Category: orchids

Whew!

It’s been a long Autumn. I’ve had numerous health problems–nothing life-threatening, just really intrusive and annoying. So I’m running way, way behind on my blogging. I’ve been thinking about it, though. 

Speaking of running behind, my dear granddaughter’s eighth birthday was December 30 and my Christmas gift to her had become a birthday gift for her and it was still late. I finally finished it on January 1. She got to wear it finally and loves it. She’s been in it twice when I’ve seen her and my daughter posted a video of her in it, twirling in the driveway.  She’s finally learned to walk in it without tripping on the skirt, which is a bit long, but she’s growing like a weed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is made from the Seraphina pattern from Violette Field Threads. There are so many gathers! I think it turned out pretty well considering-considering I was taking prednisone and had been awake for three days with only short naps and one one-hour sleep-considering this is the poufiest dress I’ve ever made. There are 12 yards of tulle in the underskirt. Three layers of skirt. It is glorious. 

Seraphina comes in an everyday version and this special occasion version. It has two styles of sleeves and two bodice styles. It’s a wonderful pattern and I will probably make it again. Maybe the everyday version next time. 

In the meantime, my orchids are in rare form this winter. I have two in bloom and three more with flower spikes! I’ve never had this many bloom before! I feel like I’ve really accomplished something, although these phalaenopses are fairly easy to grow. 

 

 

 

 

 

This little rosy one is usually in a terrarium-like container with a lid, but the flower spike is too tall for it so I improvised a lid with Press n Seal wrap. I cut a slit from the edge to the center for the spike.

 

My dendrobium aggregatum is loving the driftwood that I put in on. Its roots are actually going all the way through the wood and are coming out the sides. Whee!

 

This is one of my succulents, Huernia thuretii I believe. I’ve never seen it bloom before and I’m overjoyed. Three blossoms.

 

 

 

I’ve neglected to post any pictures of the semi-finished pond. Here is the almost finished version from early fall. More pictures later after the waterfall is done. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Spring!

I feel that Spring has finally, really arrived here in East Tennessee. I have been wearing my sandals and flipflops. It’s been cold and warm, cold and warm here lately. I’ve had a lot of breathing problems, especially since I caught a Spring cold and got a sinus infection to go along with it. And, again, I coughed until I got laryngitis. I feel like my life just now is only doctors, medicines and staying inside the house. 

 

 

Oh, I long to spend hours outside watching the flowers and birds and squirrels. We are blessed to have our couple of acres back onto a field and about 200 acres of woods. We have so many wonderful animals here. We have a flock of wild turkeys that occasionally come into the yard to forage and regularly see deer in our patch of woods. All sorts of birds, year-round residents and migrators. There are chipmunks, frogs, toads, lizards, snakes, foxes, coyotes, an occasional bobcat and many, many others. 

 

Wild Turkeys

My husband keeps the lake access area across the road from us clear of kudzu as best he can. If you stand still long enough here, kudzu will cover you. It is a scourge. So he fights it every year. It isn’t his job, but he is a little hyper and loves doing it–”cleaning out.”

He found some small plants that he couldn’t identify. He drove me down there as we were starting to town to pick up my new nebulizer and I used the little app called Picture This on my phone to find out what it was. From the way he had described it I thought it might be Squawroot, but no, it was Virginia Pennywort. So cute! Sort of like a blooming pinecone but much softer. They were scattered all through the leaf carpet. And across the parking space were several yellow trilliums. 

Virginia Pennywort

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, my dendrobium aggregatum is going wild. All the blossoms are open and it is glorious.

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you can go outside and see the glories of Spring. Let me know how your adventures go.

 

At last…

my orchid blooms have come along.  Okay, bad lyrical reference. Sorry, and apologies to Etta James, but that’s how happy my dendrobium has made me! Just look!  

Dendrobium aggregatum
From the back
Dendrobium aggregatum
From the front

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The photos do not do it justice. I may have to design a beadwork pattern for it. The shading is wonderful. 

New bracelet, Filigrana by Melinda Barta.

And speaking of beadwork. I finally got back into some beading. This is the Filigrana pattern by TrendSetter Melinda Barta. It was a pattern that is included with a shipment of beads from Red Panda Beads. They are a great online shop. They always ship very quickly and have a great selection of beads. 

I also finished a repair/restringing of an antique necklace last week. It took a long while to find and get shipped the mother of pearl beads that were the same size and a close enough match to the little shells. They came from China. 

Cindy, of Cindy’s Crafts in Johnson City TN, really came through for me in finding a match for the tiny seed beads. They are a garnet color which I didn’t think would be hard to match, but they were. I emailed Cindy and she searched and found two possibilities. I bought both tubes of rocailles and, hooray! one matched. Close enough, anyway.Thank you, Cindy! You see, the old seed beads are cut similar to 13/0 Charlottes only with a few more facets, but they were the size of 11/0 beads. They are really beautiful and interesting. I wish they were in production today. 

 

Antique necklace restrung and fabulous.
Restrung necklace
Close-up of antique necklace.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The shells still had sand in them. I used a really fine beading needle and beading thread and barely got it through some of them. Some of them cut the thread. I have no idea how the original beader got the heavy thread they used through them. 

As you can probably see in the photo on the left, the necklace was not the same on both sides. I left it that way when I restrung it. I thought it should be kept in the same aspect as the original. I love doing these projects. I hope the new owner, granddaughter of the original owner, loves it too.