To market, to market to gather some treasures......

Home again, home again with a bounty of pleasures!!

Yes indeedy, in celebration of Mother's Day, last Sunday, our li'l ole tin lizzie took it upon itself (again) to manoeuvre my good husband and his good wife on a fun-filled day trip through the Autumnal Tassie countryside, in search of some markets and some mighty fine coffee houses to whet the thirst throughout the day. After all, roaming around markets, fossicking for treasures is thirsty business which needs plenty of caffeine.....oh and of course enjoy the odd delish treat or two!!

And......... it was a wonderful day. A sun-kissed day with Old Man Sun stretching out his radiant arms of warm sunshine and lighting our path with a spirit of cheeriness.

One of our favourite pastimes is to embark on long drives throughout the glorious countryside of Tassie with no idea of the journey's end, stopping at markets and quirky places that we might discover along the way.

And.........of course our li'l Chitty Chitty Bang Bang-ish, tin lizzie, never fails to deliver. It just seems to know which winding road to jaunt along to explore out of the way quirky li'l places.

So with a special Mother's Day breakfast having been served and enjoyed.......we were on our way.

 And.....what treasures jumped out at me. We happened along a li'l market in a quaint town hall in a pretty town called, Lilydale where we discovered a lovely antique/bric-a-brac booth. Such, such pretties.....embroidered pretties, just waiting for li'l ole me.

Lookity look at my pretty gal hanging her washing on the line. Love it!! Though it is a laundry bag, me thinks I will make it the centrepiece of a new laundry window curtain, surrounded with other embroidered fineries found in my dowry of cloth. Oh dear, but a new curtain, demands my laundry to be painted in a crisp white as a little pick me up from those wash day doldrums.

Imagine my surprise when I ever so 'nicely' asked my husband if it would be at all possible to add a lick of white paint on the walls and ceiling and he answered....."of course"!! Wow...such a sweet man. I did search his face for the look of  "what is she dreaming up this time"....but no, nothing but sincerity and genuineness to be seen. This pretty bag with the most gorgeous crewel work was also added to my dowry of cloth.

But enough of painting and tarting up laundries for now....there are more important matters at foot.

A pretty hand embroidered floral filled tablecloth and a whimsical 1960 printed tablecloth with a smattering of cute as cute furniture dancing around the tablecloth. I love this....not only to be used as a tablecloth, but there is oodles of fun inspiration to be had, as I design for the free hand drawing with my machine that I love to do. There is actually a fun project formulating in my brainpan as I 'chat', just looking at this fun tablecloth. That's the thing with inspiration.....it can be found everywhere, any moment of every day.

With a little do-ray-me having exchanged hands, snug as two bugs in our tin lizzie, we were then off to Evandale Markets and then to meet up with our daughter and son-in-law for afternoon tea. Evandale is a very pretty, historic Tassie town which oozes charm of a bygone era filled with charming historic buildings and churches with streets lined with glorious autumnal trees, clothed in lovely shades of burnished yellow, russet brown and ochreous orange leaves, slowly falling to the ground forming a crunchy carpet......'tis rather heavenly.

I found this pretty mirror. Though I have many looking glasses scattered throughout our li'l ole abode, I couldn't resist this one. As I have a penchant for Southern Belles, I just had to, had to take this li'l lass home with me. For now, she is keeping my other mirrors on my bedside table company.

Also unearthed was the sweetest print of the cutest little boy.....love, love, love!!

I also found this pretty inspirational plaque with an English scene. As a gal with a deep faith in God, I love collecting vintage inspirational plaques and placing them throughout our humble abode, reminding me each day of God's love and His goodness to me. The particular ones that I favour are hard to come by, so when one discovers one of these plaques hiding in a market, they somehow or other find their way into my thankful li'l hands.

My whimsical plaque has found a home on my kitchen mantle sitting on a beautiful runner that my daughter bought me as a Mother's Day gift, when holidaying in China.

 Isn't the runner gorgeous? This photo doesn't do it justice....it is embroidered with a riot of beautiful, bright colour.....I could look at it all day!

Mmm........I left this lass sitting on the shelf, even though it had my moniker on it!

And of course Mother's Day just wouldn't be Mother's Day if flowers didn't make an appearance somewhere throughout the day. When we stopped to fill our tin lizzie with some juice, lo and behold these beautiful potted chrysanthemums were sitting at the petrol station! I know....a petrol station! Unbelievable!

So of course my husband thought that he would buy them for me (not that he needed much persuasion, especially with his predilection for all things pertaining to plant life). They are truly gorgeous. Big, blousy, plate-sized flowers. Just gawjus!!

These beautiful chrysanthemums will add a lovely splash of colour to our Autumn garden. I am afraid that the curtain has been lowered on our glorious Spring/Summer garden, which  has been decimated to a black, burnt mass of organic matter by 'good' old Jack Frost!! Beautiful flowers one day, flowers that are no more the next!

A lovely li'l café tucked away in the pretty town of Evandale.

So after the loveliest of Mother's Days and with 'our' treasures safely tucked away in the back of our tin lizzie, we rambled our way home, with many a happy thought that surround our two daughters and all those memories that encompass my darling mum, who is no longer with us; thankful that we are able to enjoy a countryside drive on a perfect sun-kissed day.

Just a little something I stitched a li'l while ago, pondering, "What is a Mother"??

Wishing you the loveliest of weeks, filled with many a blessing!