my vintage china cabinet..

Today I thought I'd show you some pictures of one of my most favorite china cabinets. I picked up this half round glass vintage cabinet a few years ago now at a garage sale for $150. I didn't know much about vintage furniture back then. It had no mirror backing or glass shelves. So I had someone do all that for me for an additional $150..so all up it cost me $300 . I have seen these in antique stores for way more but sometimes if you are lucky you can pick them up for around that price anyway.. sorry but this is the only pic I had of this before I painted it.. you can still see it in the background..

Today it looks like this...

The dinner set you at the bottom was also a garage sale find just a few weeks ago.. I nearly fainted when I saw it as this is one of my most favorite patterns. If you look at my header pic you can see 4 small plates in this pattern that I have had for ages and just adored. So to see a whole dinner set I had to really control myself to get it at a good price. How much you ask?.. all of $30! Definately a keeper!

I purchased this bowl set from an antique store so it was a bit pricey but I just had to have it. I just love the colours and the floral design.

Here are some more of my favorite vintage pieces ... Royal Albert plate..

A jug set which is ever so delicate..

A 4 piece Royal Albert rainbow trio set.. would you believe I broke the green cup when I got it home .. I nearly died. I did try finding one on ebay for a while.. but gave up..mmm maybe I should look again.

This next tea set was a gift from a friend who knew someone that was going to throw it out. How sweet of her to think of me! I think it is soo cute and it was still brand new in the box.. looks like an unwanted wedding gift or something! It came with 6 cups and saucers in the shape of a heart and also a leaf shaped sandwich plate. The roses on this are just gorgeous.

Well I hope you enjoyed my little tour of my china cabinet. As you can see I just love old china! take care, Maryann

my farmhouse cabinet.. and a new year's resolution??

Hi girls, well it's already one week into the new year! I hope 2011 will be a good year for all of you, may all your dreams become a reality! Christmas was a great event at my place this year with 57 people it was really a great day. Fred and his brother had the gokarts and buggies ready for the boys .. and girls .. as for me sipping on my wine, just sitting down doing nothing was all I needed.

We went away for a week after that to the south coast. We have an onsite van there, which is very handy as all I need to pack when we go is clothes and food. The kids love it there and James is such a keen fisherman. He'll get up early in the morning to go fishing by the side of the lake and he always comes back with something.. a flathead or bream.. but you know what the funny thing is.. he fishes with cabbanossi, salami or even bacon. No need for prawns or your regular fish bait! He cracks us up every time!

We are now thinking of selling the van but I have had this cabinet which I love in there and decided to bring it home.

Not sure about it being blue though as everything I have is pink or green. Looks like the white paint may have to come out. The handles will have to go too, the ones that are on it look like cotton spools. I love its rough texture, like that of fence palings, and the chicken wire. It used to store beach towels at the van but now it will hold all my tablecloths. For now I just threw anything on top till I get a bit more inspired.

If there is one thing I learnt at the end of last year when I had so much to do in so little time.. is that it's amazing what one can do when one has a deadline.. and that it CAN be done. I was pushing myself every day to get the house and garden how I wanted it. Now if I could apply that to my life every day I could achieve so much more than I have.

In the past I have never really been in to new year's resolutions.. perhaps because I know I'll never keep them, but this year I'm making one and one only..

and that's to STOP procrastinating and GET ON with it!!

So... starting from now, I am going to get off my butt and put all those ideas and designs I've had floating around in my head for years and make them real. I am going to stop putting off till tomorrow what I can do today.  Dreams don't come true just wishing them.. YOU have to MAKE them come true..

So again I hope all your dreams come true, no matter how big or small. Let's make the most of 2011.. as I certainly intend to.

have a good one! Maryann

getting there.. finished quilts and bring on Christmas!

Hi girls, it's been VERY hectic here lately.. but I thought I'd show you some pics of the quilts I finished..
THis is the ballerina quilt.. I love making these.. shame about the fabric being discontinued though. I made this as a gift for my niece.

The other quilt was a customer order and she wanted roses.. so roses she got!!

I also had an order for a cushion but ended up making 3.,, well I was on a roll! They all look like this.(only 1 left)

Yesterday I got the blinds put in my bedroom and lounge ..They are just holland blinds but I am very happy, and even happier that they will only take me a minute to clean when need be.

Ofcourse I still need to put curtains up and am putting just one curtain on each on the sides closest to the walls. Not sure what kind yet as this room will be getting a makeover once I decide exactly what I want.

Finally our Christmas decorations went up to. We are sticking to red, gold and green.. the kids would have my head if I changed it to pink and white, so this is for them..

I even found some mini chandelier ornaments.. how exciting!

and some sparkly snowflakes..

and we couldn't leave santa hanging so we hung him on my archway.. you press his leg and he starts swaying and singing.. he's pretty cool..and always makes me smile..

and what is Christmas without our nativity set.. .

and just to keep me happy a little pink and silver in the dining room....(little do they know I am gradually taking over...he he!)

I WAS hoping to have my dining table painted white by christmas but I don't think that's gonna happen, it's still the same as I left it in my last post.. in undercoat. With all the rain we've had, my garden and the weeds have gone wild so I have spent so much time sprucing the garden up and pulling out weeds and getting rid of snails!  I'll be mainly cleaning my house inside and out in the next few days and believe me it needs it! We are having a family get together on boxing day at my place... about 57 people..(15 people on my side and 42 on Fred's!)  Every family is bringing something which works out really well so I don't have to spend xmas day pulling my hair out ....cooking all day.

I'm a little sad that my flooring didn't get done and my new lounge room is no where near finished... as I would have liked the house to be totally finished... .but I suppose it's something to look forward to next year.

Not sure if I'll be posting again before Christmas so if I don't I truly wish you all out there a wonderful and safe Christmas! Love always, Maryann

front garden rockery..

Today I thought I'd show you what we are up to in the front garden. If you've been following you'd know that due to our extension we've had to dig into the land, leaving us with one big muddy mess at the front.

I had taken inspiration from these photos for a retaining wall with sandstone done in tiers. We have so much sandstone on our property it was the obvious way to go.

and since then it has gone from this, in my last post..

to this......this is the front corner..

We used block pavers for stepping stones and a crushed concrete/brick mix for the base. We had intended to pave that entire section around the house but after we did the stairs we decided bugger that to scrap that idea!! Besides I love the look and the sound the gravel makes when you walk on it. Reminds me of a show I love to watch called 'escape to the country' which is an english show where they view country cottages and they ALL have crushed gravel or pebbles.

this is from the back looking to front..

Lisa suggested we add more stepping stones on the grass from our round about where we drive in to encourage people to use the front door.. we are so used to using the back door!

We also made some stairs using the pavers we already have and also made a row of them right across the front and down the sides. These were all cemented in and act as a border between the grass and garden and most importantly will catch the water when it rains to take it away from the house and down the sides..

but as you can see we have only finished half the project..bugger.. the rest will have to wait until after Christmas now..

but hey, I'm not complaining.. I need a rest from all the back breaking, heart aching, finger nail scraping, sun scorching, mud squishing, digging, shoveling and cementing. I had to wash every paver and rock as since they are just lying down the back of our property they were full of mud so that had to come off first if they are to stick to the cement properly.  

I have to say though I'm very happy with it and wish I had a better camera and a degree in photography to show you how pretty it's looking.  Ofcourse you can hardly see the plants  as they are only little, but on the top level, which is what will show from the road, I went for alternating yellow and white carpet ground cover roses with a munstead lavender in blue in between.

For the lower tier a mixure of cottagy plants in all different colours. I can't wait till they grow and start to flower. Here's a couple of pics of my garden at the moment. Wish they were better quality as every time I try to take pics of my garden they always come out wishy washy. I can't tell you how many photos I've taken over time that I never end up using.  Any tips would be appreciated!

Ok, I'm off to give one more coat of paint to the trim around my lounge room windows. I am getting some blinds installed tomorrow morning to the windows in the front, which is my new lounge and bedroom. Even though my whole house has venetians I have opted for simple roller blinds as in all honesty I am over cleaning venetians, no matter how much I like the look of them!  Eventually I will change the whole house to roller blinds as they give such a light and airy feel to a room and bring the outside in.

Will show more pics soon.. take care, Maryann

To paint or to sew???

This seems to be the question I ask myself every morning lately.. will I paint or will I sew?

Last week I finally made a start on my dining room table, actually the chairs...

This is going to be a bigger job than I anticipated. The table itself has sort of split and lifted slightly in the middle so hubby needs to attach some wood underneath so he can hammer it down and he also needs to cut out some seat for the chairs. It did originally have springed seats but they were all out of wack (which was not mentioned when I bought them from ebay) so all that needs to be done.

I have been painting them by hand and it takes me about an hour to give a chair 1 coat. It is so fiddley and it was just last Friday I was saying to hubby I need to buy an electric spray gun so I can just spray them. I would ask hubby to spray them but he has so much on his plate right now I thought I'd just do them myself.

Anyhow you wouldn't believe what I found at a garage sale I went to on Saturday...

Now is that freaky or what..! and only 5 bucks.. bargain!

 I haven't tried it out yet as this week I decided I really need to get some sewing out of the way..

These fabric squares will be a ballerina quilt soon.. I am making it as a gift for my neice's little girl.

She is just adorable and reminds me soo much of Lisa when she was a baby! She melts my heart! The squares in the background are for a quilt for a customer. All floral, it's going to be so pretty.

I'll show pics when it's done.  Ok better go as I have lots more cutting to do.. hope you have all been well..

take care, Maryann



When life throws you lemons?

What do you do when life throws you lemons.... and lemons.. and lemons..? Well you cook them ofcourse!

I have had so many lemons from my tree this year I could not stand seeing them literally fall from my tree to rot. After giving some away to family I decided to have a go at making a few different lemon recipes. With the chopped up peel you see above I made candied peel... great to use in cakes or sweets..

With the juice I made home-made lemonade...

and heck I even had a go at preveserving some too!

But I think my favorite thing to make for summer from now on is GRANITA!

This is my first go at it and it was so yummy. Granita is very popular in Italy and Malta.. sort of a cross between an iceblock and a slushy... so from this...

to this!

It was delish! and if any of you would like the recipe

for the Granita click here  My kids loved this so I think I'll be trying a few different flavours this summer.. take care, Maryann