Day: July 25, 2020

Double Purple Datura

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Double Purple Datura/ Jimson Weed is an herbaceous annual with large flowers that are purple on the outside and white to cream on the inside. It is a summer-flowering plant that grows from seed.

I was given this plant by a friend six weeks ago or so. She started it from seed during the winter. The plant showed buds soon after I got it but the buds have been slow to develop and open.

Yesterday I got my first flower and I must say it is spectacular – however, it only lasted a single day. Today, it’s limp and droopy and it’ll probably fall off tomorrow.

There are lots of flowers to come, though. There are plenty of buds in various stages of development. Looks like I may get close to a new flower each day, although I don’t expect the next flower to open for another couple of days.

I’m hoping to see a couple of flowers at a time if the plant continues to grow and produce buds. The dilemma for me is the plant likes full sun. This is the sunniest place on my balcony but since it’s now past mid-summer, I’m getting full sun till about 10:30am with full sun decreasing slightly each day. So I don’t know for how long I will continue getting buds and flowers. I’m assuming the buds that have formed will open, but you never know, they may stop opening as we near September.

Oh well, I will have enjoyed whatever blooms that have opened.

Opening in Parrsboro 2020

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Yesterday I drove to Parrsboro (2 hours from home) to hang 7 quilts and 15 wall art pieces in the Art Lab Studios & Gallery.


This is the sixth summer I’ve been privileged to show my creations in the gallery. It’s a small gallery in a small town but it’s becoming known for it’s displays of high quality art. The five resident artists are themselves fine artists who paint, make pottery, fashion textile pieces, along with a roster of other well known local artists who both show and do workshops at the Studios during the summer.

The space is perfect for hanging my lap quilts and other smaller pieces.

When we’re finished hanging the show I look around and think about the amount of work I’ve done in a year – the range of style, the intensity of colour, and the technical improvement the show reveals.

A number of pieces were created as projects for classes I was intending to teach (except they were cancelled due to COVID-19).

Kaleidoscope Table Runners

Other pieces were inspired by fabric in my stash – they called out for me to do something with them.

Then there were the two quilts I started work on at the sewing retreat last fall that turned into quite striking throws.

Grey called out to me this year – last year it was turquoise.

I think I want to return before the show is taken down to photograph everything once more – it’s very difficult for me to hang the quilts, in particular, and photograph them at home – when they’re on the wall, like this, I am able to capture each piece without distortion.

The quilts and wall art will be on display until August 20, 2020.

If you get a chance, the Art Lab Studios & Gallery is a wonderful destination for a day trip from Halifax – leave around 10am, stop at the Masstown Market in Masstown (they make great sugar donuts if you get there early enough). In Parrsboro you can have lunch at either the BlackRock Cafe or what locals call “The Pier” (now called, I think, Harbourview Restaurant), then visit the gallery, schmooze Main Street, and have a leisurely drive back home either through Joggins/Amherst or back through Truro. If you stop for dinner in Truro you can expect to be back home around 8pm. Even fun on a cloudy day.