Garden update part 2

The iceberg roses are really starting to thrive - it's such a lovely rose.

My ixia's are almost done but the pale blue colour is still lovely, especially on a nice sunny day like today.

Vegie update

As Kaite from Yarngarden said the other day on her blog, "Vegie gowing is the new black". I like that. I love watching the vegies come on. My strawberries and raspberries are looking good too, now I just have to make some little sparkly things to scare the birds away as I'd really rather I get to eat the fruit - not the birds!

We are building a new patch as well so I'll be able to put in corn, pumpkin and potatoes. I have some pinkeyes to put in. Yum!!

Molly likes to sit and watch while I garden (when she's not busy woofing at the neighbour's cats).

Shades of blue

It seems like such a simple thing, choosing a paint colour for walls. But, let me tell you it's not easy. I know I want to do my studio room a super pale blue but am tearing my hair out with which 'sort' of blue I might like. I found some lovely blue shades in my magazines and chose a bunch of colour cards at the hardware store.
The wall in the magazine on the left is painted in Blue Glace and the swatch is sitting on the page. They look quite different. It looks almost white but when I stick it up on the wall it definitely looks blue. My other choice is a more duck-egg colour. I'll work it out eventually.

My other dilemma is the light. I just love the Ikea Maskros dandelion light but at a diameter of 80cms I would barely fit in the room with it! Darn, the search goes on...

My art/sewing/jewellery studio

We have started work on my room which I will use for all of my sewing, jewellery and so on - a bit of an indoor girl-shed. With no storage that has been our first priority and so we ( mostly Lyndon) are building in almost 4 metres of cupboards and shelving. YAY!!
The room had a handy inset part in the wall and so that was the perfect place to build. First we made a plynth that is the height of the skirting board and on top build carcasses for each set of doors.

After 4 or 5 trips to Bunnings Hardware and hours of work and swearing yesterday we managed to attach the doors. They're the Flatpax ones from Bunnings. Today we attached the top of the cupboard onto which the shelving will be built. I am currently painting the exposed timber gloss white and am thinking maybe a very very pale blue or duck egg colour for the walls?
The floors are in reasonable condition under the terribly damaged carpet so I may go for floorboards. We did discover one fireplace that has been replaced with boards - not well but ok with a rug over the top!
Lots to do but here are some progress shots.

A nice birthday

Today is 'people's day' at the Royal Hobart Show and it's also my birthday! It's so nice having the day off work and seeing as it was such a sunny warm day, Lyndon and I went to the show. Gosh, not much has changed in the years since we have last been.
I thoroughly enjoyed seeing all the animals, especially the baby ones, like this super-cute jersey calf below. He and his buddies were all wearing little hessian jackets! I am not a fan of hessian, especially as a fashion statement, but they looked gorgeous!!
Dinner at Mum and Dad's tonight so that'll be nice.

Busy times

Lyndon and I worked like crazy people all weekend.
After stacking wood ( ouch, my back) going to the hardware store for timber and other bits about 6 times, getting another load of loam to distribute around the garden beds, we continued working on tidying up the carport area. I won't post pics until we get further along as truly, to look at is no very exciting yet!
I am also very pleased to say we started on building the big storage unit in my 'art studio' room! Woohoo!! We pulled up a bit of carpet to discover the floors in pretty good condition so with any luck there'll be no concrete patches and we can just clean and put on a coat of varnish.
Anyway, just for a bit of light relief I have decided to make some little Chrismas decorations. I am really looking forward to Christmas this year as we have lots of room for a nice tree.

New jewellery

Finally!!! It has taken me months to get these finished. I have been so slack and very distracted by all the DIY-ing around the house. Now I need to get cracking on some more and hopefully I wont take so long. They are made from vintage optometrist lenses, handmade steel chain and images from a little collection of French postcards.

I so need my studio set up as I have so many things I want to do. I have some good ideas for brooches using the skills learnt at the Anna Davern workshop.

Anyway, I'll deliver these little guys to Handmark Gallery tomorrow.

Famille Summerbelle map

I rather fancy these prints made from original papercuts by Famille Summerbelle. Gorgeous!
I think I'd like to place one over the mantelpiece in the lounge. I haven't convinced Lyndon that we need it yet but when I do I will then have to decide on the colour and city. We've both been to London, I've been to Paris and Lyn has been to New York.
I like the hot pink and turquoise colours though am thinking maybe red or sage green might be good in the space. Do you think that would make too much red, given the huge Marimekko canvas in the same room?

A Sunny Day

We woke up this morning to a gorgeous clear day, woohoo! I went out and had to take pics of the lovely flowers in the garden.

My clematis is new and I haven't decided on a spot for it yet. The flowers are amazing - about 15cms across.

It's so nice seeing things grow. Hopefully the sun on the lawn and vegie garden will give them both a boost of growth today.

Twinkle Toes

I received a package the other day from Peter Alexander. Molly had munched on my old slippers too many times so I was in need of a replacement pair.

I have two words... SUPER CUTE!!

Lawn improvements

A before photo above.

Over the past few weeks Lyn has been weeding and feeding the front lawn. Yesterday we went and got a load of loam and top dressed the area in an attempt to level it out a bit and cover the odd bits of concrete that were some sort of 'feature' in the past.

Lyn's dad Shane came around with his 'Dad-traption' ( a contraption made by inventive dads) to help smooth it out before we spread a heap of seed and watered.

Now we have to keep it moist which shouldn't be a problem considering the weather we have been having.

Garden grows

My gorgeous Japanese maple is starting to put on quite a show with its bright red leaves. I love it.

The anemones are starting to bloom as well. I love their bright colours and the way their flower heads emerge from the plant.

Tuesday was a lovely day ( no rain, can you believe it!?) so I planted up quite a few plants into the yard. My tomato seedlings are growing well, or at least they were until the awful wind and rain blew the lid off the mini greenhouse and almost broke their little stems. There looks like being one casualty.

I planted gladiolas, delphiniums and carrots so will be looking forward for them to grow. Now if we could get some nice sunny 'growing' days to balance out with all the darn rain!!