Sydney | Petal & Pins

Out & About This Spring

spring 2017 tableau greenery dress and perle d'or

We’ll be making a few market & fair appearances this Spring so why not come and say hello!

First up on Sunday 17th September is The Market. Hobart – this curated design market of local Tasmanian artists + makers is held in the charming old Masonic Temple 3 Sandy Bay Rd from 10 to 3.

On the 23rd & 24th of September we are excited to be heading to Launceston to be a part of the Blooming Tasmania Flower & Garden Show held in Princes Park & Albert Hall – there is a terrific program planned for this event and you will find us at stand 46 inside Albert Hall so do come and have a chat and see all our new designs.

Sydneysiders we’re heading your way too so pencil Sunday 8th October in your diary! We will be at the annual Made By Hand Market at Hazelhurst Regional Gallery 782 The Kingsway Gymea. Always a lovely event with stalls in the gallery and gardens -why not grab a friend and make a day of it with lunch at the gallery cafe too.

November you will find us at the Bowerbird Design Market in Adelaide – a hand picked selection of independent Australian designers. With over 160 stalls, it’s the perfect place to seek, explore, find and collect unique high quality wares. Held over three days from the 24th to 26th at the Adelaide Showground Fri 4 – 9pm Sat + Sun 10 – 5pm

Hope to see you at one of these events – we love getting to meet and chat!

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March 6, 2017

Coming & Going

autumn-vase-2017

snow-berries-and-hydrangeas
pink-and-green-hydrangeas

And just like that summer is over…I feel like I missed it I’ve been so busy but I did get to go for a blissful swim in the ocean in Sydney before I flew to Los Angeles to attend a paper camp for small independent stationery designers.

Crossing the international dateline is a strange thing depending on which way you’re travelling, I lost a Tuesday on the way back and it was offically autumn when I arrived home.

I love after I’ve been away to wander in the garden and see what’s different from when I left – the apples now have their rosey tint, the dogwood leaves are turning russet and the hydrangea hues are fading.

Today I’m joining Cathy from Rambling in The Garden for In a Vase On Monday and while mine is showing the beginnings of autumn in my garden hers will be decidedly showing the delights of spring!

Cathy invites you to take a few minutes to pick something where you are (even if it involves a bit of foraging) and share by leaving a link to and from her weekly post.

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November 12, 2015

Little Joys

At the top of the hill there is a roundabout that peels off in several directions past which my street becomes a dead-end. If you walk right down to the bottom you will discover a path that follows a creek bed.

It feels like you are in the countryside, not a city suburb with all the hustle and bustle that entails, and so it is a favourite route when walking with Mr Petal & Pins and Agnes.

At this time of year a pink hawthorn tree adds an extra air of romance to the entrance, the flowers are so pretty they look like bunches of miniature roses and I can’t help but dream of garden fairy dresses when I walk by.

Walking somewhere regularly I think you discover a favorite route that isn’t always about the shortest way but more about the little joys that things along the way can bring.

In primary school I would cut through a vacant block that had wild freesias growing and my sister and I would often stop to pick them.

In high school it was walking past a large overgrown garden with a mysterious old house that you could just glimpse through the corner gates that fed my imagination (helped along with a few urban myths).

Passing that garden nearly everyday for five years felt like a glimpse of ‘otherness’ – how I would have loved to explore it.

These days it is home to the Hazelhurst Regional Gallery and Arts Centre thanks to the generous bequest of the original owners and so it feeds the imagination and brings joy in other ways.

On Sunday I am taking petal & pins to the Wild Ones Art & Design Market held at Hazelhurst and a little smile of joy is bound to cross my face at the memory of those days peering in.

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April 16, 2015

Four Seasons

Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney Australia © Sandra Alcorn 2015

April 11, 2015

Rock Pools & Moonflowers

I’ve recently been up to Sydney for a holiday.

I don’t normally use the word holiday when I make trips to Sydney as it’s my original ‘hometown’ so in a sense it feels more like returning.

But this trip Mr Petal & Pins and I played tourist with a visit to the Botanical Gardens, the Art Gallery of New South Wales and a day exploring the coastline in the Royal National Park.

Knowing that when we got back to Hobart the cooler nights and crisper mornings of autumn would have set in, we were determined to take advantage of Sydney’s still summer like temperatures to spend lots of time at the beach swimming and lazing in the sun.

We spent several afternoons exploring around the rocks and venturing as far as we dared to watch the waves breaking. I’d forgotten how wonderful the rock pools in Sydney are with their miniature sea gardens. It brought back memories of exploring them as a child, eyes on the lookout for red centred sea anemone, crabs and the notorious blue ringed octopus.

With Blackwoods Beach on our doorstep, we wandered down at dawn for me to draw in the blank canvas of sand left by the tide while Mr Petal & Pins took photographs. We were treated to a colourful sunrise and a double rainbow.

It was so much fun we decided to do it again the following morning, inviting a friend to join us. Marg turned up with a rake as her drawing implement and a bunch of Moonflowers that had opened the previous night for me to turn into Garden Fairy dresses.
Collaborating with her on the beach drawing proved to be even more fun. Our activity piqued the interest of early morning walkers on the cliff top path above and Mr Petal & Pins photographed our progress.

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September 18, 2013

The Enchanted Florence

For ten days at the beginning of September the David Jones department store in Elizabeth Street Sydney celebrates the arrival of Spring with a fabulous flower show, now in its 28th year. The whole of the ground floor and all sixteen of the stores windows are given over to exquisite themed displays of flowers.

By chance in one of those earlier years I happened to be strolling past late at night with my ‘serendipitous’ friend when final touches to the displays were taking place. We stayed and watched, mesmerized by the activity within as three metre tall branches of magnolias were put in place.

The last two Septembers I have visited Sydney perfectly timed to see the David Jones Spring Flower Show – this has been purely coincidental but I’m now planning to mark it permanently on my calender.

This years theme – ‘The Enchanted Florence’ – takes inspiration from the iconic colours and patterns of the designer Florence Broadhurst. More than 300,000 flowers from all over Australia were used in the display and the result was magical.

These are just some of the photos I took – maybe you will be inspired to plan a September trip to Sydney too.