I finished the painting of zinnias....

Hi everyone, I hope you are having a lovely weekend. I finally finished the painting I was working on of the glass container of blown glass balls, crochet lace and clear vase with zinnias and cosmos from my garden. It was so much fun to do, although it took me a very long time! Reflections and clear glass is pretty difficult, but fun to paint.

Click on the painting for a closer up of the details. Hope you like it! If you haven't checked out my other blog, the painting one, it is http://egrettawells.blogspot.com/  Stop in for a visit and see my paintings. I try to post a new one daily, but often it is 2 or 3 days between. One simply cannot paint around the clock, as there are other things to do, such as gardening, cooking, reading, church, etc, etc. Life is good! Hope you are doing lots of creative things, too.

What's new in the Antique Shop??

Hi Everyone, Today we are touring the Rustic Star Antiques, where I have a booth. The shop is huge and is very full of lovely things right now. The owners specialize in antique linens and quilts. Some of the quilts are Civil War era and all are very beautiful and the teeny tiny stitches are quite remarkable. Click on any of these photos for a close up view.

A very pretty child's antique dress.

Granite Ware in my booth. I sell quite a lot of it and am usually searching for more to add to my inventory.Sometimes I use it first for a still life painting!!

Isn't this an adorable planter from the 50's? I love the child's silverware displayed in it, too.If you enlarge, you will see the very LOW prices we have in our shop!

An old trunk full of kitchen ware.

The stove is a replica of an old stove and it is actually electric! The coffee mill on top of it is actually the clock and dials for the stove. I love this kitchen set up; I told the owners of the shop, Bob and Dorothy, to just load it all up and bring to my house. Of course I was joking, or maybe wishful thinking!

A group of little creamers in my booth.

I will continue the tour another day. Hope you enjoyed seeing some of what we have at Rustic Star!

Painting on a Rainy Sunday

Hi everyone, It is a very wet day in Florida. We have a tropical storm off shore and here inland it has rained all day, often heavy, sometimes gently and it will probably continue for some time. Hopefully there will be no flooding or tornadoes anywhere. The other day I picked a bouquet of zinnias from the garden and sat up a still life to paint. 

Here is the start of the painting.

I have done a little more on it today. There is a little glass vase full of blown glass balls to the left of the vase of flowers. They are sitting on a piece of crochet work.Click on it to see a bigger view!

My flowers are dying

but I have managed to get the painting well underway, so all is well. Don't you just love zinnias? They have always been one of my favorites.  Well, just wanted to show you what I am up to today. I love to paint in my studio when it is a rainy day. It is so COZY!  

Quilting in the Air Conditioning...

Hi everyone and welcome to Ten Gables, I don't know what you like to do on hot days, but I find in Florida that sometimes I just have to stay in, in the air conditioning! That is when I do some quilting. The one above was one I did at my church quilting  group. We meet every Tuesday, quilt and have lunch together at the church. We all bring a bag lunch and then someone brings a sweet treat, such as a cake, to share with our coffee. We work on projects for our Fall Bazaar which is held in November. I did the above little baby quilt. I was working on it here. I finished it with a ruffle around the edges and  it looked very pretty.

Each one of our group was encouraged to work on a little Christmas house quilt. Each block has an appliqued Christmas house to be put together with white sashing.

Here are two that I made.

The quilt in the round frame is set up in my family room at home. I have been quilting on it for about a year now and I only work on it every so often. I must get focused and finish it.

Here is a close up of the quilt. I loved doing the applique, but am not so interested in the quilting. However, I want it all to me MINE and all to be hand quilted. In instances, I like machine quilting, but I really am a purist. If it is all made by hand, then it should be quilted by hand, is my philosophy.

I didn't have enough projects going. Oh, no! I had to start yet another quilt! This one is called Iris and has different shades of purples cut like a big iris with a green stem and leaves. Each block is set on the diagonal with corners of color (haven't got that far yet). I first am appliquing the iris and stems on a white 9 inch square. I have to have 72 of these squares!

My mother's cedar chest full of quilts. The one across the top is called "Magnolia girl" I think. There is a big magnolia blossom quilted on the left background of each block. Each girl is done in a different color. Then the dolly is sitting on a "Dutch Girl" quilt also done by my mother. 

This one, done by Mom, is appliqued and each flower and pot are outlined with the blanket stitch. I love the colors she used in this quilt.

I pieced this quilt together when I was fourteen years of age. Finally many, many years later, I put it together with batting and a backing and hand quilted it. I am a poor hand quilter, but it is special, because I did it completely myself! I am proud of my inferior quilting! Whatever comes from the heart is special.

This itsy doll quilt was done at night while watching T.V. It was quick and fun to do. Not only can it be a doll's quilt, but it is pretty as a table centerpiece with a little vase of flowers sitting on it, or use as a hot pot. I need to make more of these! They are fun to make and can be very useful. Maybe even make a few for Christmas gifts. 

Who cares if it is hot outside when you are busy inside creating things!

Happy Creating to All!!!

Sunday in the Garden

Hi everyone and I hope you are having a wonderful Father's Day and a wonderful Sunday! It is beautiful here in Florida today..sunny, but not quite as hot as it has been. I had to take a little walk out in the garden to see what was in bloom. I saw a lot of weeds which have sprung up overnight. We have been getting lots of rain lately.

My small crape myrtles are full of blooms. I think this one needs some trimming and shaping up later. Right now I don't want to cut off those beautiful blooms.

Here is a view of the front yard with the two huge Live Oak trees that are well over 100 years old. They are full of Spanish moss, which doesn't seem to hurt them. After a storm, you should see the yard scattered with Spanish moss that has blown out of the tree. Then there is  some clean up to do!

Here is my flock of Flamingos...not real: they are the plastic sort. I just had to put them out for a while! What would Florida be with plastic Flamingos? They are so retro looking!

I have two old plows in the garden and they really need a bit of a repair and some paint. Maybe in the Fall I will do that when it is cooler!

Just Zinnias!

Here is a look at a little demo painting I did for my painting class. Looking down at some colorful rocks and what could be more exciting than finding a brilliant red feather.!  Hope each of you has a happy day.

Wednesday Potpourri

Hi everyone and welcome to Ten Gables Cottage, 

Here is an update on the Sand Hill Cranes. Sadly (for us) they have disappeared from the area where the baby was hatched. Since the little one can't fly, I assume that they just walked to some other area. There are many open fields nearby, so probably they went to a less dangerous place to raise the young one. You know, nature is a wonderful thing and birds and animals know instinctively how to protect their own.

Today I just browsed through my camera photos and  thought I would just have a post of many different subjects. Above is Margaret and John's cat in their window. You can count on being watched by one of the cats if you are in the yard! Remember that old saying...."curiosity killed the cat".....maybe just say curiosity  IS a cat!

Did I ever show you  the little lamp shade I decorated for a candlestick lamp for by antique booth? I used painted on flowers and then buttons to make it really cute, with beads hanging at the bottom. 

I decorated this little chest with trompe l'oeil which in French means "to fool the eye". It looks like a real key and a real letter laying on the top of the chest. I actually saw someone try to pick up the letter!!!

Here are some of my painted items in the antique booth at Rustic Star Antiques. I don't do a whole lot of decorative painting, but I do some whenever the mood strikes. I mainly concentrate on my fine art painting now. 

I sold the little  Duncan Fife coffee table, but the big glass dome is awaiting a home. Domes seem to be "in" right now...I see them often in the decorating magazines. 

I'm sure I have posted a photo of my Grandmother's old stove, but it is one of my favorite things in all the world, so thought I would just share it with you again. And how fun are old Mason fruit jars? I like to display marbles, buttons, etc in them. Click on each photo for a closer view.

And who is this handsome lad by the limo? Why, it is my grandson, Austin. He had just graduated from 5th grade at his school, which only goes to the 5th. Next year he will be going to a new school. One of his classmate' s parents rented a limo to take the 6 graduating students to lunch. They loved riding in the limo. We grandparents and parents met them at the restaurant  for a wonderful lunch. It was a special day and he of course is a special boy. Tomorrow is his birthday...he will be eleven. Happy Birthday, Austin!

Last, but not least, here I am on the left trying to learn how to play the Steel Drums! A Steel Drum group played at our church senior meeting and when they asked for volunteers to learn to play, of course I was the first volunteer! Also you see our Pastor in the middle and another lady on the left. It was so hard, believe me.  The kids in the band made it look so easy, but it was not easy.  Just getting both hands to work the mallets at the same time was really hard. We did manage to learn one little stanza! It was loads of fun, though. Love that Reggae!Thanks for joining me today and hope to have you visit my blog again soon!

A Nature Walk in the Garden

Hi everyone and welcome to Ten Gables Cottage, 

It is soooooo HOT here today, but I managed a little walk outside and found some lovely flowers and butterflies in the garden. The day lilies are in bloom. I love them, but hate that each bloom only lasts one day!

Look carefully at this bougainvillea and you will see a butterfly enjoying some nectar!

I think yellow in a garden is one of my favorites. So bright and really seems to stand out.

At the bottom, you can see a butterfly on a zinnia. They love zinnias. Notice the shrimp plant to the left of the zinnia. Hummingbirds love the shrimp plant.

What do you do with an old boot? Fill it with flowers. This one was at the garden center.

My little Hibiscus  tree has more bloom than tree! The coral color is really pretty.What is blooming in your garden today?

What's in the flower garden today?

Hi everyone and welcome to Ten Gables Cottage! Toaday I thought I would brave the heat and take a little walk around the flower garden! The perwinkle is really doing well.

Zinnias are coming along well, too. I have to concentrate on hot weather flowers in Florida, so I plant more zinnia seed each week; that way I will hopefully have them even during the hottest summer weather. I love to bring them indoors and make colorful bouquets. I love to set up still life groupings with zinnias to paint!

Love these yellow ones with red stripes in the petals!

The crape myrtle is in full bloom. So pretty and the bees love them.

The butterflies love all the bright colors!

Speaking of color, check out the brilliant lime green of this little fellow! These lizards change color according to their surroundings.

He finally got on some bricks and turned brown, but was too quick for my camera!

And lastly, here is my disappointing sunflower! I planted a bunch of sunflower seeds and only got this one plant to make it! The others came up, but before our afternoon rains started, they all died except this one. However, is is short, the leaves look like they are

diseased and curling up, and the poor flowers is not very big. I don't know the variety as I planted several and did not keep the packages.  I think I needed to plant them earlier in the Spring.

Here's hoping your garden is full of lovely flowers, no lizards, but lots of butterflies!