Well, for one, slowly but surely; but for another, not nearly fast enough! Nevertheless, as Shirley MacLaine once sang (and WTJD’s knowing this moment is a clue into its “musical” mindset!): It’s not where you start, it’s where you finish! We have to agree (okay, I—since it’s still just me, Gil, writing for the time being!). But I can’t say that arriving at this bounty of blossoms is an end. As it is really the start of something. Which I hope, pun intended, will continue to grow. Healthy, and successfully!

With that simple sentiment, I simply wanted to also include the three “flowers” that finally, and fortuitously, became the foundation of this first launch (of many, I expect, to come). Along with a little bit of “dirt” on how they came to be!  Get it, “dirt”—cuz they’re “flowers”?!

First, but not in any order, is the “daisy”! Which came to me by way of a precious lady who runs a company called GypsyPurl in Washington state. By “purl” she means of the “knit” kind, and she is a mastercraftsperson at it! BTW, of the glass shank button “stamen” that we’d both agreed to use, in the center of her masterfully knitted loops of “petals,” it comes from Italy and was one that involved considering dozens of others. Oh, and the wee little felt pad, betwixt the button and the loops—that came separately from a shop (here in the states too) called FeltPro. They specialize in making felt dots custom cut. Who knew, right?

Second is the “magnolia” that came to me from, wait a minute: Wisconsin! Yeah, you were sure it was gonna be Georgia! Or South Carolina, right? In any case, the elegant dame from Empress Barettes (of hair-holding) was a working wonder. What may seem like a work of simple folds is actually a series of two different layers of silk duppioni manipulated as minutely as possible. That’s no small feat, when this technique, of Kanzashi-folding (a Japanese folk art, naturally), works more readily in larger scales. Further, try finding something tiny enuff to simulate the insides of a magnolia blossom; seriously, take a look—that’s a really crazy center. So it was that it took quite some time finding the crazy little 14K “pine cone” teardrop bead. Which both of us felt quite nicely simulates the real thing—with some added dash!

Third (but by no means last) is my “forget-me-not”! Which I have to remember to mention was, ironically, the first boutonnière started for this set! It was done—crotched, I mean—by the klever gal at Kitchener Creations. They are located, conveniently enuff, in New York state! (Somewhere near the start of the Adirondacks; if GoogleMaps can be trusted!) Even so, being closeby did not mean things happened faster. She and I still had to mull endlessly over the colours of yarns, dimensions, and additional details (like the small bronze-brown bead for the “stamen”). But as the saying goes, anything worth doing is worth doing right. No matter the time involved! (Okay, maybe not forever!). To that “end” it really did come out beautifully.

I close with this lingering thought: that there are a few more related details that I left out. But they’re for another time and post. So then, I leave you with these three beauties to linger upon! (Oh yeah, and you can get them at either Urbanic or Cursive!)