2 posts tagged “stone walls”
Well, no new pictures, yet. I have spent the past 2 days potting up memorial planters for some customers of our former greenhouse, and working in my gardens. We fill the planters, deliver them to the cemeteries by Memorial Day, and pick the pots up at the end of the season. It is something I can still do without owning the greenhouses. It was hard to have to make a list of everything I needed, and to go to another greenhouse to buy the plants. I ended up making a second trip, because I hadn't counted right, or something, and needed more geraniums. It's much easier to "shop" as I plant, like I used to. But it is easier to plant during the day, most of the planters were potted after dark in the past, with lights in the greenhouses- one way to extend the work day. With all the planters ready for delivery, I spent the rest of my available daylight in my gardens, digging and planting.
My stone wall garden is finished! Well, at least the part below the wall, I need to plant the bed at the top of the wall. I am using a lot of perennials, I have a number of plants that I could divide. I have to purchase less annuals- real tight budget this year, but I need flowers about as much as I need fabric! By the end of today, I had potted up a bunch of extra Hostas, Echinacea, Hardy Geraniums, and more that I didn't have room to plant just yet. I even potted up a big hunk of a huge bluish Hosta in a big planter with a couple impatiens for my deck- It did'nt even wilt even with a very hot day, and the original plant in the garden doesn't look like anything was removed. Tomorrow, the top of the stone wall will be getting decked out with Siberian Iris and dark leaved, tall Sedums with trailing Petunias I started from seed. I just wish I had marked which clump of Iris is white, and which is purple. I guess if I just alternate some from each clump, I should get both colors. I do need to get better with labeling my plants, I know what they are, but can't always tell color, or variety until they bloom.
I will be posting more pictures after I get the whole wall done. That
will be one (or 2) down, and 6 to go- I think- gardens
everywhere! Lots more plants to be divided- been neglecting my
babies for many years. I'm going to need a rainy day for quilting!
We finally had a couple days of warm weather, and the mud
dried enough for a walk 2 days ago. I have been "suffering" from ideas floating in
my head of stone walls, windows & doors, and moss. I had been
Googling pictures to study, (I have never studied for quilting before).
Well, I finally realized that I had all the inspiration I needed right
outside my door! Duhhh... There are many old stone walls on our
land. There was an old road, that at one time went right through the
middle of our property, lined on both sides with stone walls made from
stone removed from the fields. Thankfully, the road has been closed for
many, many years. The walls were removed from the middle area, where
our yard is now, the rest of the walls are in various states of
disrepair, and the roadway is quite grown in with trees & brush.
I took my camera to get pictures of various walls and stones. This ended up being an ideal time to get pictures, because most of the walls and stones are covered with weeds, and brush in the summer. I also found the first mini daffodils blooming- a sure sign of spring. I got a surprise, too, when I looked at the Juniper Rocks picture in the computer, I was so intent upon getting a pic. of the rocks, that I didn't see the crocus blooming in the lower right corner, hard to see, but they are there. This used to be a neat rock garden, but has become overgrown from neglect. (That's what happens when you own a greenhouse, no time for your own flower beds) The following day, I found even more treasures when I began removing dead stuff. Dwarf tulips, hyacinths, daffodils, and more! The first garden work I have done in April in 10 yrs!
As you can see from this picture, It was a glorious, sunny day! This is
a picture of our curly willow tree, showing off the branches against
the sky and clouds. There may be a quilt sometime later from this, trees aren't
"floating" yet.
This picture was taken from near the willow, showing the view we have from our property. From this angle, you just see across the hilltops, Towanda, is in the valley, just about in the middle. I used this view as inspiration for my "Blue Skies" piece in March.
I have come to believe that God has allowed me to be "blessed" with fibromyalgia, and possibly also alowed the greenhouse failure. It can be really frustrating many days, but I had not been able to see the wonders in my own backyard until now. I missed out on so many things around me, due to working around the clock. As soon as the greenhouse hours slowed down, I would switch gears, and quilt like crazy to make things to sell at my shows, and do farmer's market, to bring in more income. I never got to have any "down time", and it was really getting to me. Things are tough now, with my husband not working regularly, and my quilt business in the slow season, but I have to believe better things are coming.
Because I don't know when I will have a bad day, I have not looked for a "real" job. I have found many things that set off flare-ups, sometimes little "stupid" things. In the past I had just "toughed it out", taking pain pills, and working so hard, that I could put the pain out of my mind (between the pain and little sleep, I had mush for brains). Many days I had to force myself to keep going, and the doctor was worrying about all the meds I was taking. I now take less than half the medication, and am living with much less pain. My quilting is now my full time job. It gives me something that I can get lost in, to forget the pain the pills don't get rid of, as well as a way to bring in income. New opportunities have been showing themselves, that makes me believe this is what I am supposed to be doing. I have always "seen" quilts everywhere- in individual flowers, gardens, skies, etc. Now I have time to experiment with ideas, and get them into quilts, and come up with better pieces than I ever had the time to do before.
And, speaking of opportunities, in the newest issue of Quilting Arts, there is a door challenge. When I went to the site to see the doors we are to use for inspiration, guess what was there.... Door #3- an arch top door with stone around it! I even had been working with an idea similar to it in one of my sketch books. I have always loved arch topped doors and windows. The picture on the left is the beginning of my Door #3. I drew the shape of the door on batting, and fused an ivory piece of fabric over it. I could see my line, and keep the edges of the "stones" placed properly. The right picture is a larger piece with what will be a stone wall with a flower bed- I think.
To the right, is the door piece farther along. Quilting done, moss between the stones of the walk, and Delphiniums framing the door. The right piece is another wall, I think it will have rock garden plants and flowers flowing over the top of the wall. There are always flowers floating in my head!
This shows the door closer. I will be adding iridescent seed beads for the "bees" in the delphinium florets. There are of some of the silk scraps I played with for my wisteria, dyed as dark as I could, for the flowers- I LOVE dark blue delphiniums. I will also be adding some small white flowers with beads, in the foliage along the walk. I made this wall using pale pinks and lavender-blues, that would be seen in a sun facing wall. I even added some fallen petals on the steps, for realism. Delphiniums always like to drop petals.
I am feeling really lucky right now, in that I am able to work in my gardens outside, as well as the ones in fabric. Even if I may only be able to do the outdoor gardens for only an hour or 2 each day, well, after the weather warms again- it looks like a cold week ahead. After beading, I will post the "finished product".
