I just love the springtime!  I love seeing all the new life popping up all over as the land becomes awash with color!  I finally finally have a garden of my own.  I have been reclaiming every bit of sun filled space in my back yard and filling it with edible plants!  The hubby built some raised beds and I gathered assorted pots and with seeds and a few trips for plants I was off down the garden rabbit hole!

I planted my potatoes in pots and a broken storage container, my melons in pots and will trail them over the bench.  In the corner is a fig tree and to the left a current bush (my fav jam is current) and to the left, the only non edible, a hydrangea bush (just because it was too beautiful to throw away so I just moved it over a bit). 

Blueberries and pots of herbs.  The strawberries aren’t showing in the pic but I have two large planters full.  I have a bird nesting in the house!

My raspberries.  I put up the trellis today so they are ready to go.

The backyard is so different than when we moved in.  It had sick trees and a few sad looking plants lining the parameter.  I still have one area to clear and more grass to get planted, but is sure looks much better.  I miss my roses and am thinking lining the fence along the gate way with roses.  Perhaps adding a lilac as well.  So many fun possibilities.  My yard is not huge but it is big enough to be just right!

I have also been busy inside moving things about.  I always seem to like to refine my decor and move things here and there as I acquire new treasures.  To this end, I have slowly been bringing all my favorite books out again and collecting a few more of my favorite authors.  This unit used to hold lots of brick a brack but I love it so much more filled up with books!  My hubby and I discovered the book area of St Vinnie’s and our book collections are growing by leaps and bounds!

I had three days off a few weeks back and decided I just had to move the hutches around.  I wanted the black hutch in the family room with all the black painted furniture.  First I moved my tea cup collection to my formal dining hutch (yes the amazing one I scored last year for a song).  So many of these pieces are from my grandmothers and my mom and have such sentimental value as well as beauty.  That little sick a bed tray was forever in my Grandma Reser’s house and I always admired it so.  Imagine my delight when one day she passed it on to me!

Once I moved the brown china cabinet to the entry way I decided I wanted a few of my favorite pieces out in view.  This cabinet hold so many of my favorite pieces.  My mom has a huge basket collection and I haven’t been able to resist the few I’ve found at estate sales….sentimental ole fool that I am.  My kaleidoscope collection…started with one piece I found at Pike Market in Seattle while on a business trip and immediately quadrupled with I found a yard sale where a collector was cleaning out their collection…imagine my delight when numerous pieces were by the same artist as my first piece!  I love kaleidoscopes it feels magical looking through the lens into a world of color and motion!  Also housed here is my recent collection of Hummel figurines.  These will go to Erica at some point as she is the Hummel collector, but I cannot resist these adorable pieces as I see them at estate sales!  Along with these collections are the glass balls I’ve picked up on beach trips here and there.  And last just assorted pieces I’ve inherited from my mom or have found here and there; the blue canister that was always in the sewing room and filled with assorted buttons, the plate from my Aunt Lena that always hung in her dining room, the grandmother angel from my daughter, my grandmother’s thimble…..so many precious things filled with lovely memories!

I also moved my little shabby chic cupboard that I painted a few years back.  I just love this little piece.

This picture is a bit dark, but oh how I love this room.  It is just as a Grandmother’s house should be!  In this picture are a few of my newest treasures; the little table and the needlepoint chair.  Both just lovely pieces!

Here are a few of my newest finds.  My mom has a lot of Fostoria that she received as wedding gifts.  Imagine my delight to find these seven pieces for $10!  They are so delicate and the etching is exquisite.

This is my little $10 table.  It is now in the front window.  But isn’t it just the sweetest?  My Booger crept into the pic too!

I am SO in LOVE with this piece!  The needlepoint was done by three generations of women.  It is so beautiful I can’t even!!

Not sure why but I fell in love with this table cloth.  For $3 it was a steal as was the large vase on it.  With all my lovely linens boy how I wish I had a mangle.  Anyone remember those?  My mom had one and ironed all our linens.  Just cannot get the same professional pressing with an iron.

And of course, toys…always toys!  I love this little house and know that one of the grands will love to tote it home when they come visit.  I love to keep my closet stocked with toys and let them chose toys to keep after the visit.  So I am always on the look out for special things that I know they would love.  Of course with many of the getting older I now add clothes and other special items I know they will love.

Of course that is just a bit of what I find on my week end of treasure hunting.  Next week I’ll share all my yard art pieces as I will be putting them all out now that summer is imminent.

Sadly my sewing has suffered.  I prefer to be out in my yard on week ends and evenings now.  But sew I must to keep up with the orders for Stitches Plus Purls.  And so off to my sewing room I must now head!

Happy Planting!

Patricia