Today...

...has been a really warm day, so Molly and I sat out on the back verandah and admired the garden. We also shared an icecream :)

By 'sharing' I should say I ate most of it and left the stick for Molly to lick. It's our bad family habit, but one Molly has trained us well at.

Waiting patiently...

"Thanks mumma!"

If you went into my studio room today you would see a work desk that looks like this...

Utter chaos. Too many ideas and projects on the go at once.

If you turn around you could admire my recent purchase...

It's a little linocut triptych called Windy City (pink) by my artist friend Christine Scott. When I can I will get it properly framed. So nice and bright. I love the idea of enhancing old homes with bright, contemporary art, so this one will be great for doing just that.

I think we are now going to be naughty and have fish and chips for dinner. Being a vego I enjoy the chips, a cornjack and potato cakes (and leave the fish eating to Lyn and Molly). Yuuummm.

Have a lovely evening friends

xx

Friday flowers - pretty blue

I just adore these pale blue ixias that have been blooming up a storm alongside our driveway.

They are a mass of the palest, icy blue colour.

They're quite an old-fashioned flower and mostly now I see the bulbs in bright pink colours (which I also love).

The bulbs do so well too. I don't remember where I bought these, but it was quite a few years ago now. That little handful of bulbs has mulitplied into a mass of them now.

Just so pretty!
Have a lovely day and even better weekend.

xx

Posies

With so many pretty roses blooming in the garden at the moment I am enjoying picking blooms for the mantelpiece. Every time I find a broken stem or a windblown bloom in the garden I bring it in and add it to the collection.

The first image shows (left to right) Iceberg and Benjamin Britton, then Lady of Megginch, Iceberg again and then another Lady of Megginch.

Images using Instagram :)
Have a lovely day friends.

xx

My weekend: Sibella Court + getting jiggy with it...

Despite having to work on Saturday, I had a lovely weekend.

On Sunday Lyn and I went to the Valley Market in Lenah Valley where I picked up a lovely Christmas deccy to add to my collection. I'll show you when it's on the tree.

I also went to a book launch/ author chat at Fullers Bookshop yesterday afternoon where the guest speaker was stylist to the gods, Sibella Court. She chatted about styling, travel, collecting (not hoarding!) and colour. It was a great afternoon. She answered all of our questions and was super nice.

I had a lovely chat to her and she told me her next book, to be released next year, is about collecting. Sign me up!

And looksee, I had her Stylist's Guide to New York book signed for moi :)

One very interesting thing Sibella said about colour was when choosing a colour palette, if you get a bit stuck or confused, look at a bird and all the shades of colour in its feathers. She says that's her fall back. There you go peeps, a hot tip!

I also popped into the farmers market where I bought a bunch of peonies. They're still pretty tight buds but no doubt I'll photograph them a bit more once they open. The man who sold them to me said he'd just filled an order of 500 bunches for the Presidents Gold Cup on the mainland and also a big order for one of President Obama's dinner functions. Fancy.

We started a jigsaw...

We are now very obsessed.

All other Molly's Maison activities (including the things we need to do) have ceased while we work on this beauty.

My poor old neck is really feeling it!

I reckon at this pace we'll be finished tonight or tomorrow morning. So much for a bit of relaxing puzzle making.

Thanks for all of your lovely comments about the garden in my last post. I can assure you all our garden is far from perfect - I just show you the good bits :)

It's nice to get positive feedback though.

Have a great week friends and take care

xx
Edit: jigsaw successfully completed this afternoon :) x

Friday flowers + lawn-a-licious

The front fence is a mass of Iceberg rose blooms. They're looking amazing at the moment. They've only been growing for 2 years so they're doing well.

Thanks to Lyndon and a dose of top-dressing, our lawn is looking really great too.

With a good dose of "weed and feed" most of the weeds have gone and it's now looking super green and lovely.

I have two standard icebergs and I have to say, they're both looking a bit freakishly good (and top heavy) at the moment too. They almost look a bit fake as they're covered in blooms. I've had to add in a support stick as the weight of it had it listing severely to one side. In all the horrible windy weather this week we almost lost one.

Lots of roses to pick and bring inside :)
Happy Friday and a great weekend to you all. What are you up to this weekend? I have to work tomorrow but hope to get to a market, a book launch and get some crafty action on too.

xx

Model Molly

It's been a little while since Molly popped up on the blog.

So remiss of me.

She was wearing my scarf the other evening and I thought, "how cute is this pooch?" so out popped the camera.

"Mumma, I'm tired of having my photo taken"

Seriously, how cute can a dog possibly be?

I couldn't love her any more if I tried.

I'm linking this up with Felicity who is celebrating the love we have for our special furry kids.

xx

ps I have started to upload some pretty stationery goodies to my Etsy store. I'm happy to make up packs for anyone who is interested :)

My market fun

As promised, some pics from the market yesterday.

Here is my little stall.

These goodies were made by Tonia at The Paper Shed. She was my market neighbour.

Other goodies on display...

I had a very fragrant stall on my other side which was handy as we needed some new soap.

My only temptation was some macarons from one of the stall holders. This one is boysenberry flavour. The salted caramel one didn't last long enough to get a pic - it was amazing!

There were so many shoppers and thankfully some of them visited me :)

I did quite okay, I covered my costs and have a bit of spending money. Much of this is thanks to my friends who came along and supported me, as did a number of my bloggy friends. I had nice chats with Jane, Catherine and Hazel (who I met for the first time in person).

It was a fun day and I already have fresh ideas for my next market maybe early next year.

xx

ps I might get a few bits on Esty later, but don't hold your breath!

Ready for the market!

Yippee! I am ready for the market on Sunday.

Here is a bit of a mock up of my stall. The pics aren't great I'm afraid, but you'll get the idea.

magnets

notebooks and cards

more notebooks

more cards

gift wrap

gift tags

mini garland

It's a little uncharacteristic of me to be organised, but I have been beavering away for a few months now. I'll be sure to take pics to share with you all.

Wish me luck!

xx