Magical streams

Over the holiday weekend I packed a picnic lunch and my husband and I went "two-tracking"
up north through the woods. We had our lunch at this magical little spot along a creek. The moss and ferns were beautiful.

A perfect spot for elves and fairies!

And look at this fallen log filled with different lichens

So much inspiration, I collected a few old lichen fill sticks to dye fabric with at home.

A few more miles along we found this large stream, these are the tree roots growing over the water. and the tree perfectly healthy. My husband watching the flying geese.

A beautiful woodland plant called cardinal flower.

I don't know the name of this woodland plant, I've really never seen it before. If anyone has any idea please let me know.

Back home in the dye studio, I wrapped silk around the lichen stick and some silk with red maple leaves around a birch stick. Steamed them awhile, now setting in plastic bags processing. we'll see what kind of prints I get in a week.

This is the beginning of the next "family tree" house block. This was my husbands mothers child home. I love they had a outhouse, but that was quite a long walk in the night. None of it is sewed on yet, when it's finished there will be a lot more detail, the yard will have lilacs on the left side of the house and a big tree on the right.

My friend Deb brought me this wonderful warty pumpkin, it fits right in with my sweet potato vine.
And speaking of pumpkins this will be my last blog until the beginning of October, I'm leaving for Florida to spend some time with family. I'll be back in time to enjoy all Michigan has to offer in the fall. I'll see you then.

End of Summer

I've been having fun playing with eucalyptus, this picture shows 3 scarves I printed/dyed with the leaves. The first to the left is wool, then silk/wool and the right one is silk. With my eucalyptus dyed yarn laying on top.

This is how the wool yarn looked coming off the stick. What a wonderful variegated yarn. I can't wait to use it.

We had a beautiful rainy morning and I was lucky enough to have nothing to do. Looking at how my flowers were nearing the end and looking at my wool I was inspired to start a piece to go into my Earth quilt, "end of summer".

This eucalyptus dyed wool piece reminds me of my flowers, a few still blooming but most browning and fading away. I started by outlining the still blooming flowers using my eucalyptus yarn with a simple running stitch and a french knot in the middle.
When finished it will be layered with batting and rain drops sewn on.




I found this pumpkin growing on the other side of my garden fence, I was just able to see him now that the leaves are starting to die back. It's sort of watermelon shaped, may not be able to stand on his own but will be nice tucked in one of my big flower pots.

I wanted to share with you a few pictures I had taken at Fredrick Meijer gardens. These were in the glass house and are the carnivorous plants that live on bugs. They have a beautiful collection.

From those in the wet lands,

to varieties that hang from trees.

And look at these beautiful pitcher looking plants.

And here's another variety that hangs from the trees.