Monday 23 February 2009

... how does your garden grow ...



Well you wouldn't know it if you looked out of the window today, but on Saturday we had sunshine, glorious, warm, Spring sun! It felt so good to be walking around with less layers on and feeling the heat of the sun on our faces. For the first time in ages I braved the garden and went outside for a good rummage. Yes, that's me in the photo above wafting gently around the place in my silk crinoline admiring the hollyhocks and flower covered archway ...



Actually that's a rather pretty cushion cover I found at a car boot last weekend. Determined to find something, I resorted to delving deep into dirty boxes and was rewarded with this pretty little thing, which was rust stained and smelly but responded well to some TLC. Not bad for 50p! Not only looking lovely now on an old chair but it goes remarkably well with an old apron that I caught Miss Blossom wearing the other day ...



she too has obviously got her mind on Spring and the flowers in her garden.



How I would love my garden to be full of these cottage garden flowers all Summer long. Not just the lovely display that lasts for a couple of weeks and then limps sadly through till September.



A garden full of interest the whole summer long is my aim in life! Not that easy with the squirrels eating all the bulbs, the slugs and snails munching on the foliage and two cats who love to lie on top of the most promising plants, just when they're coming into bloom.



Still. I mustn't give up hope. I guess the key is planning (and money!). Any seedlings I grow seem to disappear overnight and I am going to have to try and beg, borrow but not steal some new plants this year. I have in my mind exactly what I want to fill the gaps, drifts of foxgloves, hollyhocks and poppies all blooming nonstop!



I love looking through old gardening books for photos and pictures, the cover of this little book is gorgeous. I have not just been reading gardening books and walking oh so elegantly around my garden in my crinoline surveying the slowly awakening borders - I have been busy making these:



Lovely lavender sachets made from cotton printed with images from some much treasured vintage French seed packets. Not only have I found the urge to sew again, I have really, really been enjoying myself. I don't know if it's just seeing the beautiful graphics on the packets transformed into sachets, the pretty flowers on one side and the charming old growing instructions in French on the other, or the feeling of optimism that they produce, Spring is on its way!


Trays full of them have been produced. some have been sent to some shops and some are in my Etsy shop if you'd like to have a look. The equivalent of a potting shed full of summer promise. So until my make believe garden is full of those hollyhocks and I tire of wearing my bonnet and crinoline, at least I have the gorgeous scent of lavender wafting gently over me each time I walk into the room - nearly as good as my imaginary Mary Mary quite contrary garden, but not quite...

48 comments:

LissyLou said...

A thoroughly lovely post. x

Lesley (Notesfrommydays) said...

lovely pictures i do like the apron!
Lesley x

Anonymous said...

These sachets are wonderful.

Cape Cod Rambling Rose said...

What darling vintage embroidery, Kim! I just love hollyhocks!

Your sachets are so sweet, and they look lovely together in that old wooden box! xo

Connie said...

How adorable is that, honey?!?! I love vintage things or even vintage looking things! Just adorable,
xoxo,
Connie

{Love, Love, Love} said...

It is all so lovely and a nice reminder that spring will soon be on the way! x

Sal said...

I love all of your sachets,Kim!
I took a peek in your Etsy shop as well..all lovely!! ;-)

Simone said...

I do love to see a cottage garden packed to the brim with flowers. I am going to be growing hollyhocks for the first time this year along with lupins and red hot poker!!!

Sue said...

What a lovely post, and I love your little seed packet lavender bags. Brilliant idea.

Sue xx

Rowan said...

Love the cushion cover and the apron - very 1930s. Love those lavender sachets too, such lovely fabrics. I'm with you in the visions of a wonderful cottage garden flowering profusely right through the summer - haven't made the vision a reality yet though! Maybe this will be the year....

Thimbleanna said...

Oooh, I can just smell and see you and your crinoline walking through the garden! Love the little sachets. I have the same problem with my garden -- bits of pretty here and there, but never continuous. And my biggest pest (in addition to bunnies and chipmunks) is the shade. I love the trees, but they make for a difficult time planting shade loving flowers!

Lisa said...

Those sachets are just so lovely!
Hope your garden plans do make it through to planting and that not everything gets devoured by various creatures.
Lisa x

Gina said...

The cushion was a terrific find - how lovely! Your sachets are beautiful.

Unknown said...

The little sachets are beautiful and I am green with envy over the cushion cover.

A Thrifty Mrs said...

Love, love, love the cushions and aprons. How very nice you look in your dress too.
x

Willow said...

The sachets are just gorgeous, very vintage! Well done on your finds - it was worth rooting about in the boxes for! I feel all spring-like now!
Willow xx

Suzie Sews At DOTTY RED said...

it has been lovely catching up with your goings on, post after post of goodness. Loving that pinnie and the lavender sachets.... adorable....

Felicia said...

What a deal that cushion was. And so pretty too!

Jacoline said...

What a great fabirs and what a lovely post. I love gardening too and enjoy just looking at all the flowers

A time to dance said...

How lovely...I saw some of those see packets in France last summer and couldnt think of what to do with them...the pictures are lovely...I adore the colours ...how do you print them onto cotton??? I love the way you have displayed the in a seed tray...my husband swears by slug pub..email me for instructions...unfortunately they only like good beer...no homebrew....

Here, There, Elsewhere... and more said...

Great post - makes me feel that Spring is just around the corner...
can't wait to get back into the garden - there's a lot of work to be done but it'll be worth it...
love, love, love vintage embroidery..!

Goosey said...

Thats a lovely cushion cover, it's so nice to bring life back to something that someone else spent so long making in the past.

driftwood said...

oh how I would love to garden in a dress like that, somehow I think I'd get it rather muddy though....

OhSoVintage said...

Love the cushion cover and apron. Isn't it great finding some mucky, creased linen and transforming it into something beautiful with a wash, iron and starch? The sachets are great too, quite unusual. I love hollyhocks, we used to have a lot in one garden we lived at but none here.
Ruth x

Tracy said...

LOVE your vintage linens, Kim...and those sachets with vintage images are darling! Can almost smell that lavender...mmm...Happy Day ((HUGS))

Poppy said...

If only I could look like that when I was gardening!
The apron and those sachets are gorgeous; I wish I could find a beautiful cushion like that, I have not done a car boot sale in years I think I might now.
Love Lou xxx

Louise said...

The vintage seed packet sachets are such a great idea, and look wonderful all lined up together. x

Anonymous said...

Love your seed packet sachets, Kim! It won't be long until we spot green shoots poking out from the snow ... I for one can't wait!

xo,
Lynda

Niki Fretwell said...

Lovely finds and wonderful makes Kim - so glad that you have been enjoying some sewing time...

I could post some pink Hollyhock seeds off to you if you ike - saved from my plants last year...

Niki x

pigeon pease said...

Beautiful Lavender sachets, infact a post to remind you that summer won't be long

lynn x

Margaret Cloud said...

I like your post very much, the things are lovely, nice vintage post.

Cowboys and Custard Mercantile said...

Now there's a funny thing... I love foxgloves and hollyhocks too .. oh and poppies...
My little forest of foxgloves seem to have disappeared so, like you my friend, I am plotting another planting of seedlings.. hopefully from car boot sales.
I adore your little seed packets... they have to be bought en masse..it would be such a shame to separate them. One seed packet doth not make a garden!
Love Dx

Gone to Earth said...

That's a very pretty cushion cover. The design looks familiar but I can't think why. Love the sachets, lovely idea. I like those old flowers prints.

Elizabethd said...

What a delightful cushion. I can recall my grandmother making a similar one, she was such a good embroiderer.
What perfect sachets...but how do you do the graphics onto fabric? Or did you buy the fabric?
Love your crinoline, by the way!

Emma Herian said...

Kim! The lavander sachets are GORGEOUS! You have an excellent eye for something unique my dear.
LOVE LOVE LOVE them.

Very nice cushion as well,you look so relaxed. Come over and dig up my garden soon.
Emxx

mollycupcakes said...

They are just lovely Kim, I'm over loaded with Mother's day ideas now lol, Can't choose, so she might be getting a little more this year.
Fabulous post, yes wasn't Saturday a wonderful, it was miss Molly's birthday and we nearly all went out in the garden but sadly there was to much cat poo out there for it to be safe. Flaming pussies ARGH! they all need nappies on lol
Come on over and join my heart swap, I'd love to have you involved honey.
Hugs,
Catherine x

Teena Vallerine said...

oh those sachets are just beautiful! I'd like a whole tray of them. The sun is trying to shine again today - the garden is playing tricks - pretending it's ready for me but I know it's not - there will be more frosts yet I fear! March always plays these tricks. t.x

cathleen said...

What a pretty post this is...a joy to look at. Lovely, just lovely!

Anonymous said...

Hi Kim,

I love the lavender sachets too ~ I had to smile at the thought of wandering through your garden dressed in a crinoline!

Hope that spring arrives soon.

Marie x

ShabbyInTheCity said...

Those sachets! You are on a roll like Beachy! Very creative and cute!

Emily said...

I adore those embroidered flowers!! LOVE the seed packet saches. How did you get the picture on the fabric or did you purchase them that way? What's a car boot?? Sorry, I've got a lot to learn :)

Curlew Country said...

Oh how cheerful Kim! I can't recommend the plants from the WI country markets highly enough,. The ladies are always very helful, everything is dirt cheap and I haven't had a duff plant yet. I'm hopeless with seedlings and its such a treat to spend a fvier with the WI every few weeks instead and get colour for the whole summer long.

What a gorgeous cushion and apron. Must get to a car boot soon.
love Stephx

Pam said...

I can almost smell the lavender from here. Yes, isn't spring wonderful? I think (but possibly I'm kidding myself...) that if we didn't have winter then we wouldn't enjoy spring so much. These poor Californians and Floridians, basking in sunshine all year round.

You think?

Sam said...

Pretty pretty pretty!

Sam xx

Shirl said...

Those sachets are beautiful; very Kew Gardens!

Betty said...

I love that embroidery. I have planted hollyhocks so many times and they never come up. I think they are so pretty at the back of a flower bed too. If you have success with yours, I hope you'll share pictures.

Anonymous said...

Kim
Your car boot finds are wonderful as usual, you have such a great eye for all things bright and beautiful. It's a joy to visit.

Cherry x

Priscilla said...

I love the apron with the flowers! and the lavender sachet seed packes are adorable. Such a nice post...

Priscilla x