House Tour - continued:

The tour of my house continues with , , , the foy yea!

The previous photo was taken toward the front of the house. In this one, I'm standing on front of the double doors. The pump organ belonged to my great-grandmother - father's side.

The painting over the doorways is of orange blossoms to complement the porcelain fruit - a gift from the previous owner.

The door to the powder room.

Cassie's crate is in this room as well, and yes, I play the harp - quite badly!

Have to restart my lessons.

Best wishes to Miss Middleton and Prince William on their wedding day.

Love, Linda

Cottage Colors Party

It's the Cottage Colors Party on Etsy Cottage Style,
and this time the color is Pink!
So . . . here's some of my pink stuff!

Pink roses from the flower show.

Some of my Pink rose china.

Rose painted door - it has the old glass doorknobs along the bottom to

 use for hooks. It reads "I'll always have Paris."

Scrap Soup.

My Pink patchwork curtains.

John Waterhouse print of Psyche Entering Cupid's Garden,

in her Pink outfit.

My magnolia is finally blooming!!

Wonderful rose fabric from Teacupstitches! 

I know it's not the season, but I wanted to share my Pink tree topper.

My Pink begonias made it through the winter. Going to plant them outside this week.

Hope your day is "in the Pink!"

Love, Linda

Planting Onions

I'm used to flower gardens - I've cultivated flowers for years - but never any vegetables, except the odd cherry tomato plant. Since there's not much sun here, I'm going to try vegetables in pots - hmmmm, we shall see.

I planted some tiny sage plants. I'm starting everything in the greenhouse for a week or so - except the potatoes - more about them later.

And the lettuce is starting to come up. I planted lettuce seeds.

Onion sets. I have no idea what kind they are or how close to plant them. Well, here goes!

Isn't this a great pot?? It came with the house.

Anybody know if they are too close together??

Too late!!

I took some more pictures of the sky and trees. Look, we are finally getting some baby leaves!

Oh, the potatoes. I read about this somewhere. Get a HUGE flowerpot or a half barrel, and fill it about one fourth with potting soil. Plant your seed potatoes and cover with about an inch of soil. When the plants start growing, cover the stems with soil until they gradually reach the top of the pot. More potatoes will form off the stems as they are covered. When you harvest, the whole pot will be full of potatoes! This sounded great so I tried it. No sprouts yet, but it seems a lot easier than planting them in the ground.

And, made a quick spring wreath for the door. Before . . .

And after.

Happy Easter!

Love, Linda

April eighteenth

A crocus day

of sun-warmed promise

is handed me,

with azure sky.

I'm going out

to rake away the melancholy

with the winter leaves.

Love, Linda

Show 'n Tell

Hi, and Happy Friday!
I've had a few requests to see the inside of my house, so today I'll show you my living room. I have lived here almost a year and has it gone fast! I had a Cape Cod cottage before and this is an Italian mini-villa, so my tastes are heading toward European with a detour at Medieval. But my bedroom and guest room are still shabby cottage. It has two bedrooms.
The house was built by two artists in 1957, with add-ons in the 70s. I purchased the house from a well-known literary agent (that's all I'm going to say Toni, unless you want me to add a link to your workshops!), who had lots of mini-greyhounds thus, the tile floors. It's built into the side of a hill, so when you walk around the house you can go into the second story. There is an iron spiral staircase from Europe and a greenhouse off the guest room. Two of my dogs run up and down the spiral stairs, the third (Sunny) will have nothing to do with it, so she has to go outside and around at bedtime.

The spiral stairs are in the foyer - I'll show you that next post. That's Cassie at the top wondering if I'm making dinner.

 One end of the living room. The cabinet came from ebay! My TV is inside. The sofa is to the left, but A. The mirror over it kept reflecting the flash and B. You can see the doggie gate across the doorway - not very House Beautiful.

 My precious wood stove.

 Detail. (lol)

This is my friends and I (really a flea-market find called "Merry Springtime")

Santos crowns on the windowsill

 The other end of the room.

I like John Waterhouse prints

I also collect Goofus Glass - which used to be 50 cents to $2.00 a plate, and is still pretty cheap, which is why I can afford to collect it, since my money all goes to the Mortgage Company.

This lady is riding on a fish.

 

That's all for now, Next time, I'll show you the foyer. Have a wonderful weekend - I'm off to work. Love, Linda

Goodies!

Hi Friends,

I wanted to show you some of the lovely things I've found lately. My very first Etsy purchase - in fact the first shop I landed on - was this lovely piece from Contemporary Embroidery: http://www.karenruane.blogspot.com/. I typed in "white-on-white embroidery" and up it popped! My photograph below doesn't do it justice, so I took a few sideways to show the lovely raised stitching.

Karen is a true artist. I'm not yet sure if I will frame it or make a pillow.

Next is fabric purchased from Sew Love Fabrics www.sewlovefabrics.etsy.com. 

 And from Sew Deerly Loved http://www.sewdeerlyloved.etsy.com, more pretty fabric!

Soon to be incorporated into new creations.


Remember that pretty pink package?? It came from Shabby Cats and Roses http://shabbycatsandroses.blogspot.com/. 
First, there was chocolate and herb tea, then a pink shaker:

Yum!

AND . . . this lovely pillow.

I bought it for my sister for Christmas - but I may keep it - it looks lovely on my bed. By now, my credit card is smoking, but what do I see but this beautiful book on Sandy's Shabby Streamside Studio blog. http://myshabbystreamsidestudio.blogspot.com/. It's in German, but it doesn't matter,  the photography and the rooms are inspirational. The link is on Sandy's blog.

So, now my credit card is frozen in an ice cube tray where I can't get at it, until it cools down!

Love, Linda