February Quiet

My days are so quiet right now, and I'm really enjoying the pre-spring peace of it all.  Crazy weather from sunny 60 degrees, to ice and snow in the teens.  Right before our last icy snow day, or wintry weather mix as the weather people call it, it went outside and took a few photos of new growth.

Snowdrops about ready to bloom.

And my lovely hellebores will be showing their color soon.

 There should be a nice full bloom from both our dogwoods out front.  White and pink.

I've had flowers on my mind and spent the last week making a new pillow.  I just sort of free hooked with no particular pattern mind.  My only plan had been to leave a nice bit of natural linen showing.

It looks sweet next to my old snowdrop pillow I made several years ago.

I also made a batch of posy pins.

These are really fun and fast to make.  I will be teaching two classes on various ways to make these later in March.

Yesterday I decided that I wanted to clean out my bookcase and dedicate a couple of shelves to my textiles and fiber art.  This is the case in the spare bedroom.

I took bags and totes I had made and stored away and put them out to see...I also have a few textiles out I purchased when in Guatemala last year.  I have a nice little library of textile books and publications that were scattered throughout the house and studio.  I grouped my favorites together on the shelf, and will donate rest to the library.  This sort of job is great when I'm between projects.  Perusing through my books keeps me inspired and dreaming about what comes next.  Well.... actually now that I look at this white bookcase, which is really quite large and painted with white chalk paint, wouldn't it be interesting to paint it multicolored with some stenciling?  I'll probably be out buying paint tomorrow.  No kidding......

A little February heart rock laying on a needle point piece I did at least 20 years ago.

Enjoying the quiet while it lasts.
xo
dulcy

Snowdrop Love

I'm a bit of a Galanthophile....  In other words I'm a lover of snowdrops.

It's that very short, but very sweet time of year, and my snowdrops are in bloom!

I only have five clumps of these lovelies, but have been transplanting from this mother plant and hope to have many more.  This little plant has been in this spot, most likely, somewhere between 30-50 years.  I'm just guessing by the age of our house.  Our house is actually 87 years old, but was moved through a creek bed about 50 years ago to it's current home on our little shady hill. We've been  here only 13 of it's many years.

I've used snowdrops in my hooking.........

I made this little pillow last winter.  I especially had fun with color on this project.

I painted this little snowdrop with a vase of flowers in my sketchbook.

This was a fun session last summer out sketching at B2 coffee bar with my art girls Tammy and Mary.  Nice memory.

My most recent snowdrop .....

This was a watercolor sketchbook assignment on flowers from Jane LaFazios class I'm currently taking.

Snowdrops are so tiny and delicate.  I also just love the green and white.  And I admire the way they can poke up their little heads during the worst cold and snowy weather, but still survive.  There's lots of varieties of these beauties, and some collectors pay literally thousands of dollars for just a bulb or 2.  Sort of like the tulip mania hundreds of years ago in the Netherlands.  I'm going to keep transplanting these darlings, and hopefully someday, be able to enjoy my own little snowdrop field right outside my kitchen window!

xo
dulcy

Snowdrops and Rugs

One of my very most favorite flowers is the snowdrop.  I LOVE how it sits so patiently under the snow and freezing cold temps, yet still blooms it's pretty delicate white flowers.  I've been dividing a few plants around one side of my home under the kitchen window.  I didn't get pictures of them this year, but hooked this pillow instead.

I had lots of fun playing with wool and color.  I would love to have a whole field of snowdrops greet me each spring!

Rug hooking has had me in it's grips since Christmas!  I've finished four or five pieces.  I've been leaning towards more geometric patterns and some abstract.  Thought it would be easy.  Not in the least!  I guess I've hooked so many pieces with a motif of some kind over the years, that going abstract is kind of difficult.  But, I love the challenge, and love playing with color.

I made this piece and just couldn't live with it.

The photo is a bit enhanced, but what bothers me is several things.  First, I decided it would be a nice place to attach this little fiber collage I did years ago.  I've always like the little piece, but couldn't decide what to do with it.  So I thought the colors might look nice with this rug.  There is a lot of gold in the collage, which was not in the original rug.  It's color palette is mostly rusts, blues, creams, peach, and a bit of soft green.  Well..... #1 The collage just looks to stuck on and out of place, even though I tried to avoid that, and make it look like it belongs.  It doesn't.  #2  I added some gold into the background of the rug to tie in with the collage.  Just didn't work.  #3 I have that hideous, out of place horizontal line.  I had to hang this and live with it to see all that didn't work and bothered me.  So I made the necessary adjustments......

Took off the collage, took out the gold, took out a few lines so it didn't look so boxy.  And, I think it works better horizontal than vertical.  I now have another large abstract that's going to get "the treatment".  It's all in the practice, and as long as I've been hooking rugs, I'm still learning.

xo
dulcy