my little sweet pea

Sweet Peas possess such delicious and delicate looking blooms... displaying vibrant bursts of colour along the countryside. How could anyone resist them? They practically beg with all their glory to be plucked from the roadside.

Today Mr. vG and I took a little detour after dropping my vehicle off for servicing. We decided to take the quiet back roads home, and to my delight, the wild sweet peas were in their prime. We couldn't not pull over for a small bouquet.


This is my Little Sweet Pea, Ava. I've called her "sweet pea" {not in front of her friends of course} since I can remember.... and now I can see the resemblance. She is delicate yet hardy, beautifully bright and irresistable. A treasure.

Happy Monday!

burlap pillow

I have been soooooo inspired by sooooo many blogs and their burlap pillows! I decided today, after ironing for two hours straight {sigh} that I needed to get a project done that would make me smile. And so I blew off the dust on my 1958 Singer sewer, which is actually the night table in the above photo, and put my straight line only sewing skills to work.

This is the before pillow. It's actually a pillow from my living room set. I was never a fan of these pillows and my plan is to eventually cover them all.

With some left over burlap from other projects, I sewed three edges of my new pillowcase, and placed the old pillow in it's entirety inside. Then I sewed the fourth edge closed right along the old pillow edge with the sewing machine. I will fold over the last outter edge and sew a button for detail. This is probably not the correct pillow making method..but it worked out well for me.

Since I was free handing the writing on the pillow, I did a few practice numbers and letters on a scrap piece of burlap. Breathing deep, I went for it, and am quite happy with the result. Why the number 60? It's our street address. The stripes were made using the measuring stick.

Initially I made this pillow to go back to it's original home on my living room sofa, but instead I think I really like it in my bedroom.

I've always been a little timid with the sewing machine. I think I have a secret fear of ruining fabric, so I pine over all the beautiful things that I think should be simple to make and that I'd love to make, but never take the plunge to try. It also doesn't help that my old sewing machine can't decide whether it wants to sew fabric or eat it! But I DID IT!

As Nike says "just do it". I'm trying to instill that into many aspects of my life. I'm tired of complaining of the things in life I'd like to do. Time to break free and instead of "just talking".... I'm "just doing".

Cheers to doing it ... did I just say that right now? oh yes I did!

I've linked this to: The Shabby Nest & The Virginia House & Home is Where My Story Begins

Hope you had a wonderful weekend!

hydrangea's are blooming & a tomato story

I just can't decide.... I always say Hydrangeas are my favourite flower, then the next minute it's Delphiniums, then Lilacs, Foxgloves, Peonies, Lavendar, Wisteria, Climbing Roses, really I could go on and on and on.

Mother Nature's beauty is simply too stunning to choose just one favourite.

Today the Hydrangea's are beginning to make their appearance. Even though they are still quite small, I just couldn't help myself. With scissors in hand, I spared three blooms to quench their thirst in my new {old} milk jugs. It's love.

So much love, that I couldn't even figure out where to put them...I want them everywhere. But they found their home in my typical spot, on the dining room table.

Sadly, the rain yesterday toppled some of my Delphiniums. So I rescued the blooms on the ground and brought them in to enjoy. This is actually the first year I've brought anything other than my Peonies inside. I'm not really sure why. But I do know, that I've recently started clearing away needless clutter and have let the flowers take over. Fresh flowers in the house make me smile.

In my gardens...

I absolutely love the smell of fresh Lavendar. Usually, I rome the garden every morning with my coffee in tote, weeding. And every morning I stop at my Lavendar. If my Lavendar bush could talk...it'd probably say, "Oh nooooo, here comes that crazy lady and her coffee to feel us up again."

Mr. vG's tomatoes

Mr. vG and I recently took a mini holiday together. We toured Niagara Falls and Niagara on the Lake. It was absolutely wonderful! We visited the Botanical Gardens and spotted these stainless steel spiral tomato stakes. We both instantly thought they were genius. So I made a mental note in my head..."Father's Day".

Every year Mr. vG plants roughly around 30 different types of tomatoes. It's really only a strip of garden, but it gets full sun along the fence there and produces the most amazing tomatoes. However, he spends way too much time staking and tying the plants up all summer, that's why these spiral stakes are so amazing! They go in the ground so easily, and it's not hard at all to get them straight. And NO tying...simply turn the plant along the spiral and it holds up!! I think they are quite pretty too.

As soon as we got home, I started secretly looking online to find where I could get my hands on them. As luck would have it, Lee Valley, a store only 45 minutes away carried them, and not overly expensive either!

Happy Gardening!

our garden in June...

About 5 years ago, Mr. vG and his weight belt went out into every forest, nook and cranny to find us these stones for our front walk. We have two types of greenery growing between the rocks...your typical iris moss and some type of succulent that I haven't the slighest what it's called. I heart my walkway.

More dedication on behalf of Mr. vG and his endless talents...he built this charming gate for the side of the house... and more back breaking stones lead us to the backyard.

Mr. vG also poured his blood, sweat and tears into this fence 2 summers ago. We have rocks upon rocks underground here...so alot of fencing companies won't even dig the post holes because it completely wrecks their equipment. So he dug it all out by hand...4 feet deep per hole, and let me tell you...we could have a tornado pass through, our house would be flattened but this fence isn't going anywhere! Last summer he tackled the other side and will complete the lattice this year. I'm so very proud of all his hard work!! {ILYMTYK}

Hmmmm, I'm starting to wonder what I do around here??? Well below is a picture of our canopy. We've always had it out in the lawn much to my dismay. Our lawn is sloped ever so slighly but enough to make you feel sea sick on the chairs. Our neighbour was putting in a pool last year and ripped up their deck. So we used the wood from their old deck {thanks B&D} to make a little platform to straighten out our canopy.

So did I build this? Uhhh no, Mr. vG did. He even hooked up speakers, you can see the black squares in the top corners of the canopy. Now I can groove in the garden. But I did make the pleated skirt around the base of the platform. I used burlap and a staple gun and topped it off by nailing in a piece of trim. I love how it really softened up the look and it's almost as if it's free floating. I love the way this project turned out.

Eventually, we have plans to put in wooden structure, perhaps a pergola like the pictures below:

This project is put on hold for now as it requires a huge budget. I've been told... "I always make things difficult." So we can't just build the darn structure...first I NEED to blow out my dining room window for french doors because I NEED to be able to see the stone fireplace from inside too. Oh yes, my list is soooo long and my dreaming has to stop or else I'll never get anything done around here!!

So for now, I'll count my lucky stars that I have a husband who slaves around here and enjoy what I have, because really when it comes down to it... good friends and a glass of red wine are all I need!

Finally this year I planted a few herb pots! I love basil, cilantro..well any herb really. This year we are trying out some pineapple basil too...very interesting!

And our peonies are blooming! What a wonderful sight! Now if I could just order Mr. Sun back....

Here's wishing you all a Fantastic Weekend ~CHEERS