Sunday, July 27, 2008

Gardens and lavender thingys....

The garden is growing, and so are the weeds. But it looks pretty, so here are some photos...


Please note my beans growing up the climbing rose trellis! The roses don't seem to mind at all and are blooming among the leaves.

Yesterday, inspired by Britt-Arnhild I made some of these lavender "bottles". Well, lavender thingys. My whole house now smells of lavender, and it was something I could do while reclining on the couch and I had great fun. Jackie and Louise popped in during my creative surge, and they left with one each after sticking around to see if I could actually make them! I was a little distracted and in the middle of attempting one with fatter flowers at the time. They are more complicated, because it all goes wonky when you get past the fattest part. My command of the English language is stunning.

Basically, you gather lavender from your garden (which I could not do because it was hacked back to the point where it expired- I need to plant more) or get your friends to bring you bunches of lavender. Then you fold down the flower part and weave the ribbon through the stems until all the flowers are hidden. Voila.

Actually, it is a little more complicated than that, and it took 3 or 4 attempts with much muttering and lavender pieces flying all over the room before I found a way to do them relatively simply! I ended up tying them with ribbon just under the flowers, leaving a shorter length of ribbon dangling through the flowers, and then upended it, and folded down the stems one at a time as I started weaving with the loooooong end of ribbon. Remember to use an odd number of stems. 11 is a good place to start. And at the end, wind the ribbon around the stems a few times to bind them together, and tie a knot with the other shorter dangly bit. Then you are done. This is a highly technical and accurate method, as you can see. And TOTALLY made up. But it is what produced the ones in the photo so it worked!

I am quite sure there is a proper way to do them, but in the absence of a step by step tutorial, winging it was my only option! I think my friends stuck around for the amusement factor more than anything else. I am happy with the ones I have made so far and they can be popped into drawers to scent things. They keep the moths away too, I gather.

So I had a creative afternoon. And was up at 4 something this morning again. My body clock has gone beserk.

I need a nap.

9 comments:

Mary said...

Hi, I'm back. My bookmark thingy bobby lost all my favorites. I couldn't even get onto my own site to make a post. Worse still was I could not (for the love of all money) remember the blog names of my fav's. Anyhow, love the lavender thingies. More patience than me, that's for sure! Making a post soon. Catch ya layer.

Vee said...

They are beautiful, Linds! Sofa projects are just what you need right now. And your garden looks beautiful.

http://gracioushospitality.blogspot.com/2007_07_01_archive.html (July 12) has a tutorial, but I think you've got it all figured out. I remembered LaTeaDah's doing one of these...good memory mine, eh? It's from lst July.

Vee said...

last July that is...

Linda said...

Happy Sunday Linds! The garden looks lovely. I just love masses of beautiful flowers.
I have one of those lavender thingys in my dresser drawer. My Mom made it for me years ago.
We actually have several lavender farms here in Texas. Apparently lavender likes it here!
Have a pleasant, restful (I know you're tired of resting!) day.

Dawn said...

I have no lavender. Alas, I know nobody with lavender. And more alas, I don't think I have the patience to make the thingies! But they sound lovely. Glad you found something to make the time work for you!

Colleen formerly of South Africa said...

Love the garden...makes me wish my wonderful garden in South Africa. Also liked the idea of the Lavender thingies. Wish I had some lavender.

Pam said...

Lavender reminds me of my lovely granny, who always had lavender bags among her clothes.

I didn't get to sleep until 4 am this morning. We're a fine pair. Hope you get more sleep tonight.

Anonymous said...

They look beautyful Linds.
I didn't have a step by step introduction either, so I had to find my way like you :-)

Joyful Days said...

I love those! Sadly, I don't have any lavender flowering to try it out with right now. But I will keep it filed for "one of these days."