Garden Envy

This week I called in to see my mum on the way to Shoestring Cottage and I couldn't quite suppress a teeny tiny attack of that old foe of all gardeners, Garden Envy.  Of course I wouldn't like to visit my mum's garden and find the spring growth infested with white fly and aphids but ... there are always things to be seen in other people's gardens which one might wish to have for one's own!  For instance, my garden is so microscopic that there isn't space for areas with different types of plantings, because it can be seen almost all at once.  Because Bobby has a villa the front of her garden is very traditional and pretty and just what one would hope for in a charming old well established garden

 But around the back there are areas with a definite subtropical feel, you could wouldn't be much surprised to see some monkeys or brightly coloured parrots in the upper reaches of the trees sometimes.

And then my spring blossoms look so sharp and garish compared to some of these more subtle beauties.

 The latest addition to the garden, a sumptuous apricot and pink shaded magnolia the likes of which I have never seen before.  (I think she would suspect me though if it mysteriously vanished one day.)

And a new camellia called Pink Lace, enormous blossoms and so tenderly shaded.

 No space at my place for a darling little gazebo draped with climbing roses,

 and my cats never pose obligingly either.

But we have to suppress these feelings in our gardening bosoms and press on and make the most of what we have or we would give up the fight altogether, so I tried to look for positives in my patch despite the fact that the flowers have to grow cheek by jowl with the vegetables because space is so short.  I will just call it companion planting and pretend that silver beet and parsley benefit from the close proximity of bluebells.  

 And this subtropical beauty did survive the frosts of winter and is putting on a very brave show already.

The miniature cyclamen are multiplying too.  

The lilies are forging ahead but I am a bit concerned about this one which seems to have some kind of mutant flower stem growing, perhaps two stems have fused together because it looks as though there will be one bumper crop of flowers on one single stem - as long as the slugs and snails don't triumph, of course.

We discovered a new op shop this weekend and I have added two more priceless treasures to my art collection.  (I am thinking of leaving it to the country as a national treasure when I die, I am sure the curator of the national art gallery will be overjoyed.)  

This reminds me of summer holidays on the Coromandel peninsula, the sun bleached grass in the foreground and the coast are just perfect.  It was $3.00 which seems a fair price considering there was no frame. 

I thought this one had some kind of interesting seedheads growing in the foreground but eventually realised that it had pieces of tissue paper stuck all over it, which I have picked off as much as possible but still a few remain.  $3.00 also and no frame, tsk tsk tsk.  

Bobby was having another one of her seasonal fevers where she feels the need to divest herself of possessions and I was the grateful recipient of a dainty little white chair which is very useful in the bathroom at Shoestring Cottage. (Looking at this picture I realise she also donated the vanity, which was immediately painted white, and the wooden screen which may well become white any day now too).  

I have heard from the Southern Sisters that they have been living the art deco life down there, and have completed replica nurses' uniforms from World War I for an event they are attending.  This of course had the effect of focusing the little grey cells (as beloved Hercule Poirot would say) once more upon the need to get up to speed for art deco weekend next year and not let time go past without making any effort, which is what usually happens.  I dragged out these likely contenders which will hopefully be able to be modified and fit for purpose. 

This dress is silk so should be comfortable for summer deco.  I very much like the slightly drab deco colours of the fabric.  When I located it languishing and unloved I also bought the scarf draped around the neckline, which hopefully can be used to make some kind of floating panels for the back or some other deco accouterments.  

This combo has a distinctly Miss Marple feel about it and I realised afterwards that it has no suitable hat, which could prove to be a big challenge.  As The Dancing Queen has frequently remarked, and as the Southern Sisters may well agree, the hat and accessories can make or break your outfit so I had better get to work in this.  A natural coloured straw with some lavender blooms on it might be just the ticket - just a question of finding such a thing, of course.  

 Here is a detail of the crochet in the jacket, which features a very tricky interlocking circle design.

 And I can just picture Miss Marple in a floral print along these lines.  

It was yet another weekend of torrential rain at Shoestring Cottage so I could turn these problems over in my mind and not feel badly to be indoors - this was the third rainy weekend in a row so there must surely be some respite soon!  

Winging My Way Back To The Blogosphere

Well I have to admit that I have been severely chastised of late because of my lack of blog posts and now that I look back it seems that it has been a good three months, which is very surprising to me. This will be put right immediately here is a picture festooned blog post to make up for lost time. 

Since my last missive winter deco has been and gone (sigh).  It proved to be a roaring success (well, how could it fail to be, Napier never disappoints) and as well as the usual suspects we met two charming ladies from the Deep South who were an inspiration.  They are shy creatures who would not like to be named in the public domain but suffice it to say that they were the picture of sartorial elegance and generous in sharing ideas for deco-ficication of clothing and accessories.  By the time winter deco was over I almost looked forward to returning home in order to start planning costumes for next year, which is no small thing.  

Shortly after returning from winter deco I was given this glorious original parasol/umbrella in rich burgundy tones.  It is of no practical use, as the fabric is perishing and going into holes in places, but folded up it looks most impressive.  

I had already been hankering after an ox blood red costume and at winter deco obtained an  ox blood coloured pair of leather gloves.  I already had a leather clutch bag, courtesy of St Vinnies (not too badly priced at $2) and one pair of shoes, but found another pair with a finer heel.

These things should all go together nicely to be the basis of a costume for next winter's deco - it is always so good to have a project on the go to keep one sane in between the deco days!  I have a couple of hats, (a fedora and a cloche), to work with, and a heather coloured tweed suit.  As The Dancing Queen reminds me, the hat can be the most difficult part so it is a good thing that isn't a worry this time round!

In case you should think I have been entirely taken up with my personal appearance I can report that a very good haul of priceless art works was obtained on the journey south.  This wonderful landscape features two cows which somewhat resemble dogs and also a sheep which looks rather like a blob of cotton wool and I was very taken with it when I spied it in the Taupo Salvation Army shop. Fortunately it was reduced to $4, so it was within my slender budget

and it looks very good with the other similarly toned landscapes it hangs with.  

But I think this one is my favourite from that excursion.  The colours and subject remind me of Rita Angus for some reason and I fear I will soon have to call a halt to this collection - the walls in the small rooms at Shoestring Cottage are groaning under the weight of them and there is very little space left unadorned.

Even so, I am very pleased with the look of them all together.  

At the same Sallies store I lashed out and bought this one too, thinking it would look good in the rose-festooned boudoir at SC.  When I got it home though the "white" roses were very blue and looked better in the bathroom.  No matter, that was one room which did have a bit of space left for paintings so it all worked out well in the end.  

These had recently been given to Mr Shoestring as a gift and they had the same "feel" as the painting in terms of vintage, so they sit directly underneath.  

This little doyley from 1922 is still in good condition and was languishing in Putaruru, just waiting for somebody to take it home.  The hand made lace around the edge is particularly fine and I can imagine a young woman toiling away on it for her glory box.

Mr Shoestring didn't come home empty handed either, he found a treasure trove of old postcards depicting his beloved Te Aroha, most of the buildings seen here are still standing.  

He is becoming rather discerning now and eschewed several of them for his own obscure reasons and after buying several declared that he had enough of them and would stop collecting them!  If only I had the same self control.  We were surprised to see that most of them were only addressed to a particular street with no street number added, maybe the posties were more knowledgeable and the populace less transient in those days!

Lest you suspect that Mr Shoestring has been neglected during all this feverish shopping I have to tell you that he obtained a magnificent fair isle vest for next winter deco in suitably muted tones

 but best of all I presented him with a wonderful smoking cap (here kindly modelled by Maud)

The leather label on the inside proudly proclaims that P Cohen, tailor, mercer, clother, hatter etc of 92 Willis Street (surely that must be Willis Street in Wellington) was the supplier of this wonderful item.  Next time I am in Wellington I will try to see what is at 92 Willis Street now, I doubt that P Cohen is still keeping shop at that location.

Also Mr Shoestring was presented by my mama with the lovely leather suitcase you can see to the left of the picture below, which still has its original luggage labels festooning its sides and top.  

And I couldn't resist showing off the cushion-made-out-of-a-teatowel which I have stuffed with feathers from an old down duvet.  Featuring Hawkes Bay of course.

Last weekend at Shoestring Cottage I put together some left over crazy quilt blocks and made a pinboard for the sewing room but now that it is finished it seems a shame to cover the embroidery up by sticking things all over the front, so it could well end up being yet one more picture hanging on the groaning walls.  

In the sewing room I am making superhuman efforts to keep things tidy because I recently located this in an op shop and with the help of Mr and Mrs Peaceable it was transported from Auckland to SC.  It wasn't quite the right colour for the sewing room, which had to be repainted and all in all a lot of trouble and bother followed on after the purchase of this "bargain".  It isn't even very practical, because the glass fronted cupboards mean that you can only really store pretty things in that part of it, nothing unattractive or utilitarian.  

 But how pretty it is!

 All the depression glass had to go in there, also the nice tins and containers with mother of pearl buttons

 the nice pieces of crochet and lace awaiting use

 all the labels from ties which are going to be used - for something - some day

and the prettiest floral china plates

I have in fact become a reformed character where my sewing room is concerned - no longer messy and untidy, as long as you don't open the doors on the cupboards, in which case you could be swamped by an avalanche of falling fabric.  

Outside spring is almost upon us and the garden is waking up again.  I have to confess to having carried out yet more inappropriate planting - this time it was something which purports to be a Himalayan Daphne, just like a daphne bush but growing to tree-like proportions (2.5 metres x 2.0 metres).  On the strength of two blossoms (which did indeed look like daphne and had a lovely fragrance) I have given garden space to this incomer - no doubt it will die a long, slow, lingering death in the garden while I anxiously nurse it and fret over it but such is the life of a gardener.  But being ever optimistic a gardener will always hope for the best and imagine the new plant creating a cloud of scented blossoms which will scent the entire garden, possibly the whole neighbourhood, and bring joy and delight to all.

Hoping you are keeping up with all the things which bring you delight even if you don't have the advantage of a deco obsession!

I Got My Mojo Working ...

I have to admit that I hadn't given much thought recently to the fact that my blogging mojo just wasn't working - until Monsieur La Poste said to me last weekend that he was convinced I had taken up line dancing on Monday and Tuesday nights!  I was somewhat perplexed by this confident assertion as I could by no means be described as a boot'n scootin sort of gal.  Then I realised that Monday or Tuesday were formerly blogging nights, but had not been so recently.  (Though it must be said that I was a trifle concerned as to the state of Monsieur La Poste's mental acuity as he had just spotted a Madonna and Christ child in the froth of the coffee Mr Shoestring had served him - but that turned out to be a reality, which we all could see!)  Anyway, it transpired that Monsieur La Poste had decided that the lack of blog posts from me indicated a passion for all things Western, which in fact was not the case.  It was true that Mr Shoestring and I had recently taken a few swing dance lessons and I had gotten out of the habit of blogging, but rather than have Monsieur La Poste strike me from his favourites list I am determined to get back in the saddle - as a real boot scootin' line dancing gal would!

Apart from the swing dancing Mr Shoestring and I have been on a wonderful trip to Wellington to see the World of Wearable Arts show, catch up with The Dancing Queen and her King and also Ma'am.

Colour co-ordinated birds live in Wellington where everything is more stylish

We have caught up with The Squire and his good lady wife (who have moved to luxurious new seaside home) and we have heard from Lord and Lady Raglan that they are also moving to a more salubrious seaside environment.  Mr Shoestring has struck up a new friendship with a devoted home coffee roaster so has a new obsession, that of roasting coffee beans and experimenting to obtain the best roast for our morning coffee.  (This has to be done outdoors because the odour is overpowering.  Mr Shoestring has destroyed several of the appliances used for coffee roasting but it gives him great pleasure to roast his own beans, so who am I to object?)  Also, Mr and Mrs Peaceable did us the honour of attending the ceremonial opening of the quince vodka, after its six month gestation period.  My word, what a delicious libation though I say so myself who should not.  It is very fragrant and aromatic and I think in the summer time after a hard day's toil in the garden it might be a near perfect aperitif.  The colour is a beautiful golden gold, because of the quinces.

Miss Figaro has ventured forth to her first beauty pageant, (the annual Te Aroha Cruise In) where she was slightly out of her depth amongst the V8s and powerful motorbikes.  However she retained her composure and looked most fetching in a retiring, demure kind of way.

The spring weather has been soft and accommodating and the garden is thriving and blossoming each week.

Of course I am favouring the acid yellow plants and neglecting the poor wildlings like this seedling rose (though of course I secretly hope the rose will turn out to be one of those featured in gardening books which was an unexpected "sport" having popped up in a garden and becoming a prodigy of the gardening world).

The bees are drunk on pollen and can hardly lift themselves off the blossoms because their pollen sacs are full to bursting

To be honest though, there have been a few disappointments.  The birds (who used to be such firm friends of mine) have taken against me and are doing their best to undo all my efforts in the garden.  I had just planted some small plants when I discovered that the avian assassins had dogged my footsteps and carried out what I realised was a ritual assassination by the footpath.

The poor innocent plants were tidily laid out on the concrete, having been mercilessly plucked from the earth.  Is there no end to the cruelty of these birds?  And I think they are the very same ones for whom I provided nesting boxes!  

 Finally a success with lily of the valley - it is usually far too warm

 A bumper crop of passionfruit is expected - note to self, is there a home made sorbet recipe for passionfruit?  Or perhaps some kind of liqueur?

 The roses are thriving

The irises are relishing the change of position (even though they were a bit confused at first, having been constantly relocated)

Ever dependable Graham Thomas, so disease resistant and such a little trooper!

The first of the lilies blossoming

On the stitching front I am very pleased to proclaim that the tumbling blocks quilt is finally complete, though there is a sad ending to that tale.  Feeling very proud of my achievements there I climbed up to the very heights of the storage cupboards in the sewing room to retrieve the next quilt awaiting completion ... only to realise that there are at least 10 quilts in the queue.  So no more projects to be started until they are done.  

Instead of calling this quilt tumbling flowers, I was about to call it "The Infinity Quilt" because it seemed I was never going to come to the end of it, but now that it is done I feel very fond of it - you know that feeling you have when you make a quilt, every one you complete is your new favourite.

In between the social outings there has been a fair bit of flea marketing - look at these works of art!

 This one reminded me so much of the way the light falls on the trees in the wetlands where we walk

 This one is another one of those where the artist was determined to use every colour in their paintbox, but more in an impressionistic style

and it suits but also contrasts so well with the other one using similar colours

Happy days at Shoestring Cottage, even if I have not mastered the intricacies of line dancing I am well pleased with life in the here and now.