Open Gate - Weblog of Lisa Cook

Dyeing for Blue

If you have not figured it out already, my favorite color combination is blue and red - every shade, tint and hue. I drool over pictures on the internet of woad dyeing wishing I could try it. Well, someday.

Meanwhile I have been dyeing laces and trims for my collage packs and got some appealing shades with good old Rit dye. I love to spend a sunny summer day dyeing bits and bobs of lace and hanging them to dry on the deck cable.

Notice how blue and red are also reflected in these treasures I recently found at an antique show in Minnesota. I got each from a different vendor but wow- burgundy velvet purse, teal felt hat with burgundy flowers and a ledger book - they are perfect together!

My Etsy Shop will be teeming with Halloween and fall packs next week so stop in sometime! I am sending out my fall newsletter complete with directions for a mini Halloween banner and a favorite fall recipe, so sign up right here on my blog on the right hand side.

 

Hidden Garden

Jeanne Oliver has an interesting post today musing about creating a hidden garden inside an old burned out brick house. (go read it!)

Dennis and I did just that on a smaller scale when we created a garden inside an old foundation on our farmstead. I always wonder what the building held so many years ago. Perhaps it was a little milk house or a home for chickens or pigs! Here is the garden in late May full of hostas, bleeding heart, tulips and ferns:

Now that it is August, the foundation is almost hidden by the flora and fauna. The sweet gargoyle sits watch. We bought that as a an anniversary gift to ourselves many years ago. My dearest designed and built the deck with the wire cables so we could always see the garden.

And since this is about the garden here is another view I took this overcast and dank morning. (Yes, these are taken from the roof) The daylilies are past their peak but still strong while the phlox and hirta rudebekia are taking center stage.

And this is why I LOVE DAYLILIES!! There were over 20 blooms on this plant when I snapped the photo of "Ruby Spider."