At the Beach...

For the past five days we have been anchored out at the Sand Hills at the southern end of Moreton Island.  An amazing sand island on our doorstep, accessible by boat and passenger and vehicle barges.

Pristine white sand and clear waters. Need I go on? I will let these images tell the story of what we found this week.

Yep! We walked up these dunes and over to the surfside.

When the tide goes out at this anchorage there is a vast sandbank area to explore...

Plenty of starfish...

Massive armys of blue soldier crabs appear and march in unison with each other. Honestly, it is so quiet here that you can actually hear them moving.

Sunsets are so much better on the water and last night's did not disappoint.

Going...

Still going...

nearly gone...

gone...





 

Back to the real world now - no food in the house as this kids have been home...grocery shopping here we come!!

Weekend Vintage Finds

On Saturday Morning our local Retirement Village hosted a Trash and Treasure Market and an Open Day.  I have been to a few before and there is always a treasure or two to be found. The ladies are lovely to chat with and keen to show their new items they have crocheted, or jams and jellies they have made.

I found these gorgeous Vintage Hanley plates. Just perfect to use for lunch. Six dinner plates and six side plates for 20 cents each! Bargain.

There was a barometer underneath the tables without a price. So, I asked one of the ladies how much it was and she gave it to me for free as they had just dropped it and one of the hands had fallen off. It didn't matter, as it was immediately appealing to me and it would be easy enough to put a new mechanism in it.

Look where it was made....an added bonus for me as I am a bit of a lover of all things French.



Then it was time to create some more floral loveliness and these florals are what I came up with to add to my ETSY store.

So enjoying sewing these cushion covers from my stash of vintage and vintage inspired floral fabrics. Such a joy!

Larkspur, Jonquils and Vintage Finds

Having never grown Larkspurs in my own garden before, I was quite excited when they started to flower. The colours are so deep and really vivid...just so in sync with my blue passions at the moment.

Last year I was lucky enough to spend a few months in the UK with my husband's family. We were there in the winter and towards the end of February when the first spring bulbs appeared along roadsides, in fields and in gardens, my sister in law became a new woman. (Well, almost!) There was a spring in her step, her eyes lit up, more humming and smiling was going on as she knew that her world was about to change!

I will never forget it. Even though it was still cold the new growth  heralded a warmer and brighter change of seasons.

My first jonquils are showing their pretty heads and I thought of her today and how she felt last winter. Although it is not officially spring in Brisbane and our change of seasons are very mild, I look around and feel grateful for our clear blue skies and it is not that cold really....a completely different attitude.

I bought this lovely rose doily at the thrift store the other day - of course red roses, well that is what I am calling them. The roses were stapled on to the doily would you believe! Needless to say that I am happy to report they are now stitched on.

At the moment, it is under a lamp on a gorgeous vintage cupboard that I bought from Katherine from the oldboathouse at the Cottage Garden Nursery.  As far as I know, teeth were not chipped when they found this cupboard! I will share this amazing find with you in another post.

Now for something really sweet that I found yesterday - a vintage honey pot. It is a lovely green with crazing all over it - just perfect for that sweet sticky stuff.

Have a great weekend. Pam x

Floral Cushion Covers

I have just re-opened my ETSY store to share my love of floral cushion covers. Honestly, I have made so many now and after so many enquiries and sales here they are online I have some very special fabrics in very limited quantities that I have sourced on my travels and really, why just keep them on the shelf? Some of these fabrics may be familiar to you as I may have already blogged about them in previous posts. That's probably because I have made cushions for my own home from some of these.

What do you think?

A Vintage Find and a Small Makeover.

I found this vintage woollen blanket at the thrift store this week. Falling for the charming red and the luscious grey I have been trying to find out about the manufacturer of this gorgeous blanket. 

I could an only find minimal information on the 'Laconia' brand name at the Victorian State Library Website. That fact in itself is intriguing to me. From what I can gather the Laconia Blanket Mill was around in the 1950's in Richmond, Victoria...that is about as much information as I have found...so far.

It is in perfect condition and after washing it gently and leaving it on the clothes-line for a day in the sun the strong odour of mothballs has been eliminated. It must have been so well looked after and hardly used at all to have lasted this long. Don't you love the cute label?

My ginger plant is in flower at the moment and adds a striking addition to the shades of red.

I usually pick up these trugs or tool boxes as some call them. They always come in super handy for bits and bobs in my garden shed. Changes had to be made to this one though and as I am in the mood for the colour blue...sorry, but the ' fresh eggs' and the chicken just had to go!

I also added a strip of paper that I found in my craft room with gorgeous and decorative Fleur di lis design. Added a bit of distressing and here you are. So much brighter.

Add a few herbs from the garden as I try out my new macro lens for the camera that arrived from Hong Kong this morning!

Don't forget the Brisbane French Festival is on again tomorrow at Southbank. I had a fabulous time there last year and I would thoroughly recommend it for lovers of all things French. You can also read about it from Thea at Thea and Sami  here .

Enjoy your weekend. x



Blue

Inspired by the blues on Moreton Bay today...

...the great Australian countryside at the gorgeous Hidden Vale, taken on the weekend

...blue skies by the seaside at Dunwich (UK)

...French blue shutters



...French blue planter box

...blues at home

...painting the blues.



Also feeling a little blue, because I will be unable to present to you my A-Z of Brisbane Flowers.

The idea was to use my own photos which I have compiled for some time.

Umm...they have been permanently deleted from my hard drive and I was silly enough not to save them to my external hard drive I have for that same purpose.

Well, all I can say is we live and learn don't we?

Still hugely disappointed, but I will get over it.

Just have to start again.

Pam x

Vintage Tea Towel Pillow.

 

This lovely linen pillow is for our yacht.

I made it using a vintage Union Jack tea towel and some blue and white cotton drill fabric.

Don't think it really is vintage though as advertised on Ebay, but it doesn't really matter.

Having a bit of an updating thing happening on the boat at the moment- brightening it up with colourful cushions and pillows.

I have also re-covered the seating in the cabin and really pleased how it turned out.

The fabric has to be pretty tough to withstand the odd glass of spilt red wine of course!

I chose a blue spill resistant upholstery fabric from Trads Liquidation Centre at Cannon Hill.

Love this place for all things haberdashery and bits and bobs.

I have been going there for years and the best part is, it's great for the budget and you never know what they will have in stock.

It is a real treasure trove.

Have a great weekend everyone.

I will show you the cushions and pillows in situ next week.

Pam x