Peony Sorbet

Hope everyone had an absolutely relaxing weekend.  It was a greatly needed break for me, although I spent an entire day in my basement cleaning, sorting out for an upcoming garage sale and re-organizing.  Good day to do it though - it was humid and in the high 80's outside.  I preferred the nice, cool basement!

Here's some pictures of my beautiful peony bush which I took yesterday morning.

Here I am, Lynn's happy upright peony "sorbet" plant.

One of my beautiful blooms!

And another!

Yesterday afternoon, we got a deluge of rain and the poor thing is all flopped over now. I'll go home after work tonight and see if I can't stake it up. It looked incredibly unhappy!  But it will soon be fixed.

Have an exquisite Tuesday!

Tablescaping

I have become so inspired by the blogger's sites I visit and their beautiful tables, that I just had to take a stab at it.  I am no designer, so I hope that these ladies will not mind if I've taken an idea or two from them.  Below are my attempts:

This is my dining room table.  I was given a Carruth garden statue and then used two of my grandmother's dessert glasses with a peony bloom in each one. 

I found these blue chintz platz at TJ Maxx and used them with my wedding china.

This is my kitchen table.  I did the patriotic theme here which will probably be here until the 4th of July.

I found the blue vase and lace edged plate at Savers.  Then filled it with flowers from my garden.

The tea towels (napkins) were purchased at the Dollar Tree as well as the round blue placemats.  I bought the plates years ago and can't remember where.  Apples are my kitchen theme.

I'm trying to refine my photography skills.  Don't have that down yet, but this is giving me a chance to figure out how my camera works.  Might prompt me to get studying Photoshop, too so I can figure out how to put a soft frame on these. 

Clematis in Bloom

Below are pics of my Clematis in bloom.  I've had several people stop their cars or stop by on walks and compliment it wondering what I do to it to have it bloom the way it does.  The trick is. . . .nothing!  It's 8 years old so I can only assume it's the age of it that makes it so beautiful!

My new Fairy Garden

I visited a local nursery a month or so ago and they had a wonderful assortment of items relevant to putting together a fairy garden.  I didn't know what a fairy garden was, but found myself pouring over the cute little trellises, chairs and doll-sized garden items.  So I decided I had to have one!  My mom sent me some $$ for my birthday and I told her after I go out and get a lobster dinner with part of it, that the other part was going towards the makings of a fairy garden.  She thought I was crazy but here is what I came up with:

See the little fairy with her horse on the right?

She can't wait to relax in her garden chair.

I might be bringing a friend home for her in the next few weeks.  Somebody to share her garden with.

So that was my project for this weekend.  My blue clematis is in full bloom.  Pics to come later!

New Tea Menu added to Website!

Finally!  Starting to update the website.  Check out the following links:

http://www.vintagelaceandlavender.com/category_9/Attic-Treasures.htm

http://www.vintagelaceandlavender.com/pages/seasonaltea.htm

Enjoy!

More of The Garden

It's all about the garden right now!  More pictures for your enjoyment.

Phlox and Alyssum

Lily of the Valley.  Blooms each year for my birthday!

Snowball bush (looks like Sara was racing around at the time!)

Pansy that reseeded from last year.

Gardens are all planted with annuals now so should be quite a show over the next few months!

My Pink Clematis in Bloom

Well, here are the pictures of my clematis!

Isn't it beautiful?  It's about seven years old now.  I have a blue one, too that's almost ready.  I'll get that one up here when it's ready.