Easily missable, everyday lovely and Vintage Inspired Calendar for August

http://www.houseonthehill.co.nz/

I think that my very best label is "everyday lovely" why?..

because when you consider the events of most of our lives in 

any given week they are often simple, routine, easily missable

& seemingly insignificant unless we have our 

"everyday lovely" glasses on. 

Only then is it possible to see that life may indeed 

have been crammed with sweet encounters & events.

Like a bowl full of gentle offerings for "Katie" 

from a sweet wee boy.

  together we picked some of mummy's favourite flowers

finding freshly dropped macademia nuts on the footpath 

when out walking with my love

(I didn't know that they were ready in winter!)

walking by some waste land today & spotting
these vibrant calendular flowers. 

I think I might infuse some in almond oil to use for my

next batch of skin cream ..nearly run out again. 

(follow the link for my recipe)

rediscovering the skinniest bit of paper with the simplest 

recipe for fruit cake that you could ever imagine & finding 

that it works really well

the astonishing royal blue of the berries that have 

turned up on the the mondo grass

sunshine in winter & afternoon tea in the garden

..with visitors

pretty finds from Trade me

two sweet vintage necklaces

and some exquisite vintage French ribbon

which will be lovely for using on one of my upcycling projects like this cotton sweatshirt that I "did" sometime ago

 

of course when you are immersed in everyday loveliness you

don't spend too much time fussing about the front "moss"

..we no longer have a front "lawn" after a winter of 

persistent rain, instead you take pictures that can only be 

captured when the world around has been stripped bare

much

Whimsical Tea Cosies and Vintage Inspired Calendar: July

www.houseonthehill.co.nz

 

 A couple of weeks ago, I reserved 

this zany book at the library

(essential the reservation.. it's very popular!!)

Ah, I so fell in love with this

so out came my wool & 

my knitting needles

& some more wool was bought,

especially since Spotlight 

had all yarn at 1/2

price for a day or two.

 Then what should I see,

but the

Vicar Calling for Tea 

at Magpie Chic

 Her dear Magpie Chic mum had just made her this : )

however..I find I am still positively crap

at knitting! So in the blink of an eye 

the knitting needles

were sent away in disgrace

and my dear trusty crochet

hooks retrieved for service.

Phew... the book also has 

patterns for crocheted flowers.

Here was a completed rose 

flaunting itself shamelessly

atop a teapot.

Bit of a trick all this wool!

But that looks better!

I (we! Matt gave me a hand) lined this

old suitcase with this lovely old

lavender wallpaper

 so that now the suitcase is upcycled

& the yarn has a new home

Yes! I thought with relief, we can do this after all : )

I made up the body part & lined it with a wee 

piece of lovely old green vintage blanket,

blanket stitched the two together

& attached the roses to the top..

now here's the trick..the instructions were odd

so I made a little blanket platform for the flowers

to sit on & blanket stitched around that edge too

so that eventually I ended up with this!

Vintage button to secure the front

as we don't want to be revealing 

too much cleavage now do we!

I have also been making crocheted

flower brooches but I will have to save

that for another post!

I did however, find this lovely old 

basket at the Sallies recently

It's in very good condition.

Plastic lined but no tears. 

I have a feeling it has quite a bit of age on it.

What do you reckon?

Vintage Inspired Calendar for June and Other Vintage Finds.

www.houseonthehill.co.nz 

I am so loving this inspired & delightful calendar.

One of my lovely finds this last week was in fact this very chic 

vintage pattern & the pretty pink crocheted doily.

I took this photo before turning the page of the calendar : )

It was bit soggy here last week, to say the least, so I found myself

with a little more time inside than usual & since Rob was working

5 afternoons I had a lovely time sorting through my doily hatbox..

one I did a revamp on a little while ago

  some simple decoupage on the lid

only it wasn't long before my hatbox found itself commandeered & repurposed

I was delighted to accidently discover the relocated 

"Habit for Humanity" Op Shop in it's re-opening week. 

They have come in to town & are now just around the

corner from "Connections" our wonderful Hospice shop.

At H for H I found this really interesting afternoon tea cloth.

It has come up really nicely with a good soak.

I am always on the look out for pretty vintage cotton sheets

& thought that I might make some bunting out of the various

stripes & florals.

  I am sure that they would flutter very happily in the breeze

being well used to all that breeziness in a previous life.

I found the stripe on the chair this week.

& these pretties came as a pair : )

ah, but getting the washing dry is a wee bit of a challenge in the rain 

so out came our wooden clothes rack.

Of course Moja thinks it's a hut just for him.

a truly versatile & multi purpose apparatus

it has many uses indeed !

Much love Catherine X

May Day & Vintage Inspired Calendar May 2010

Lily of the valley is the traditional flower for the month of May.

Here it is flowering in a pot in my courtyard last September

This exquisite flower is my favourite flower & the only fragrance that I ever wear..I just adore it! In the language of flowers lily of the valley symbolizes the return of happiness, purity of heart, sweetness, tears of the Virgin Mary, you've made my life complete, humility, happiness, love's good fortune. It is the symbol of May Day & known as a May Lily & Our Lady's Tears because it is said that it grew from the tears shed by the virgin Mary at the cross.

Since it is, in fact, May Day today I decided to do a little research & it seems that there is quite a lot of celebrating done around the world at this time. Most of the traditions hark back to pagan rituals & beliefs which I'm not so keen on but since we've just celebrated Easter I will go with the symbol of Mary's tears at the cross...& purity... & since her Son did indeed turn up again right as rain "the return of happiness" seems to fit quite well!

I rather like an English tradition that is said to have been...

"fading in popularity since the late 20th century & is the giving of "May baskets" small baskets of sweets and/or flowers, usually left anonymously on neighbours' doorsteps."

Now that one could well do to be unfaded! 

A beautiful flower that grows well here in Hawke's Bay in late summer is the Belladonna Lily or Naked Lady. They also come in several shades of pink.

I would often stay with my grandparents in Wairoa during the school hols in May when I was a child. I loved collecting the seeds & making strings of "pearls"...soo pretty.

Naked Ladies, their beauty & fragrance will always remind me of Nan especially as her birthday is the 26th May.

This autumn has been so mild & so pretty. Sometimes we take our lovely things & go just out of town near the river & at the top of a stock bank, we sit & have some bubbly wine together, play our most romantic music & watch the sun go down...