Mockingbird Hill Cottage
Around the house – as seen yesterday afternoon:
McCoy and Bakelite
Listening
Scout kicks up a rug
Stacks of china
A heart from Judy
Roseville
My adorable nephew, Little Z
Vintage linen
Pretty flowers
Meredith and me (with cow)
The winner of a copy of Hush Hush by Laura Lippman is Barb H. Barb, I’m sending you a email. Congratulations!
New post up at Just Let Me Finish This Page.
Happy Tuesday.
Spring, as you know, is taking its sweet time hitting these parts. There’s still snow on the ground, though less and less each day. The birds that overwinter here are in evidence and I swear I’ve heard a little song here and there. But I’ve yet to see a robin or any of the other birds who start to appear around this time of year.
So when I saw the sweetest bird pillow in the Etsy shop of my dear friend, Judy Clark, I had to get it.
It arrived on Saturday. Judy, being Judy, included some Easter goodies, as well.
Isn’t it beautiful? As Don said when he saw it: “Flowers and birds. That fits in here.” (I do realize that I have to keep a tight rein on all things flowery. There’s a lot of it around the cottage.)
I walked around the house trying to figure out where it should go. The bedroom won out.
I’m not one to shy away from pattern. As long as the patterns have a color in common, I go for it. I love color. I love pattern. I love eclectic.
I am still in love with our newish bed. It’s heavenly.
But I digress. The pillow looks just right on the bed. It needed to be with the two larger pillows. They work together.
Judy, I hope you like it there. Your work is beautiful, as always. Thank you.
In case you’re interested, the quilt at the foot of the bed was made by yours truly. Most, but not all, of the fabric is from the Kaffe Fassett line, as was the pattern, which is based on the classic snowball block. This quilt was on our other bed, which had a full sized mattress. Since the new bed is a California King, this quilt is used for naps and it also travels with me when I’m on the road.
The gold coverlet is from Garnet Hill. No, I will not be making a California King sized quilt.
I got the pillow on the left from Home Goods.
The one on the right has a cover made out of vintage fabric.
The dust ruffle is from Overstock.
I’m off to start taking photos of egg cups.
Happy Monday.
My gaze often lands on these bookshelves.
I love books. I read them in various ways: through the library, via a used bookstore, on my Kindle, through advanced review copies, and in their brand spanking new form via a bookstore. I have hundreds of books (I’m afraid to count them. I might be horrified. Or not.) The bookshelves upstairs in the bedroom are crammed full. They’re the deepish Expedit shelves from IKEA, which allows me to place books two deep on the shelves.
Anyway, back to the bookshelves. It occurs to me that, even though I am being very selective about the books I place on our den shelves, I will run out of room before long.
Then what will I do?
Side note: Did you know I’ve reviewed over 90 books on this blog and the book blog? I have to say I’m impressed!
I donate a lot of books to our local library. They, in turn, sell them to raise money. I never take them to a used bookstore, though I loved used bookstores, only because I feel better about donating to the good cause that is our local library.
But, gosh darn it, most of the books I acquire I want to keep. They are the map of my reading journey. They tell a story about what I’ve read, the reading phases I’ve gone through, the worlds I have visited in my imagination. Some are old friends that I revisit like clockwork. Some are reference books that also require revisiting. All of them are beautiful.
A book is a beautiful thing.
If I had a dream I would like to come true, it would be to have enough space here at the cottage for bookshelves in every room – preferably built-in bookshelves. Alas, we are limited as to wall space here simply because we have so many windows.
But wouldn’t that be scrumptious? Bookshelves in every room?
Let’s play a game. Let’s say that I was ordered to furnish a small home with only two things I love to collect. Only two collections.
I could have a bed, a sofa and a chair or two. Some lamps. The basic necessities. And some device that would let me play music.
Two collections? I would choose my books and my pottery.
That would be enough. (We’re not counting living beings here, of course. Don and Scout are a given.)
If you had to play the same game, what would you choose?
Happy Sunday.
