Yesterday 2 more daylilies bloomed. Before my trip to Willie's I was a real dope when I planted these things. I removed their tags & threw them in a pot so now I have to try to match the photos on the tags with the blooms. I know a couple plants didn't have tags at all so they will forever remain a mystery. I guess I will just name them myself ... kinda like an adoption : ) This first photo shows one of the first daylilies I ever bought. I bought it & it's friend & planted them last year. They survived their neglect & this year began a lush growing pattern with many, many bloom stalks being sent up. I would say that this is one of my very favorite daylilies. It is a lovely light shade of yellow highlighted by a soft rose pink on the petals.
This next one is pretty too ... a lovely apricot color with a wee bit of yellow in the center. I didn't realize a little bee was hiding in the flower until after I took the photo! This daylily's name is Candy Factory. It figures I'd pick a plant with a name like that! I think the bee's name is Doug : )
John & I were talking yesterday about how much fun it would be to plow up part of the yard to make a big daylily bed. Of course we won't be doing that. Sad to say it nearly kills me now to take care of the gardens I have let alone add more : ( However, we do have a small garden at the corner of the back walkway that I made our first year here. It's in a serious state of neglect because I didn't dig out several inches of clay & replace it with good topsoil like I did with my butterfly garden so you almost need a jackhammer when working in it. Here's a photo as it appears this morning. Just take a look at that soil!
I'm thinking of maybe edging it off, extending it to the end of the second railroad tie you can barely see in this next photo (this will make the garden double the size it is now), jackhammering out several inches of that clay & replacing it with good topsoil, & then planting stuff. Don't exactly know what yet ... maybe daylilies, maybe a variety of things. It's just something to think about for now because doing that kind of work in 90+ degree temperatures is not going to happen.
I began a new cross stitch project last night ... another one I can't show you because it's going to be an exchange gift. It's coming along fine though. My OCD was set on high whilst I was getting it ready because the designer didn't provide a color suggestion chart. You can use whatever colors you want to stitch it. That's like a death knell for me! I had already decided what the backing for this project will be so I sat for at least an hour going through all my DMC trying to match floss colors with backing colors. After finally deciding on the colors I then decided to use WDW floss instead & make the stitching using a 1- or 2-color theme!
Here's a question for all you stitchers. When using variegated threads like WDW or GAST, what is the consensus on how to stitch with them? Do I (A) pull out a strand of floss & just double it over so as to start using the loop method ... thereby combining one shade on the thread with another, or (B) do I pull out 2 strands of floss, match the color pattern & stitch that way? Please don't tell me "it's up to you." See death knell comment in the paragraph above : )
I wish you all a wonderful day! I really don't want to step foot outside. It wasn't even 8:30 a.m. when I took the above photos & it was already miserably hot : ( Instead I will concentrate on some inside work I've been avoiding (paperwork) & go from there.
17 comments:
I always use the B method Shirlee. :) Such beauties you have growing there. ♥ http://astitchersstory.blogspot.com/
Yes, like Vickie said, pull 2 threads, and make sure they both are going the same way if you pull out one at a time. :) And be sure to make one complete stitch at a time to get the shading to work right. On my first piece I did all the bottom legs across the row and then came back and crossed them - like I do with DMC. I couldn't figure out why my colors didn't look like the picture and I was irritated that I had spent that much $$ for floss that didn't work right! : )
Please send me some sunny weather I think we are having all the rain for the rest of the world , I have never spent so much time indoors at Summer time.
Just love all your day lille's what beautiful colours , and great photo work.
Ok Shirlee this is what I do when stitching with variegated thread.Pull out one thread not to long then another from the same lot, so no loop, Now stitch each cross stitch fully one at a time that way is the best.
Other people may do it different but thats the way it says in the books. hugs.
Daylillies, like everything else can be addictive!lol This has been a good year for them
I had many colors of day lilies at my other home. I would divide one color and plant somewhere else. Then I would take the stamen from another color and rub it on the stamens of the new transplant, and then next year, I would have a new color. I do miss my flower gardens, but the river here is now my landscape. Plus I can view your gardens and many others blogging friends too. Take care and hope you are not in this heat wave like we are up here. Take care, Janice
Beautiful flowers hun; and I agree w/you, I HATE hot weather and working outside in it is not fun..I pull out 2 threads and use. Hope all is well..
Hugs, Shar
A daylily bed sounds beautiful! Stay cool today my friend. ~Ronda
You have clay soil too? Us too - what a pain....And really? Who'd've thought to dig some out and put decent soil in before planting a garden? ;o I have that same temptation though of looking around our yard and thinking, gee, wouldn't a little garden area look cool here? And then the rationale part of me takes over and says "What are you thinking? Flower garden!! Give it half a season and it will be a weed garden like everything else!"
Your blooms though are luscious....
I can see why you'd be tempted....especially with hubby saying it as well. (See, that is always another hurdle I have - I have to do battle "indoors" about a garden before doing battle outdoors with the garden itself....
Sounds like you have your answer re thread....I had to stop and really think about that.....It's been a while since I used variegated thread for cross stitch - I use it in punching all the time, and there there is no "option A" as you never double floss over.....But, in stitching, yes, I would do it the A way.....
Stay cool - after several days of storms and the hot stickies, we're back to the 70's....I have my hoodie on......
Smiles & Hugs ~ Robin
When using variegated floss I always pull two threads and work each complete stitch at a time. This will show the color changes in the row of stitches. It's in the 90s here too last night it was still in the 80s at 11:30pm
Your daylillies are beautiful!!!
When it comes to using over dyed thread, I was always told to pull 2 strands of thread at a time. This way is keeps the variegated look on the fabric.
What everyone else said...method B, stitch each X completely...and I would add one thing. I do not stitch back and forth in rows...I think that makes what Leon Conrad calls the "stripey bacon" effect. I stitch in an area so the overdyed fades from one color to another. An exception would be if it is a multicolored variegated rather than a tonal. Here is an example I'm stitching: partridge. For his wings, I'm using the "area" stitching I was talking about. But for his colorful checkers, I'm striping it (stitching back and forth on a row), because I want that effect.
This isn't a rule...it's my personal preference. Sorry if that causes a death knell. =) I'm with you, by the way...the worst thing a waiter can say when I ask him for a recommendation is, "Everything here is good." =P
Lordy what gorgeous colors. I love the look of variegated threads but never stitch them correctly!
Oh Shirlee! On overdyes pull put 2 threads :0) looping will dilute the variegation.
Lovely daylillies!
Yep, as others said, go with option B! I know most people say to cross each stitch as you go, but I stitch like ///// and then \\\\\ usually, so unless the thread is really mottled, I do the same thing with variegated thread. I took a class with HIHN Cecilia Turner years ago and she said life is too short to cross each stitch as you go. ;) I follow that line of thinking! If doing that, I will do staggered rows (one row is 8 stitches long, the next row is 6, next row might be 10 stitches long) so that it doesn't look too blocky.
Your daylilies are beautiful! When my daughter went to Jersey in the Channel Islands last summer, she brought us back some Jersey lily bulbs that we still need to plant.
Like everyone else I use method b and I complete each cross as I go :)
Your day lilies look beautiful.
You have one beautiful piece of property there, Shirlee!! I love the privacy... Great looking daylilies--we only have some boring orange ones.
I, too, use the second method...
What beautiful flowers. I use method B and complete a single cross at a time if the thread is variegated. Sometimes you do get solid colours in the hand dyeds. x
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