Spring is in the Air

There is the enticing feel of spring in the air. You know the feeling...you can't get enough of it. The irresistible urge to garden and clean. There are flowers appearing, complete with their wonderful smells. Life feels a pleasure to be part of. Well, it has started at my place. For me it always starts with cleaning and rearranging. My hutch was the first victim...a little change in the arrangement and lots of dusting.

Fresh "start of spring" flowers in my new enamel jug

and in an old wall vase I bought at the swap meet.

I couldn't resist these cushions on a recent shopping trip as they matched my lounge room perfectly. Something fresh and new. I was planning on making some but I can still do that as you can never have enough of them.
Spring is such a rewarding time to potter in the garden doing some planting. With the warmer weather, everything just wants to grow. I have been madly planting up new containers to place on outside tables. This table is one of the projects I have been doing. We bought it at a very reasonable price years ago but it was green and I never really did like it. So now in my mad white phase it too has had a lick of white paint. I am still in the process of painting the chairs. It is very hard to settle down to one task at the moment as the garden is always beckoning me.

Speaking of which...I must dash, the garden is calling. Happiness to all my blogging friends till next time.

Forgotten Art...

Isn't it funny how when you are working on a piece of artwork that is all you can think about and then once it's done and hung you start to forget that you made it? I tend to do that all the time so I thought I would show everyone a few pieces I made last year...sort of a "I remember you're there" and "you're still making my home a prettier place to live".I can't resist going through the old postcards whenever I am in antique shops...it's kind of like finding hidden treasure. Sometimes they are just ghastly but sometimes one just hits the spot. I find the ones that I'm most attracted to tend to have beautiful verses and pretty pictures. The backs are important also. Although I still feel a bit naughty reading someone else's letter, it does give you a glimpse into a bygone era.I'm never quite sure what to do with them. I thought these two were too pretty not to put them on the wall so I mounted them on some lovely paper to match my lounge room and added a little touch of fabric to soften them.
I wanted to give this one a feeling of being on stage as the couple look so dramatic.
This is a little canvas that I painted and collaged then bees waxed. I love to use old music as the words are often a good starting point for the imagination to create. This piece tends to be a travelling one and turns up all over my home. The colours lend it a peaceful quality. Just as my plants are "the sisterhood of the travelling plants" so too are my paintings!

Strawberries, Roses and Birthday Celebrations...

Yet another birthday celebration on the weekend. My oldest son Isaac turned 16. Time to start looking at getting his learner's permit! Could he really be that old already? It doesn't seem that long ago he was just a very cute two year old. He was the funniest little fellow, always stopping people in the street for a chat...he seemed to have an affinity for elderly people. On many occasions he was described as having an old soul. The doctor thought that Isaac might be a politician or the like as he certainly had the gift of conversing.You wouldn't know now that he had been such a chatterbox as he's quite reserved and quiet.
I baked a Victorian mocha sponge for his birthday cake....filled it with raspberry jam and cream...topped it with strawberries and cream.

Despite the cold weather we have been having some of my old tea roses are still in full bloom

and are looking quite the picture. I picked a lovely bunch of Archiduke Joseph to fill a new enamel jug I had bought on Friday. There is always a lot of debate as to whether Archiduke is a different rose to Monsieur Tillier but I believe they are different roses because I grow both and the flowers take on different colours under the same weather conditions. They are both very beautiful and very easy to grow.