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...............

A Carnival of Flowers

It all started early one morning. It was a simple thought in my mind. A simple thought to gather some flowers to dream up a still life; to capture my floral imaginings with my little camera and post it to my friend as a birthday greeting. Well that was the intention......BUT.........about two hours later it seems many, many still lifes of a carnival of flowers, magically unfolded! How does that happen?? =)

Oh, how I adore capturing real, painterly still lifes, abloom with gorgeous blossom after gorgeous blossom, with my little camera. Oh, how I adore playing with  floral arrangements, haphazardly arranging them together so that they dance in unison, not vying for singular attention but, en masse, content to shine in a rhapsodic and melodic bouquet. AND.....always, always, a background of messy puddles of beautiful fabric; in this case patchwork curtains in a selection of Tricia Guild fabric, which gloriously festoon the windows of my sewing room; is quite simply, the icing on the cake! Let the carnival begin!

Some of the roses have decided they are not finished with the parading of their beauty. Whilst some are beginning to close the curtain on their performance for this year, others, such as these glorious buttery yellow and pink roses are reaching their final crescendo. Indeed, for some reason or other these two rose bushes have saved the best till last.

Amazingly, the Hydrangeas are still producing new blooms. I went to gather a few and came in with about twenty stems. The size of the Hydrangea in the middle is twelve inches across......amazing!! Oh those pink roses; the fragrance is divine!

And then there are the Hydrangeas with a few of the buttery yellow, roses haphazardly thrown into the mix.

Be still my beating heart.

The softest blue-mauves and softest buttery lemons are the best friends, are they not??

But wait......those sweet Easter (Michaelmas) Daisies clamor for a happy snap or two. Their pretty, little, purple cluster of faces always make me smile.

And......one must not, must not forget the Cosmos. How can one forget the Cosmos?? Every year these blossoms of happiness pop up without any bangs and whistles; their only aspiration is to bring a sense of joyousness to whomever gazes upon them.

This floralicious carnival cannot close till the Dahlias frolic in their tutu-like, pretty petals. In their minds they are the stars of the carnival. The riotous colour of these prima donas certainly bring a festive spirit and irridescence to the carnival of flowers, but, I don't know.....as a top-liner of this show, the pretty blue Hydrangeas with the soft as soft, buttery yellow roses, must surely factor into the equation.  What say you??

There you have it. Early one misty, Autumn morning a few pleasurable hours, capturing the exhilarative beauty of each petal, of each flower, and puddles of a patchwork curtain; all singing the most lyrical and brightest of songs. Indeed, a cavalcade of deliciously coloured blossoms, a carnival of flowers filling the air with merriment and gaiety and many, many smiles.

Until the next time.......sending you a li'l smile to cheer your day.

Linking up this week to the lovely blog, Floral Passions: Floral Bliss, where all things botanical are showcased.