Wine and Erubescent Rose Treasury

by Utilemud - simply gorgeous!

Vermeer Treasury

Vermeer Treasury by AmberAlexander and if you've haven't seen her watercolors they are gorgeous!

Logwood Purple

The dyed wool air drying out on the skirting table. This table is 4 x 16 feet, each section being 4 x 8 feet. This allows me to lay out a whole fleece and be selective in the skirting process.

I'm not sure why the color in the photo below came out so grayed as the wool wasn't this color! This was pre-rinsing. The shot above is after rinsing and while the wool is drying out on the skirting table.

White Jacob fleece, well mostly, before the mordant vat.

I've been working on this Jacob fleece for a couple of days now and I have to say the purple turned out devine! I can't wait to card some of this up and give it a spin on the ole spinning wheel. I'll have to dye some silk carrier rods to go with for creating a small bit of art yarn for a yet to be determined project - say like faerie hair! I have more fleece in an alum vat and will put it on to dye tomorrow.

Indigo Prairie Seeds

Indigo and cochineal dyed silk fabrics tied with a lovely pink silk ribbon (also dyed with cochineal) Available in my Etsy Boutique.

New Goodies

Slowly I've been updating my Natural Dye Boutique I seem to be fighting the computers, or the internet the whole way today! With patience and persevernce I've managed to load some new Prairie Seeds Natural Dye Packets to my boutique. I was hesitant to use that word at first but it fits, most everything is one-of-a-kind and made of lucious silk or wool!!! Watch for more goodies as they are going fast!

She Fades Slowly Into Beauty Treasury

She Fades Slowly Into Beauty Treasury by FiveForty

Soft and Beautiful Treasury

Soft and Beautiful by LisaHopkins very beautiful indeed!

Clash of the... Treasury

A Shocking Pink Treasury By StitchyWooWoo

Bird Nest

John and I picked pears yesterday, I was able to find a tree via freecycle that needed picking. I found this beauty on a lower branch as I reached down to pick a cluster of fruit.

Surpise Treasurie

BolinhasePolkadots created this beautiful treasury.

Tonight's Menu

I made a lot of food, side dishes, for a group event today and have a healthy amount of left overs so tonights menus is:

Cole slaw (with vinegar dressing not mayo)
Cucumber Salad (with red vinegar and black pepper)
Baked Beans
Homemade whole wheat bread from freshly ground wheat
Fried Chicken
Autumn Harvest Pasta Salad

Everything either came out of the garden or out of food storage!

Spring Hard White Wheat - Fresh ground

Freshly ground Wheat Montana brand Spring Hard White Wheat.

Fresh Bread

I made bread for function today from freshly ground wheat, John did the grinding, it was delicious. So the dough rose in record time, I made loaves of bread which rose in record time and my oven decided not to work~! At 9:50 pm!!! So I called the neighbor and enlisted the services of their oven, it is really nice to have neighbors that care! The bread fell somewhat in the transfer from our house to theirs, the bread was incredible none the less.

The wheat was fresh ground Wheat Montana Spring Hard White.

More Beans

I think we are about 25 or more days into the new round of green beans, these are bush beans we didn't have enough growing season left for more pole beans. We have yellow wax beans to the left for a total of three varieties of bush beans.

Today's Haul

2 Gallons of pickling cukes, 2 table variety cukes, a gallon of garden fresh tomatoes (early girl) and a handful of blue lake poll beans.

Faerie Wings

The last peak until the final assembly! But I couldn't resist the wings are beautiful, but they are NOT done yet I'm going to couch some constructed threads to the surfaces of the wings to give them strength and dimension then I will attach them to a fitting that can be snapped onto the faerie body.

The back side of the wings consist of angelina fused to painted misty fuse which is fused to painted silk organza and is againg fused, with painted misty fuse, to hand painted papers! I then stitched the elements using a rayon thread to match the angelina and a shimmery copper metallic on the paper side (bobbin stitched).

Another Peak

I dyed the silk velevt ribbon with cochineal - a natural dye - it compliments my hand painted silk fabrics and ribbons beautifully. Now no more peaks until Lynn recieves her faerie.

Web Site Update

I updated Prairie Fibers this morning, it still needs a lot of work but let me know what you think.

Web Site Updated

I decided to update the Prairie Fibers website this morning let me know what you think~! I may update this blog later this afternoon, first I have tomato juice to go make from garden fresh tomatoes no less!!!

Little Pieces of Art Treasury

Little Pieces of Art Treasury created by SewUpscale

How Could I Resist? Treasury

Phydeaux created this treasury!

Pepsi Canning Jar

We found a Pepsi canning jar, of all things, in our canning jar supply it's a pint jar that is currently filled with Garden Medley.

Work Area

This is where the bulk of the faerie making has been taking place.

Faerie Dress - Detail

Sneak peak of the dress, a very small detail that looks very big!

Hand Painted

Hand Painted vintage seam binding tape! This is for the faerie dress. For more details on the faerie swap see my blog Wild Hyacinths

Faerie fabric

I've been painting fabric for a faerie I made for a swap!

Newly Painted Feet

I changed the color of the faerie here's a new picture of her feet. The big reveal will be after Lynn my swap partner recieves her faerie.

Steel with a Twist Treasury

SandFibersSurplus made this yellow treasury. I've made it into a YELLOW treasury!!! Yah know if I make the whole colorwheel by the end of the year that'd be so cool.

Creature Comforts Treasury

Leazinke created this wonderful treasury.

Marooned in a Sea of Possibilities

by Sand Fibers - I'm hittin the colorwheel!!!

Faerie Parts

Remember I said I wasn't happy with the way my first faerie was working out? Well I made a new Faerie, here's a picture of her hands and feet! I'm pleased with this body form and will decorate it tonight, right after I'm done making pickles!

Painted Desert Treasury

By Everythingsblue

Awaiting Autumn

I was included in this lovely fall treasury by ScribbleandScript!

Faerie update

Well I wasn't happy with the way my other Faerie was coming along so I decided to use a pattern for the body out of Patti Culea's book Cloth Doll Making. The body is now painted and is air drying as I write and while a bit bigger than I had wanted at least it'll come out the way I was hoping the body should look.

Later tonight I'll assemble the body, make a decision on the face, and then start embellishing the Faerie and her clothes. I'm working with the water theme still and that's all I'll say. Come August 25th I can give the big reveal. I will say this fingers and toes are hard on a pint sized Faerie!

Faerie Hands???

I'm participating in a Faerie Swap over at Etsy Cottage Style ( a .ning.com social network) and the challenge it to keep it under $15. No problem there, the big problem is deciding what to pull out of my stash to put my Water Nymph Faerie together with, since Faeries are small there are a lot of options when looking in ones vintage piles and in ones scrap fabric pile.

Here I've been making hands and arms with natural dye painted cotton fabrics. Oh and you cannot listen to just any ole music while working on a Faerie, one must listen to Faerie inspired music, GOOD LUCK!!! So I've pulled out some classical piano music loaded it onto my computer in hopes of further inspiration. If that doesn't work I'll go check out some Tasha Tudor and or some Beatrix Potter from the library.

Tonight's Menu - BLT's

A very happy BLT eater!!! Of course he's grinnin like this because he hates having a camera in his face all of the time but also because his pickles are almost done.

Two BLT's assembled and taste tested.

The assemblage begins, mustard, and mayo are required.

The birds ate my tomatoes so I had to purchase some from a local grower for tonights meal.

Got Pickles???

Process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath and your done! Consult the Ball Blue Book for more specific directions.

The color of the pickles changes from bright green to that cooked pickle look with which we are all familiar.

The boiling spice solution is then mixed in with the newly drained and rinsed cukes and onions and brought to a boil.

Spices are mixed together with sugar and vinegar and brought to a boil.

You start with some pickling cukes, and a whole lotta onions, they are soaked in some pickling salt for awhile to draw the water out of the fruit.

Dh helped me put together three batches of Bread and Butter Pickles tonight. I do the pickle making around here, as everyone loves the way they taste ;-) Here's some pic's of how it all went together.