Miscellanea

There's not much new to show as I keep adding stitches to The Land as the Crow Flies ...

but it is slowly getting stronger, becoming more itself.

So I thought a little catching up might be in order. First, there's the matter of a breezeway newcomer crafted by Don ...

using old ceiling fan blades ...

and a repurposed wooden organ pipe ...

I must say, though, my favorite part is the woodburned and milk-painted eye ...

While taking pictures, I noticed a visitor in the Herb Garden ...

And if any of you were wondering where I've been, we had grandkids visiting last week ...

One of their projects was repainting some rusted metal airplanes (from a lawn ornament) and a  Kokopelli lamp stand (which are not going to remain together except for this photo) ...

Their efforts, supervised by Pop Pop, are worthy of close-ups ...

Of course, as I took these shots, my eye once again caught on something else: this time a metalwork roadrunner we gifted to each other that has found a home beside Don's pueblo assemblage ...

Lastly, a lovely gift appeared in the mail from Sue (Blessings of Thread) which my muddle stitching finger will appreciate (pun intended) ...

Sue had also gifted me with a delightful bag when she was last in Texas. It has since been made into a much-needed ukulele case ...  

I do love repurposing!

Inch by inch

Nancy's question yesterday led to a picture walk around our five-acre homestead in hopes of providing some answers.

Our land was choked with brush and cactus when we arrived in 2010, much like this undisturbed back corner ...

We have spent the past eight years clearing brush in hopes of encouraging the return of native prairie grasses such as little bluestem, sideoats grama, and yellow Indiangrass, with much success. It has all been done with hand-held tools (clippers and loppers), no herbicides ever ...

The debris is then put in rows of compost that act as berms to slow flood waters along vulnerable areas ...

plus a cover of dead leaves, grass and/or wood mulch to keep things dark and damp ...

After a couple of years (we are patient), we take off the dried-out cover, put that at the bottom of a new compost pile and congratulate ourselves on the resulting soil (hard to see, but there's a 2-3" mound of soil here) ...

The rock gardens are in closer to the house and Don's current project involves  taking away all the brush from a rocky area ...

while leaving desirable plants like this thimble flower and mealy blue sage undisturbed ...

unearthing loose rock for a planting bed ...

that can be filled with GeoGrower's Thunder Soil ...

then planting natives (here a bush germander) ...

and finishing the whole thing off with a covering of GeoGrower's Magic Mulch ...

plus the occasional wire cage as needed because deer-resistant doesn't mean the critters won't take a taste at times ...

Needless to say, there's a lot of sweat equity in our landscape, but what's good for the garden is good for the gander (not to mention the goose).

Looking back at the calendar cloth

One of my favorite patches on the Remember 2016 cloth is this one ...

which shows how useful a calendar cloth can be ...



Made on March 11, 2016, the patch depicts a dewberry flower, the first of which appeared this year on March 17 ...

There are many more buds ...

and flowers promising a bumper crop of tart berries to come ...

Meantime, there were also first appearances of Prairie Verbena ...

and Texas Mountain Laurel ...

along with the promise of future Bluebonnets ...

Zexmenia ...

and Stork's Bill, so named for the appearance of its (eventual) seed head ...

We're also enjoying herbs in abundance ...

whilst eagerly awaiting the fullness of time in Don's newest rock garden ...

A wee bit o' magic

One more, one more

You may recall the placket cloth bag I made last year. If not, you can take a quick peek at this index entry to refresh your memory ...

http://imgoingtotexas.blogspot.com/search/label/Placket%20cloth

[Note: you'll need to scroll down a bit as the "placket cloth" posts will include this one]

This is what the placket cloth has become, front ...

and back ...

It was the undoing of the old ...

that enabled the remaking of the new ...

So now I have retired my commercially made stitch bag and will use this one instead. Don is already shaking his head imagining what I will look like when I carry both bags at the same time ...

Highly visible, I'd say ...

Feeling more like myself

I am grateful to India Flint for the insights I received during her bagstories project. And I will honor her request not to divulge the construction techniques provided in her private Facebook workshop.

That said, I do want to share part of the journey that led to the creation of this bag ...

As you can see, it is somewhat larger than the bag on the right, which was constructed following India's original instructions ...

But those of you who have been reading this blog for a while will most likely recognize its roots in the Remember 2016 cloth, which utilized Jude Hill's paperless piecing technique ...

Indeed, the first patches in this new bag were trial bits from Remember 2016. Others were remains of last year's Peace Pin Project. And some were made from cloth gifted by Kindred Spirits. Most are linen, either thrift store bought or vintage clothing and linens from my past.

There were even several abandoned slow stitch projects pulled out and finally put to good use ...

Speaking of which ... I recently went through my scraps, discarding many that were too small and/or too shredded to be of much use. But in going through the myriad bits and pieces, I realized that I recognized each one ... where it came from and what project it was used in. The memories that were triggered astonished me. 

So it is that this bag has become a holder of memory. Point to any patch and I dare say I can spin a story (or two or three). In the days to come, I may do just that. But for now, I will rest in the satisfaction of its wholeness and in sharing that here.

Addendum:

First Golden Eye ...

Agarita ...

and Bitterweed ...