Another Wool Row

This past weekend along with mordanting more wool fabric I worked on piecing rows for my wool quilt. Slowly but surely it's coming along.

 Different types of eucalyptus give different colors, This type gives greenish/yellow leaves with orange stems.

My favorite cosmos flowers on one end.

 Another row pie ed and ready to be added.

 Mullein leaves placed to form a Sun on one end.

 With oak leaves in the middle block.

 Most of the rows are pieced waiting to be joined together as soon as I finish the bottom row.

 At Vacation Bible School this years theme revolved around the Olympics. One day the children dressed up representing different Countries. Two of my grand kids wore their fathers traditional outfits from Africa. Of course on Dad they would have been shorter and are worn with slacks. The one on the left is a batik. The one on the right is a blue and white tie dye.

He kinds of looks Egyptian with his cat.

Crescent Moon

It started as a circle necklace I never really cared for, too big of circle for my neck.

Last night I had my husband make it into a "crescent moon" necklace with a sprinkling of star dust circling it.

Green Corn Moon

 Last night for supper we had corn to celebrate the full moon.

When it started to get dark off we went to photograph (in their pj's) the corn moon. We drove out in the country until we found a perfect spot. 

 As it became darker the moon over the barn and corn field was beautiful.

August Full Moon

 The Eastern Native Americans had 3 different names for the August moon, I choose to make the "green corn" moon. The green corn moon signaled that the first ears of corn would soon be ready to harvest. There were ceremonies and celebrations when the first corn ripened. No corn was eaten until the Great Spirit had been properly thanked. During the ceremony they gave thanks for the corn, rain, sun and a bountiful harvest. Corn was an integral part of their daily lives and identities.

Sturgeon Moon was another name for the August moon, they are a large family of freshwater fish that were once found in abundance along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. This fish has been around for thousands of years. This time of year the fish would have been found in abundance in the Northeastern regions.
Sturgeon were an important food source to the Native Americans.

Some Native Americans called the moon Full Red Moon, the moon tends to have a red-orange hue as it is rising and setting which is caused by light passing through a higher concentration of dust particles in the earth's low atmosphere.

Magical Moon & Seasonal Circles by Susan Betz

"So we are connected to the moon. That gives us power, a connection to the Earth and the moon men don't know about."
Cecilia Mitchell, MOHAWK

The Elders tell us that the Woman has access to special powers. The Earth Mother gives her love in a special way to the Women. The Moon also gives special power to the Woman. She uses these power to nurture, heal and guide the people.
     Great Spirit, today, give a special Blessing to our Women.

I made the corn from wool that I naturally dyed. It's hand-quilted with Sliver thread which gives wonderful little "stars" swirling around the moon. This block will someday be added to my Earth Journal Quilt.

Dyeing Results

  I placed the two jars full of wool and dye out in the sun to process for a week. I watched them carefully looking for mold. Last evening it was time to open them for the reveal.

 And of course Miss Tigress was right on my heels checking out everything. Sometimes it's hard to take a picture without her in it.

 First jar had dried eucalyptus leaves (from last year) in it. Disappointed I only got a yellow.

 When I steamed the wool with fresh eucalyptus I get wonderful rusty orange prints.
I need to try simmering the wool with fresh eucalyptus.

 The jar with the cochineal, madder root and Osage orange bark turned the wool into a wonderful piece of cloth, perfect to cut up for applique or use for piecing a quilt.

I tightly wrapped up the coreopsis flowers in a silk scarf and a antique linen napkin. Steamed them for an hour and let set for a few days.

 My napkin turned out so cute.

 This is the collection of my natural dyed antique linen napkins. Most done last summer.

 The silk scarf really grabbed the color beautifully.

 This is my coreopsis collection, wool on the left, middle linen, with the silk scarf on the right.

 The red amaranth produced green and peach "paisley" swirls.

Waiting to be quilted.

I'll see you tomorrow with the August Full Moon block, and at again the end of the month as this year August has two full moons the second being called a Blue Moon.

Natural Dyeing

I bought these wonderful Amaranth flowers at the farmers market.

 I thought I'd read somewhere they were a good dye plant, well we're going to find out.

 First I laid them on my premordanted with alum wool. Rolled it up tightly and tied it with string.

 Placed it in a pot and steamed it for an hour, left it covered overnight. It's now in a plastic bag for a couple of days. Next week we'll see the results.

 I placed the rest of the flowers in another pot and gently simmered them for around an hour. The water was a wonderful bright red.

 The wool came out a beautiful, warm yellow which surprised me, I thought it would be red or perhaps a dull brown. This fabric has orange/red undertones to it.

Knapp weed is doing well in the fields this hot dry summer.

 I picked some, chopped it up and simmered, added my premordanted wool,

And ended up with this dull yellow green. Actually the picture makes the color look better than it really is, it is ugly. At the end of Fall I take all my fabrics that I don't care for, lightly bundle them up and put them in a pot of madder root or cochineal. They turn out beautiful.

 I was really in a dyeing mood this past weekend. So next on my list was a little solar dyeing. I took a large jar, layed some premordanted wool in it and layer it with cochineal, Osage orange and madder root.

 After it was all layered I poured boiling water over it, caped it and set it in the sun for a few days.

 I had some dried eucalyptus left from last year I placed in another jar. Their out in the sun now. You have to watch them very, very carefully as they mold easily. Next week I show you the results.

 You can also do this with wool yarn. I did this hank last summer layering with cochineal, Osage orange and madder root.

Mullein is also ready for harvest. This makes a bright yellow dye.
A local Native American elder makes a wonderful healing cream with the leaves that people swear is the best.
I'm also drying some leaves to make Dream Pillows this Fall with the grandsons.

 Last summer I used the leaves to "dye print" a sunshine for my quilt.

 One of the few plants that are doing well in my dye garden is my coreopsis. In the evening when it starts to cool off I harvest the blossoms.

And look who comes with me every evening, Miss Tigress. She loves the white sage.
Funny thing about Miss Tigress, when she first adopted us the boys named her Tiger well after awhile we figured out she was a girl!

Herbal Salt

 My little herb garden was a over-grown mess

 waiting to be harvested. Although I use a little each day when I cook dinner there was a lot extra needing to be used.

 I picked, rinsed and dryed the herbs preparing them to make herbal salt.

In the salt for chicken/turkey dishes I used thyme, chives, parsley and sage.

The salt for all the other dishes I used thyme, chives, parsley, Greek oregano, rosemary and a little Thai basil.

I filled two bowls with sea salt and my helpers began cutting the herbs into small pieces.

 With a little nibbling along the way. We mixed them in well.

 This is Thai basil, it is a beautiful herb with a purple flower. It has a little bite to it, I hope it was a good ideal to put it in the salt.

 Stripping the thyme leaves off the woody stem. Be careful not to put in stems.

 We filled jars with the salt and now will let it set for a month or so until the herbs impart their flavor into the salt (shaking it once in awhile). You can then strain the herbs out of the salt, but they crumble down so much it's not necessary, I  just fill a salt shaker with it. This is a nice gift for the cooks in your life, maybe put into a vintage glass salt shakers. This salt is heavenly sprinkled on roasted beef, chicken, pork or vegetables. A little goes a long way.
(I love my Foster canning jar, thank-you Pam)!

My friend Windi stopped by and showed me her little salt carrying case with samples of her salt collection. We had a fun "salt" tasting with the grand kids.

Next I think we need to make some herbal sugar for butter/sugar cookies.