Thursday, April 03, 2014

Batik and Roses

How was your week?  I hope yours was full of blessings!  Here we are in April.  It's really April.  Almost Easter.  This first week of April was mostly a quiet one here at Willow's Cottage which was totally fine with me.  I am sharing my week in Friday Fave Fives with Susanne.

1.  I took a rest day and accompanied a friend to the studio of a batik artist.  My friend had commissioned her to transform two old white linen tablecloths and give them new life as vibrant batik creations.  Having lived in Indonesia, I have a deep love and appreciation for batik.



You can choose most any color or combination of colors from the samples.


Kathryn Hermann is an artist who lives with her art.

Tying up the citrus tree with blue batik scraps


THE damask rose
It smells heavenly


Of course, when I photographed this bloom, I was sure I would remember its name. Huh.  It's a pinkish lavender orchid.  I think.


Oh yeah.  My kind of garden art.


This guy looks real, doesn't he?


2.  Rain.  Twice this week I woke in the night to hear 'pitter pitter pat pat patter' as rain dropped onto our parched earth.  Rain on the roof, on the car, in the street, is the sound of my childhood.  Obviously, I wouldn't want to listen to rain every night, but this week it was a wonderful sound.

3.  The Professor has been busy most evenings with tech rehearsals and dress rehearsals for the play for which he is lighting director at the university (this is his moonlighting job).  I miss him being around but I have savoured the quietness of just sitting and reading* and knitting.  *reading may include reading of student compositions

4.  Decluttering.  I declutter rooms in my house on a regular basis.  You know how stuff just sneaks in and piles up?  I have to wage constant war on the creeping clutter.  Last week as I was cleaning the master bath, I noticed some medicines I had been overlooking.  You know how your eyes just pass over something because it has been there for so long?  We went through all those old meds and were able to toss all but one bottle into the plastic bag which I then dropped off at the local police station.  Decluttering makes my heart happy because I love a clean, simple, uncluttered space.  [Stay tuned for more decluttering--I may be in the mood...]

5.  I've been puttering around in my own little garden this week.  Mostly I have pulled weeds and dumped a few pots which had dead plants in them.  But I picked the first rose.


I hope you will take a few minutes and ponder your blessings and focus on what is on your gratitude list this week.  

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Those are beautiful fabrics. We all need a day away every so often, and yours sounded especially fun for a fiber lover. Mary P

Mia said...

Wow, that batik is amazing. Glad you had a quiet week of puttering in the garden and purging (yay!). Enjoy the calm before the chaos... :o)

Jerralea said...

Love the batik tablecloths!

I love to de-clutter and it is about time again for me to get serious about it.

I enjoyed the flowers in your photo - especially the plate! As a dish collector, naturally I'd pick that as a fave.

Barbara H. said...

The first rose already! We've got leaves on the roses but no blooms - it will probably be a while yet.

I've never lived in a super-dry climate - I can imagine how neat it is to hear rain there.

I dearly love quiet evenings.

I tend to get in decluttering moods, too - once I get started in one area, I tend to want to conquer others.

Melanie - Author/Editor/Publisher said...

We're getting rain this weekend, even now as I type :) I welcome it, though. Better than snow!

The Batik is neat!! I've never heard of it before, thanks for sharing!

Beautiful flowers. I can't wait to plant my rose bushes!

ellen b. said...

How interesting to re-purpose old linen tablecloths with lovely color patterns. Glad you had a quiet week...

ellen b. said...

How interesting to re-purpose old linen tablecloths with lovely color patterns. Glad you had a quiet week...

Susanne said...

Gorgeous batiks. Love all those colors! So cheery.

I totally get what you mean about eyes just passing over things because they've been there so long. I need to give my bathroom cabinets a good clearing out. You're motivating me.

Faith said...

yay for quiet weeks!! I love that colorful fabric and the photo of the flower!! Not so much the creature..is that a lizard? ew....LOL
I love de-cluttering but never know what to do with the old medicine. I wonder if my community police station would take it? what do they do with it?? Happy weekend, Willow!! (ps...i got in a hike yesterday...my foot is healed up!!!PRAISE BE TO GOD!!)

Deb J. in Utah said...

Sure wish we could hear the patter of rain on the roof here - we need rain badly! I totally know about constant de-cluttering. It is a never ending job. Need to do some of that today as well! Have a good week!

snoopydogknits said...

So many beautiful things! It's always such a pleasure to pop in and say 'hello'. Ros

nikkipolani said...

That batik work is very charming, Willow. I don't wonder that it's being used throughout :-)

Wasn't the rain wonderful? I felt like we were having spring at last.

Gattina said...

Last evening we had buckets of water falling from the sky ! Not nice to listen at ! I should declutter too, but I always say I'll do it tomorrow !

Faith said...

hi, yes I am doing the Firetower Challenge (I saw your question on my post). But it doens't have to be all of those 29 from that booklet. It has to be 18 out of the 23 Adirondack mountain firetowers (2 are bushwhacks so I will NOT be doing those but that still leaves me with 18 other choices. I've done 10 so have 8 left). i also have to do all 5 of the Catskill ones listed. I've done 1 so my husband and I plan on doing at least 3 out of the remaining 4 over Memorial Day weekend :)