Monday, April 25, 2011

Lavender's Blue Dilly Dilly

Well not exactly lavender (yet), but many of the plants flowering in my garden today happen to be in various shades of blue.
(ajuga, camassia, forget-me-knots, geranium, viola "freckles", 
pulmonaria, bluebells, brunnera and veronica)

One bed in particular is predominantly blue, somehow it seems very calming.


But I haven't just been gardening, I've been some fiddling with textiles too.  I was inspired after reading Emma's blog "A Little Bit of Everything" to try incorporating some seed heads into textile work. I've used them as inspiration before but never actually tried using real ones within the piece.  I was limited in my choice as it's really the wrong time of year for seed head collection but I had some stipa gigantica and lavender hanging about in the conservatory.

Golden Light (18cm x 14cm)
For this one I used handmade paper as well as undyed scrim, gold organza, gold thread and beads stitched onto a background of natural osnaberg.

And for this one I dyed the some of the scrim and used some sheet music and lace aged with walnut ink, before stitching the lavender underneath some lilac organza and adding odd bits of thread and some beads.
Faded Memories (18cm x 14cm)
I'm pleased with how they've turned out, I like the "threadiness" of them and I like that they include plants that I grew.  Not sure what I'm going to do with them though, might have to cogitate that for a while, although I might hang them somewhere!  Thanks Emma for the inspiration.

8 comments:

Fran Hillman said...

Lovely!

Yvonne Moxon said...

These are beautiful!

Emma said...

Thanks for the mention, course it's ok, sheesh! I love using seedheads, helps to justify having a garden. But have you seen Cas Holmes work? On my blogroll, now there's inspiration!

Emma said...

I meant to say your garden & the pieces are lovely!

Julie said...

Beautiful pieces Su :-) Thank you for your comments on St Ives on my blog :-)

Felted House said...

Your garden looks beautiful - I must post a photo of the garden we've managed to make at my mum's - still very empty of plants but the edged beds we've done remind me of yours a little. My own garden is so sadly neglected. And I love your pictures, particularly the first one as the plants are even more visible. Thanks for your message on my blog - if I had to cover with sticky tape every part of the furniture the cats were wrecking I'd have an entirely sticky room, so I've bought a throw for the sofa today in the hope that that will stop any further damage, we'll see, and then I'll perhaps get another one. They're very happy cats though chasing each other about - funny how the older one seems more silly and kitten-ish than the younger. I'm glad they aren't trying to run up our blinds though - the thought of a cat as big and heavy as Monty climbing curtains like your Dylan is a bit scary! xx

Mag said...

You've been busy!
The textile pieces are lovely and your garden looks so inviting. Pretty cottage flowers - all desirables!

Anna said...

A beautiful collage which includes some of my favourite plants Su :) Your art work amazes me as usual - you are a talented lady. Is walnut ink derived from walnuts?