I'm excited about the upcoming holiday fairs.  I'll be showing my

wares at several show around town.  The sewing is fun but I got a

 little behind this year because I had more harvesting, cleaning, etc

that I expected.  Take a look at the "Eye/Neck" Page for more. 11/3/11

Friday Night Sales Event - Fun

The photos at right are of some of the neck wraps that I sold Friday at an art show event for the local Counseling and Education Center. A portion of sales went to CEC, an agency that is valuable to our community. I took 2 photo's of my "booth" which was a 6' table covered with a cloth. I try to arrange items so that the table looks attractive and so people can touch the products.  It may look good to  me but when I look at the photos, it looks pretty sloppy.  I'll have to get some help in that area.

So many people appreciate the beautiful fabrics that I use. If you can see the photos here, one neck wrap is made of a pale green crushed velvet with the other side a rich gold satin with a brown swirl pattern to it. It is beautiful.  Another is an Asian print of branches on a cream colored brocade background.  And a pale blue crushed velvet on one side has a deep brown satin fabric on the other.  With the cold weather around the corner I thought people would like flannel so I made some neck wraps in a flowered flannel.  They all had matching eye pillows but I sell them separately because some people want only one or the other, not both.

I enjoy showing my wares but what was really fun for me was to see many people that I haven't seen in years. Some of us go back 20 years or more when I first came to GJ and worked for the National Council on Alcoholism. At that time I was very involved in the "non-profit" community and so got to know many wonderful people. Many of us are now retired from that line of work and it was nice to have a little time to chat with friends and acquaintances. As I am now in the "wisdom years" as one gal put it, the value of relationships is so evident -- it is really all that matters.    10/24/11

Lavender Coming Out My Ears!

Fall blooms have popped up which means I am STILL harvesting, drying and cleaning lavender.  On Saturday, went to Angie's and harvested a lot from the plants there --- I think this is the end!!!  Of course, I thought the same last month and was surprised at how much more bloomed in Sept.  I may have enough left over after completing my sewing for the year to sell some lavender buds by the pound.   The demand for buds has been greater than the supply for the last few years. But word has spread that lavender is a great plant to grow in this area, so more and more people are doing it. .  At the July Festival I talked with several people who have planted fields and/or are gathering information in order to do so in the spring. 

The weather is still warm here in the city so I haven't prepared my plants for winter yet. It's not a difficult task.  Because of al l the huge old trees in the neighborhood, we have lots of leaves that begin falling in Sept.  So I brush them away from the base of the plants so that they won't hold moisture when the snow comes.  Then I replenish the base of the plants with crushed gravel or small rocks if they need it.  The rock helps hold warmth at the roots.  That's all there is to it.  I don't have weeds at my house, but the plants over at Angie's do have weeks pop up.  I didn't pull many on Saturday when I was there because there were too many crickets around and so I just cut the lavender and left.  But when it gets cold I'll go over and pull the weeds and add some rocks to the base of the plants.

I made some more beautiful lavender-filled neck wraps.  I'll post some photos next time.



Bookmarks as Thank You Gifts

Lavender-filled Bookmarks

I made some lavender filled bookmarks and took  them over to Community Hospital as a little thank you for the nurses and aides that were so wonderful when I was there last week.  So  simple - 6" x 1.5" cotton with a little pellon lining to stiffen a bit.  Top with a ribbon and fill with lavender -- smells so good.

Where Have I Been? Glad You Ask!

I am chagrined to admit that when someone mentions that they’ve had surgery, it really doesn’t register in my brain to any greater degree than mentioning that they had a bad headache or sprained ankle.

However, when it is little ole moi’ who’s had the surgery .... holy moly batman ... what a different story that is! The whole world revolves around ME and every little beat, burp, barf and bm is of great interest not only to me, but to those miserably happy, blue-gloved youngsters who enter my hospital room every time I nod off to sleep (there’s a monitor in the drip tube that alerts the nurses station anytime a patient drifts toward sleep -- really).

After a year of brief but painful episodes, 2 prior non-productive ER visits, and cold sweating my way through last Sunday’s 10 am service (do you get a point added for going to church but deducted if it’s not the right one?), I headed to the ER.. Came home Friday minus the gall bladder and feel great now. I couldn’t help but think, though, while undergoing CAT, ultrasound, MRI, camera-down-the-throat procedure, several visits each by specialist, surgeon, anesth----, and my regular doc, plus a variety of drips, drugs and dressings ... that I could have just called my sisters-in-law (nurses) and they could have diagnosed me over the phone!!!

This Blog is supposed to be about LAVENDER so I want you to know that my plants are still sending up some beautiful spikes and I still have some dried bundles to be processed. After the great festival in July, many of us Lavendeers had a severe case of burnout. Thus, neglecting my writing for the last month.

But I just know you wanted to hear about my surgery, and far be it from me to disappoint you.  So that's the story.  But wait! There’s more! If you’ll send me a self-addressed, stamped envelope I’ll mail you (free of charge) the complete and unabridged version which, I’m sure, you will find riveting and heart rending ... but with a happy ending!

PS: What pervert came up with the disgusting idea of giving the patient an 8x10 glossy of their diseased gall bladder in their discharge packet!!! YUK!.

1st Annual Colorado Lavender Festival - a raving success!

The 1st Annual Colorado Lavender Festival was a great success!!!  The hard work came together beautifully.  We had great weather, crowds of happy people, good music and about 40 vendor booths full of lavender products, hand-made jewelry, and so much more.  The feedback I heard from people who attended the seminars said they were excellent and very informative.  Sounds like the most fun was enjoyed by the tour bus group that visited several lavender farms in the area.  The tour included lunch and a wine & cheese reception at a local winery at the end of the tour.  It had sold out early.  The cookbooks sold out also.  They were smartly done in small notebooks with tabs and the first year recipes.  Each year a new batch of recipes will be available to add to the cookbook.  Author, Lida Lafferty put a tremendous amount of time , effort and love into the project and she can be proud of what she has accomplished. 

I sold a lot of my neck wraps, eye pillows, buckwheat pillows, pillowcase liners and sachets.  Angie, Con and Elly helped in the booth which made it possible for me to talk with people.  It was fun to see people that I hadn't seen in some time, including my high school friend, JoAnn, who lives in Palisade.

Customers are great at making recommendations for items they would like to see and I have a few new ideas to pursue.  Overall it was a fun and profitable adventure.  7/20/11

Spike It with Lavender! author, Lida and boxes of 

cookbooks to be collated by Lida, Rob, Kathy, Linda

and other volunteers.

Also ... made some new eye pillows

Click on the Neck/Eye tab and take a look at the beautiful eye pillows that I made for a customer that owns a yoga studio. She gives them to her clients.  The picture doesn't do them justice ... the material is a burgundy satin poly on one side and green velvet panne on the other ... makes a beautiful combination.     6/25/11 

Gearing up for the 1st Annual Colorado Lavender Festival

The Three Lavendeers

Yesterday Brenn, Barb and I took Lavender Festival window posters to the GJ downtown businesses that are participating in the "Go Purple" Scavenger Hunt. Details are on the LAWC website. Brenn's super organizing skills made the task easy and fun. It took a couple of hours but we worked the morning when it was still cool (thanks Brenn). We then reviewed over lemonade at the Rockslide. People are so excited about the festival !!!  July 15, 16, 17.     See the LAWC website  at   http://www.coloradolavender.org/ 

Lavender Bundles 6 15 11



Banded 71 bundles last week.



 I've been harvesting some of the lavender bushes that have bloomed this month. Still have some in my yard that are not ready yet. There is a big difference between those planted in my yard and those at Angie's yard. At her house they are planted in "red mountain soil" which is sandy -- the water drains away quickly. They also benefit from more direct sun. A couple of factors may contribute to the slower growth in my yard: clay soil although amended with gravel and stuff to help drain water away; some of the plants get mottled sun rather than full, direct, all-day sun; some have been transplanted from one spot to another which probably slows growth (I often change my mind-poor things); a couple plants came from shoots off of the main plant and seem to be smaller than the mother plant. Regardless, they are all producing beautiful, fragrant lavender.  Je suis heureax! (watched Poirot last night). 



Just before the haircuts



Grandmoms and Granddaughters

5"x5" Blue, Pink, Green, Black Sparkley Sachets

A friend, Sue, has a couple of little grand daughters and she had bought them each the cutest little lavender filled dress sachets at one of my Salon's last year.  I couldn't help but think of her when I finished "blinging" these little skirts ..... are they just tooooooo cute!  The lavender buds are in a pouch under the skirt and it smells so sweet.  At a sale event last week 2 little girls just cooed over them and "just loooooovvvvvved" each one before they made their choice -- one bought green and one pink. (Actually it happened to be their grandmother who paid for them). There is just something about 10 year old girls and their excitement that is so fun .... and something in grandmothers that fosters that excitement -- wonderful reciprocity, eh?   So Sue, this photo is for you.