Tuesday, May 26, 2015

The High Desert


Yesterday we made a day trip to the High Desert to see the scenery and wild flowers. The flower is called a trumpet flower, and there were buttercups, yarrow,  wild sweet pea, lupine (not quite the same as the Texas bluebonnet, but similar), alfalfa, Black-eyed Susan, and a host of others I cannot name.



This picture does not show the vivid color of some of the rocks, but they had bright pastels of green, blue and coral.




Lovely hues of blue in the skies and lakes.



I especially liked this sage green type of grass, which is delicate and easy to pick.
I brought home a bouquet but it didn't quite make it with its original brilliance.





My bouquet looked better in the desert but I enjoyed collecting the bunch of flowers, including purple daisies, and bringing it home. That has been a family tradition for a long time.
Naturally I have put everything house-work aside to sketch my Desert Rose line of summer frocks, based upon my impression of the High Desert and I have been busy sketching and coloring.  I wanted to do it while the feeling was still fresh for me and my mind's eye still held the vivid color and clear sky.

I had this fabric from last year when it was on sale because I liked the brightness, yet I have never made anything in a print like this, before. It has no printing on the salvedges  that I can see, so I will name it Desert Rose, and use it for the dresses, 

Since it has quite a few of  the colors I saw yesterday.


I  am using a very plain pattern and adding sleeve styles from other patterns, to make it a little more interesting.  New Look 6352 is a sewing staple around here when I need to sew a fast and easy garment.  However I am using a Neumode, German pattern with the Desert Rose print fabric? The rest will be made from New Look 6352.


The rock formations are very colorful, with a lot of other colors in them that do not show up in the photo.

When I looked at these rocks, I saw quite a bit of aqua, very soft reds, blues and oh her colors.


Of course there were snow capped mountains behind the high desert, and I will accommodate thirst for sewing using colors of this area, and try to include something like it.

If I get to return to the high desert I hope to get good photographs to share.  One do the towns there had a tea room, so I definitely will go back.

Please have a lovely day and appreciate where you live. 



Some older trims and ribbons I have had for awhile, which look good with this fabric.

4 comments:

Lydia said...

I am hoping to make a step by step photo demonstration to post of that pattern when I sew it, so I hope you will check back, and be able to follow along.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful photos Lydia:)
The dress is going to be lovely, I look forward to seeing it finished if you will share it with us.
Have a sweet evening,
Shirley

A. Law said...

Dear Lydia,
What beautiful scenery!
I live in southeastern US and we have a lot of natural beauty but nothing like the desert :-)
Your dress is lovely.
Thank you for posting.
I look forward to them.
Have a happy day,
Aline L.

Linda said...

I have never seen such beautiful colors. What a feast for the eyes!
Linda