Iris and miscellaneous rug hooking

Now the rush on the house is finished I can go back to keeping the gardens under control (or approximately under control). This time of year I love the variety of Iris that are in bloom.

Most are cream topped with pale purple lower petals. I don't know if they started that way or if the lack of nutrition in the sand has made them gradually more anemic.

These have darker purple lower petals.

This group are almost a brown purple and

may favorite, so dark that it is almost black. Only one flower stem  this year.

Cindy, a rug hooking friend, sent me a birthday present of natural wool, a couple of pieces of silk scarf and dyeing instructions.

You soak the wool for an hour. Jelly roll the silk and wool and tie it up with string. Put it in a mason jar covered with water and microwave (at 30%, otherwise it boils over) for about half an hour. Put white vinegar in it for the last 5 minutes. Carefully take it out, its hot, and drain it. Rinse the wool and dry it.

Hanging on the line to dry. On the right is the silk scarf (still some dye in it so I may be able to bleed it again). In the middle is the wool from the jelly roll and on the left a piece of natural wool I threw in at the end because there was still some dye in the water.

Different scarf (which bled out more than the previous one), same order as above.

This was dead easy and gave beautiful results. I can't wait to find a project to use these in. I have never done microwave dyeing before and as I was a bit nervous of the chemical dyes in something I use for food, I gave the microwave a thorough cleaning after.

Cheryl took my "Sheep Tricks" class last September at Apps Ridge and sent me an email and pictures. When she had finished the button sheep she found it was a bit concave and a friend told her that I had mentioned stuffing it. (Photos by Cheryl)

So she deconstructed him,

stuffed him

and now he is the star of her table runner. It is so exciting to see finished projects from a class I have taught.