Garden? Art? Garden? Art?.....

Hello girls, things have been a little chaotic here since my last post, so if I haven't replied to comments or emails that's why.  I think I'm on top of everything now.....hopefully!!

I have been working on 4 textile pieces to put in the local art show. Unfortunately, the painting was pushed to one side as it didn't seem to be working for me. 
So I decided to stick to what I do best/better!! hehe....

Gotta tell you, it's been a long, painful and at times a  frustrating process....bit like being in labour!!

Saturday I was ready to give up butI persevered and I'm just about done......

This piece I whipped up this morning, it's not perfect and looking at the photo a couple of things stand out and bug me, but it's too late now.......

'Audreys friends had already

 labelled her a Nanna due to her

op shopping ways, but she was

 more than a little surprised at their 

reaction to her new love.....crochet.'

Apologies to all Nannas, it's not meant to be offensive

It's just referring to younger people taking up activities generally connected with more mature members of society.

 So let's leave the sewing and wander around outside.

I've spent so much time the last week sitting at the machine, I'm just about sick of the sight of it.....just about!!

Beautiful Poppies, so lovely and bright. I will be letting these go to seed and hopefully they will make an appearance next season...

The Lilac has been gorgeous.

Love the colour against the blue sky....

I was a little worried as it looked rather straggly a few weeks ago, but it has been swamped in blooms.......

Crabapple of a different and later flowering variety,

Large, pink flowers covering the whole tree.....

The bees are loving it.

Bridal Veil? Broom.....it's struggled over the years and I have had to prune off sections as they died off.

Not the best looking specimen, shape wise, but it's looking

a picture at the moment......

'Designer Gown' Iris....reminds me of a beautiful, floaty, chiffon evening gown......

Winter planted Pansies, sat for months doing nothing, but finally with a bit of sunshine and warmth they are now flowering their little heads off and look so pretty tucked in between the Silverbeet plants.

A late ripening passionfruit from last season!!

It sure was worth waiting for.....yum.

Better have a look for some more ......

Out in the Wild Wood....hope they're playing nice!!

It's the place to be on a warm day.

 Nice and cool and shady under the Silver Birches...

The weather is starting to warm up here, it's going to be around 30 deg. tomorrow,

I have had to start watering the garden, so a drop or two of rain would be nice.......

I am waiting patiently for the first roses to open up. 

The Hollyhocks I planted a little while ago are starting to put on a bit of height along with a few other seedlings.

Hopefully there will be more variety in the garden throughout Summer......

Well girls, it's way past my bed time,so I'll say 'ooroo and thanks for dropping by to see where I've been and what I've been up too.......

Take care,

Claire x

Spring's Beautiful Bounty........

Hello girls, I'm sitting here tip tapping away, yawning and struggling to keep my eyes open.

After two early morning starts for markets, the lack of sleep has caught up with me a little, so I'll try very hard not to ramble too much......

Trying to be a little more organised and not so last minute I finished off the last of 3 tea cosies on Friday morning and packed the car ready for Saturday's market.

#1 little Blue Wren and Spring blossom.

First time I've sewn a Blue Wren, will tweak it a bit next time so that I'm completely happy with it.......

'

Those nimble little musicians of the air, that warble forth their curious ditties with which natured hath furnished them to the shame of art'......Izaak Walton

The Hollyhocks finished and ready for sale.

I wanted to use a polka dot fabric for the lining but Spotlight didn't have any so a plain fabric sufficed.

'To dig one's own spade into one's own earth.

Has life anything better to offer than this?'.......

Beverley Nichols

Of course there has to be a little vintage caravan somewhere.

This cosy sold before I had even set up my stall....

The market was moved to another location within the park

It was a beautiful Spring morning....

Lots of visitors to the market which was great and

Nicky Bomba played some tunes.....

A nice quiet spot on the river bank.

Handy to have a backpack for your pooped pooch!!

(tired dog, just in case you were unsure!!hehe)

Spied these gorgeous flowers in the main street after the market wound up.

I think they are Ixias, the colours were gorgeous.

Had to stop and take some pics

These guys had the right idea.

 I could quite easily have joined them as I was feeling rather weary but had a 45 min drive home and some more sewing to do.......

Bright is looking her best this Spring with beautiful blossoms everywhere you turn.

 Lots of Dogwoods in flower they obviously love the cooler climate.

I couldn't go past this lovely, white Wisteria and had to stop to take some pics........

As you can imagine the perfume was divine and the bees were having a feast.....

From a distance you don't notice the mauve and yellow sections.....

This Wisteria was beautiful, BUT I still prefer the dark purple variety, both are wonderfully perfumed.

It's good to be back at the market and catching up with everyone. Sales were great which means more sewing to restock.....

no complaints there.

This morning's market was alot quieter than we expected, but that's how it goes sometimes.

This week I will be focusing on the upcoming art show.

I have put my name down for four entries, so better get cracking.

I have an idea of what I want to do so will get the paints and canvases out and hopefully something will turn out well enough to enter. I know where my skills lie and painting is not one of them, but every now and then I hit on a winner!! 

Confession time here, a rooster I painted one year, failed to sell(no surprise there)

 It was a bit of a rushed job....tut tut

It's now hanging in Cluckingham Palace a reminder to allow myself more time and not to settle for second best.

Well, it's time for bed.......thanks for visiting girls and I hope you enjoyed your weekend.

Have a fab week whatever you are up to

Take care,

Claire x

Weekend Wanderings.......

Hello girls, welcome to Monday......

We have blue sky and sunshine in my corner of the globe.

The bees are buzzing round the garden and I'm buzzing around making tea cosies for an upcoming market.

I don't have to look too far for inspiration.

Have I told you I love Hollyhocks?

I planted some seedlings a couple of months ago.

I hope they put on a good display this Summer.

......oh and I love fuzzy, bumbling Bumble bees too.

Not that they live in this corner of the globe...

wish they did...

We've enjoyed a lovely weekend over in Daylesford.

Mixing work and pleasure....

 No. 1 had a gig and we stayed with friends......

A mixed bag weather wise....

Saturday, cold and wet

     Sunday, warm and sunny....

something for everyone!

The gang dropped by in the mornings to say 'hi' .

Picmonkey cropped the photos and I didn't realise

 till I uploaded, eek!!

This furry fella, kept us entertained with his antics. .....

I mean the four legged, furry fella, but you realised that didn't you?

Young Jed, is still in the puppy phase, so he had more energy then all of us put together. I did try and find his batteries so I could remove them but no such luck....

Truth be told I could quite easily have dog napped him and taken him home.......he really is too cute.

The other furry fella kept folks entertained on Saturday night!!

We stayed with friends from church.

We don't see them often, so it was a nice catch up even if time was limited.

I made one of my scrappy, woollen hearts as a gift, using

one of Debs favourite colour combos and a favourite scripture......

Psalm 34v9

♥♥♥

Let's do a quick garden roundup....

The Forest Pansy tree, is in flower and the claret red, heart shaped leaves are just starting to appear.

The Irises beneath them are beginning to open.

The combination of pinks and blues is beautiful.

Lilac.....love this shrub

The Wisteria continues to open up and the perfume is delightful.

Delicate Poppies...

Dutch Irises blooming beneath the Birches in the Wild Wood.

So what did you all get up to on the weekend and what has the week got in store for you?

I will be busy sewing, but that's no surprise is it?

The garden still needs a bit more work, so when the inspiration is waning on the sewing front, I'll get outside in the fresh air and see what else is flowering and maybe pull out a weed or two......

Well, that's it from me for the moment.

Thanks for coming over to visit, 

always lovely to hear from you.

   Take care,

  Claire

 ♥♥♥

P.S. Do you have Bumble bees in your garden?

Sweet Surprises.........

It's no secret I'm a broochy kinda gal and I have a growing collection of them.....

I was fortunate to win a giveaway over at

 Playing in the Attic recently

and part of the prize was this gorgeous brooch handmade by Trudy......

 The parcel arrived on Tuesday.....beautifully wrapped and full of wonderful things.

Yes, there was chocolate

.....delicious, Lindt chokkies.

Of course they didn't last long!!

A sweet little crocheted flower which reminded me of dark peppermint chocolate....

and fabric, lots of fat quarters from Trudy's stash.

Florals in soft, muted tones......just beautiful.

My pic doesn't do them justice...

I'm going to have lots of fun playing with these.

My fabric stash has a disproportionate amount of polka dot fabric amongst it, so these lovely florals will help balance things a little.

Oh, I do love finding a parcel in the letter box.

Thanks so much Trudy I love it all...

A quick market update from last Saturday.

Due to rain, the market was moved indoors to an old church hall....

Despite the wet weather quite a few people dropped in  after visiting the farmers market across the road.

I had quite a good day and yes, I did sell one of my 'new' hearts....

View through the window, love the reflection in the gnarled, old tree...

The rain was quite heavy throughout the morning so when things quietened down we packed up an hour early.

Hubby had the heater going, so Saturday afternoon was spent indoors, staying warm and enjoying the Wintry weather.....

you know me!!

Another lovely surprise to come my way this week.

This sweet little Owl needle case.....

My sis Rosie and her hubby returned from their hol to the UK and

knowing that I love Owls she picked this up for me on her travels.

What a hoot!!

It's just too tweet.

ok that's it for the jokes

She also bought back this beautiful book which is a gift from another sister who lives in the UK....

It gives a month by month description of what's happening in the garden and has room for notes and photographs.

 Our seasons and months might be the opposite here, but my sister knows me well......I love it. 

Spring continues to keep us on our toes with a mix of weather.

Last Thursday it was 27 deg. today it barely managed 10deg. with rain. 

Time to crank up the heater!!

On fine days the girls and their fella have been enjoying some time out of their run.

My Aeonium is flowering, a bright splash of colour on a grey day.

From one small piece this plant has filled a wheel barrow and continues to reach for the sky, eek!!

I would love to say I have this Grevillea growing in my garden but sadly no......

Great colours, rosy pink and a lemony yellow.

It's really very striking and I would love to grow it.

If you are familiar with it, could you please let me know what's it called.

Hopefully, I could track down a plant.

 Would be great to have more bird attracting plants in the garden.

Another floral discovery.......

A white flowering gum out on the verge.

Lots of 'fringed' blossom.

Nice finding these little surprises....

Tig's got the right idea and the right coat for a cold day....

He's not silly!!

I've been busy in the garden this week and it's been great to make some headway with the weeding.

 I'm happy to say it's just about under control. 

Thanks to Saturday's rain, the ground is lovely and soft so not too much effort required.

I also planted up some seedlings, hoping to have greater variety of flowers this Summer.

Another day in the garden should just about have it sorted, yay!!

Next week I must get back into the sewing with an extra market or two coming up I need to stock up.......

Thanks for popping over for a visit girls. 

I hope you've had a great week and managed to tick a couple of things off your 'to do ' list.

Take care,

Claire x 

Flowers, Feathers and Fur.......

Welcome, welcome, welcome girls......

I'm back in my usual blogging seat, looking out at green paddocks, flowering Crabapples and blue sky.

While I have been away Spring has painted a beautiful picture, which I am thoroughly enjoying.

Thank you all for your well wishes for a safe trip home, which it was...... if not a long trip!

Reunited with my Janome who had a service while I was away, I've been busy sewing up a few new makes for a market tomorrow.

I thought some embroidery hoop pictures would be a nice change of pace.....

'Let your song be heard..... '

one of three I have made...

Let's head outside for a minute and see what's happening.... The garden (read weeds!!)has been taking off in the warmer weather.

 Parrots enjoying the seed heads.

Galahs, also feasting on the seeds.

I picked up a new camera while I was away and I'm looking forward to having fun with it. BUT I need to read the manual to figure out all the bells and whistles......

Planted a little late in the season, but none the less beautiful.....

The first Poppy to flower

The Artichoke plant, which I grow for it's colour, texture and shape, has tripled in size. 
It would appear we are going to get at least 5 flowers this season.

Last season there were 2......  

The Wisteria has started flowering.....
I love this plant.....
The colour and perfume and the way the racemes hang down from the pergola and make a carpet of purple on the ground when the flowers are finished.

In another week, it should be a  sea of purple against the blue, blue sky....

Spring means, Crabapples....there are four of them.

They were  flowering when I arrived home and I just managed to  see one of them at that lovely, raspberry pink/pale pink stage.....

They are  a frothy confection of blossom and the bees are having a field day with them......

Back inside and some new makes ready for market.

You know I love
 wonky,
frayed 
  textural

     things.....

 Something so appealing, 
makes me smile,
 definitely addictive.

It's the
 aged,
 worn,
patched,
 loved, 
hand me down feel.....

♥♥♥ 

It will be interesting to see how these sell at the market.
Purely decorative or use as a pincushion...

 Will they appeal to anyone else? 

Who knows, but you know what?

If I bring them all home at the end of the day I won't be upset at all. 

 I want them to go to homes where they are loved.

To people who 'get' what I do.....

Now this furry fella has been storing up a months worth of cuddles, let me tell you........

As soon as I sit on the couch he is there waiting expectantly for a pat, scratch, hug, cuddle.......

Missed you Tigger

I am playing catchup at the moment and the 'To Do' list is growing longer by the day.

Weeding, whipper snipping, planting up, pruning and watering that's outside.

Inside it's the usual chores, but add windows and sorting out a few cupboards to the mix.....

On top of all that my Janome is calling me. 

I'm trying not to listen but!!.......

Ok, that's it from me, dishes to do and get ready for work.

Thanks for coming over to visit girls, always nice to hear from  you.

Have a great weekend and I hope your 'To Do' list is actually 

do- able!!

Claire ♥♥

at home!