Tuesday, April 28, 2015

...of wildflowers and wings...

   Playing around with spring lilacs from my garden and my fabrics...


Blue Rose Wreaths and Sommarhus Tartan

May Day Summer Roses in peony pink on white

May Day Summer Roses on basil green stripe

Rosewitha on peony pink stripes

Saint Colette in blueberry

Sommarhus Tartan in blueberry

Friday, April 10, 2015

The Start of Lilacs Lilac Season at Elinor Cottage

Lilacs on a Jane's Rose Bouquet linen-cotton slip cover in blueberry blue

Lilacs on Jane's Rose Bouquet in blueberry blue, printed on linen-cotton canvas

Lilacs on Lake Emily Summer Roses linen-cotton fabric, in blueberry blue


Warble for Lilac Time, by Walt Whitman
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Warble me now for joy of lilac-time, (returning in reminiscence,)
Sort me O tongue and lips for Nature’s sake, souvenirs of earliest summer,
Gather the welcome signs, (as children with pebbles or stringing shells,)
Put in April and May, the hylas croaking in the ponds, the elastic air,
Bees, butterflies, the sparrow with its simple notes,
Blue-bird and darting swallow, nor forget the high-hole flashing his golden wings,
The tranquil sunny haze, the clinging smoke, the vapor,
Shimmer of waters with fish in them, the cerulean above,
All that is jocund and sparkling, the brooks running,
The maple woods, the crisp February days and the sugar-making,
The robin where he hops, bright-eyed, brown-breasted,
With musical clear call at sunrise, and again at sunset,
Or flitting among the trees of the apple-orchard, building the nest of his mate,
The melted snow of March, the willow sending forth its yellow-green sprouts,
For spring-time is here! the summer is here! and what is this in it and from it?
Thou, soul, unloosen’d—the restlessness after I know not what;
Come, let us lag here no longer, let us be up and away!
O if one could but fly like a bird!
O to escape, to sail forth as in a ship!
To glide with thee O soul, o’er all, in all, as a ship o’er the waters;
Gathering these hints, the preludes, the blue sky, the grass, the morning drops of dew,
The lilac-scent, the bushes with dark green heart-shaped leaves,
Wood-violets, the little delicate pale blossoms called innocence,
Samples and sorts not for themselves alone, but for their atmosphere,
To grace the bush I love—to sing with the birds,
A warble for joy of lilac-time, returning in reminiscence.

Monday, April 6, 2015

Table settings...In Transition

   My Easter table this year was a bit of a mix of china patterns because I had decided to sell my Spode Blue Italian collection in February and concentrate only on collection Royal Copenhagen Blue Flowers Curved and Meissen Blue Onion!
   I began to collect danish-made Royal Copenhagen 22 years ago and the German-made Blue Onion only recently - but I decided I loved them infinitely more then the English Spode I collected so the sale of the Blue Italian helped finance the purchase of some Danish and German china!

So needless to say, I didn't have a full place setting for everyone in one pattern.
But once you set the table with fresh, pressed white damask linen linens, sweet flowers, gleaming silver and delicious food, who cares!?

Royal Copenhagen Blue Flowers Curved

Elinor Cottage dining room set for Easter

Meissen Blue Onion vegetable tureen and Blue Onion handled serving spoon

Elinor Cottage Easter table set with white damask linens, lots of flowers, silver and Blue Onion!