Twenty Years in the Garden...Planting the Beds

Robert came over to my work table and said, "I wish it was that easy!"
Shaping and planting the garden beds in late spring is a ton of work.  But for me...I get to do it with velvet, silk, ribbon, and thread.  Ha!

I've gotten four beds "planted" and want to show you how that went.

The cauliflower was made from leaves cut from wide silk ribbon, and French knots in #3 cotton perle.

Next came the onions.  When working on this tiny scale, the nature of the supplies one chooses is critical. Susan Elliott is a master in this regard and quite inspiring!
So for the onions, a hand-dyed gimp seemed just perfect.

A simple straight stitch was all it took.

The next bed over is for salad greens.  4mm and 7mm silk ribbon was a natural choice here, but the colors were a tad flat.  So after my stitching was done, I touched up the ribbon--in place--with a fabric marker.

This is pretty forgiving so it was not scary.  But if I really screwed it up, I could have taken out that stitching and replanted, so to speak.

The fourth bed is for squash.  This was a little more involved, but tons of fun.

Burning the edges of silk seals it from fraying, and gives a nice dark outline around the shape.  You do have to be very careful though.  You just pass the edge over the top of the flame very quickly.

I cut out and singed a lot of the leaves, and then glued them into place.
A toothpick and fabric glue stick was just the way to go.

Here is a close up of one plant glued...

...and then with the stems and blossoms added.

So here is the vegetable garden so far...

I added some flowers along the edge of the cauliflower bed because I made the paths too dang wide.  (Robert always measures out his paths.)

Here is the quilt as of this morning.

It's coming along!

But for now I have to lay it aside, as I have an exciting new assignment that is going to occupy my time for the next month or so, and alas, I can't show or tell about it quite yet.  But I will be so excited to share my news in May!

****Remember to enter YOUR quilt for the "Twenty" fundraising contest for the Quilt Alliance.  Guidelines are here. Be sure and check out the amazing prizes and sponsors! The quilts will be exhibited all over the country this summer before they are auctioned in the fall on eBay.****