Of lamps, shades and pretty things.

Is it my imagination or have I been enjoying more restful slumber in my boudoir of sweet dreams?? It truly is the most delightful room. Me thinks one day, I just might spend all day in there. All day to lounge in bed and perhaps, knit, read, nap, stitch, drink tea and think nothing but frivolous thoughts. All day to just be. All day to  escape the world and it's tedious toings and froings. I know, I know, 'tis a shallow gal that I am. =)

"Cute teapot", I hear you say. I know......isn't it just the most darling thing. I fell in love with it at first sight. The strange thing is, would you believe there isn't a single  red design teacup in my humble abode. Unbelievable!! I will have to remedy this li'l dilemma, and fast!

But I digress. The point of this post is to wax lyrical about another new pretty. With a 'need' for a new lamp for the boudoir, and whilst out and about last week, I happened upon a pretty which would fit perfectly in the boudoir. Of course it came home with me. I have been looking for a lamp with a botanical theme for a while and when my beady li'l eyes spotted this pretty I knew it would be perfect.

The base of the new lamp has trailing vines and flowers and sweet birdies resting amongst the blossoms. The shade which is a cream one is perfectly acceptable....BUT......I thought a li'l machine sketching incorporating a vine or two trailing around the top of the shade,  overspilling with flowers with perhaps a bird nesting  among the flowers, could look rather winsome. Nothing too busy just a little vine or two.

The sweet birdie and flowers camouflage perfectly with my flower-filled feature wall.

Well.....I thought a li'l machine sketching would be spiffy but after a ridiculous amount of time dreaming up something that was half acceptable and then sketching flower after flower, vine after vine, with the odd birdie, I decided the lamp base can happily exist with the cream shade for a little while longer. Ordinarily, machine sketching is the most relaxing and fun thing for me but after beginning to stitch the design, both the design and the colours I chose, didn't sing a melodious song at all! Obviously my mojo is visiting elsewhere! How dare it!! So for now I will forget about gussying up the shade for a while and maybe think upon it another day. Or maybe....just maybe I will leave it!! What!! Did I say leave the cream shade au naturel!! Oh my goodness....what is happening to me!! Have I come down with some unidentifiable malady of the mind?? Have I gone stark raving mad.........!! Hope oh hope this affliction disappears sooner than soon!!

Maybe I'll find a little inspiration knitting my pretty, cabled woolly.

Yes indeedy, I have picked up my jumper yet again, and started to clickety clack away. Summer is fading down here so a little knitting is the order of my day. Mind you......not that knitting this woolly is terribly relaxing. There is much too much cranial gymnastics involved with the knitting of this pretty, but my fingers (and mind) have finally slipped into a rhythm where believe it or not I haven't unravelled any mistakes, at least not in the last day or two!!

Speaking of Summer fading into a bittersweet memory, I must say our Hydrangeas are changing into the palest of hues. The deep blues are turning into pale blues and greens. They truly are beautiful. For four months now the Hydrangeas have not disappointed.

The Summer garden, though it is beginning to evanesce to a beautifully, muted autumnal state there are still some flowers that will not give credence to the thought of slipping away. The Dahlias are still showing off their vivacious and flashy faces and the Cosmos......well.....they just do what they always do.......delight with their bright happiness.

"You looking at me!!!!" Upon getting a little too close with my camera to this fine fellow, he "put up his dukes" and proceeded to come at me. I am supposing he didn't take too kindly to me or my camera.

Upon closing......here's a thought, perhaps if some Shakespearean character could fill the boudoir with mellifluous strands of soft music........maybe......just maybe my mojo would return!! =D

Until the next time, may you have a joyous week, with a sprinkling of a li'l floralicious delight.

Sweet Dreams

Hello lovelies, welcome to my flower-filled boudoir. Yes indeedy, the boudoir, the place of sweet dreams is finished (well.....with just a few little things left to be done); it is in full dress so to speak.

Just to let you know I am now standing upright......all five feet nine inches of me. When you last visited my place I had the bearing of Quasimodo but now all is well, I am standing tall once again.

I have been busy these past weeks finishing my quilt, stitching a curtain and tarting up the boudoir here and there. With the exception of the stitching of a few cushions and some pillowcases, together with a li'l machine sketching of a lampshade, it is the place of my sweet dreams.

The curtain took an age. You've heard the saying "measure twice, cut once"........well I measured my curtain throughout the stitching, over and over and over again, but still in places they were not even. It seems to me my linens took exception to being cut and stitched, but after a dizzying amount of time and endless unpicking of seams they are finished and now hang ever so prettily at the window. But....before I give you a bo-peep let me begin at the beginning.

As I intimated before, I decided to fashion the curtain out of more of my embroidered linens which I have been acquiring over the years. Before stitching could begin, first all my linens had to be washed.

Love, love, LOVE the vintage trolley and washing basket. I happened upon these relics in a second hand store with a "NOT FOR SALE" tag on them. So.....how did these vintage beauties happen to come home with me?? Mmm...I wonder if tackling the lovely proprietor down to the ground and pummelling her on her chest till she gave in, had anything to do with it!! =)

All those lovely ladies hanging in in the sunshine do surely make my heart sing.

Though I washed all my pretty ladies, I decided to only include this lovely southern belle encircled in a pretty ribbon and lilacs. With  the linens washed, dried and folded, the 'FUN' began.

I facetiously say FUN as the stitching of this curtain wasn't at all pleasant. I encountered so many problems with it but it is finished and hanging at the window, so all is forgotten.

I love the finished curtain at the window. I can hear your thoughts ticking away......but what about your husband.....does he mind having all these lovely linens draping the window?? Believe it or not, he loves it. The southern belle smiling at him rather serenely doesn't seem to bother him at all. =) Besides, because the curtain is made of vintage linens with mostly backgrounds of cream or white with embroidered flowers here and there, it creates a lovely calming ambience. Also, as the curtain is pulled right back during the day, it disappears into a blur of pretty pattern.

With the gorgeous flowers on the wall singing the most lyrical of songs, the ripping up of carpet and the painting of the floor done and dusted, the painting of furniture with a lick or two of chalk paint, the stitching of the curtain; and the last quilting stitch on my scrappy quilt having been stitched......let the room reveal begin!

From very early morning, Old Man Sun trickles his rays into the bedroom like a warming caress, and as the momentum of the day journeys on, engulfing this most delightful room with bright and happy sunshine. Although his beaming smile is always welcome, the sunshine does perish the quilts that rest on the bed. The hexie quilt that I fashioned years ago has perished a little and requires a little tender loving care to repair it. Therefore, I change the quilts often.....hence the reason why a smattering of quilts rest in the pretty cupboard beside the bed, and even more reason to stitch some more pretty quilts. The Cathedral quilt is my next "to do" pretty. Hopefully it will be singing a hallelujah chorus, resting ever so prettily on my bed, before my pretty scrappy quilt fades into anonymity. :)

The boudoir is a most enchanting room filled flowers and sunshine which beams through the windows all day long. It is a place of quiescence and the dreaming of sweet dreams. It is a delightful place, both day night to luxuriate in. It is a place to enjoy lovely lie-ins, sipping a cup of tea and reading a devotional before the busy day ahead. Yes indeedy, me thinks the boudoir is my new favourite place......but then there are a few of those around here.

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

Sharing this week at Jann's, Share your Cup, linky party.

Seeing Flowers

One day, whilst out and about in a book shop.......

He (a 'flora-phile') said, whilst poring over a most beautiful photography book on all things flowers, "isn't this a gorgeous coffee table book; wouldn't it look great on our coffee table?" (he did, he really, really did).

She (a totally obsessed eccentric) said "It is, isn't it; but just imagine how beautiful this book (times five), page by page, would look as a feature wall, in our boudoir???

So who do you think triumphed........he.......or she??

You are all a wee bit clever; of course she was the victor!!

It's not the first time I have totally destroyed a book, page by page......a sacred published document which should ever remain in it's binding.......and paste it to a wall. I love my bright and happy botanical hallway so much I thought I  might commit the iniquitous deed of ripping out carefully tearing out each page once again, but this time for my boudoir.

I have been searching for what seems forever, vintage wallpaper or perhaps a lovely chinoiserie wall paper for a feature wall, but could never find what I wanted for a reasonable price. When eventually I did find a lovely one, alas it would have cost me the proverbial arm and leg. Besides, when thinking about the colour schemes, I really didn't want to limit myself to one or two colour palettes. I wanted the full colour spectrum to be dancing on my wall, so I could change quilts for my bed at my whim. So.....happening upon this beautiful book written by Teri Dunn Chace and exquisitely photographed by Robert Llewellyn is a gift from Heaven. =)

For two weeks I was up the ladder adhhering page by page, the most beautiful flower photographs to my 11' high wall.....in total 204 pages. It was a snail-like process as the back of each page had to be covered with Mod Podge and then carefully pasted to a pre-pasted wall, ever so carefully smoothing out each crinkle, ensuring there were no air bubbles. It truly was the most laborious process. Upon completion of the entire wall, I then gave it three coats of Mod Podge.

I now have the bearing of Quasimodo, hunched over, unable to straighten, feeling pain in places I have never really been aware of before!!

BUT......I am delighted, absolutely ecstatic with the results. I LOVE the new feature wall, as does I might add, my husband. A wall that will bloom forevermore with pretty flower after pretty flower.

Just in case you are in need of a little more hydrangea love and didn't get enough last week!!

Oh......did I tell you......the Dahlias are doing their thing this year and beautifully so.....even better than last year, if that is at all possible. They can't let the Hydrangeas have all the limelight, they have to try to upstage the Hydrangeas and be the centre of attention. Just between you and me though, I don't think there is any plant, en masse, that can overshadow the Hydrangeas, but that's just me. =)

One of the things I wanted to achieve these Summer holidays was to create a feature wall and tart up our boudoir. Actually it eventuated into a complete makeover! The carpet has been ripped up and sent to carpet hell, damned forevermore, the floor has been given many coats of white paint and the walls painted a crisp white. Now to make some pretty curtains from lovely, embroidered linens and to finish my scrappy fabric/embroidered linen quilt.

I am so happy the boudoir is well on it's way to becoming a most beautiful place to rest and refresh a troubled or tired mind. It is a place to escape to, pull up a quilt or two and get lost in a good book for an hour or so, or even enjoy a nanny nap (not that I am a nanny.....pity). For now this hunchback gal, who really should know better than traipse up and down ladders for days on end, is intending to relax a little and enjoy a little quilting; who knows, perhaps this week all the quilting will be finished. 

Mmm......perhaps the dazzling Dahlias have a point...........

I, like Quasimodo in that tale of long ago, rather feel like swinging from bell to bell, ringing those tintinnabula in unison, joyously celebrating my beautiful flower wall......I'm off to find me a cathedral. =)

Until the next time...