Beaded Xara Necklace

Posted on by capentalc

With the weather being so cold in the morning, I haven’t been outside to work in my garden. I thought now would be a good time to talk about my indoor garden of beads.  

Long before I started gardening, I was interested in beading, crocheting, and knitting. Now, with the weather being colder outside, I have been focusing more on these indoor hobbies.  

Let me start first with beading since I have been doing them the longest.  I discovered beading six years ago during a vacation to Portland, Oregon with my family.  I bought a bracelet that someone knitted using fine silver wires and Swarovski beads.  I always thought beading was about stringing beads onto a rope or chain and call it a bracelet or necklace but now, I realize there is so much more to beading. The bracelet below was the inspiration for all of my beading work thereafter.  The bracelet also spurred an interest in knitting and crocheting because I wanted to make a similar bracelet myself.  Alas, I have not been able to duplicate such a bracelet.  I am still trying to perfect my knitting.

I tried making some of my own bracelets shortly after unsuccessful attempts to make that inspirational bracelet. Here are some my very early bracelets. Shown below are three different bracelets with color combinations to go with my outfits at the time.

Decent right? But not the greatest!

Below are some earlier ones that were much more improved. These are just a small sample of what I’ve made. I will show other ones on other posts.

Beaded bracelet and ring I made

For now, let’s concentrate on my latest addition: the Xara necklace. This necklace can be achieved by following Debbie Roberti’s Xara pattern.  It was fairly easy to do and it took me about 3 hours to complete.  The hardest and most time-consuming part of beading is choosing the right beads and color combinations to make with the pattern.  I have a stash of beads from other projects so I tried to work with what I have first.  The large center beads in this necklace is the Paisley Duo and it has two holes, on the top and bottom of the beads.  In making these jewelry pieces, I always choose color combinations that work with my wardrobe.  A lot of times though, I find that I love greens and purples with gold or bronze similar to those found in jewelry from India. 

This necklace I made in silver tone but with a little bronze to make some of my dark-colored outfits stand out more.  I love the look of silver and gold together too. 

There you have it! I hope everyone enjoyed my bit of beading today even if you are not interested in girly beading stuff.

Borage

Posted on by capentalc

A few years ago I was looking for plants with blue colored flowers and stumbled upon this herb called borage.  Borage is a plant I highly recommend growing if you are looking for a low maintenance, inexpensive plant to fill your garden.  This plant requires average water and full to partial sun.  They grow very fast and the spring is when you will see the most flowering.  However, they have been flowering this fall and winter here in Southern California too.

Borage can grow about 30” inches tall and 18” wide. If you let the flowers stay on the plant it will set seeds and appear everywhere in your yard!  I don’t mind this kind of invasive plant because it is quite pretty with blue star-like flowers. All parts of the plant are edible, except the root.  I have not tried to eat the flowers yet but the leaves taste delicious. They are hairy and spiky so you would have to be careful when you pick them.  Once they are washed, they are not too spiky.  People say they taste refreshing like cucumbers but I think they taste like something else which I have no idea what, just that it is herb-like.  Sometimes, I would pick up the leaves right off the plant and eat them (and saying “ouch, ouch” as the spiky hair pricks me!!!). The nice thing is bees and butterflies love them so it’s a great pollinating plant.  

In the picture above the borage sprouted in this hibiscus container and makes a nice decoration for my otherwise boring pot. They have really huge, green 6-7 inches long leaves. I did not plant those guys there, they just sprouted about 3-4 plants. Soon they will have nice blue flowers to go with the pink hibiscus. I can’t wait for spring to arrive!

In my garden there are a few other wonderful things happening this January as well. I discovered my narcissus, hyacinth, “Pink Surprise” calendula, and the Alyogyne huegelii “Blue Hibiscus” flowered. What a wonderful surprise for a very windy winter! Also, I have no idea what the white flowers are in this group so if anyone knows, please let me know. Happy Sunday!

Amaryllis

Posted on by capentalc

I have been wanting an amaryllis for several years but I always held back because they were very expensive. I always see them sold before Christmas and they don’t seem to be an affordable option for an indoor plant. This year, I decided to do a little more research and found out you can grow these outdoors and they do bloom for longer periods of time than most flowers, that justifies the high price for me.

I bought several amaryllis on sale recently but so far one has bloomed quicker than the rest. So the following pictures show the progression of my amaryllis’ blooming cycle. It is so worth the wait and the price.

I purchased this Pink Surprise amaryllis in the pot and it came with just the bulb planted slightly above soil like this. This pot does not have drainage holes and I was instructed to keep it moist but not soggy. Every few days I would water when I see the top is dry. After about 2 weeks it started to have that protrusion you see in the picture above.

After another couple of weeks or so it started to have the stem and the flower buds started to open.

Once the petals appear in the bud, it is just a matter of days before they all open up like the remaining pictures. This one bulb produced eight flowers that were about 5-6 inches in diameter. It is so lovely! It’s really one of my top favorites.