Garden wares....

It appears that the unsuspecting visitor who comes to pay a call to Acorn Lane over the next several months will be subject to some of it's history!
We have until July to pack up and temporarily move thirty five years of living in the same home, to prepare for our renovation...so editing and sorting has yielded some of the past at Acorn Lane...

....photos from some old files....

When I grew mostly roses in the garden, like the beautiful Abraham Darby, in the first photo, they inspired me in almost everything I did...

The look of old world gesso finishes, and the art of the impressionist painters was the feeling I hoped to impart to the surfaces of the vintage sap buckets and containers which I made and sold in the carriage house...each piece was totally unique and the dents and imperfections in the containers contributed to the whimsical charm they imparted to any setting...
I literally could not keep up with their production, and my Mom and I painted hundreds of pieces.

an old painted relief, which inspired the sap buckets....

A vintage chick feeder is converted into a romantic drinking vessel for the birds in our garden...gentle washes of colour and distressing are applied to the cabbage roses....
This piece could be attached to a post or hung from a tree branch.

A collection of old galvanized tubs become one of a kind garden containers, somewhat of an elegant feel, but the imperfect nature of the painting and words contribute to the naive quality and whimsical look....

A Belle de Crecy rose looking so at home with moss covered stones in the garden...

...inspiration....

A true dicotomy, roses and hostas in my garden!!!

...but I make it work....

Roses, moss and an old garden fragment amidst stone flagstones.....
I use the vintage iron brackets to support the heavily laden rose canes from brushing the ground....

 Foxglove....introducing more white and shade lovers into the garden these days....

A view of a potting bench, which I sold, as seen from the carriage house window....

The shade woodland garden serves as a soft and serene back drop to the glorious colour of roses, especially when contained in softly washed and distressed vintage garden wares....

I hope you enjoyed a glimpse into the past at Acorn Lane.

N.xo

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Some work...all play!

Dreaming someone will commission a vintage wedding this year.....just finished a wedding consult this afternoon....

A short post today....off to Chicago for the weekend to celebrate a friend's birthday.

Some work always deserves a little play!

Have a wonderful weekend!

N.xo

Credit for above photo, Victoria magazine.

Pinks, carnations and such....

When I'm stitching or tinkering, I'm usually dreaming....lost in some reverie my mind has stored and then conjured up from some other time.. prompted by an image or article I have read...

Yesterday, while going through some old files that had to be sorted, I found some garden notes I had made a long time ago. It was information about the Chelsea Garden Show and the Hampton Court Flower Show in England.  I thought how timely, since we will be visiting England this October....unfortunately when all the shows are over!
It is something I have always longed to attend and every spring I think this might be the year!

But what especially made my heart ache, was the information I found, again, about Malmaison carnations, the heady fragranced Belle Epoque blooms of over a century ago...

They originated in France, where else...as a chance seedling from the tree carnations, which were very popular winter flowers in the mid 19th century. It smelled like cloves, looked more like a rose, and so, was named Souvenir de la Malmaison, after the rose grown in Empress Josephine's garden. Is there anything more romantic or intriguing?

 Not for me!

In Britain, the outsize carnations, sometimes as large as a dinner plate, quickly became fashionable and were the darlings of the aristocracy, because of their rarity and incredible scent. They were only grown by wealthy gardeners who had glass houses.
Worn as a corsage, tucked into a button hole or gracing a dinner table, Malmaison carnations were never diluted with competing blooms. It was the carnation of Oscar Wilde.

They are a challenge to grow and need extreme coddling.  Today, Jim Marshall, a garden advisor to the National Trust is one of a few who grow and champion these long forgotten beauties. His little greenhouses, along with Crathes Castle near Aberdeen, house the National Collection of Malmaisons.  Can you imagine!!
This year the adventurous gardener will be able to grow these plants, as Mr.Marshall has made them far easier to grow through micro-propagation.He will be presenting them at the Hampton Court Flower Show.

Heaven!!

Perhaps, some seeds....

So here I sit, stitching, dreaming of perhaps dropping in to see Mr. Marshall and his collection this fall !!

Cleaning and sorting and editing has its benefits it seems!!

I purchased some carnations for Valentine's Day at the supermarket.  I have always thought they were exptremely underrated in the floral hierarchy of things...
This lovely, deep pink colour looked beautiful with some of my china...
They are gorgeous grouped en masse, and great for spherical floral creations, which I have used for wedding arrangements....

So, I continue to stitch and putter and think garden dreams....

I dream of Souvenirs of Malmaison and England.... and the possibilities....

Spring is not that far away....

Projects begin and end....

....and I may have to be content with some lovely pink tulips.....

Jim Marshall may be reached at...

4 The Damsells
Tetbury, Glos
England
GL8 8JA
Tel...0666-502589

The heady fragrance of Malmaison carnations is still used today by Floris for making soaps and bath oils.

N.xo

Gathering rosebuds.....

We get a very limited amount of sunlight through our windows because of the woods, but in the winter, when the trees are bare of their leaves, the sunlight streams in...

Much like this morning....it cast shadows over the lower terrace, and the iron garden set filtered its rays to create a lace pattern on the snow...

I had a million things I could be doing, but decided to stop and savour the moment...
One of those...stop and smell the roses kind of moment....

One of the things that will be a top priority in the renovation will be larger windows, so that we can experience more sunlight indoors and views of the garden and the surrounding woods will be maximized...

The sunlight filtering through the milk glass gave it a translucent quality...

Even the stopper on my olive oil bottle adopted an alabaster look....

Every little detail and relief was at an advantage...

Everything looks so much prettier with the sun shining on it...

Even this vintage bark cloth slipper chair in the kitchen looked softer....

It gave a gossamer quality to the organdy curtains in this window....
Sunlight in the winter is so different, I think it is the reflection from the snow that adds to its
particular beauty this time of year....

This whimsical vintage funnel was painted some time ago, but it's message is timeless...

....Gather ye rosebuds....

On a day like today, with the sun shining through the windows.....
moments to savour and record for another time....

Wishing everyone a most Happy Valentine's Day.....


N.xo

More romantic notions....

I think, without actually counting, I have watched Sophia Coppola's film, Marie Antoinette a few times, perhaps three, maybe four!
The romantic and tragic poignancy of Coppola's depiction of this legendary heroine keeps me going back for more.  I think it is my love of detail, that I devour every bit of it here, which she does not spare in any way in her film....

This precious little figurine, beckoned me to take it home, from the thrift store..

I am not supposed to be doing that, I'm editing...

The need to get going on a few mock ups for events this Spring, in the midst of packing boxes and editing??? I made a few items for contemplation....
these will be presented for approval or tweeking...

I have been attempting to recreate vintage boite livres a l'ancienne, book boxes,
cache pots, tresor keepers... for a bit now....
a sample I made this week....

....not so perfect stitches....

...a bit French, a bit primitive, a bit Victorian.....

The shoes in the movie, were made by Manalo Blahnik and Pompei,
and the exquisite costumes by Milena Canonero, who won the Oscar for Costume Design as you may remember...

My attempt at making a centerpiece design for an upcoming ladies event, I cannot mention right now, it is still in the works, but promise to share at a later time....

....moss, sneaking in there again....and birds....

Hope you enjoyed me sharing some work related brain storming this morning...
The sun is shining today, and the sky is that beautiful French blue...

Nature gets it right every time...

....very romantic....

N.xo

Still plagued by blogging issues, yukkk....