Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Goldenrod is a State Flower!

I was looking at images of Goldenrod and discovered that Goldenrod is the state flower of Kentucky and Nebraska. I've always like how Goldenrod looks out there amonst the weeds, but I thought that it was something of a nuisance weed that causes allergy attacks. I guess it's appreciated! Pennsylvania's state flower is the Mountain Laurel. I don't even know what a Mountain Laurel looks like and I've lived in PA my entire life.
I wanted to make a couple little prim shelf pillows with wildflower designs. In our vacation travels, I saw a nice old pillow with this Queen Anne's lace flower design on it. I want to do a goldenrod to go along with it. Lots of little french knots there! I need to fix up the goldenrod french knots a bit more and then I'll attach it to this plaid background wool.
That background wool fabric is what I purchased last week for $1 at a thrift store. So I lightly overdyed a small piece of it in some brown wool dye to bring down the tones. The wool has some pink in it so the brown overdye knocked that pink color right out. I think I'll try overdyeing it with some pumpkin orange wool dye just for the heck of it. I like experimenting like that ... sometimes it gives me nice surprises.
My list of things to do today include cutting the grass ... 3 hours worth of time and cleaning up in my wool/sewing room. I need to sort and organize the accumulated scraps that are laying about everywhere. It's getting to be a disorganized mess in there.
Happy day everyone!

8 comments:

Buttonchief7 said...

A friend paid $7 for a Queen Anne's lace pattern. After looking at it I just free hand do the flowers with cotton crochet thread. I'ts lots of french knots, different thicknesses, but so pretty on lots of different backgrounds of wool. One of my favorites was white on white wool. So elegant. We do alot of things very similar. Really enjoy your site.

carolyn@simple~primitive~devotion said...

I do not know how to do a French knot, so when I have to do something like that, I just make a tiny "x." I know it' not "correct" but it fits in with my prim stuff! LOL!

Your wool turned out great! I wuold never suspect that it had any pink in it! Your pillows are going to look so nice!

Enjoy your day!

Carrie ~ Cricketwood Prims said...

Love the simple designs for your pillows.
Your plaid wool look wonderful, I look forward to seeing the end results of your overdying.
Your mowing takes as long as mine, I like to use the time to mull over creative ideas.

Lisa said...

Oh you are busy! Love the new projects and your new wool! Hope the weather is nice for cutting grass!
Hugs, Lisa

Gayle said...

Your dyed wool turned out nice! I need to get some wools dyed for a nice rich deep brown background on a rug I'm making. Would like to use some of my ugly plaids from the thrift store like you did!

Anonymous said...

Cathy, Cathy, Cathy, What are we going to do with you. Obviously, you are spending too much time sewing & playing with Kaiden and not on your PA education.
Mountain laurel is a close relative to rhododendrons and azaleas. You probably saw some on your easterly trip to the grand canyon, only since they flower in spring you would only see the bush.

Get with it kido.
Casserole Carol

Cat Haven Craft House said...

Hi Cathy, the golden rod out here in Iowa is in full bloom and gorgeous. BTW, golden rod doesn't cause allergies, that's rag weed. The two get confused! I have some lovely heritage golden rod growing in my perennial garden!
Best Regards!

Tolentreasures said...

All those french knots! They are beautiful though! Mountain Laurel looks a lot like Rhododendron only a little more wild and blooms white instead of the colors. We have tons of it growing around here and it is very illegal to cut it or transplant it. I have known people that have got in trouble for doing that! Love the dyed wool. Can't wait for cooler weather to dye some!

Cathy