Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Garden, garden, garden (and sun dye/print, too)


Sunday was an absolutely perfect autumn day.  What's incredible is, I am seeing so many blogs where autumn is in full force.  Here the trees are just beginning to turn.

Some of you went to the zoo with me and saw the Keeper of the Plains plaster statue.  You can read about the original and see the installation, which sits at the confluence of the Big and Little Arkansas Rivers, here.

My next door neighbor is a genius when it comes to metal working.  He made this in his shop in his back yard.  I took these photos from my driveway on my way to

my herb garden, which I hoped to put to bed on Sunday.  I had already removed three pots to the house, when I heard it was supposed to freeze Thursday night.  Both Thursday and Friday nights we had frost, but no freeze.

My friend Sally gave me lots of cardboard to spread over the garden so I could renew my lasagna garden.

For those of you unfamiliar with lasagna gardens, they are weed free, maintenance free, and pH neutral.  This makes them organic, earth friendly, no-dig, and no-till layering.

It had turned dark before I was finished.  Before I put my hose away for the winter, I watered the garden well AND cleaned a few of my mini blinds

including the ones seen here.  Right after I brought all the plants in and put them in place, I decided to take a photo, even before vacuuming.

Two weeks ago, Deb at Learning to Just Breathe found four ball and claw attachments at a sale.  I promised to show what mine looked like.

The ball is glass and each ball has at least one bubble in it.  The claws are brass.  They attach to the legs of my library end table.

After all my hard work, I vacuumed and finished cleaning.  I also made sure all the mini blinds were straight.  That's how I spent the majority of my Sunday.

In the glare of the early Monday morning light,

you can see I still have a lot to do before putting this bed to bed.

I didn't realize I had left such a mess Sunday night.

I used just enough mulch

to help the bottom layer decay.

I hope to get newspapers from my friend Sally so I can place them on top of the mulch to help even further.

I also removed all my flags from the porch and you can see I've put my hose away for the winter.

It will soon be time to decorate the porch for winter.

Last night

I was out chasing the Super moon.  

No tripod, no steady cam, just me pointing at the moon.

Personally, I was disappointed because it didn't look much different from the moon shot I took for Rinda's challenge.

Several of my dear internet friends are looking for photos of my grape dyed fabric.

Here it is after I washed it, but before it's been ironed.   Personally I was disappointed.

It was so sticky with syrupy juice, I had to wash it.  When I did, I think I washed out some of the pale color.

Those spots were on the fabric (this had been a bed sheet I bought at the second hand store) before I dyed it.  The grape juice intensified the spots.

Although I tried and failed to color correct the lighting from my craft room, this is as good as it's going to get.  I somehow doubt I'll use grape juice again to try to dye fabric.

It's amazing how warm it has stayed after a frost Friday night.  This autumn's weather has been so up and down.  I brought my flowers back out to soak up some sunshine and decided to allow the sun to work its magic on fabric once again.  In case you missed how I sun dyed/printed fabric before, please go here.

This time I started with a white bed sheet and two different fluid acrylics.

Once the paint was on the fabric, I brought out several of my beloved rocking horses.

I got a bit overenthusiastic and removed the rockers a bit too soon.  I was able to return the wooden one to the fabric and place it back in the sun.

The reason I got overly anxious was so I could sun dye the inside cover before the sun was too low to do any good.

Although this was all I was able to accomplish today, I'm still quite proud of all I accomplished over the weekend.  I was thrilled that it was warm enough that I was able to sun dye one final outer and one inner scrappy book cover, this time with a rocking horse theme.


This is Day 16 of AEDM and I truly appreciate you stopping by for a visit.

16 thoughtful remarks:

Valerie-Jael said...

Looks like you had a busy day with all that work in the garden. Here autumn is moving into winter, the leaves are all gone, it's cold, misty and grey, brrrrr. Glad you found time to play with your fabric and rocking horses. I am not so fond of ball and claw feet, as a child I was always frightened of them, and thought animals were trapped inside them! Okay, in the meantime I know it's not true....Have a fun day, hugs, Valerie

froebelsternchen said...

Wow.. you did an amazing job again in the herbal garden - busy Elizabeth!
Your neighbour is an artist as well!
O.k. grapejuice is for drinking now?? - But I think it looks quite good
and the green - blue fabric is going to be a fab piece I guess! Looks great so far!
Happy Wednesday!

chrissie said...

Love the metal work sculpture and the idea of putting cardboard on the soil--terrific.

You have done a grand job on the fabric as well

Love Chrissie xx

Jeanie said...

I have never heard of a lasagna garden -- it looks fascinating and I'll have to think about doing that for the winter just for weed cover if nothing else. Really intriguing. I have to do the hose thing this weekend or maybe even today. Still have some leave to get up -- I don't have many but leaves are leaves, no matter what.

Thanks for your comments on the Gypsy -- I owe all my scarf success to you! I know what you mean about people who bargain on things like that. No, it is NOT a yard sale of leftover junk, it is art created with care and love. (I don't even like people who bargain over a dollar item at a yard sale. Really? No!) But on art -- no way. Bad form. I will say that we try to price things fairly and I suspect if you saw any one of our stuff in a gallery or shop it would be upmarked. And we might do specials on old merchandise or quantity. But the price is the price! Anyway, I was very glad you shared that -- and very sad it happened in the first place.

Sami said...

I'd never heard of Lasagna gardens either, but sounds interesting to keep things organic.
Your photos of the moon are fantastic. I also took photos but as you say the moon didn't look too different to me either...
The rocking horse fabric looks very cute.

Nancy said...

Cardboard? Lasagna garden? Your post if full of intriguing info. And that metal sculpture is quite amazing! You had a full day of work. We saw only a bit of the Super Moon as we had some cloud cover. Your photos are good ones.

Sandra Cox said...

You got some great moon shots. I went out last night, but I didn't get out early enough. It just looked like a nice full moon.
Love your neighbor's sculpture.
I'm doing the gardening thing today too. Got some last minute daylilies to plant.
Have a pleasant, productive day.

NatureFootstep said...

love the rocking horses you are working with. They make me wish I had some kids in my family, but there are none. :(

Lovely work though. And I like the native in the first images. :)

Meggymay said...

Oh my you have been very busy with the garden, I would be tired out doing all you did in one day. The plants you took inside look so healthy, they should winter well.
So it will be grape juice for drinking now that you didn't like the results. The sun dye piece looks fantastic with the rocking horses.
We didn't get to see the moon where we live as the sky has been so cloudy, your photos look great.
Yvonne xx

pearshapedcrafting said...

Hmm! A little disappointing but i do like how intensified the dots and the little hint of blue! There was no super moon here - far too cloudy! You did well to get all that garden work done - at least you can relax now! We have colder weather forecast for the next few days! What a talented neighbour you have too! Hugs, Chrisx

Sharon Madson said...

I was pretty sure we were neighbors. I live in the city with the original Keeper of the Plains. You just looked at my header photo which was from a vacation and didn't think we lived near each other.
Please come see my Blog and email me. Would be fun to touch base.
Lovely photos of the moon! And love the art you are doing with the rocking horses. #40 on WOYWW

Divers and Sundry said...

I'm surprised your fabric turned out so light. I was really expecting a darker result. It's pretty, though, just more delicate than I expected.

Your garden posts are among my favorites as you know. Our high today was in the upper 70sF, so it's not quite time for me to make my final preparations for winter. My finches are still outside, too. I wonder if it'll ever get cold here lol

My name is Erika. said...

I never got to my computer last night, so I am catching up. I am amazed how green it is in Wichita. Its always amazing how different the seasons change as you move around the country. They're even talking the S word in our weather next. And I haven't got my snow tires yet! Oh my. But I am loving that cool metal pieces near your house. What talented guy. Hugs-Erika

Carol said...

I LOVE Lasagna gardening ♥♥♥♥♥ I switched to it 13 years ago after moving here and discovering that our yard is almost 100% plastic clay. Which is a stickier and heavier clay than just regular clay soil. It almost feels like it has oil in it. The previous owner had amended the vegetable garden area a lot but it was still not what I was used to growing in. SO I went with a Lasagna Garden and raised beds. That sculpture is fantastic!!! I love it. You have worked hard now take a rest :) Winter is coming but today will be beautiful.

Krisha said...

My goodness you have been busy!
I'm surprised the grape juice didn't provide a stronger color....it sure does on my t-shirts!
I LOVE the rocking horse journal cover, great results....I might have to give that a try.
I don't have space for a true garden, but IF we ever get that new house built, there are plans for one, and I think I will give the Lasagna gardening a try.

jinxxxygirl said...

Hmmmm... my moon question is .. did you view it as it was rising or setting??? I mean right at the point of slipping past on the horizon ?
Because thats when you would have noticed the size.... I also read about the reason its looks larger at that time.... Its because your eye has something to compare it too...not because its really larger ont he horizon.. Anyway we managed to catch it rising and oMGosh it was huge and gorgeous... You got some lovely photos girlfriend... i didn't even try.... i just soaked in that amazing sight..

I'm sorry i'm so late getting here to view your ball and clawfoot legs!! I almost forgot you said you were going to do that... Yours are so cooool... I have another house update coming for tea this week and i will try to get you some better pictures.. :) Hugs! deb