More Matryoshka

Well, the Matryoshka machine is still spinning. This first one is for a friend named Sakura, which means cherry blossom. How perfect is that? I usually don't like using plastic beads and don't even know where I got these, but I just HAD to use them. The middle one is my favorite - I just love the combination of these two fabrics. I am having such fun with these! And the last one is for a friend whose favorite color is this green. I'm so enjoying picking out the flower beads and the other embellishments!
Happy Stitching,
~Lin Moon

Matryoshka Ornaments

Well, the Making of Matryoshkas has begun. These will be the "giveaway" gifts for my close friends at Christmas. The first one is for my good friend whose favorite color is pink. (So many people like pink! Did you know there's a list for pink-loving Christmas crafters?) I drew the face on paper using a combination of pen and chalk, scanned it in and printed it onto fabric you can put into your printer. I like the soft effect of the chalk on the hair and cheeks. I'm trying to make one in everyone's favorite color. But I think one of my girlfriend's favorite colors is orange, and I really don't like orange, so I have no orange fabric...hmmm we'll have to see what I can do about that.... It's really fun to mix and match fabrics and I so enjoy the embellishing with flowers and beads!

Happy Christmas Crafting,
Hugs,
Lin Moon

Christmas invite

I've been busy working on our Boutique and my Christmas party. Our Boutique made almost $4800, which will ALL go to charity - which is just great! I was treasurer, so I was running around with different envelopes for the different areas: bake sale, cinnamon buns, taco boats, candy booth, Grandma's Attic and the Boutique itself. Phew! It was fun, but I'm glad that's over. So now we move into the holidays!

Since my husband may get laid off, I wanted to make my Christmas party invitations as cheaply as possible. (I considered not having a party because of that, but if he DOES get laid off, the party may be one of the funnest times I have this season, so I decided to go ahead with it) I had almost everything I needed in my stash, so that was good. I used parchment envelopes that I had saved (for someday) for the angel wings, which curved in a nice way once they were embossed with the swirly design. The angel is a Victorian lady that I printed onto sticker labels - I seem to use those every year. They are so handy, just one whole sheet of paper that's sticky on the back and I just printed 8 or so angel busts on it, then cut them out and glittered her bodice. I glittered the edges of her wings and used velour paper for the ribbon below her. The NOEL was written in metallic gold (doesn't show up too well in the picture) I cut two of the leaves out of some organdy ribbon and two of them out of olive green velour paper - I thought the card needed something up above and a little touch of the maroon also. I usually do some rubber stamping, but not this year....

I almost wish they (Xerox) would just tell us now whether my husband will still have a job or not - the waiting is torture! Oh, well, I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving!
Hugs,
~Lin Moon

June TIF

Yes, I know it's hardly June, but this idea has been percolating in my mind for quite awhile. This is my "Stash Story"! In case you can't tell, this is a Magpie, the bird that likes and collects shiny things. She's ready to adorn her nest with some purple! My stash has lots of "shiny things" in it. I guess I'm just a magpie at heart. Sometimes I feel like I must be a 5 year old girl, who likes pink & purple, glitter and shine, although I must say, I draw the line at princesses.

The bird is needle felted - I've never felted anything 3D before - it is challenging to keep the shape you want... The "nest" is made of felt with batting inside, stitched randomly with metallic threads. This is the most fun. I really like making things for which there is no pattern, just blending colors as I go...freeform and all.

Happy Stitching,
Lin Moon

Ornaments

I'm not up to my usual millions of ornaments I make for our Christmas Boutique, but here are pix of a few: snowmen, raggedy anne and more bird ornaments.







Well, I haven't posted for awhile - if I had, the post title would have been "too sad to stitch". My Dad has been in and out of the hospital, first with pneumonia, then with a stroke. His wife called me one night at 10:30 because they were at the emergency room, so I went there and stayed 'til the wee hours. It's so hard to get any information at the hospital. And, it turns out he never got around to writing a will or making a medical power of attorney, so if he had been unable to speak after the stroke, no one would have been able to get any info from him. He's kind of a stubborn man, you can't tell him anything. They wanted him to wear pressurized knee socks to prevent another stroke and he flat out refused the first 5 people who told him to wear them. I really miss my daughter who's away at college and feel so sad when I get home from work and she's not there to talk to. My husband's company is laying off 3000 people and we won't find out if he's one of them until they announce it December 16. I love Christmas, but I'm not sure how it will feel this year.... I'm sure there are lots of people worse off than I, but sometimes it is just overwhelming. If you've read this far, I thank you and ask for a small prayer that my husband may be one of the lucky ones.
~LinMoon

Babushkas and Matryoshkas

Well, it's been a long time since I have blogged; I've been getting my daughter ready to move to college and we got her settled there yesterday. It seems all I've done lately is shop shop and shop - sheets, towels, bedspread, computer cables, lamps, storage, etc. etc. etc.- everything you need to live away.

I know not all of you are into Christmas yet, but I have been having fun making ornaments. I discovered this book: Sew Pretty Christmas Homestyle, which I really like.

It's by Tone Finnanger and full of mostly red, white and pink projects. I really fell in love with these Russian dolls in the book.





And if you want to see some more wonderful cloth babushkas, check out Ravenhill Designs' site here. They are so cute!
I have a couple of the wooden nesting dolls myself, see the picture below. A friend brought me back the blue one from Russia; I think the other one is from a catalog.


The book also has some cute birds, but then I've already made bird ornaments.


I have lots of cottons that I haven't sewn with for awhile, so I am looking forward to mixing and matching them for some fun babushkas!
Happy Stitching,
~Lin Moon

Bird Ornaments

This bird was not made or designed by me!


I found this picture on Flickr - isn't it cute? It belongs to Karen (aka Mrs. Kwitty). I saw this and asked Mrs. Kwitty if I could copy it to make ornaments for our Church Boutique. Check out her wonderful etsy site here where there are plenty of wonderful shabby/chic type items. She graciously said I could copy it, even though she sells it on her etsy - now that's generous! Thanks again, Karen.

Our Boutique is the Women's main fundraiser of the year and all the monies we make go to charity. We sell coffee and cinnamon buns in the morning and taco boats around noon. We have a bake sale, opportunity drawing, Grandma's attic and a candy booth. Our whole church comes together to put this on and it's lots of work and lots of fun.

So here are a few of my versions of her bird - they are really fun to make. I can't decide if I like the bow under the beak or on the back of the head....(any opinions?)

Washington DC

Well,
I've been away from the computer for awhile - vacationing to Washington, DC and doing crafts at Vacation Bible School. While in DC, I went to Smithsonian's Renwick Museum. This is a picture of a quilt there, made by Jane Burch Cochran. Isn't it wild? - buttons sewn everywhere! Click to enlarge and you can see some of the detail. (I tried to take a detail pic of it, but it came out blurry.)


I saw this quilt in a shop there - it had so many different fabrics in it! (Sorry about the lamp hanging in the way) It was so beautiful.


The Peacock Room was fabulous:


I just loved the patterns on this door.


Everything at the Renwick was so special, even the beautiful lace curtains at the windows.


This was at another museum - can you imagine having such opulence at your windows at home?

Arte y Pico Award

Wow,
I go on vacation and come home to this wonderful surprise! Violette Severin of the blog Hand Quilting, has nominated me for the Arte y Pico award. Thank you so much Violette! I feel so special!


The rules for the Arte y Pico Award are:

1. You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserving of this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also contribute to the blogging community, no matter what language.

2. Each award has to have the name of the author and a link to his/her blog to be visited by everyone.

3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name of and link to the blog that presented her/him with the award.

4. The award winner and one who has given the prize have to show the link of "Arte de Pico" blog so everyone will know the origin of this award.

5. To show these rules.

6. Choose 5 other people for this award.

Well, since I've been on vacation for awhile, it may be that some of the blogs I most admire have already been chosen, but we'll see.....

Check out
Sara Lechner's The Fabric of Meditation. Her artwork is so magical, original, unique and inspiring!

Emmy and her Cramzy blog. Emmy really knows how to play - and create wonderful things in the process. There's a real freshness to her creations.

Marty of Textiles in Time. I don't know how she keeps working on that large project of hers - it really takes patience and dedication. But when she's done, it will be just fabulous. I have to hand it to her for such delayed gratification and such lovely stitching.

Lauri of Don't Call Me Crafty. I like the attitude she expresses in the name of her blog. How she manages to get ANYTHING done with 5 kids is beyond me, but not only does she get things done, she wins ribbons and shares great pictures with us of her colorful work.

N. Rene West's Fembellish Journal. Although she hasn't updated her blog lately because of caring for her mother's health, she has shared how to do everything! If you read older entries and follow along with some of her projects, she is very generous with instructions and step by step pix on how to do some of the fabulous and wonderful things she has made.

Happy Stitching, everyone!
~Lin Moon

May TIF done

Yes, yes, I know it's July, but I've finally gotten back to the May TIF, now that all the June graduation hoopla is over. The theme for May was "how you see yourself (as an artist)". Here I am on a needle - I feel like stitching is a wild ride; I fly with excitement, there are ups and downs and it's a magical journey. The wings are made from ribbon with burned edges. That was a challenge! It's hard to get the flame just close enough to seal the edge, but not so close that it melts the ribbon and changes its shape. I'm paranoid about fire, so I did it with the candle sitting in my kitchen sink. I really enjoyed felting the background, although I added some gold Angelina and I'm not sure I'd do that again. The Angelina had a lot of fly-away ends that got in the way of the embroidering. I'm pretty pleased with this, even though it's way late.
Happy Stitching,
~Lin Moon

Magical Transformation

Can you believe that THIS


can change to THIS?

A close-up....

Now that all the graduation hoopla is over with, this is what I've been working on. This is for Belle Armoire Magazine's "Petite Couture" challenge. It was to do haute couture on a small scale. There was an article about how freeing it is to make a dress that just gets sewn onto the doll body or mannequin, without having to worry about fasteners or getting it on the doll. My inspiration for this couture is Alphonse Mucha's Reverie. I altered Barbie's face, so it wasn't so perky and unnatural. Then I covered her head, arms and top torso with a cotton knit and gave her some hair. I really enjoyed making the costume, sewing on beads, sequins and ruffles. That's a giant hat hanging from her neck. I made my own version of the Reverie design for the inside of her hat and colored it with colored pencils. Then I scanned it into my computer and printed it out onto special fabric for use with your inkjet printer. I'd love to see it in their magazine, but if not, well OK.....

I've been tagged!

JoWynn has tagged me to do a meme. There are five questions.

What was I doing 10 years ago?
Ten years ago I was sitting by the side of the road leading to the elementary school, crying. I had been pulled over by a cop for speeding (he told me he had trouble keeping up with me to pull me over). I was racing to the elementary school for some picnic-on-the-lawn-with-your-child sort of thing and I was running late. My house was up for sale with an open house looming that weekend. The open house was in a few days and the painter failed to show up to finish the job he had started the week before. I was tired, spread thin and totally stressed out. We had already made an offer (along with 5 other people) on a new house and needed to sell ours quickly to get in. The officer asked me why was I crying, he wasn't going to hurt me? I told him between sobs about my stressed out housing situation and the no-show painter. Meanwhile, every other parent that was going to the school drove by me & saw me in this embarrassing situation. This cop talked to me for 20-30 minutes. Where was my house, he asked. How old were my kids? What were their names? Where was the new house? Where was I going in such a hurry? blah blah blah from him and sob sob sob from me. Finally, when he saw my Driver's License, he mentioned that we had the same birthday. And, after all that, he didn't give me a ticket! Then I had to go to the picnic and pretend everything was OK, because I didn't want to tell my daughter what a bad example I was setting and tell her I got pulled over for speeding! Not my best day! We DID get the house, and have lived happily ever after... ha ha.


Five things on my To Do list today:
1. Finish reading "I Feel Bad About My Neck" by Nora Ephron - too funny!
2. Stitch!!!
3. Baby my baby (cat - see below)
4. Go out to dinner (yay! no cooking!)
5. Baby the plants out back that need extra care - the Angel's Trumpet has its first bloom!

Snacks that I enjoy
Dark Dark Dark Chocolate!
Kettle Corn (sweet popcorn)
Cereal - like Kashi's Lean Crunch - I could eat 3 bowls a day of that stuff!

Things I would do if I were a billionaire...
Hmmm, strangely enough this is a hard one. I've known people who have had a lot of money and this kind of screwed up their priorities. Instead of putting themselves into things(like raising kids, or dealing with a problem), they just sort of throw money at them. I would like to travel to go take classes in things having to do with embroidery (the Lesage in France!) I would like to make some improvements to my house - I love to have people over and would like a better kitchen. This may sound weird, but I think I would go to therapy with my husband, not because we have some great huge problem, but we used to know a therapist who was really wonderful at ways to work on relationships - keeping them fresh, trying new ways to be close, discovering new things about you & your spouse, etc. And because I just went to a meeting at our church to decide to what charities to donate our funds for this year, I couldn't ignore some of the wonderful programs to help others, especially women and children. I think having lots of money would change my attitude more than my life. I would just feel more hopeful sometimes, like when I find termites in the window ledge, or I'm bummed at discovering one of the millions of things that can go wrong with your home. I'm sure I would buy more "stuff" for stitching, but I will do that anyway....

Now for the list of places I've lived.
I was born in Del Rio, Texas. Too young to acquire much of an accent. Completely obscured by a 10 gallon hat.

Moved to Japan! (I wish I had been born there - I always joke that I would have looked different if I had) I had a nanny there who loved me so much (as a 2 year old) that she often took me home with her on her time off. My mom bought a lot of furniture in Japan, so an Asian living room is very "homey" to me.

Grew up in Columbus Ohio, where I thought that a 30 thousand dollar house would take my parents one year to pay off, since my step-father made 30 thousand dollars a year!

Now living in Southern California, where I was blessed to meet my husband.


Now it's my turn to tag a few a few of my favorite bloggers...how about

Marty52

Nellie

Lauri

Pat Winter

Sara

Stepping Stones Quilt

Here is a quilt I made some time ago that hangs in my living room on a stick of bamboo. I really had a good time picking out all the Asian fabrics for this. It is one of only two sane quilts I've ever made - My background is not quilting, it is embroidery. This quilt is a Kitty Pippin design. The directions called for paper piecing, which I didn't do. I thought paper piecing was for accuracy, but since none of these pieces even touched each other, I didn't think accuracy was an issue. I ended up cutting out the shapes in cardboard, gathering the fabric around the cardboard and pressing. Once I removed the cardboard and pressed again, I had the stepping stone shapes. Like most people, when you don't know the rules, you make them up!

I haven't had time to finish May's TIF or start June's - I'm getting ready for my daughter's graduation and a steady stream of relatives arriving soon. It's funny how when you start looking at your home through the eyes of another, you notice all the things you put up with and never fixed...that blind that doesn't quite work, that spot on the carpet, etc. My daughter is valedictorian (yay!) and so this graduation is a big deal. Her picture was in the paper and life's been busy busy busy. So I don't quite know when I'll fit in some stitching. Hope life's not so busy for the rest of you .....
Happy Stitching,
~Lin Moon

Designing

A button for you to enjoy!

Well, my progress on the May TIF has been impacted by teenagers! Last night was Academic Awards, tonight was the High School Band's spring concert and tomorrow night is the senior prom. So I have been making alterations to "the dress" for prom, instead of doing embroidery.

I don't do reality well. (Wouldn't that be a great thing to say to someone when they're busy pointing out your flaws?....Well, yes, officer, I was speeding a little, but you see, I don't do reality well.)

Anyway, when I was thinking about the May TIF and its design, I realized I just don't do realistic that well. Since some representation of "me" was going to be part of the design, I didn't really want to put a real image of me there. And when I've worked on other designs, I've felt the same way. As some of you know, I work part-time at Borders Books. Most of my time there is spent in the Children's section. Every Wednesday night I do Storytime, where I read 5 or 6 books to a small group of kids. Children's books have such whimsy, such silliness, and can evoke such a mood. I want my designs to do the same. I'm certainly no impressionist. Maybe it's the fairy tales I gobbled up in my childhood, but I find I want mermaids, fairies, a man in the moon, animal kings, mysterious things...

I was looking at a how-to book on drawing, and it struck me that I don't want to know how to draw something I'm looking at, I want to know how to draw what's in my head. Of course, that's somewhat nebulous at times....I've tried to think of making a design that represents some momentous thing in my life and it's so difficult. One thing is that momentous things are not always pleasant - a death in the family, menopause, abuse, loss - will I really want to look at a design that reminds me of these things? I like my finished product to be pleasing to look at.... is that a shortcoming? I think it's easier for me to think of representing a moment in time, and probably a fantasy moment, at that.

How do YOU design? I'm curious about the thought process that people go through to come up with a design. Do you have thoughts to share?

Keep on stitchin',
~Lin Moon

Work on May TIF

I've been working on my May TIF. I needle felted the background and have been working on the face and bodice. I traced the design onto woven iron-on interfacing and ironed that onto the back. I always like to have the design on the back so that I never have to worry about covering up lines on the front, and so I can make changes as I go, if I want. It's challenging to embroider on felt - there are so many fuzzies! Purple is my favorite color, so of course the dress is purple. Still have to embroider the arms & shoes and the needle I'm riding on! I'm hoping to have the skirt be made of fabric, tacked down in places to be sort of 3D. I started on the needle, but the silver thread I used seems to expand - the needle is twice as thick on the front as it is drawn on the back. I guess I will try another thread. I padded the sleeve that is closest to the viewer, but the purple is so dark I'm not sure you can tell. I'm really having fun with this!
Happy Stitching,
~Lin Moon

May TIF beginnings

I've been fooling around with various ideas for the May Take it Further Challenge - in a nutshell, how you see yourself. Here I am on a needle - I feel like stitching is a wild ride; I fly with excitement, there are ups and downs and it's a magical journey. Haven't quite figured out what kind of background I'd like to have, have to work on that a little more.
Hmmm, I've been spending lots of time out in the garden - my journey will just HAVE to include flowers!
Happy Stitching,
~Lin Moon

Roving Info

Well, I don't have a very big back yard and the climbing rose has taken over!

I recently began playing with needle felting. I was fortunate enough to buy needles, a pad, and a few colors of roving at a quilting and craft show. But when it came time to get more supplies and I went searching the Internet, I came upon many terms I did not understand, so as promised, here is my attempt at an explanation of terms. I’m sure there is much more I don’t know, but these are the terms I came across most often….


Roving
Roving is wool that has been sheared from the sheep, washed and carded into long lengths. It’s not just unspun fiber. Since there are many different types of sheep, there are many types of wool roving. Wool from a single sheep can vary, as well. A young sheep will have softer wool than an older sheep. Roving doesn’t have to be wool; there is roving made from corn, silk, bamboo and alpaca. Other fibers include cashmere, camel, angora (rabbit or goat), llama, yak, and mohair (goat). Roving can be spun into yarn, woven or used for needle felting, among other uses. Roving can be sold by the ounce, the pound, grams or a bump. (One ounce is about 28 grams. A bump of carded roving can vary in its weight.) Prices range quite a bit, depending on the fleece type, how it is processed, whether it is mixed with other fibers, whether and how it is dyed and how fine the fiber is.

Raw fleece may have vegetable matter (vm) in it, as well as dirt, grass and insects, which is why the first step in processing wool is cleaning it. Roving may have a small amount of vm in it, but once it’s been cleaned, you shouldn’t encounter much in your fiber. Wool is combed with paddles that look like square ping-pong paddles – they are flat with small bristles sticking out of them. The fibers in roving lie in random directions. Wool and other fibers that have been cleaned and carded can be found for sale in the form of roving, top, batt, and locks. Some roving is comprised of mixed fibers, such as a silk/merino blend or merino/tencel blend. (Tencel is made from the cellulose in wood pulp and is very soft) You can also find roving that has some synthetic sparkle mixed in. (Or make your own by adding Angelina fibers!)

Top is the same as roving except that it has uniform-length fibers and they have been combed to be parallel to each other. Top is of the highest quality.

Batts are like flat roving; the fibers lie in random directions but the shape of a batt is more like a piece of quilt batting. You can easily tear the batt into strips so it is like roving. Sometimes batts are called stuffing wool, and can be used for the inner core of 3D needle felting projects

Locks are soft and curly, and are shorn from different breeds of sheep.

About some fibers:

Merino is very soft, extra fine wool. It is so fine and soft, you could use it to make baby clothes or underwear.

Colonial wool roving comes from Corriedale sheep and makes an excellent felting wool. It is not as fine as Merino and not as coarse as Romney. It wouldn’t be recommended for baby clothes, but makes a fine vest or jacket.

Romney is more coarse than a fine fiber such as Merino. A coarser fiber is less likely to show holes (from needle felting), but is more rustic in appearance. This fiber is used more for rugs, or bags, than for wearables.

Alpaca: Alpaca fiber is stronger than wool. Alpaca is soft and hypoallergenic.

Felting

Here's a pic of my latest needle felting (by hand). This is only the third project I've done and I'm really happy with it. I finally got some wool roving in lots of colors and shades, which makes it really fun! (My very first try was with just 6 basic colors and it was so simple it looked like a 5 year could have done it) I really like wispy-ness and blending the fibers. Also, once I did the flowers, they were shaded, but really flat, so I added more fiber to give them more dimension, which was a good idea.


I looked around on the net to check prices for wool roving. I figured I'd make backgrounds for embroidery or make postcards, at least at first, so I wanted lots of colors without breaking the bank and then having a lot to store (you do have to be careful about wool and bugs). So I ordered a bag of Penny Candy from Decadent Fibers. I got more than 35 little balls of roving. I especially like the ones that are shaded (see pic below), because then it's like you get 2 or 3 colors, all in the same little ball. I didn't really plan this design out that much, I just knew I wanted three flowers.


So if you'd like to try it, do! It's great fun.
Happy needling,
~Lin Moon

SRE Landscape

Well, this is what I've been working on. It is for Quilting Arts' "Go Green" challenge, to make a five inch quilted square using as many recycled materials as possible. Since I've made mostly crazy quilted squares, my knowledge about quilting is very limited. I know that you're supposed have about the same amount of quilting overall. My "batting" is the sleeve from a wool sweater that's been felted in the washer, which was kind of thick and hard to quilt through, but this was really a fun project!

Happy Stitching,
~Lin Moon

April TIF

Here is a picture of my April TIF. I was just playing around with my new needle felting stuff and various yarns and some angelina. So, weirdly enough, the rose is the back of the felting. I think a felting machine is needed to successfully felt yarns from the front, but I liked the subtle shadings and fluffiness from the back. Since this was my first try, I didn't have very many colors of wool roving - certainly not several shades of a particular color, so I augmented it with yarn, etc. I really like the wispy quality of the leaf more so than the rose. Since I'm new to this felting stuff, I am compiling a Fact Sheet about the terms used in felting, etc. Look for it in the future. (FYI: Did you know that if you work with uncleaned fleece, you should have a tetanus shot?)

This month's TIF was about change. I had first intended to use the yesterday-today-and tomorrow as my motif of choice, but I like the rose as a metaphor for change. It seems that life is very much full of layers: layers of meaning, layers of inhibition, layers of learning, layers of comfort and layers of dependency. As you peel away the layers, sometimes the core is soft and sweet, like a rose. Sometimes the true you comes out as fears, inexperience and insecurities are peeled away. And sometimes when the petals are gone, it's time to regrow. (Or, you're just left with rose hips and it's time to diet! - sorry, I can never resist injecting a little humor...)

The next picture is a teaser - I am working on something I can't yet share...


And the last picture is my yesterday, today and tomorrow plant. When I open the patio door, the sweet fragrance of it is just so wonderful...and I love the purple - it's worth the extra care it needs....
Happy Stitching,
Lin Moon

News and Notes

Here are a couple of pix of the irises in my front yard. I just love spring - it's such a harbinger of hope. Buds preparing to burst into bloom, bulbs poking out of the dirt, so much to look forward to in the garden.

Quilting Arts magazine is one of my favorite magazines. I am sooo thrilled whenever it arrives in my mailbox. Did you know the editor of Quilting Arts has a blog? Maybe I'm the last one to know this, but it was news to me! Check it out here. There's even news there that isn't yet on their website.

I stumbled upon this collection of wonderful, quirky and whimsical felt creations. I love it when someone creates this type of thing that escapes being called "cute", but instead is arty. Check it out here.

Happy Stitching, and gardening too,
~Lin Moon

March TIF

Here is a picture of my March TIF (noticing the little things), SharonB's Take it Further Challenge. I started out dying the fabric with the thought of stitching unfurling ferns on it, but when I walked away to let the dye dry and came back a few hours later, it looked like the center of a flower, so that's what it became!



And in the spirit of noticing the little things, here is a monarch butterfly still in its cocoon, soon to come out.

And now it's out, drying its folded wings (for several hours) before flying away. I planted some butterfly weed, just for this purpose. Orange isn't my favorite color, but I planted it so I could watch the striped caterpillars munching on it, their cocoons forming and the butterflies emerging. It is so fascinating to watch.

This guy always has this big ball of something with him.