Freshly laundered vintage aprons, tablecloth and doileys.

Recently I purchased four vintage gingham aprons.

Three were chicken scratch embroidered.

I also purchased a chicken scratch table cloth.

Someone had put a lot of time and effort into embroidering it

and

the four aprons 

and

had never used them.

I washed all my purchases and ironed them,

and

they looked so lovely on the clothes line

I thought to photograph them.

I also got the 100% cotton lace in a pennant design from the same seller.

I have never seen cotton lace like this

and

I paid just $6 for it

and

two lovely little vintage embroidered doileys.

I'm quite impressed with my little purchases.

I think that makes about 30 aprons in my vintage collection now.

This unique garden ornament was given to me by my SIL.

He knows I love quirky rustic bits and pieces for my garden.

He found it somewhere and immediately thought of me....

LOL

Anyhow I added the rusted horse shoe

and

thought I'd leave the white fungus insitu,

because it looks like a white bunny rabbit profile.

Leave me a comment,

I'd love to hear from you.

New season rose bud

I would rather have one little rose

From the garden of a friend,

Than to have the choicest flowers

When my stay on earth must end.

Anonymous

This dear little bud is the first one to bloom on our new climbing rose.

It's only been in the ground for about 2 months.

It's growing about 12 inches a week

and

hopefully in no time it will be fully covering our garden arch.

Roses are not affected by the frost and we get LOTS of good frosts here

on the Darling Downs.

It won't be too long before we have our first frost.

This little climber has the most intoxicating fragrance and I just can't wait for that arch to be bloomingwell fragrant!

When it looks good enough I will photograph the arch and share it with you.

 

ANZAC DAY 2012

ANZAC

(Australia and New Zealand Air Corp) 

Day

In Flanders Fields

by 
Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

The following photos were taken at the  

2008

Ipswich ANZAC Day Parade

My daughter (centre) with her 2 fellow reigning

RSL (Returned Services League)

Girl in a Million winners 2007/2008

LEST WE FORGET

V is for Vintage Vignettes

Breezeway or fretwork panels

above my old bedroom door

in the house I grew up in

(built circa 1880).

These panels are iconic in Queenslander

and

colonial style houses

in

Australia.

Vintage Vignettes

Not very original I suppose

but

In this blogging world that I have become quite familiar with

it's all about
Vintage

and

that

suits me fine and dandy.

I've always been drawn to Vintage style,
even as a small child.

Needless to say my home is full of vintage vignettes.

Turn around and look in any corner or area

and that's what you will see.

I have learned through my US blogging friends that it's ok to be like this.....LOL

I don't have to feel guilty.

I used to say I was preserving the past for the future

and that still holds true

but

now

I can decorate with renewed
Verve and Vigour

not having to feel guilty

about my love and enjoyment of

all things Vintage.

Be it a pile of old junk... (I know I'll find 'something' that I can use).

No matter how derelict and disgusting that old pile of 'stuff' might be.
If it's old and pre-loved I'm pretty sure something in that pile of someone else's unwanted 'stuff' will become a treasure to me.

I particularly love this vintage laundry trolley complete with original clothes pegs.

It belongs to a friend of the family.

I just wanted to share this with you,

it's so lovely.

Thanks for joining me at

&

&

remember

I'd really love to hear from you.

If you follow me I will follow you right back.

I look forward to meeting some fellow Vintage lovers.

21st guest book and journal for my niece

Recently I made two gifts for my niece for her 21st birthday

This one incorporates a 21st birthday card

(the cover of the book)

and the book itself

served

as the guest book.

This journal to chronicle her 21st year was not meant as it turned out.

I originally bought the black A5 bound book at a cheapie shop and removed the wire binding.

I got a bit carried away with decorating pages

and it all got too big for the little black book's binding to handle

and I was running out of time.

I live in a very small town with not a lot of shops or choice.

I could have had it all bound but a printer

but

that takes time and I had no time.

So I went to the newsagent

and

found the above purple floral 2 ring binder.

It would have to do,

I was not really happy with it

but

it's the best I could come up with.

I had to have it ready for her party

so this is how it had to be.

This brown paper bag has a pull out tab.

The left hand page has a pull out card for journalling.

These groovy rainbow pages have pull out tabs as well.

Yeow baby!!!

Be thankful

&

Give thanks to the LORD for HE is good...

Psalm 136:1

Pages for doodling.

I included stickers, diecuts etc for

my niece to use in her journal.

Would love to hear your feedback!

Thanks for visiting.

Rocking chair and a patchwork quilt birthday card.

I just love these two stamp sets

from

Our Daily Bread Designs

The sets I have used are

Sew Special (rocking chair)

and

Sewn with Love sentiment

I used a 3D Punch and Emboss flower design

and

topped each with a colourful button.

A Fiskars border punch at top of card.

A white seam binding tape double bow

and

a

pretty brown and white checked brad.

I coloured the rocking chair with my trusty Aquarella pencils

and then

painted with my water brush.

I had a lot of fun making this card for my friend's birthday.

I never know quite how they are going to turn out, these cards seem to tell me what to do half the time....tweaking until it's just right.

Such fun.

Please leave me a comment

and I will visit your blog and do likewise.

Become my follower and I will become yours.

On another note and in the spirit of sharing amongst fellow bloggers

I would like to introduce you to a delightful blog

I discovered a few weeks ago.

Sandie at Steadman's Corner has a great blog.

Sandie loves GOD, junking and antiquing.

She is a wife and mother.

I love her opening photo, that's what initially got me interested.

I wanted to see more of her treasures and finds.

Please visit

Steadman's Corner

You won't regret it.

Thrifty Find Friday

I found this glass compote dish

at a

thrift store a few years ago

It is only cut glass

 but

it a beautiful piece

with

no chips or cracks.

I just love the style of it

and

everytime
I look at it

I

smile.

Thanks for visiting my blog today.

I am linked to

Thrifty Things Friday #54

@

The Thrifty Groove

http://thethriftygroove.blogspot.com.au/

and

Feathered Nest Friday
@
French Country Cottage
http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/feathered-nest-friday_12.html

The letter U

WoUldn't yoU like to visit this beaUtifUl landmark?

Paris, France...the city of lights.

I sUre woUld.

The letter U is Used more than one woUld think..

I initially thoUght I woUld speak aboUt words that need the letter U in order to be pronoUnced correctly

Words sUch as

qUaint, qUeer, qUalm, qUince, qUarter, qUagmire, qUintessential, qUarter, qUaver, qUeUe, qUeen, qUenelle, qUench... etc etc

All the words listed are 'q' words, bUt they woUld not be the same withoUt the Use of the hUmble letter U.

In my opening coUple of sentences alone I realised that the letter U is indeed Used qUite a lot and more than one woUld think.

I hope I have not neglected to specially acknowledge any single U's

in my ramble.

If I have please let me know.

Thanks for visiting me

at

EllenaElizabeth Makes.

If yoU follow me

I will follow yoU right back.

Exciting news for me anyhow,

I have just achieved my 40th follower!!!!!

Whoo hoo!!!!

Linking to:

Jenny Matlock's

Alphabe-Thursday's Letter U

http://jennymatlock.blogspot.com.au/

Our white picket fence in the country

We bought this house on The Darling Downs nearly 3 years ago.

We are into Autumn now and soon the geraniums, hibiscus, salvias, daisies etc will fall into their winter slumber before they make a big comeback early September for the first month of Spring in Australia.

The lavenders, roses, wild jasmine and others love the frosty mornings and cool to cold days and even grow and thrive during winter.

The ornamental plum tree has already lost its leaves.

The house is an old girl,  post WW2 most likely.

The interior walls are tongue and groove, which I just LOVE!

BUT

someone tried to modernise the house

most likely in the

1970's

and they sheeted them up with fibro and cover strips..... :(((((

This is the front garden which has an english theme

because we tried to fit in with the white garden edging

that was already in place when we bought the place.

We don't like it and could not be bothered painting it as we are only here 'short term' hopefully.

We want to buy a farm in the same area.

So that we can grow our own cattle, sheep, chooks and pigs.

And have some peace and tranquility

rather than having the hassle of noisy neighbours.

Thanks for looking.

Please leave a comment and I will visit your blog back.

Have a good day!!!!