From my porch

It can be said that summer is having it's last gasp. Here in western Oregon we have had a fabulous summer. No brutal heat waves, not too much rain (in fact not enough). The weather service just announced that this was the warmest average temperatures on record. Ever. Wow, that was hard to believe. But they factor in the night time temps and we did have a lot of warm nights and many 90f+ days.

With all that being said, my garden looks a lot more tired for the first part of September than it usually does. I took these front porch pics 2 weeks ago. I have to truthfully say that sadly the hanging baskets are toast now.

Note to self for next year. I had too many petunias. They need to be sprayed for budworm at least every two weeks. I missed a dose and they were gone within a week. Million bells will be the alternative next season. 

Next on the porch agenda. Something pretty for fall. But not quite ready to stop enjoying the summer weather.....

Summer swaps

I always love a good swap, but there is always a chance that one will end up with a flaky partner who either is very late completing the swap or never comes thru at all. But for me, it is all about the thrill of stepping up to the challenge and creating something wonderful for my partner.

This summer I joined a private facebook group of less than 30 lovely artists and crafters. Our leader, who calls herself "Shabby Jen" presented us with a challenge of decorating a baby shoe. There was 10 of us who participated in this swap.  It was amazing what everyone came up with.
I was lucky to have Shirley Hubbs as a partner. Below is the shoe she created for me. This is the most itsy bitsy shoe I have ever seen, it must be a newborn or even a preemie shoe! So very delicate with the most beautiful tiny details.

 

Below is the shoe i decorated. I had some little baby black patents. I asked Shirley to choose from 4 words. She choose "Bliss".

I lined the soles with vintage sheet music and decorated with vintage crochet, a handmade rose, ribbons, beads and lace. I included a little gift tag and a fragrant rose sachet that used my dried rose petals from my cottage garden.

Below I am including some of the other shoe creations that were included in this swap--so much fun!

I will be back next week to share another swap we just completed, I am waiting on one more piece. It was a pennant swap!

The challenging flower bed

 For the last 10 summers we have lived in this house, I have had this little narrow flower bed on the back patio that has always been a challenge. Shady most of the day, but the late hot afternoon sun beats down on it. Nothing would grow well planted on the ground, so I started using it as my little garden decorating area and dress it up a little differently each each year....the pic below is the early spring when I set the "bones" for this little bed. I have changed things up a bit since then, always adding new finds!

 Here it is now a bit more filled out. 

 since nothing is growing "up" the trellis, I opted to have a few treasures falling "down"

 My favorite wood ladder I painted last summer, just positioned a little differently this season

 a new find this summer, a chippy cement bird. When my husband set him on the ground he said "the eagle has landed" LOL, maybe more fitting would be "the seagull has landed". Also note the ladybugs. That was a spring painting project with my little granddaughters. They had fun placing them in the garden as we painted several.

 More fun finds sprinkled. A broken china plate I glued back together still has life in the garden, a wheel from a broken wheel barrow planter, a rusty shovel and colander too.

 the trellis is probably my favorite piece. I have used this in many different places in the garden over the years.

this old wire chair is a perfect plant stand.

 Hope you enjoyed this little tour of the little challenge garden!

Patriotic Porch

Having a little fun this week decorating my porch space for the holiday weekend. This the first time I decorated for the 4th of July, usually I just use one them and leave it up all summer, but I decided changing things up a little would be fun.

 I grabbed this old king size quilt from my linen closet, perfect fit for the teak bench I must say! I had this wonderful vintage tablecloth pillow sham that had all the right colors.

I gathered up a few coordinating treasures. I forgot I had these colorful Burpee seed mugs tucked in the back of a cupboard. I need to use these this summer, they are perfect for the season. Picked a handful of bachelor buttons (or cornflowers as the farmers here call them)

One of my favorite display pieces is this old wood flat. Fun to just tuck in what I can find. Goes well with the wispy pink baby's breath, alyssum and brachycome daisies.

I went to the back shed and found this old window that I have used in a number of places mainly the back patio or on my back fence, and thought-why not? So here it is above the bench. I had some vintage looking flag fabric in my stash and simply gathered it up to dress the window a bit.

just throwing in a close up on my up-cycled chair I did a couple years ago. The brachycome flowers are planted in a hard hat that I punched holes into for drainage.

all set to kick off my shoes and watch the fireworks from the porch!

Happy 4th of July to all my bloggie friends!