Wednesday, November 27, 2013

In the garden with new books!

Melbourne is notorious for it’s “Four seasons in one day”… but after experiencing three of them last week, today was a dose of Summer… which meant that morning coffee-time was spent in the garden.  Yippee!

In my garden 1

It looks so cool doesn’t it?  Gotta love those tones…

In the garden 2

I recently purchased this hydrangea… I’ve always loved its flower and how it varies its muted tones.  Blue is my ultimate favourite colour.  What’s yours??

In the garden 3

I love succulents too… and they’re pretty easy to take cuttings from and grow.  This Jade tree was picked up from my daughter’s school market last year and has come on leaps and bounds.  Is it also called the Money Tree?  I’m not sure… but I know there is a plant that is meant to bring prosperity to a household by keeping it.  I wonder where that story came from?

In the garden 4

In the garden 5

The pond has come to life as well… they’re a bit hard to see with the sunlight bouncing off their white petals, but there are three water lilies already opened.

In the garden 6

In the garden 11

The Bird of Paradise next to the pond is having a sticky-beak as to what’s going on, too!

In the garden 8

Our small garden was planted with palms when we moved in and now, after nine years, they are so tall.  In the corner is the lemon tree that just keeps on giving… and a newly planted border of camellias that you can’t really see, but I’m looking forward to them flourishing over the years to come.

In the garden 9

This basket sits just outside the back door, I picked it up from an op shop last week for just a few dollars and stuck all my cuttings in there.  I don’t know what the succulent is called as a friend gave it to me (she rescued it from her neighbour’s green waste), but it kind of likes to curl and  hang so is difficult to plant in garden borders.  I also stuck a geranium in there (another cutting), but I’m thinking it probably needs a bigger pot and a bit more lovin’.

In the garden 10

Here it is again with a mirror I picked up off eBay for just twenty bucks!  This whole set up cost me less than thirty dollars… gosh I love up-cycling!

So after admiring the plants, I sat down to coffee and a flick-through of my latest books!

In the garden 12

The first book, My Sewing Room by Robyn Welsh of Country Hart Designs, contains seven projects for you to make as gifts for friends – or for your very own sewing space!  I love the little bird motif that is featured throughout, and the nice easy-reading of the instructions.  Of course, I was like a rabbit caught in the headlights just on the front cover – because of the cute Little Betty sewing machine sat there among Robyn’s lovely designs!  I was fortunate to win this book from one of Robyn’s giveaways on Facebook – but you can check it out here.  While you’re over at Country Hart Designs, go have a swoon over Robyn’s newly-released block of the month.  It’s called A Touch of Spring.  You can see it pictured below on the Two Green Zebras stand at AQM.  (Thank you Robyn for allowing me to use your photo).  The design is as gorgeous as the Tilda fabrics the quilt has been made with!

A touch of spring on two green zebras stand

The second book I perused is a recent from Lynette Anderson, and is called Stitch it for Spring.  It features eight projects in Lynette’s whimsy style and is a real treat for any Lynette-lover!  I purchased my book from here.  The bunnies, owls and birds are soooo cute!

In my garden lynette

So that’s me for today… I’m currently designing a table runner project and looking through my books of quilt block designs to inspire me.  Do you have any favourite blocks?

Catch you round like a fruit loop!

Vikki xo Smile

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

The SUDs team get busy in the suds-room!

 

Laundry two birds

Someone recently asked me why I called my husband, Mr SUDs… and I explained that a few years ago in the blogosphere it was customary to call your family by the name of your blog, and for me of course it’s easier to abbreviate to SUDs! So it is very fitting that my hubby and I worked together as a team to re-decorate our laundry… the suds room!

Laundry mirror before

So why am I showing you a picture of a mirror situated on a table in our garden?!  It is the mirror that hangs in our downstairs toilet before I did a lime-wash on it…

Toilet sink before and after

Here are the before and after shots…  the very ‘yellow’ laundry and toilet are now a refreshing blue… what I would call a duck-egg blue, although the paint colour is named Turquoise Mist, manufactured by Taubmans.

Laundry toilet wall collage

We now have artwork on the toilet wall courtesy of IKEA!  It really makes the room more homely… a strange choice of words to describe a dunny?!

Laundry toilet window collage

The window has a new treatment also, the pot plant, candle and bird ornament tie in really well with the images of cherry blossoms in the wall art.  Can you tell I’m excited about this room?!  Is there a word for this, like, um… sad?!

Laundry vikki mugshot

Yes, it’s me – the saddo!  I took a photo to say Hi!  I love how the flash of the camera looks like a visual ‘beep’ to tune out expletives!  Do you know what I mean?!  Either that or my smile is much more dazzling than I realise!  Ha ha!  I wish!

This next photo was taken during re-painting the laundry…

Laundry during

Now I get to show you some before shots of the room… and it is Messy with a Capital M.  The laundry has been a dumping ground for tubs of fabrics, craft supplies, piles of ironing, and anything else we found during decorating the rest of the house that didn’t fit back in to its old surroundings.  Plus, there was no bench space and the top of my washing machine wasn’t a good choice as whatever was  upon it would vibrate off to the floor when the machine was on fast-spin.  So we got in lots of storage and just one small shelf was enough to keep my washing powder handy.  It’s so much more functional now.

Laundry general view collage

Okay, the photo was taken during the ‘clean out’… the mounds of ironing have been removed by this point and the floor wasn’t quite as messy.

Laundry door general collage

Laundry clothes hanging

I love this storage unit from… guess?  Yes, IKEA!  My spare clothes hangers have somewhere to live, and it’s great for hanging up wet shirts, as they were usually dried over the back of my dining room chairs.  Also – this is the one much-sought-after shelf… next to the washing machine.  Beneath are three wire pull-out baskets that I’ve labelled.

Laundry ironing basket

The main storage is this all-so-familiar, Expedit, from IKEA.  I’ve got craft stuff, sewing stuff, my overlocker, tools and cleaning supplies stored with still some space for other ‘stuff’.

Laundry after expedit

Mr SUDs and I have been busy in the garden too… it has been all systems go.  Sadly, my sewing machine has felt lonely, as has my needle and thread.  But some old furniture is really loving a new lease on life, as I’ve been revamping a few things too – I’ll be sure to show you when I get some good pics.

Not sure when I’ll find time to do the ironing – the pile isn’t any smaller – it’s just compressed!

I hope you’ve enjoyed the tour?  Thanks for visiting, and if you’ve got some washing to do… feel free!  (smile)

Warm wishes!

Vikki Smilexoxo

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