A break from the yard and garden....

We have been enjoying a few days of rain and cooler weather but it will be back to normal by Wednesday, so I am going to share one of my "things to do when it is too hot to move much" projects.  I have been telling myself I would do this for the last two years and just haven't gotten there....so this is it!  Two years ago we went to the lavender festival and learned to make these really cool lavender 'wands' that can be stuck in a drawer or anywhere that you want that lovely scent.  Fortunately they handed out instructions when they were doing the demo as I'm pretty sure I would have forgotten something by now!

You need to have some ribbon - 1/2 inch or narrower.  (I like the look of the narrow ribbon but it is more work) I cut 2 yard lengths of the 1/4 inch ribbon, just a yard or a little over for wider ribbon.

You need lavender in odd numbers. (I just went outside and cut a bunch and counted in front of the fan) I had to work around the bees, someone is getting great honey!

Take 13 or 15 stems  (your choice how thick you want them) of the lavender, mine are 15 stems.  Tie the ribbon around the stems just under the heads and even them up so all the flower bases are even at the ribbon.

Holding the bunch flower end down - gently bend the stems down over the flower heads.  (if your lavender is dry this won't work) working with the long end of the ribbon we used to tie the bunch, we are going to start weaving.

This part is just tedious, however if it is hot outside and the fan is blowing just right and you have a cold drink....it is bearable!  The hardest part is when the stems are a little thin and they get hard to see.  (that may have been a bifocal issue!) The weaving goes all the way to the bottom of the head of the flowers, and then....

When they are all woven I tied the weaving ribbon around the stems and then added a ribbon bow.  See those nice even stems at the bottom?  I trimmed them before I started weaving (after the first one!) and it made them easier to handle during the process.

The one that I made at the festival 2 years ago is in my china cabinet and it still smells good and the little lavender buds are not all over the place.

Speaking of which, this is a messy craft!  The lavender buds fell off all over, table and floor, and my studio smelled very good but very strong!  This is of course the reason that when you visit medieval castles they have bowls of lavender sitting around, and in the time period they used to put lavender in the rushes on the floor so that it would release scent every time one stepped on it.  I hope you enjoy another use for lavender!

A new craft and a little history!!!