New Bag of Color!

Bag of Color #13 includes large handfuls of gems and tubes of seed beads that can be used separately or mixed together to make a Wander with Color necklace, a Cornucopia of Gems neckpiece (full Cornucopia kit included) as well as some earrings or a bracelet to match!

My Inspiration:

Lilacs are blooming everywhere in my garden, their heady scent spilling into neighboring gardens and along a path at the side of our property.

For my latest Bag of Color I drew inspiration from one of my new lilac bushes (1 of 8 varieties I bought at the Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens in Woodland, WA on my way home from a Portland Bead Society meeting last year) called 'President Grevy'. It's blossoms start out violet and turn a lovely blue-violet as they open. This photo was taken when some of the older blossoms had started to fade, their edges tinged with copper.

How can I resist falling back on the yummy combo of purples and greens? My new Bag of Color stirs in some blue-violet with a dash of copper for a stunning palette that jazzes up an already lovely mix!

Happy May Day!

Lilacs

Thanks to starts from the old fashioned lilac in my parents yard, to exotic varieties picked up at the Hulda Klager lilac gardens, our garden is awash with fragrance!

p.s. and thanks to my boys for planting them while I dive into preparations for the Bead & Button Show!

Mother's Day and Lilacs

The sun is out today, but the air is cool, so we sat out on our porch, huddled in blankets, breathing the spring air laden with the delicate scent of lilacs and ate bagels and lox and celebrated Mother's Day.


The lilacs are in full bloom right now - bouquets filling our house. My husband bought me tiny starts of the exotic deep burgundy lilacs years ago on Mother's Day. The white ones were transplants from my neighbor (and wonderful friend) Sherri's garden and the pale purple ones are an old fashioned variety passed down to me from my mother's garden where huge bushes have grown for over 45 years.

They go back further than that though - my parents inherited starts from our neighbor Mr. Morgan. He and his wife were like grandparents to me throughout my childhood and scarcely a day would go by without me tripping along the path through the woods to share a cup of tea, some biscuits and stories with Mrs. Morgan or to follow Mr. Morgan around the chicken coups and his garden. Beautiful memories, lilacs, the Morgans, my parent's garden, Mother's Day.

Many years after Mr. Morgan passed away, we named our first son 'Morgan' in his honor. Only after announcing it, did I learn that Mr. Morgan's first name was Gilbert...