Olallieberry

Making Morning Mossy Things

Early Morning Progress Report:

1) Rosemary Soapmaking - basic recipe found here, 2) Felted Stone Embroidery - inspiration found here, felting instructions found here, and general natural dyeing instructions found here (I used onion skins followed by a dip in an iron bath concocted from steel wool and vinegar to get that gorgeous green colour).

Also, ordered my heritage seeds this morning! We have plans for the garden this year that involve a conscious boycott on GMO and all things Monsanto.

PS - I must be yearning for summer; everything I touch is ending up some colossal shade of green! 

xox

Wishes

We celebrated a birthday this past week, the Mr is another year older. I whipped up a scratch strawberry shortcake and a version of his favourite soup as the meal of the day. Now normally I make this soup with leeks, but in keeping with my  current experimental spirit and what ultimately resulted in a barely mentionable shift in the end result, I substituted onions.

....Onions you say??

Well... I needed onion skins you see... I have after all, a Very Important Dying Experiment going on here. And go on it did. Pulling the contents out of the numerous jars that have been sitting on my counter over the past couple of weeks was exciting to say the least. And I was not disappointed.

I'm not sure why, but for some reason I feared globs of greyish brownish goop, each indiscernible from the other, to plop from the jars into a massive colourless wad gathered at the bottom of my sink. Okay, I admit the Experiment did posess a very slight but fleeting resemblance to this at first. But after a quick rinse, cotton flosses in the softest of pinks and purples began to emerge, and further transformed before my very eyes by a quick dip in an iron bath causing my heart to skip a beat. Very very cool. I'm hooked. Even the Mr commented on the softness and beauty of the colours: "You did that? Wow!"

Now to practice my stitches and actually think of something practical to make. In the meantime I'll be popping by for bloggy visits; however, my commenting ability on blogger seems to be compromised for the time being, so those of you affected please know I am there until the problem is rectified.

Have a fantabulous week!! xox

Colour and Light

The light finally starts to show itself again in February, albeit in fleeting moments. Photography in my house during the first and last months of the year ranges from painfully difficult to virtually impossible. We have several large windows but, alas, none are south facing. It takes until February for the sun to be high enough in the sky to peek around the west side of the house and spill its warmth into the kitchen. And these daily visits initially last about 6 minutes. Literally. Oh, Happy, Happy February!

In the meantime, any opportunity to experience colour must be greedily explored. After stumbling across Lisa's beautiful and inspiring blog, I have found myself completely besotted by her wares and desperately needing to try my own hand. So, much to the dismay of the Mr, out come numerous bits of yarn, wool, fabric and floss, and into the numerous concoctions of madder and logwood and varying other ingredients they go! Cooking and cooling, turning and shaking.

And so now I wait excitedly to see what will be the result. And patiently. Yes, let's not forget that. Don't worry Mr, my love, you'll have normality back in the kitchen soon :)

xox

PS - So nice to see you all here again!