Archive for October, 2018

Brugmansia and Caterpillars

Tuesday, October 30th, 2018

I posted this image of a variegated Brugmansia in September. That was prior to caterpillars made it their home.

Brug

Brug

The caterpillars look so much like the Brug leaves and stems they are often difficult to find.

Brug

Brug

Caterpillars Removed This Morning

Brug

This evening I found three more.


One of Five Flowers

Tuesday, October 30th, 2018

Planted a box of wildflower seeds. Should have been a mass of colorful flowers; but the result was just a few random plants.

Weren’t the seeds viable? Or… were they a nice snack for the birds, mice, and squirrel?

Calendula

Calendula

Calendula

Calendula

Other Four Plants/Flowers

Wildflower

Wildflower

Wildflower

Wildflower


Pumpkins and Insects

Monday, October 29th, 2018

Pumpkins

Pumpkins Before Rotating Them

Pumpkins

When I Rotated the Smaller of Two
Several Tiny Red Insects Scurried Away


I-cord for New Project

Sunday, October 28th, 2018

I-cord

Loom Knit I-cord Front

I-cord

Loom Knit I-cord Back

Loom

Cast on Double Knot on Two Pegs with a Single Strand of Wool Yarn

Wrap for Purl

Wrap Peg, Two Wraps on Peg

Wrap for Purl

Place Third Loop/Wrap Below Previous Wraps

Purl

Pull Lower Loop Through Top Loops
Pull Lot Off of Peg and Replace Loop on Peg

Flat Knit

Flat Knit from Right to Left
Place Yarn Above Existing Loop
Lift Bottom Loop Over Top Leaving One Loop on Peg


Morning Glories

Saturday, October 27th, 2018

Morning Glory Bud

Morning Glory Pale Blue

Morning Glory Blue

Morning Glory Exterior

Morning Glory Pale Pink

Morning Glory Spent Flower

Morning Glory Seed Pod

Morning Glory Seed Pod

Morning Glory Seed Pod


Datura Seed Pod

Saturday, October 27th, 2018

Datura

Datura grown from seed harvested from 2017 volunteer.

The seed pods are very sharp and pointy. I do not touch them. I place a container under and snip the stems. If I am lucky the seed pod drops into the container.

Datura Seed Pod

Datura Seed Pod

Datura Seed Pod


Dietes

Thursday, October 25th, 2018

Dietes Flower

Dietes Bloom

Dietes Seed Pod Split

Dietes Seed Pod

Dietes Seed Pod

Dietes Seed Pod

Dietes Seed Pod


Dash

Tuesday, October 23rd, 2018

Dash


Bitterest Tears Work in Progress

Monday, October 15th, 2018

Decided to change the orientation of the blocks from horizontal to vertical.
Moved the brown border with the code (Loss and Regret) to the left side and the 2 columns of star stitched brown blocks to the right side.

Bitterest Tears

In the process of stitching 3 columns together to make a strip, which will result in 7 strips. When the task is completed, I will stitch the 7 strips together. Four strips done, 3 to complete.

Working with batches of 3 is easier and more manageable than stitching the entire piece together 1 column to the next.

Bitterest Tears Tan Yarn

It took approximately 18″ of beige yarn to stitch the blocks together. Or roughly 1″ of yarn for each square of each block.

Should be able to start stitching the strips together later this week.

Need to decide how best to attach tree wrap to back of the piece. Leaning toward using a tie technique similar to the one my grandmother used when she made quilts.

The piece will have three layers of material: the stitched roofing felt, hardware cloth, and tree wrap, so reference to quilting.

October 17 Progress
Completed stitching together 7 strips of 3 columns.

Bitterest Tears

October 23 Progress
Piece completely stitched together and wrapped the edge with tan yarn.

Bitterest Tears

October 24 Progress, the Border
Originally thought I would loom knit an i-cord for the border, but after several attempts I didn’t like the results. The two that follow are the best of the rejected results.

Border

Cream Border
R1 KKP, R2 KPP, R3 KKP, R4 K

Border

Tan Border
R1 E Wrap Knit, R2 Flat Knit

The loom knitted borders are too bulky and fussy. I suspect the solution will be to use a strand of wire and wrap it with tan yarn.

While I am thinking about the border, thought I would attempt using a sewing machine to stitch together strips of tree wrap. The tree wrap will be tied to the back of the piece, similar to how quilt layers are tied together. Rather than having the knot on the front of the piece, the knots will be on back, the tree wrap side. The result should be a simple and clean cross stitch at each block connection.

Wait, what did I just write? A knot at each block connection. How many knots will I tie? There will be 15 for each column, 20 for each row, or 300 for the body of the piece. There will also be 17 for each side and 20 for top, 20 for the bottom, or 74 to tie the border.

That is all before I get to the really fun part of apply a salt solution with the hope of adding crystals to the pieces.


Spider Mites on a Potted Brugmansia

Sunday, October 14th, 2018

Spider Mites

Spider Mites

Spider Mites

Spider Mites

And I have no idea who this is–

Not a Spider Mite

Brug in Pot

After the last flowers bloom, I plan to remove all of the leaves and then treat the Brug with systemic.