So......taken today and next monday off work to manage the animals and the faultily fitted laminate was lifted, removed and new stuff brought in and the relaying has started. Spent last evening frantically packing books and belongings, so slept like a log last night!
It looks smashing this stuff, driftwood-ish coloured and named, by Pergo.
I really like this, let's hope they get it right this time! (Esp since it's my son fitting it and he wants to live to a ripe old age I imagine !)
Anyways it was soooo hot today, so I sat out back under the umbrella and lazily did some Flower Spoonin', which is an altogether more dignified version of Flower Pounding I reckon. As we get older we need to conserve energy and can easily bust a gut, so it's Flower Spoonin for me and it works just fine!
I had soda soaked cotton fabrics, space dyed them, but they were very subtle and decided to use some as a backdrop to printing with flower heads as base for further work.
I chose those flowers that were most abundant just now in my garden out back, like the pansies, lobelia and geraniums, and a lavaterra, a red thingy flower and some bibrant dark blue ones that grow tall, whose name escapes me.
Now the thing is, that when you Flower Spoon a red flower, you may get a purple stain on the fabric and not red at all. One of my lobelia blues came out a fab turquoise, so its accept serendipity, or you need to trial each flower if you want an exact patterning.
So pics below ..........the first is one I did is ready for stitching and adding to now.
Now I quite like the muddled hues on this which settles nicely on the lightly dyed background fabric.
But to show the process as it goes along see the other pics below. Its easy enough to do and requires little pressure, so I cant see the point of pounding the hell out of a flower or leaf, if you can do much the same with a glass of wine on the table and a spoon in your hand? Surely?
This light scarlet geranium gave a purply stain, see?
The lobelia flowers give a sweet stain shape and the stems and leaves do too.
The next patterning I did was on a colour catcher from the washing machine, that had picked up very little dye in a wash, but was no longer pristinely white.
No idea what the red flower is but I bought a tray because they are such a vibrant red and reminded me of a flower bed I saw in spain recently. They have stained a darker red and the leaf I used for the outer edges is a small brocolli leaf, within reach of where I sat!
So there you are, something simple to do under a parasol for the odd hour or whilst out on a picnic with the kids.
I will post what I do with them, going to use tulle and voile to tart them up abit I think, with hand and machine stitching. But they could be used as they are for cards of course. Just allow the stain to dry and lightly brush off any remaining leaf or petal debris.
Naturally you cant wash them, ( though I havent tried!) and they may fade in due course, so dont rely on them outliving you and becoming a family heirloom. But kids would have fun doing it I reckon, well I did!And if you have fallen flower heads in the garden, then it's not garden plant abuse, so give it a try!
I'll show you mine if you show me yours!
OH by the way, there's a neat Giveaway over on
Stashbooks is one of the blogs I follow and they have a cracking give away for some lucky person, but it ends 11th July so hop on over!
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