Friday, May 18, 2007

The Great Flower Garden Experience

My husband Robert trained under the great horticulturalist Alan Chadwick at the Round Valley Garden Project in Northern California in the 1970's. As a result, Robert has awesome productive capacities in the garden. He can make the prettiest seedbed of anyone I ever met, as well, which is one reason I fell for him.
Last year his interest was in corn, potatoes, and winter squash, and we had to buy a freezer just to store his prodigious yields. And he was barely trying.
THIS year I have managed to convince him that he should focus that skill of his on flower production...at least a little.

He is lining out the beds and paths here. My flower beds are all planted there above the line of leeks. Those divits in the bed in the foreground are potatoes just planted...(Otherwise all the beds are smooth, flat, and precise like a table top.)
I do not even rate the appelation of "apprentice" (that's what all the students at the Garden Project were called)...but I am out there too, most days lately...but this post is textile related, honest!
I'm thinking more and more about printing little bits of floral fabric...and I need a palette for that, don't I? I should be well swamped with flowers to work with in a couple months...I'll update the above view as the summer goes along.

Robert has to go to work this week-end and it is supposed to rain...I think I will have some fun and make a totebag out of my printing experiments...nothing is more agreeable to me than a quick totebag project!

7 comments :

Tesla said...

Just gorgeous!

Are you using any special technique to print the fabric?

allie aller said...

Hi Austin...
No special technique for printing here...I just make sure the sizing is out of my fabric by washing it in warm water and Synthropol...then iron the fabric to full size label sheets, trim with my rotary cutter, and feed it through my Epson, pigment-based inkjet home printer.
The rest is just tweaking....well, maybe lots of tweaking..;-)

Granny Fran said...

That should be a gorgeous tote bag. My garden is not nearly as neat looking as Robert's. How does he do that?!

Deb Hardman said...

I've been eyeing my mother's day bouquet. Thinking I should tear it apart & lay it out to photograph or scan for printing, & it's all because of you!!!

atet said...

Oh, what a fun totebag that would be. And the opportunities for embellishment. Ok, I like a nice little bag too, :0)

BöskeZ said...

I'm curious to see the pictures as the year goes on...
Your totebag will be as lovely as others!

Threadspider said...

Hi Allie,
I am so enjoying your crazy quilting stories and tutorials and now a garden section too. Bliss. Come by and visit my little English garden and baby quilting blog too.
Judith