Tuesday, March 23, 2010

{ the bees knees }

I love Beeswax!!

I love the tacky, sticky feel of it...
the sweet, cloying smell that brings memories skipping back ~


Memories of my childhood;

of beeswax candles, fresh honey and my Mom's azalia bushes
that grew bigger than our car...


I have many little treasures here,
made of molded, blackened & scented beeswax ~
shoes, birds, eggs, baskets & the like,

...made by talented hands of dear artisan Friends~


and I use my beeswax for my needlework.
it helps to keep my threads from tangling,

helps my cross stitches lay flat
and it leaves a subtle sheen on the finished work.


We have a hive of honeybees here at the farm...
I love to watch them work together to make their community prosperous.
...the way they hover in mid air and watch me in the gardens...

how they chase one another in play
and how they settle at the edge of a puddle for a sip of water...


I'll be working on my needlepunch again today,
have the two that I teased you with yesterday finished, and have another on my frame...


Hoping your day is filled with inspiration from your surroundings!
Blessings from the Farm,
Lori

9 comments:

Diva Kreszl said...

sweet!

Catherine said...

I love honey and all things to do with honey bees! Do tell more about using the wax with your needlework. Do you just run your thread over the wax? I'm curious!

Lori from Notforgotten Farm said...

Hi Catherine~
yes ma'am ...take a block of the beeswax & run your threads over it to coat the thread lightly...
use for handstitching, embroidery, cross stitching...but one word of caution: NEVER use waxed thread in a punch needle!!!!! it will gunk it up realllly bad...(you can bet I learned that the hard way!!!)
~L

Robin said...

Thanks for the info about the wax and thread. And don't forget to start hooking some runners for my steps!!!LOL It was good to see you today, talk later. xxoo

Anonymous said...

Fasinating that you have bees. I love the fact that you use the wax. I have always wondered if bee owner's ever used the wax. I am sure many don't though.
Have you ever made candles from the wax? Would love to hear more on your blog about your life with bee's. Do you use one thread or two when you usually stitch? If two threads, would you wax each one seperate before threading the needle or wax the two together?

Lori from Notforgotten Farm said...

Hi Rebecca ~
the bees are wonderful & amazing to watch, and yes, we use the wax too...
I usually stitch with two threads on larger count, and one thread on smaller linens.
I wax both threads together when using two, and just the one when using one...

~L

NMK said...

Thank you for the bees wax tip for needle work ! I will try that today ! I bought one of those pretty blocks of beeswax years ago, I used it to keep threads from fraying while threading ornaments, I have it tucked away in my work room cupboard & just pulled it out !

NMK said...

I am so excited !!! I tried taking my block of beeswax & ran my embroidery floss thru it...when I did my counted cross stitch the floss didn't twist or knot at all !!!! It was so much easier to do ! Thank you Very much Lori for the Very helpful tip !!!

Lori from Notforgotten Farm said...

You're Quite & Ever Welcome!
~L