Tuesday, May 25, 2010

 Seems like lots of people want to know about how to take cuttings; it's not hard, but some plants grow as cuttings more readily than others.  Chrysanthemums are among the easy ones.  This site had good instructions, but there are plenty more out there if you google it.  A lot of commercial flowers from florists are treated so as not to grow as cuttings; something to do with the plant breeders wanting to retain control of their products. That's why I used bouquets grown locally, in an ordinary garden.

I use a mix of sand, peatmoss and perlite as a growing medium, but you can buy bags of  it from any garden centre.  I sometimes use a hormone powder to dip the ends of the cutting; it promotes lots of root growth, but I've hade good results without it. 

And to answer another question from the last post; a heavily quilted custom quilt like that, 98" square, doesn't leave much change from $500 (Australian, of course).  And while some readers are gasping at how much that is, others are thinking that it's awfully cheap.  It was on the frame for 5 days, a whole working week; it's always a relief to get those huge custom jobs finished and out the door.

I put in a huge amount of time and effort over the weekend, and finished the main piecing of my commission quilt.  British police drama DVDs get me through a lot of duty sewing; this time it was Prime Suspect that helped me stick to the job at hand.  Midsommer Murders has been a helpful in the past (ímprobable plot lines and beautiful English scenery in equal amounts), but Inspector Morse is my all time favourite.

I have two borders to add, and then my design wall is clear.  I'm sure it will take a while to get going on another project, so I'll just putter around with some longterm UFOs, and more crumb blocks, and I just may make a DJ block or two.  One of the girls in my piecing class has begun a Dear Jane, and her excitement is infectious. 

I actually have photos to load, but blogger is being obstinate and won't co-operate; maybe tomorrow...

6 comments:

Meggie 6:10 PM  

Blogger can be so darned obstinate at times!
No wonder it is expensive to have quilte professionally done.. you certainly earn your money!

Brenda 6:39 PM  

Oh my god. Only $500.00. I need to finish something so I can have some of your gorgeous custom quilting.

Henrietta 1:20 AM  

Just thinking what Brenda said but although the quilting is most reasonable the postage to and from Australia would kill you.

Thanks for sharing your cutting technique. I have always used perlite and vermiculite but can see that adding sand would hold moisture better, which is generally the key.

I have been rationing myself on McCleods daughters on DVD. Need to mail Season 1 to Lori in SD, your SA countryside is so beautiful.

julieQ 10:42 AM  

Dear Jane is infectious! I have started too. Now, Keryn, you need to take your weekends off to piece...for you!

merrily row 11:55 AM  

Oh my, I thought I was the only one who quilted to Masterpiece theater (what we call Morse, Midsommer Murders, et al, here in America). And never apologize for fair prices for good work.

Lori 8:55 AM  

I love to piece to "Brit Coms". And I'm waiting for Henrietta to mail me those CD's!

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