New article up at the Examiner, on grape hyacinths (muscari), and easy and inexpensive spring flowering bulb!http://www.examiner.com/article/bulb-grape-hyacinths

New article up at the Examiner: free ebook on growing blueberries! http://www.examiner.com/article/free-blueberry-ebook

New article up at the Examiner: two free gardening ebooks available today: http://www.examiner.com/article/two-free-ebooks-available-today

New article up at the Examiner, on the unusual wingthorn rose: http://www.examiner.com/article/the-perfect-rose-for-fall-color It's a spikey, gothy plant that shines in fall after the leaves fall!

New article up at the Examiner, on the differences between heirloom, open pollinated, hybrid and GMO seeds: http://www.examiner.com/article/heirloom-hybrid-gmo

New article up at the Examiner, on growing African violets from leaf cuttings!http://www.examiner.com/article/african-violet-propagation

New article up at the Examiner, on proliferation in plants!http://www.examiner.com/article/proliferation

New article up at the Examiner, on saving seeds from foxgloves:
http://www.examiner.com/article/seed-saving-foxglove

Steamcon 4- Bast skirt

I have finally- with less than three weeks to go- started on my costumes for Steamcon 4. Saturday's costume will be the Egyptian cat goddess, Bast, but with a Victorian style rather than see through, skin tight, Egyptian draping.

I found a heavy brown, ankle length skirt at a thrift store that looked like it would work. But it needed something that said "Egyptian" so I decided to put a decorative band around the bottom with hieroglyphs. So, after letting out the skirt just a little (thankfully, it didn't have a band, so a little unpicking, steaming, stitching and fusible web later, it fit), I took a narrow piece of ecru cotton and free hand drew hieroglyphs all around it.

Next, I went over the pencil lines with a brown permanent textile marker.

Then, I took artist's acrylics and painted the heiroglyphs in two shades of brown with a few touches of gold.

I pinned it to the skirt a couple of inches above the bottom, and top stitched it down.

I used a line of dark brown and a line of gold stitching on top and bottom. Then I unpicked the edges of the band, so it's rough and old looking. I can't decide whether to wash the skirt again before wearing it, to make the edges even more frayed. I also can't decide whether to try and antique it a bit with some dye sprayed on. For now, though, this is it.

New article up at the Examiner, on the colorful vine Virginia Creeper!
http://www.examiner.com/article/vine-virginia-creeper