Little experiment

I have been having a beastly time photographing red flowers with my digital cameras! I am not alone! Red flowers come out very often looking like red blobs, no contrast, no nothing, just red blobs! Anyway, tonight is overcast and good light for photography in the garden and I was interested to try to get a few pictures of the martagon lilies which are in full, magnificent bloom right now. I may post a couple of red blobs later but the pink martagons are well worth showing you and we will just put the blobs out of our minds!

The experiment consists of photographing the blooms with two cameras to see what the difference is , if any. Very interesting! I use a Canon S 100 and a Panasonic Lumix DMC ZS7. Here are the pics! Canon first-

Both of these were taken with the Canon .

The next ones were taken with the Panasonic Lumix.

Do YOU see a difference? My white balance maybe needs coordinating  but I forget how to change it on the Panasonic. I think this colour is truer.

Anyway, are they not lovely flowers! They were given to me by my very dear, long departed friend, Anita, a superb gardener.  Enjoy.

Quilting - at last--slowly

I have actually begun to quilt the big peony. Coming along nicely but finding the right thread is a bit tough. I needed a "white" for some of the petal edges but did not want a true white. Too stark! So, good old Superior threads did it again. Anita Zobens had two good colours. I bought, Seashelly and Canvas, both from the Masterpiece line by Alex Anderson. The colours are perfect. I have used the pink one but not the whitish one yet. I want a tiny satin stitch and don't want to change feet and throat plate etc just yet.

This is where I am to date. I am treading softly as I saw the Dr this AM about the ring finger of my right hand "triggering" ! We both agreed that intense use of the fingers is a problem so I am glad I am past the crazy cutting stage now and down to the machine quilting.

These two are pretty similar but maybe the colour is truer in the bottom one and the focus is best in the top. That comes from an overcast day and too much haste.

I will post this on the needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com. At risk of boring everyone to tears I did want you to see that I AM making progress. Expect more of the same for six weeks while I try to rest this silly old hand so maybe I will get away without having to have surgery. I surely hope so. I am still recovering mobility after almost ten years since the last finger was done in 2004!

Check out WIP Wednesday on the Needle and Thread Network and enjoy the new posts there. Cheerio!

Layered and punctured

I have finished? the Peony top and have layered it ready for stitching and quilting. I say Finished? coz there always seems to be some other tiny fixup needed, doesn't there! In the process of pinning the layers, I have managed to puncture several fingertips and, because of that pesky 81 mg aspirin I have to take, I am in danger of leaking all over the place. That's OK. I needed a break. It is 92F at our back door in the shade . The AC is on. It is cool in here and I am enjoying a nice cold glass of water, an ice cube and a slice of lime! Tres deevine and a nice break for a few minutes.

For the benefit of the sticklers for detail out there and the uber observant, here is the top just before it was layered.

You may see no difference at all from the last posting but there are many- subtle though they are. I am an happier camper now and getting ready to fire up the Bernina and go to work.This has been a fun project but I am very ready for a change now so will try to get finished up PDQ. LOTS of other fun things in my little brain. Enjoy the weekend . For those of you in the Western Provinces, our thoughts and prayers are with you for a rapid and successful end to your misery. That is a nasty, unbelievable story. Take care all.

OK, maybe I DO have some energy!

I have accomplished a wee bit today after all. It is sort of "ya win some, ya lose some"! I won with my new Princeton Catalyst Wedges and my Gelli Arts plate prints. JUST EXPERIMENTS- NOT fine art! I have a great piece of embroidered poly cotton I want to try printing on now too. Stay tuned.

I sort of won with my sun printing . I did fine except-A- I did not use enough paint and B- NEVER try using Red River Cereal as a texture! The flax seeds stick like glue! Who knew???

Anyway, here are the photos for your especial delectation...

This is the painted cloth with all kinds of textured grit sitting drying in the sun. I used gritty beach sand, kitty litter, coffee and Red River Cereal.You have been warned!

The results are great except for the pallid colour and the glued on flax seeds! I intend to wash this piece and repaint and redo with deeper colour.

Here is my wipeout Gelli Print experiment- remember what I said- NOT fine art! Now I have a zillion ideas including trying to print on this nice fabric...

And, finally, and not mentioned above, I got some Deco Art Transfer Inks and tried it on cotton- WITH the base stuff- NOT so successful but I will find some polyester fabric and play some more. Here is the result-

The transfer piece I painted and ...

The print! Mind you, I WAS warned about cotton.

The little print looks like a Turner painting with the details removed , and washed in a hot, bleachy wash!

Well, maybe I will post THIS stuff on needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com instead of the garden pictures. You can look at that post too if you like . It is prettier :-)

More gardening

Still not got the energy to get back to work but will start a bit this afternoon. However, I HAVE played in the garden a little, especially with my camera. It is a funny year! Some things are gorgeous while others are verdant and lush but flowerless . Maybe it is all the rain?

Allium christophii- it is having NO trouble blooming! This one will get cut off before it seeds or it will be everywhere!!

...like the normal Alliums! They are rampant. The colour is a bit crazy here but I do like them at this stage.

A wild coloured geranium (pelargonium) 

...and a very quiet, but VERY promising stalk of pink Martagon lily

Same lily. I'll try to get a pic when it finally opens. The bottom few lower buds are showing pink now.

Kind of delicious as a result of incorrect White Balance !  

The same peony with correct WB , surrounded by a wild white rose.

And here is the true colour-it is peony Sarah Bernhardt, a pink geranium and Little Gold Edger hosta.

I like Sarah! I have bowlsful  of her lush blooms in the house!

Antique Damask rose, rosa Celsiana

She blooms only once but soo prolifically and such wonderful fragrance!

A lush, green corner with Variegated Solomon's Seal. I adore this plant!

The flowers of Thalictrum Aquilegifolium

Love the fluffy flowers and the foliage remains green and pretty all summer. It is a nice filler for a shady spot!

So, if I cannot find the energy to quilt, I can always stare at the garden and take pictures to work from when I DO have the energy! Hope you enjoyed this little tour of our garden, June, 2013. More pictures to follow but hopefully, AFTER some quilting :-) When needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com is open later today, I will post this and apologize for lack of needle and thread!

Back to reality

Our long awaited visit is over. The family has returned safely to Tennessee after a number of adventures including the sad and unexpected death of our daughter's car on the trip north !!! All worked out in the end, but .... We had a great visit but are really tired now. Our normally tiny family of two ( since we lost our Babe to the southland) was increased to eight for the week so it was a shock in some ways. We normally lead a VERY quiet existence. The gaiety and busy- ness was fun though. I hope they all enjoyed it!

The garden is bursting at the moment. It has some really lovely bits in it but other parts are spoiled from the excessive rain we have had recently. More forecast tomorrow!

Peonies at peak!

Morden Centennial rose and the new path

Dipladenia- never grew it before !

Another hanging basket coming along nicely

We are very pleased with our new path. It nearly killed DH and I making it!!

Closer shot of Morden Centennial. It is lovely this year.

My favourite corner :-)

I have a lot of work to do outside but also am DYING to get back to my work. I am , in fact , dying to get DYEING! Time to finish the big peony. Hope you are all enjoying families too and the nice summer weather.

Same- or different??

Well, he came back the next day- or a friend did! This fellow's lower left wing was damaged but he was very photogenic and not too camera shy. I LOVE dragonflies! I felt really honoured to have him share my garden chores with me.

This is pretty close up and his injured wing does not show but look at how gorgeous he is! Must figure out what kind he is!

There he is , in all his glory. LOVE him!

We need to watch when we are out and about. Look , for sure, but above all - SEE! See and appreciate! It is such a lovely world when you pay attention! Enjoy.

A Serendipitous Occurrence

While I was trying to do some closeup photos of Iris Siberica buds in a stiff breeze this afternoon, look who dropped in for a visit! Scrunched down on my haunches, a VERY uncomfy position for a woman of advanced years and tottering in the breeze, I snapped this lovely fellow with the zoom on my wee camera. I was SURE it would be no good , but look how well it came out! Isn't he lovely! He was VERY shy and did not stick around for me , but I did catch him and wanted to share him with all y'all (practising my "Southern" for next week!)

LOVE him! Love those tight little iris buds too. It was a glorious day today. Enjoy!