Petal & Pins

Category: Mementos

For Every Season

greeting card designed by Tasmanian botanical artist Sandra Alcorn

While I may be enjoying Spring, you may be somewhere watching the leaves turn and fall.

I gathered leaves earlier this year in my Autumn to design some dresses for my Garden Fairy’s Wardrobe® and this design has just been released as a card and limited edition print.

In this picture it’s surrounded by some of my vintage pieces including a very special bag.

It arrived one day in the post with a lovely note from a friend, the bag belonged to her mum and made her think of me and so wanted me to have it.

“…You bring me fond memories of my mum when you talk about her. I don’t mean for it to be a bag you would carry – it just feels as if it would be more at home with you!”

Now I’ve always been attracted to vintage bags, from ones in my childhood dress up box to the op shop and flea market finds I collected as a fashion design student so it was easy to see why she thought of me!

I was delighted with both the bag and the sentiment from a friend I see all too rarely  (we live in different parts of the country) and this lovely gesture shows we will always be kindred spirits. I will use the bag – in fact I already have, I’ve also been leaving it sitting on my grandmothers dressing table that we use for a hall stand so I can glance at it every day.

You can see all my card and art print designs here.

midwinter jonquils

Minarets & Lion’s Tail

 

© Sandra Alcorn 2014

© Sandra Alcorn 2014

This morning I wandered into the garden to choose some flowers for ‘In a Vase on Monday’.

Some of the things I picked for this arrangement are Kahili Ginger Hedychium gardnerianum, Lion’s Tail Leonotis leonurus, Iris foetiidissima seed pods and Bergenia leaves.

© Sandra Alcorn 2014

© Sandra Alcorn 2014

© Sandra Alcorn 2014

The dark chocolaty brown leaves are from a bush that perhaps someone can identify for me – I don’t think it’s a particularly attractive bush – but I must say it is very effective in a vase.

When I was picking the lion’s tail I liked the stems with just the sculptural trio of green ‘balls’ as much as the ones with the burst of orange petals. In writing this post I discovered they are also referred to as ‘minaret flowers’ which is easy to see why.

© Sandra Alcorn 2014

© Sandra Alcorn 2014

The still life was arranged on my lounge room mantelpiece and includes some of my vintage wooden cotton reels, the petite shoes bought on my last day in Paris and several volumes of the New Harmsworth Self-Educator that belonged to my grandfather.

It was published circa 1913 and there are some interesting and eclectic topics. Since my blog is called Petal & Pins I found something with a ‘pin’ theme to share with you.

© Sandra Alcorn 2014

© Sandra Alcorn 2014

‘In A Vase On Monday’ was started by Cathy from Rambling In The Garden – take a look at hers and perhaps one Monday you might like to share yours!

April In Paris

peonies on a flower stall in le Marais

© Sandra Alcorn 2008

© Sandra Alcorn 2008

© Sandra Alcorn 2008

As an antidote to waking up to it pouring with rain I’m listening to Count Basie & His Orchestra – April In Paris – and reminiscing about strolling around “La Ville-Lumiére”.

 

Spilt Wine

© Sandra Alcorn 2014

© Sandra Alcorn 2014

My silk macaron project isn’t complete but it has progressed.

The Ladurée box I brought back from Paris that sparked the idea for the project had a little mishap with a glass of red wine.

By way of explanation, evenings in the winter months are usually when I work on projects like this – free of my work deadlines that fill summer and spring – a bit of fireside stitching and a glass of red are very complementary – as long as you don’t bump your glass!

© Sandra Alcorn 2014

© Sandra Alcorn 2014

I think La Belle Miette in Melbourne is the closest thing  to a Parisian macaron experience I have found in Australia and their boxes are just gorgeous so I’ve swapped to using one of theirs.

It’s a smaller box but I do have a larger one for when my collection – or should that be selection grows.

So when the last of this season’s brides is complete I’ll dive back into my silk scraps and boxes of beads….and be careful where I place my glass.

Lucky Strike

© Sandra Alcorn 2013

© Sandra Alcorn 2013

Geraniums remind me of my father. He liked to strike them from cuttings and had quite a collection of different varieties at my childhood home.

This Garden Fairy’s dress is made with geraniums my father planted in a terracotta pot in my garden.

© Sandra Alcorn 2013

© Sandra Alcorn 2013

I too seem to have caught the ‘striking bug’ with a regular collection of jars with cuttings on my window sill. I recently discovered that like roses they can have rather romantic sounding names like ‘Attar of Roses’, L’Éléganté or Spanish Angel – but of course cuttings don’t come with labels so it will take some detective work to identify the ones in my garden.

Geraniums are cheerful flowers, and my dad was a cheerful man.
I miss him.

%d bloggers like this: