Time is flying by........

A little visit to my favourite op shop, yielded the above treasure. It's a beautiful, fine lawn? handkerchief, with a design by Dessin Depose.
It was the design that attracted me and the lovely feel of the fabric.
I couldn't leave it there , so for 50 cents it found it's way home with me.
What am I going to do with it...... enjoy the lovely vintage/retro design
Have any of you heard of Dessin Depose?
I found another handkerchief with a different design by the same person? on Ebay. Not alot came up when I googled the name......
Can anyone solve the mystery for me?

Some little birdies waiting patiently to be put onto cards for my next market stall on the 20th of June.
"Am I getting organised ahead of time?" you ask

Surely you know me better than that by now!

It's time, I have been postponing this event, but today was D day and the Zinnias had to go.

Althought they were still valiantly flowering, albeit smaller and on thinner stems, they were still putting on a colorful show.

This is one of 3 wheelbarrow loads I took to the compost heap.

Talk about value for money....... Out of one packet of seeds, I had months of the most vivid colourful flowers in my garden. I gave away many bunches to friends, bought plenty inside the house to enjoy and they even inspired some book covers.

I made a friend of Gayle over at http://www.patchofzinnias.blogspot.com/, we shared a love of this flower and one of my notebook covers found it's way to her home on the opposite side of the globe.

As I pushed the overflowering wheelbarrow to the compost heap the bees were still following the flowers eager to extract the remaining pollen.

They are such busy little workers.

Now that Winter has arrived it is time to start using my 'Winter" mug. It's a Brambly Hedge design, I have one for each season.

I bought this mug many years ago and just love the picture. Two mice in front of a blazing fire, lovely mantle above and beams on the ceiling. Mr. Mouse is in the big comfy chair with the cute little paned window behind him and Mrs Mouse has a fresh baked pie on a plate. No doubt they are going to have a big slice for their supper.

The scene is just so English and I am sure that some you who are reading this post, could quite possibly live in such a cottage ...... only without the mice!!

I spent some time out in the garden today, raking up leaves in the orchard. Of course as soon as I let the 'girls' out, they were into those piles of leaves looking for a tasty morsel.

Then it was over to the shrubbery and mulch was flying left, right and centre!

Did I mind, no not really, it's such a lovely country scene and they enjoy a bit of freedom to roam around the garden and of course they eat a lot of pests so I didn't begrudge them their 'time out'

When my back was turned 3 of them headed for the silverbeet which they love. There was still plenty left for me!



Another photo of the Persimmon taken on my way home from town today. It has dropped all it's leaves and there is still a heap of fruit on the tree.

I couldn't get any closer for a better shot and the colour of the fruit is quite washed out in this photo, but it has taken me close to 10 years to getting around to photograph it, so I think I shall be posting a few more shots before all the fruit disappears.

I had some problems with my camera last week and couldn't sort them out. Hubby who is in the States couldn't help, so I took it into the camera shop today and one of the staff sorted it out in about 60 secs !!!

It's times like this I wish I was a bit of a techno geek, or I wish I knew where the instruction book let was!!

I hope the past week has been a good one for you and you have your instruction booklet at hand for reference if needed!!

Thanks for dropping by and saying "hi", take time to enjoy your day and the beauty that surrounds you in your corner of the globe.

Till next time,

Claire X

Inspiration equals motivation

This stunning Persimmon tree above, is the inspiration for a new tea cosy. Every year I say I will take a photo of this tree and sadly the fruit disappears and I still haven't taken a picture.

It's an old gnarled tree and a few metres away there is another one. You can see where cattle have 'pruned' the bottom of the canopy to a nice even shape.

As the leaves fall, the fruit hangs on the tree and on foggy, winter days the orange persimmons glow like bright orange orbs in the mist, just stunning.

This year both trees are laden with fruit, but the crows soon eat it. The land is private property so it is hard to get a decent picture of it, but I am happy with this.

I would like a photo of it 'glowing ' in the fog, so shall have my camera and boots ready to head out and snap some pictures.

Here is the tree, it's covered in beautifully coloured leaves with a carpet underneath.

Click on the photo to enlarge. I usually stick with black thread for my embroidery using fabric and scraps for the colour. Obviously this wasn't going to work with small objects like leaves.

I'm really happy with the picture and now all I have to do is finish the other side which will have an appropriate saying.

Sometimes it's good to step outside your comfort zone and try something new. You might just surprise yourself!

Uploaded in the wrong order!

The tree shortly after beginning. Don't you just love that feeling when something comes together just as you imagined it?

Our Maples along the driveway continue to colour up nicely. They are probably at their peak now and when the sun is shining on them, it's just brilliant.
A couple of more book covers:- the one above is of dried Agapanthus stems. They make great dried arrangements. Once all the flowers have fallen off the lime green stems look spectacular.Gradually, they fade to a parchment colour, I used black so that they would stand out.
Another butterfly cover with a quote from Hans Christian Anderson :- "Just living is not enough", said the butterfly "one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower"

I wonder if that flower could be a Zinnia?

These little treasures are a bit early, but nonetheless very welcome in my garden. I love Jonquils and while some people may find their scent a bit overpowering, I love it. It makes me think of Winter/Spring and I love to bring them indoors and let their beautiful perfume waft through the house.

This is a vary rare photo. The gorgeous little grey cat was a stray who adopted us and it took many years before I could get near her and pat her. Alot of patience and cat treats were required. Here she is with the 'love of her life' Tigger.

She is still very shy and usually sleeps on a dining chair underneath the table, but I placed her on the ottoman and she was very happy to curl up by her mate and even let me take a couple of snaps.

Not bad being a cat, you get to sleep alot, play eat fish and curl up in front of the heater. Life could be worse.

I hope you all had a good weekend and I hope that the week ahead holds some time for you to be creative and enjoy the beauty around you.

Until next time, thanks for stopping by and saying 'hi'

Claire X