Happy Birthday Treece!

YES! Different daughter - same month... We spent the day going to dinner, shopping for anything RED, and she opened her most treasured gift of all - RED shoes! (From her sister.)

Happy Birthday Tereena...

Well, I finally got together with my daughter Tereena. We met for his gifts and went out for pizza together with three of my grandchildren, and Dad and Grandpa as well. Soooo, now I can show you what I made for her from the fabric "Dolce", that I showed you earlier...

This is a "totse" (that's pronounced "TOTE-SEE" - part tote, part purse). I used three different fabrics from the designer line "Dolce". The bottom of the totse is all hand-embroidered and beaded with some machine quilting. (I like to hand-embroider whenever possible since it seems to be a dying art these days with the new embroidery machines that make it so easy. OK, I confess, I own one of those machines myself...)

The straps are double-quilted with Warm & Natural all cotton batting for ease on the hand when carrying something heavy. The totse is machine wash and dry and can be ironed.

The next picture illustrates the lining, complete with pockets for glasses, cell phone, and/or passport, and a machine wash and dry removable hard bottom.

This picture simply illustrates the square bottom of the totse.

And finally, the dress...just like the one my grandmother made for me when I was graduating from eighth grade - can you believe it? It's just a simple empire waist, all cotton dress with an invisible zipper. The bodice is lined with the coordinating Dolce fabric that you see on the bottom of the totse. I added side pockets just for fun...

This ensemble, you will not see on my Etsy site, Poladora. But, there will be other similar creations - and remember, no two items will ever be the same.

Vanilla Bean Mocha Meringue...

...becomes a "totse" (that's tote and purse combined):

Items like this will begin to slowly migrate into my new Etsy shop Poladora beginning on or before August 1st!


In the meantime, I've added a couple of items that are custom-order only to the shop.


Back to work!...

Vanilla Bean...

Here's just a quick peek at another Vanilla Bean Mocha Meringue project I'm working on for Poladora, my new Etsy boutique. Just think...just 10 more days before the shop opens! Geeze...I'd better get to work!

How's This for Texture?...

Introducing...

"Vanilla Bean

Mocha Meringue".

Vanilla Bean completes the family of color schemes I will be using with the Mocha Meringue coordinates of fabric that I have.

The other two are Dark Chocolate and Hazelnut.

This particular coordinate presented a great opportunity for puckering, as well as selective beading. This is a real closeup so the beads are smaller than they look. For those beaders out there, they are size 11/0. (The next smallest size is what I like to call bead "dust" - and yes, I am crazy enough to use beads that small as well.)

This is a wider view of above - another toss pillow for the Mocha Meringue family that I finished today. The back and one-half of the front is crocheted using one of the most deliciously soft yarns I've ever used. I just want to sit and pet the pillow. (Of course, I'd get the "look" from Teddy if I did that.) The beads on the fabric are itty bitty hexagons that are precision made (to be perfect), from glass and are coated with a mixture of metals including sterling silver and real gold. The pillow is hand-made, hand-embroidered, and hand-beaded (such patience...).

Here is just another "family photo" of Mocha Meringue...

Back to work!...

another Glimpse...

...of the growing "Mocha Meringue" family of creations...

In this photo, you see three pieces - partials on a dark chocolate Mocha Meringue pillow (which you've already gotten a glimpse of), a dark chocolate "Totse" (that's pronounced TOTE-SEE), which is a tote/purse combo, and, an item from the "SISSY" line...

Like the pillow, the "totse" is hand-embroidered, three-dimensional, and sports precious beads - this time in sterling silver.

The next picture introduces an item from my SISSY line called the "mini-scarf". This one is also made from the Mocha Meringue fabric line, as a well as coordinating SISSY yarns in colors to compliment the Mocha Meringue line.

The SISSY mini-scarf is designed to pretend to be an accessory to your favorite blouse or top, yet in the SISSY spirit, actually keep you warm in those dreadfully cold restaurants and shopping malls we like to frequent so much. (Sometimes I'll even put one on at home when my husband has control of the air-conditioning! Brrrrrrrrr...

Casual enough to wear with jeans, this SISSY also sports some hand applied, strategically placed precision glass beads from Japan with a real sterling silver finish for just a hint of sparkle! (I just can't help myself.)

This mini also introduces a different color scheme for my Mocha Meringue collection called "Hazelnut"!

See these and more when I begin to place my creations on my Etsy site "Poladora".


Now, where is that chocolate that I hid from the hubby?...

"Finally!"...

...a trivia test on daylilies! (Just kidding.)

But, I would like you to take a look at the following daylily pictures (without reading first), and see if you can guess what they have in common? (Besides being beautiful!)

If you guessed that these are all pictures of the same daylily at different times of the day, you would be correct! Clarence Blocher developed "Finally" (yes, that is the name of the daylily), near the end of his hybridizing days. In fact, I believe that "Finally" was his very last and his crowning glory to a wonderful contribution to those who loved to look at, study, and participate in hybridizing daylilies alongside this wonderful horticulturist and mentor.

I met Clarence through the company I worked for - he was our chief chemist and Vice President. We had a love for gardening in common, which was already a significant part of my life thanks to sweet memories of my beloved grandmother (for which this blog is named). We hit it off. We shared knowledge and flowers. He taught me the fundamentals of hybridizing (creating new varieties), and we visited each others' gardens often. His was always better...

He created numerous varieties. I couldn't possibly list them all. But, his favorite was a flower he loved so much that he named it for his wife - "Ann Blocher". But he confided that "Ann Blocher" had a flaw - it was sensitive. I didn't see that as a flaw at all since the person Ann (whom I knew), was sensitive indeed (and wonderful in so many other ways). Unfortunately, Ann passed away from breast cancer after a long and brave fight. (Clarence eventually remarried a lovely lady and old college friend of Ann's, Betty. We liked Betty too.)

Toward the end of Clarence's ability to do any more work in his garden, he had a group of young plants he was waiting to see open for the first time. They were an "Ann Blocher" cross. At that time, he only had three "clumps". As Clarence told it, the first morning he was able to see the flower open, he drew in a breath, placed his hands on his cheeks, and exclaimed "FINALLY!" And so, it became known as "Finally"- this beautiful little daylily so much like "Ann Blocher", but with so much more resilience.

Much to my surprise, Clarence gave me one of his three initial clumps and I have some to this day. What makes "Finally" so special? It changes color every hour of the day! It begins in the morning with its bright pink petals, deep ruffled edge, and a beautiful bright green throat.

While the edges remain pink, the inside of the petals soon begin to turn soft yellow from the heat of the day sun. As the day wears on, the pink edges begin to "bleed" into the yellow, much like a color would bleed into another in a beautiful pastel watercolor painting. Eventually, and toward the end of the day, the bleeding, now looking more like paint strokes, become more prominent (as seen in the final photo), and the soft yellow turns to a shade I would call butter - very soft on the eye indeed. 

Between my grandmother Paulina and my friend Clarence, I had the most wonderful teachers and mentors in the garden.

My grandmother once told me "always share your flowers with others - they will come back four-fold". Grandma always seems to have been right...