-dyeing. The list goes on, the work continues up to the last moment!

Hope to see you there!

lavender tender or urban girl meets her own backyard

I usually have my lavender processed by the first week in July. What happened this year? I was not paying close attention to the garden or the calender. So now I'm scrambling to cut the deep purple 'Grosso' and pale lavender 'Provence' stems before all the buds are open and dropping to the ground! Keeping in mind the perils in my untended garden, umm, those blood-sucking ticks on the swaying weeds, I'm compelled to overdress for the occasion. Long pants, rubber knee boots, garden chapeau, bug spray and clippers...urban girl meets her own backyard. Darn! There was no one to capture this vision digitally, or at least I don't think there was.

I grew up in the suburbs of San Francisco, moved to the city or rather, to Los Angeles for college, then to Manhattan and up to the Hudson Valley, never really touching the earth until I moved to the East End of Long Island 16 years ago. The passion for gardening was fleeting, as there was too much nature to contend with. (I dream of caring for a tickless rooftop patio! This coming from our household's best tick magnet!) Anyway, the lavender remains without too much help from me...hey, I did weed! This year the younger plants have matured and are yielding more lavender than ever. So the cut stems become lavender wands...drying out and then woven with my hand-dyed velvet...

hearts in season

I've been stitching a pile o' silk hearts!

Heart sachets have been a constant in my Lavender Trifles repertoire and with the recent opening of my etsy shop, I'll be able to present them "in season"!

Lavender is such a nostalgic fragrance, it naturally lends itself to antique textiles. My sachets were first inspired by antique Crazy quilts saturated with embroidery, pieced in unusual color combinations and full of quirky imagery.

When I start on a group of sachets, I rely on the palette of intense colors that the dupioni silks come in and ever-expanding collection of embroidery floss to guide the way. Most of the time I have no plan or pattern for piecing, other than using up scraps. Once I have pieced the fabric, I use a minimum of embroidery stitches on the silk's slubby surface.

One thing leads to another and there are always ways to stray from the original intention. Now there's a pile o' natural linen hearts with ricrac and embroidery in progress. And with a work table full of embroidery threads I'll have to clean it up with my punchneedle and whip up some buttons! But that's another post.

Sachets. Fill em, shoot em and upload them before Valentine's day has come and gone.

HOW TO MAKE A PAIR OF TEABAG SACHETS

The teabag sachets evolved after I finished a private label order for a client. The sachet I was making for them was a postcard-sized linen rectangle with a loop at the top. At the same time, I was getting into loose leaf teas and everything I made turned into a tea accessory. The large rectangle morphed into a teabag shape with a loop, then the loop was replaced by the button and buttonhole and one sachet became a pair of sachets. Unbuttoned, the sachet can loop over a hanger or button onto a hanging garment….or drop in a coat pocket hanging in the closet.

I'm just getting my etsy shop set-up, the first listings are the teabag sachets…still time to get them for Christmas! If you sew, you can use the pattern and directions that follow to make your own. I chose linen for these sachets, a somewhat open weave, so the fragrance can pass easily through the fabric. There's a great online source for dried lavender and botanicals---http://www.atlanticspice.com/.

INSTRUCTIONS

Step 1. Using the pattern cut two from your fabric for a pair of sachets.




Step 2. Fold on the dotted line, using a ¼” seam allowance, sew across the bottom and up the side ending about 1” before the top. Then sew across the top and down the diagonal. Clip corners. Turn inside out.




Step 3. Fold the open corner into the center forming the teabag shaped top. Press well.




Step 4. Make a button hole. Fill the sachet with lavender about 2/3 full (about 2/3 cup). Top-stitch across the sachet from side to side at the base of the triangle. This secures the dried lavender. Sew button on the second sachet.

about lavender trifles

At the Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck in October I sold out of white sheep sachets---recycled wool moth-chaser sachets filled with dried lavender, a moth deterrent. Perfect for wool lovers!

One summer night when I was walking my dachshund, Archie, he began chasing...moths. The moth-chaser sachet idea was born that night! So a simple black felt rectangle folded in half, stitched on the sides, then stitched across the two matched seams--became the Archie head. Felt ears, two brown vintage buttons for eyes, a pink felt tongue and a ribbon leash made it into the Archie Moth-chaser!




It's a short leap from dachshund head to sheep's head. A little ear tweaking and a silk yarn top knot! The sheep sachets are made from recycled wool sweaters, which should make sheep happy, vintage buttons, recycled silk yarn, ribbon or silk spaghetti and dried lavender. Here's a new flock of white sheep about to be stitched...bound for wool stashes everywhere!