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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. 

Giddy!

It’s ridiculous how happy this makes me. See those two bloom spikes down there? Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

I rescued a tiny little orchid from a discounted bunch from Lowe’s a while back. I’d never had a dendrobium before. The picture on the sleeve showed delicate yellow blossoms. It looked sad and I thought, So it either sits here and dies or someone else takes it home and kills it or I take it home and give it some TLC and hope for the best. (And, no, there could not possibly be anyone else out there who would not kill it, so…I had to take it, didn’t I?) So I bought it and took it home. I’ve always taken in strays and rejects.

I read up on dendrobium aggregatums, often called dendrobium aggravatums. OH MAN! What have I gotten myself into? This one must be for experts. (Heavy sigh) Lots of dos and don’ts.

I decided to do all I could and hope for the best but steeled myself for the worst. My daughter gave me a sycamore knot from a tree they had to cut. Husband put some hardware cloth on the back and I mounted the dendy on it and left it there all winter, barely watering it as instructed.

Then I left it outside in indirect light all last summer, watering only when it was really dry. It grew. It seemed to like the side porch. 

This winter I hung it in the bathroom window and let it pretty much dry out and get chilly. It got its water from the shower steam and a decent watering maybe once a month. Then about a month ago (I know, not really Spring, but…) I started watering it every week. 

The pseudobulbs are kind of fun to watch. They start to shrink in diameter when they need water. The roots always look sort of dry, but that seems to work for it. 

But, until it blooms, I have my other cheery plants to keep me company. 

Plus, this happy little sphagnum moss guy grew from some sphagnum I bought for the orchids.  I put the moss in a gallon jar to make a sort of terrarium to bring back an ailing phalaenopsis, which worked, and this little guy grew too. I didn’t have the heart to get rid of it after the orchid got well. 

Argh! What to do? What to do?

I have a dilemma. I already have almost half a quilt pieced together, but I’m not sure I can live with the dark squares in it. It’s a Storm at Sea pattern, so it’s not so easy to take apart and fix, but it’s definitely doable. My dear, one-and-only granddaughter said she wanted a pink quilt with hearts. This is about as pink as I can stand. I do not like pink. I like coral fine, but being 7 years old, she loves the unicorn-type pink. The little girls and princesses and pink bunnies and cotton candy pink. The pink that I never liked, even as a little kid. 

So, here is my dilemma; should I leave the darker squares in, or take them out because they detract from the hearts effect?

Sorry that the picture above is washed out on the left. That’s where the floor lamp is. I think you can see the effect I was going for and the way the darker blocks make it sort of look like a bow.  Granddaughter will see it tomorrow, so I guess she’ll make the decision for me, but I would like some feedback if you have an opinion. Take them out and make lighter ones or leave it as is? 

Addendum: Dear Granddaughter came today and gave the thumbs-up to the design. I think she likes the individual fabrics better than the heart shapes. It was pink enough and she liked the fabric with girls, bunnies and balloons and the fabric with girls and horses. I have a few more surprises for her, like teacups on a pink background. Glad she likes it so far.