My First Pink Saturday, July 31, 2010.

Good Morning!

Today I am joining Beverly at http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/
for her Pink Saturday. I have sooooo many pink things around my house, in my garden and in my thoughts that I decided I had better get cracking and begin showing and telling you about them. Hmmmmmm???? What to choose? I guess I will start with "my" living room. It is the formal living room in our house, ie., no tv is allowed in this room!! My hubby, Tim, calls this "the pretty room", but to be completely honest....every room in the house is pretty. It looks like a man has never set foot in this house!!!  The pink in the living room are the satin moire drapes, the hot pink mohair throw and the various pinky knickknacks!!


 

This is a picture of the many bone china floral arrangements I collect. Most of them have pink flowers in them.

This is a former tv. cabinet that was converted into a china cabinet. I paid $5.00 for it a few years ago at a yard sale. I knew that a good cleaning and some paint in my favorite "rose plate white" would make this diamond in the rough sparkle!

Do you see what is in this cabinet? YES!!! Tea cups!!!! Many of them are pink and I will be featuring them when I do Tea Cup Tuesday with Martha and Terri!!!

Here is another picture of the "tea cup cabinet.

And last, but surely not least is a small childs cabinet which I purchased at an auction about ten years ago. I painted it a luscious pink and now display.....what else.....pink things in it.  The china you see is American Beauty by Royal Albert.

I hope you have enjoyed visiting my house and some of the pink things here.  Please come back on Tuesday when I will feature one of my tea cups!!

Many hugs, Laura

My First Tea Cup Tuesday July 27th, 2010.

I am so excited! I was looking at Lynn at TeacupStitches Blog this morning and was inspired to post my First Tea Cup Tuesday. So here it is. Thanks go out to Martha and Terri for hosting this wonderful party idea!
  Welcome to my porch. I have set a small parlour table for late morning tea. It is sunny and warm today and the fragrance from my blooming Phlox is wafting in through the windows. Please join me!

These two tea cups and saucers were made by Myott Potteries in England sometime between 1920-1945( I think). They look Edwardian to me. I have a complete dinner service for ten, including platter, vegetable bowls and lids, gravy boat and under tray and creamer and sugar. I purchased them at a yard sale about four years ago.

I love their delicate shape and creamy off white base colour. The pattern is of roses climbing a trellis. The edges of the dishes are trimmed in a thin black line. All of the plates have a squared off look to them.

I picked up this pressed glass spooner at The Salvation Army Store yesterday and picked the flowers from my garden this morning. There are David Austin roses, pink Sweet Peas and white Phlox in this bouquet.

I am so sorry. I don't have any nibblies, yet! But, if you come back next week, I'll be sure to have fresh zucchini loaf or fresh tomato cake to have with our tea and I'll show you another one of my many, many tea cups!!

Here is another picture of the pattern.

I hope you have an exquisite day!

Love and hugs, Laura

New Shabby Pink Roses Pillow Shams

I finished the shabby pink roses pillow shams!!! Be still my beating heart (slow down a bit anyway!!) Currently they are resting on our bed and look absolutely drop-dead-gorgeous!!! My rag doll says she feels very comfy reclining against them!

Here is a shot of the bed with rag doll sitting on the chair at my desk.

Here is another view. I picked up the painting above the bed at one of my favorite antique stores near Cloyne, Ontario. The colours are almost identical to the colours in the shams. The pink lamp I bought a couple of years ago at our local Salvation Army Store.  Do you see the frill on the lamp shade?? It's a vintage battenburg collar! It adds a lovely frilly touch!!

I hope you are having a splendid summer day!

Hugs, Laura

Truly Shabby Pink Curtain Panels.

I found the following curtain panels at my Aunt Reet's cottage quite a few years ago. I asked her for them and she graciously gave them to me. She told me that she had had them since living on Flora Street in Ottawa and she moved from there sometime in the fifties, so I date them to the 1940's. She was a smoker and the curtains had accumulated a lot of dust over the years, but I was undaunted!! I ruthlessly washed them many times in my front load washing machine (it tumbles the clothes...doesn't agitate like in a top load) and they finally came out clean and fresh....but truly shabby and faded!!! I proceeded to painstakingly remove all of the stitches and then washed them yet again!! ( I know...I'm mental!!). Then I had to pack them away for a few years because I developed bilateral calcific tendonitis in both of my shoulders and could not sew or do anything!!! So now I have had surgery on both shoulders (right shoulder in October '09 and left shoulder in April '10) and I am finally gaining mobility and able to do STUFF again!!! So I pulled out this fabric to PLAY with!!  Also, sometimes one needs  time to ponder projects to visualize how one will complete said project!!

So a couple of days ago, I dug the fabric out of my stash and began this wonderful transformation. Each panel has three wonderful focal displays of roses, hydrangeas, daisies to name a few. They measured about 24 inches square, so I decided to make (Large!)cushion covers. I also dug out a roll of some off-white fabric my girlfriend, Anne, gave me years ago. (I am such a hoarder!) This fabric had a water stain through it, so I washed it in my fabulous washer (it's a Whirlpool Duet, by the way!) and viola! the stain washed out. So....I fiddled and fussed and finally found a way to cut and frame (how's that for an alliteration!) the bunch of flowers!

I wanted two matching pillows, so I thought it would be best if I worked on both until I reached the point where they are both framed as you see below.

A little aside here, now. The cushion inserts were a project unto themselves! I picked up two large 24 inch square cushions at the Salvation Army store more than a year ago. These I saved, 'cuz I knew I would need them one day! They were covered with an awfully ugly fabric, but were brand new. I recovered them in some cream coloured broadcloth which I had salvaged from another curtain panel. I figure I spent about $8.00 total for both cushion inserts.

I was going to sew a one and a half times ruffle onto the new cushion covers, but I haven't been able to find a fabric I loved (in the stash that I already have, that is!). This morning while I was displaying the new blocks for picture taking I realized that they don't need a ruffle!!! I'll just make them into Euro-shams!! (flat edge). So now that I have solved that dilemma!! I have to leave now and go with the family to my hubby's annual family reunion!!! I'll finish the shams later this week and post results midweek.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Try to do something EXQUISITE for yourself!

Hugs, Laura