Spring Blossoms

As I stitch my happy quilt it strikes me that the pretty hexie flowers are mirroring what is happening in the garden. As I stitch my quilt it occurs to me that perhaps I should call this quilt, Spring Blossoms. I know, I know such a deep and meaningful name (NOT) but as I gaze at the pretty hexie flowers and as Spring is " 'bustin' out all over" down here..........Spring Blossoms it is. Rarely do I give my quilts a name. I don't know why. Perhaps because something brilliant never seems to drop from my brainpain. Sometimes, oh alright most of the time, the obvious is not so obvious to me.

I have been toing and froing with how to border this pretty.  For the past week I have pulled out fabric after fabric to audition as a border. One of those long country drives even landed me at  a fabric store where I purchased a fabric with butterflies fluttering all over, but alas, when I got home the fabric, pretty though it is, didn't really sing the happiest tune on the quilt.

I thought perhaps a trailing vine with little hexie flowers dancing around the border would sing a merry tune, but alas......no! The song it sang was too loud and raucous. Though I love the trailing  vine of hexies, they detracted from the hexie blocks. It just looked too busy, even for me. No matter what I did, nothing pleased my beady little eye. Also, as this quilt is going to rest atop my bed, the trailing hexies wouldn't be visually pleasing at the foot of the bed. They would become all scrunched up in the wrought iron bed head. Though, because I love the hexie trailing vine  idea, I will file this concept away in my brainpan for another day, for another quilt.

After much belly button gazing and even more deep, deep contemplation, I decided to fence the flowers in with a pretty, scrappy fabric border. Decisions, decisions.......sometimes these earth shattering  are deeply troubling. =)

So, in repect to my Spring Blossoms, the alien thought to me that "less is more" persisted with an alarming intensity. What??? "Less is More"?? Really??? Yes, I speak not with forked tongue. In the case of this quilt less is definitely more! Who would've thought, me, who more often than not is of the opinion that "more is never enough" has uttered such a statement! I am that gal who always adds an extra something to whatever she fashions. An extra flower, an extra embellishment, an extra button....an extra this...an extra that........more, more, more! I am that "this pretty needs a little something more" kinda gal.

Before that quizzical look on your faces becomes a deeply furrowed brow at my out-of-character utterances, let me assure you that it is only with the finishing of this quilt top that I have decided that less is definitely more. As each hexie flower is bordered with strips of fabric, the addition of scrappy strips around the border seems a perfect fit. I rather love the simplicity of my Spring Blossoms. I think it is reminiscent of those 1930's quilts, which I adore.

Sweet Maisie wanted to show you her coiffured locks. She has been primped to try to tame that wild and fuzzy hair of hers. So, so much easier now to chase ducks through the ponds and paddocks and up dem dar hills......and back down again. No more bad hair days.....at least for a little while.

Happy with my finished Spring Blossoms quilt top, I now have to decide how I will quilt it; by hand or by machine. I rather like the idea of butterflies fluttering amongst the hexie flowers but I might put it aside for a little while for more belly button gazing and deep contemplation. These things cannot be rushed. =)

With the chatting of the progress of my Spring Blossoms' quilt finished, let us now chat about the Spring flowers that have slowly unfurled in the garden this week. Yesterday morning as the garden was slowly being illuminated by the awakening of a beautiful new day, I picked a bunch of  Waratah flowers. Waratahs are native to the southern eastern states of Australia; New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania.

They are beautiful flowers ranging from pink to red. The flowers are large, brightly coloured and very showy, consisting of many small flowers densely clustered into a compact head or spike. The Waratah bush we have is a very pretty, mid pink.

So.....with my pretty bunch of Waratah flowers clustered together, I began to play. =) Oh, and by the way, before you scroll down and down and down......to gaze upon the pretty Waratahs, let me assure you, the "less is more" concept does not enter into the equation of  the number of photos. When looking at photos of florescence delight, more is definitely more. What can I say. As ever, yet again I got carried away......just a little!

Looking through the front window reveals pretty blossom trees and Camellias blooming.

A black enamel bucket and a vintage Italian coverlet shows off the pinky red Waratahs perfectly.

An overload of pinky red sumptuousness! I must admit, my heart is skipping a beat or two. =)

Isn't the  Italian, velvet coverlet divine?? This luscious pretty normally keeps the floor of our guest room snuggly warm. =)

The Waratah bush truly does gift the prettiest of flowers.

That's it for playing with pretty flowers for now. Time waiteth for no man........nor this woman. As ever, thank you so much for visiting my colourful Spring place. I wonder what pretty flowers will pop up in the garden next week??

Aah.....Spring blossoms inside, Spring blossoms outside.....such is my life!

Until the next time............

Oh, Sweet Spring!

Down here in this little part of the world the land is awakening with the sounds and scents of Spring. With each day the Spring sun warms the brown earth. The breath of Spring is fragrant with sweet flowers of the Wattle Trees, Jonquils, Daffodils, Weeping blossom trees, Bluebells and Hyacinths. The first colour of Spring down here at the bottom of the world is a sea of yellow. The landscape is bursting with the cheery, yellow blossoms of the Wattle trees.

The Golden Wattle (Acacia Pycnantha) is Australia's national flower. Each Golden Wattle has many large fluffy, yellow, sweet-smelling flower heads where each flower head is a bunch of many tiny flowers. Each flower has five very small petals and these flowers are arranged in dense rounded or elongated clusters which are almost hidden by the long stamens.

With the garden  beginning to sing a gentle Spring song and the flowers beginning to bloom, my 'florist' fingers have been itching to play once again with the flowers that have begun to smile at me. This past little while has found me walking in the garden, gathering a pretty bloom or two and popping them  in an assortment of pretty vessels. As I have intimated before my kind of floral arrangement is popping a flower here and there in an effortless arrangement that pleases my eye. I use the 'florist' title rather loosely as I certainly am not a florist. I am that gal that quickly throws arrangements together in a rather hurriedly and haphazard fashion.

As you know, I am a little obsessed with fashioning still life arrangements of flowers and pretty tablecloths, quilts, fabrics.......or whatever. AND........as it has been a rather bleak and flowerless Winter, I fear the first flush of Spring blooms has made me a li'l giddy with excitement. The first signs of Spring has resulted in me going a li'l overboard with the generating of the odd floral still life or two. So hope you do not mind the 'few' happy snaps that follow. =) Perhaps make yourself a cuppa in a pretty teacup (it'll help pass the time) and enjoy!

As we all know bright and cheery yellow and blue, blue, blue always play ever so nicely together.

Love, love, LOVE the blue and yellow do-si-doh-ing in a happy dance!

Swirls and twirls of beribboned flowers dancing round and round in an embrace of sheer joyousness!

Red and yellow and pink and green, Orange and purple and blue.
I can sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow, I can sing a rainbow too!

Some pretty batik fabric with a sprinkling of Pansies and other sweet pretties.

A watering can of Alstromeria and a quilt or two always makes for a pretty still life. =) Alas the pretty Alstromerias are not from my garden but from the green grocers. What can I say, I could not resist buying a bunch or two.

Oh dear, I did get a little exuberant with my Spring still lifes, didn't I. =) Oh well, such is my life. The arrival of the first flush of Spring flowers is always joyous to me.

If you have gazed upon my happy snaps until the end,  thank you so much. I am quite certain over the next few months me and my little camera will be happily clicking away, trying to capture the beauty of the festival that is sweet Spring. 

Sending you all a little Spring love to your li'l corner of the world. Until the next time...............

Oh, the Sweet, Sweet Lilacs!

Now that the lilacs are in bloom,

she has a bowl of lilacs in her room.  

                                                                                       T.S. Eliot

It is the season for the sweet, sweet Lilacs! Those beautifully hued, intoxicating Lilacs. On sunny Spring mornings, their sweet fragrance hangs in the air, bewitching me, inducing me to cut a bunch or two, to fill many a pretty vase.

These enchanting beauties are blooming ever so prettily in our garden of the prettiest hues; a soft lilac and a deeper purple.

Isn't this canvas pretty?? I found this gorgeous 'painting' in a cheap shop, The Reject Shop, for $5!!!!! Had to, had to take it home with me as this impressionistic-like painting of overspilling Lilacs and Snowbells is so, so very me. Of course this pretty felt at home immediately, in our humble abode. =)

These panicles of much-branched inflorescence are giddily, heavenly.

Our garden at the moment, is truly a vision in purples!

Pretty embroideries always beautify everything.....even, dare I say it, a pretty Lilac or two.

Swirls and swirls of lilac hued, pretty ribbons; so very salavatingly luscious!

Aah yes, the sweet, sweet scent of Lilacs captivates me. Vases of these beauties permeate the rooms in our humble abode, both in form and scent,  evoking a sense of calm, a sense of restfulness.

Have the most splendid of weekends, lovely ladies. Take time to stop and drink in the flowers, perhaps pick a few and pop them in a pretty vase and think upon blissful things.

Until the next time....................