Buds in a Basket

A lovely Good Morning to all you lovely lovelies♥ It is a sunny Sunday morning down here; and as it is Sunday I am going to enjoy a little hand stitching.

Although some new fabric flowers have bloomed on my flower quilt this week, the subject of my delight today is a new quilt oozing with scrappy baskets of flowers, or perhaps I should say, flower buds. I was hankering after a little machine stitching and scrappy happiness so I have begun to fashion a new quilt. As I have been stitching my flower quilt since September last year, I just wanted to start something different; a new pretty oozing with scrappy loveliness.

I happened upon this beautiful book about 15 years ago, to keep for a sunny day. It is a book filled with delightful flower quilts. It is not often I follow a bought pattern for a quilt as I find my muddly brainpan overflows with enough designs and pretties to last a lifetime.....but I decided to live dangerously. =) I decided to follow another lovely's, fun pattern. I seem to recall at the time being taken by the beautiful and delightful scrappyness of each of the projects.

"A Bouquet of Quilts" is a book where the projects come from Nihon Vogue's preeminent quilting magazine, Quilts Japan. As this magazine is not widely available outside Japan, Jennifer Rounds and Cyndy Lyle Runner, as editors, decided to bring the gorgeous projects within the cover of this book to a wider audience. It is a wonderful book filled with enchanting quilts. There are a few which I would love to stitch.......one day. The projects within this fabulous book showcase Japanese quilters' fresh new perspectives on traditional western quilting. The pretties within truly are gorgeous.

I have decided to make the quilt "Buds in a Basket". Apparently this "dazzling quilt" appeared on the cover of  Quilts Japan (Issue 5, 2000). This quilt is the project that inspired the collaboration with Nihon Vogue and the editors of this book.

It seems Nihon and Vogue and I share a passion for reproduction 1930's and 40's fabrics. It seems I am in very good company then. =)

To add to the other reproduction 1930's fabrics that sit in my armoire, I have acquired a few more fun, whimsical fabrics to fashion the pretty baskets and flower buds. All the scrappy quilts I have stitched have some of the same fabrics but I love that. I love that each quilt has fabrics that I have loved for a very long time.

Fabrics of every hue, and sweet whimsical prints.

"Enough of the flowers, woman", I hear you say, "show us the quilt!!" Okay, here 'tis. The baskets are pieced and the flower buds and leaves are hand appliqued. When each basket is complete they are stitched together by machine to form a row.

I am finding this new quilt relaxing and fun to stitch. A little machine piecing and a little hand stitching....the best of both worlds. Although I am loving the designing and stitching of my flower quilt; this quilt is a  pleasant change, just for a little while. I am not really in a hurry to finish this quilt, nor am I in a hurry to finish my flower quilt. I rather love slow stitching. I rather love the slow mindfulness that it brings to my day. I will continue  with this pretty this week, alongside my flower quilt. I am thinking Cosmos are about to bloom on my flower quilt; and more pretty buds in baskets on this scrappy quilt. Oh, how I love to have several pretties on the go at the one time.

May you enjoy a little beauty, a little delight this coming week. May you find many pockets of  joy as you go about your days. As for me, I am going to enjoy this day, this Sunday, soaking up the warm sunshine kisses and a little, just a little slow hand stitching.

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

Linking up this week to Kathy's, Slow Sunday Stitching.
                                       Judy's, Design Wall Monday

Happy Summer Days

A beautiful summery welcome to all you lovely lovelies♥ AND.....it's the weekend...YAY!! Though in saying this, the last month has seemed like one long weekend to me.

Life down here has been filled with happy summery days. Days of sunshine, days of stitching......spilling over with happy, flowery kinda days.

This past week  another birthday appeared on my horizon. Now, I would not have mentioned this auspicious and propitious day (well.....at least it is on my calendar) had not my daughter sent this little gem of a book all the way from the USofA.

I might say at this juncture, that this is the daughter who continually tells me that I have far too many books!! Each time she visits and raises her eyebrows over my burgeoning bookshelves, she is always at pains to tell me that upon my untimely demise she will have "to get rid of them all.....that I have too many books"!!! Really??? Has not my daughter heard of the word "library". =) Besides, my books are beautiful props with beautiful bindings; not to mention all terribly good reads. All my loved bibliophile fancies make my home....well......home. Let's just say my darling daughter whom I love with all my being has an aberrant minimalist and modern gene. She is of the modernistic ethic that less is more. I suppose on the subject of bibliophilia, she and me will just have to agree to disagree.

I must say that I am a bit surprised this sweet little book arrived in my letter box,  considering my daughter's thoughts on my little problem of hoarding collecting books; but I am so happy she decided to gift her dear ol' mum one more book to brighten her dear ol' mum's day. My youngest daughter is a bit of a book collector so I can rest assured that when my last breath is exhaled she will see that my books go to good homes.

But I digress......it is indeed a little gem of a book. It is a little book overspilling with floral happiness. Each page features a "pop-up" flower alongside a description of its symbolic meaning. 

When the dust cover is slipped off, one turns the flowers up and before you know it  a bouquet of happy, zingy flowers has popped up, sitting in a pretty pot to bring a little beauty and joy to my day.

Isn't this the sweetest, happiest little book?? My beautiful daughter knows her mother very well♥ All that floral prettiness cannot help but make me smile........oh.....and I hope warm your day,  especially each one of you lovelies whom are seeing day after day of wintry grey, grey and then some, as far as the eye can see. This sweet little book looks perfectly at home with my real blooms from the garden.

Flowers have been growing on my garden quilt this last little while. Stitching has been happening in all manner of places; in my sewing room, by the pond, watching the Australian Open tennis on the box, on country drives........yep.....those magical seeds have been slowly blossoming into flowers.

The view outside my sewing room has slowly changed, as have the bunches of flowers that I have picked and placed in a vase to sit on the window sill. Aah yes......I have watched the procession of  blossoms flower outside the garden in succession whilst I have slowly stitched each each petal, each flower.

Stitching is slow going but with each tiny applique stitch, Daisies have 'growed', more Hydrangeas have bloomed......Tulips, more Foxgloves, and even some sweet, dainty, little blue flowers have popped up near the pond. Oh....and I forgot another Water Lily has greeted the sunshine from beneath the lily pads. 

I am still loving stitching this quilt, even though the stitching is at a snail's pace. As I stitch each flower it seems to be mirroring what is flowering out in the garden. With the stitching of this quilt I am finding I am observing all the tiny details of each flower more closely to get a sense of each particular petal, each leaf.....vein, each stamen etc etc. I am amazed at the intricate details in the minutiae within each flower; details that I have never really noticed before.

We have a few weeks of school holidays left down here so I am supposing more applique and slow hand stitching will be enjoyed. I would love to see some Irises and  perhaps some Gladdies, perhaps a Tiger Lily blossoming on the quilt. The bottom of the quilt is nearly finished so I will soon be able to join the sky fabric and begin to design and stitch more flowers towering in the background. I think too, I might also start another scrappy quilt......just to mix things up a bit. To be perfectly honest I am hankering after a little machine stitching not to mention that I just want to play with some pretty 1930's scrappy fabrics once again....but I will see how I go.

Thank you for visiting my summery place. I hope you all enjoy a lovely week. May you find many moments to enjoy the beautiful, to appreciate the simple things of each day. As it is Sunday, I am going to stitch a blossom or two, embroider french knots as stamens on the Hydrangeas; but right this very minute, I am off to re-read my little gem of a book and play with the pop up flowers. After all a book has to be read and loved over and over again.

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


Linking up this week to Kathy Quilts, Slow Sunday Stitching

Gladsome Gladdies

A warm summer's day welcome to all you lovely lovelies♥ Alas, I am waxing lyrical yet again about some pretties that have gracefully popped up in my garden. The reason for my giddy delight this last little while, is the Gladdies. Oh, pardon me, that darn language barrier again.....I mean the Gladiolus, Gladioli etc. etc. Here in the garden these tall, floret-filled spires have pushed onto the stage towering over the other flowers, reaching up to the blue, blue sky. And, the very sight of these gorgeously elegant stems has caused me to bubble over with cheery cheeriness.......and may I say gladful gladsome-ness.

Here in Australia Gladdies became synonymous with Dame Edna Everage (the alter ego of comedian Barry Humphries)  who was rarely seen without a few stems clutched in her hand and indeed often felt the need to share these lovely flowers with her stage audience by tossing them to her adoring fans at the end of each performance. 'She' has retired from the stage now but these striking old fashioned flowers will bloom forevermore.

Last Spring a beautiful friend of mine (actually....she is one of this sweet life's treasures) gifted my husband and I with corm after corm of these gorgeous flowers. She had dug what seemed to be hundreds up from her garden and asked if I would like some. On second thought, I cannot remember if she asked me or if I dived  onto the ground where the Gladdies lay, clutching them to my chest asking, pleading.....if I could perhaps have a 'few'. Whichever way the story goes, they came on home with my good husband and my good self and are now showing off in spectacular fashion in the garden. My husband dotted a few here and there throughout the garden but he decided they would strut their stuff better if they were planted en masse  in a garden by the pond. Flowers planted en masse always dazzle.

We have a variety of colours.....the brightest of shades; red, orange, yellow to the softer spectrum; lemon, pink, mauve, apricot. I have never thought about Gladdies in the garden before but seeing their elegance in the garden I will definitely be purchasing more colours next Spring.

Magical reflections mirrored in the pond.

As the sun sets on yet another week, I sit here in the garden watching the fading sun cast a suffused glow on the pond  with rain drops gently puddling  on the water. The end of another magic Summer's day. Another Summer's day drifting into a balmy Summer's evening. Another Summer's day sprinkled with magic moments spent in the garden enjoying the bounty of flowers..........the gladsome Gladdies. Enjoy a beautiful weekend. May you find delight and a little beauty in your days.♥

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