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...

What IS Hybridizing?...

It's what creates daylilies like these:

This giant red is a deep blood color when not in bright sun. Somewhat "beefy" (a little taller, larger than most), but still beautiful.

These daylilies actually glow with a neon yellow and orange that creates such a brightness, one would be attempted to look away the first time their eye looks at them in bright sunshine.

The curl-back in this shot of the flower petal is something I enjoy in a good daylily hybrid.

Just look at that ruffled edge! A "breeder" from my breeding stock for ruffled edges, this is a very good daylily to have when trying to hybridize. It has shortness of flower stem, multiple buds and blooms, nice broad flower petals - all good things.

This is an established daylily called "Hope Diamond" and was gifted to me by one of the great hybridizers of the past, Clarence Blocher. I also use this daylily when breeding my own.

Next time, more on how I got started in gardening and hybridizing, and, my two favorite mentors...

As Promised...

...more pictures of my project with the designer fabric "Dolce" (for my daughter):

Here, you can see all three coordinates you saw in an earlier post put together in one project (but I can't tell you what it is yet!)...

This is the same item from a different angle and includes something very desirable in such an item. And, is something that I do for all items of this type...padding! 

Ah - a little "inside" peek...












These final photos represent a different item with some bordering embroidery, as well as how I used one fabric for the outside, while lining the item with another coordinate - not in the order you would think - but hey, that's just me...

Soon, you'll be able to see the finished items in their entirety!








Next time, the daylilies are beginning to bloom!

How Can Something So Wild...

...look so beautiful?

Believe it or not, this is the flower of the milkweed plant. I took this picture in our woods up north. We have some growing in our evergreens at home as well and I've warned my hubby not to pull them out! That is because they are the plant that is chosen by the Monarch butterfly to lay her eggs on. Once the eggs hatch and turn into caterpillars, they eat the leaves of the milkweed to grow. Eventually, they form a cocoon and later, turn into another beautiful Monarch butterfly.

So you see, just because something is wild, does not necessarily mean that it is not beautiful, or capable of creating something beautiful in its place!

I hope you had a great Fourth of July!

Next time, you'll see more pictures of the project I'm working on in "Dolce" for my daughter's birthday. Until then...