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...

Logos. logos, logos...

I thought I'd give you an update on the progress of my Etsy shop Poladora...

You've probably already seen this in a post below but I am so proud of it, I wanted to show it to you again! Due to the wonderful contributions of both a dear friend and the extreme talent of the head designer (and owner), Kim Arden at Graphic Alchemy, we were able to achieve the look and feel of what I envisioned for Poladora. Partial to swirls and dots, the flourish was a big hit with me!

Within the Poladora Boutique lives three little shops. One is "SISSY", which I've explained a little about already in a previous post. Here' is the logo for SISSY:

A little more "fun", SISSY stands for Sensory and Immune System Stimulating Yarns. Mostly soft and cuddly things for newborns through childhood, SISSY takes care of the cuddle needs of adults too! Every SISSY comes with the notion that "I'm a SISSY so you don't have to be!" And remember, no two SISSYs are alike...

The Glass Ceiling is all about the torch! Lampworks, that it. Anything that originates from the torch (jewelry, marbles, beads, paper weights, terrarium toys and animals, pens, wine stoppers, letter openers, etc., etc.), will probably end up in the Glass Ceiling shop.

A little more classy, the Boutique will hold just about everything else. You never know what I might come up with! "Expect the Unexpected..."

A Little Sneak Peek...

Here's just a little peek at a couple of coordinates that I am using for my daughter's project. They are also from the Dolce line. Stay tuned as I get farther into this project! (So far, so good - I haven't heard from the daughter who will benefit from this - means she's not been to my site lately...ha!)

There's Nothing More Satisfying...

...than working on a project for someone you love!

Don't get me wrong - I love to create things for other people to enjoy. It's just that, when you know you're working on something for someone you love (such as one of my daughters in this case), there's a different kind of satisfaction in knowing you'll be able to see your item used by someone you know or see on a regular basis. Of course, this is assuming that they like it enough to wear and/or use the item after you give it to them! (What I like is not always what my daughters like...)

What I'm showing you here is just a piece of the work so I don't completely ruin the surprise for my daughter (in case she's lurking around my blog). But I will show you more after her birthday!

This is a lovely print from the designer collection known as "Dolce". I have chosen this and a couple of coordinate fabrics for the project.

Stay tuned and you'll get to see the job when it's done...

I hope you're having a wonderful summer!

Let's Talk "Touchie - Feelie" ...

...in other words - let's talk about texture! 


Texture is everything. It's what makes a hand-made item scream out to someone "Touch me!" When someone has the desire to touch your work, you're half-way home. If they have a pleasant experience when they do touch the item, it's sold.


I enjoy creating designs that force me to think about what kind of "experience" the piece can offer. Sure, sometimes it's just visual. But when you can get the visual down, and then be able to add dimension, softness, or stimulation of other senses such as touch, you've truly created an interesting piece indeed.

The piece I've used to illustrate some interesting "texture" is a throw pillow that will soon be offered on my Etsy site Poladora when the shop opens. It will be part of a series called "dark chocolate Mocha Meringue". It was born out of a beautiful fabric of large flowers of gray and brown on a deep chocolate background. (I have some very beautiful coordinates for Mocha Meringue that will also appear in the shop.)


The main body and back of the pillow is hand crocheted in a bulky weight chenille chocolate brown that is very soft to the touch. I used this to balance out the "stiffness" of the method I used to create a three-dimensional look on the side banner of fabric that is applied to the left hand one-third of the front of the pillow.

The effect seen was achieved by hand quilting the entire flower (including every petal, leaf, and stem), to Warm and Natural cotton batting. (I machine quilted the stripes - I was tired!)

I further enhanced the three-dimensional look of the flowers by hand stitching some additional "shading" underneath some of the petals.

I used a new product on the back of the fabric to create the "pucker" that allows the flowers to "jump off" of the pillow.

And, of course, it would not be my work if I did not try to further embellish the pillow in some way - thus, the beading! The beads are hand applied and are precision-made and galvanized with an infusion of real gold.


A bit much, you say? Then you don't know me very well yet.


Until next time...