Planning my Vegetable Garden

The Garden of Eden

Title page of John Parkinson's Paradisi in Sole Paradisus Terrestris

Published 1656

It looks like I've been neglecting the DV, but I was just down the hall in my studio.

That freakishly warm weather we've had three weeks ago gave me so much energy. I've been very productive with a commission and three paintings.

The seed beds I had started were placed outside during that warm weather and took no time to sprout, so it also gave me inspiration to plan my garden. Above is how I plan to divide it up - Italian Renaissance is the objective. The final result will probably be more like 'fusion chaos'. The centre circle will have a teepee type structure to support my snow peas and the smaller circles will be for the insect repellant Marigolds. As for the rest, I'll decide later where things will go.

Below are shots of how I make my paper seedling pots from toilet paper rolls and newspaper.

I also use whatever container I have at hand to start my seedlings - all recycled. But I don't skimp on the seedling soil - good quality organic mixture specially made for this purpose.

Different colour pumpkins for my autumn display, Brandywine heirloom tomatoes, snow peas, cucumbers and multi-coloured carrots. This year, I'm going to stagger the planting of some of my plants so I get a more steady crop throughout the season. I also started some Hollyhocks and will see how that goes. The rest will be bought at the nursery depending on the room I have left.

I'm quite new at this, so whenever I wonder about something, I call my mom. The next best thing is a visit to Our Vintage Garden  for a cornucopia of gardening information.

Happy Easter 

Light after Candles and Gas at the Dusty Victorian

When walking the dogs in the evening, we often notice the houses that are lit up, top to bottom. They are the ones with children. We also notice the ones we suspect are uninhabited, always dark and sad or spooky looking. To me, lighting is the soul of the house and an excellent gage to evaluate the amount of liveliness in a home.

The ceilings at the Dusty Victorian are 10' 3" in height, which explains why all ceiling light fixtures are suspended from a chain or a rod. This makes changing a light bulb an easy task. There is a wide variety of light fixtures at the DV, a few antiques, many vintage, one is new - but whether old or new, they all are in keeping with the style of the house. When purchasing the house, we were told that some of the light fixtures had been converted from gas to electrical. You can still see the little nobs used for turning the gas on or off (now only decorative details) in the kitchen, dining and studio parlour shots.

Starting with the light fixtures on the upper level and the most glamourous one.

 South-West bedroom (Astrid's)

 South bedroom (our's)

North bedroom (guest)

 North-West bedroom/study (I'm keeping an eye open for four matching glass shades)

 Bathroom

 Detail

 Laundry room - matching pair of light fixtures

 Detail

 Servant's staircase

Coming down to the main level:

 Kitchen

 Central foyer

 Detail

 Library - Matching pair of light fixtures

 Library - Single light fixture

 Detail

 Dining room

 Studio/parlour and dining room - Matching pair of light fixture

Studio/Parlour

With the exception of the first chandelier, the light fixtures at the DV are elegantly simple to moderately ornate which is in keeping with the country setting of the house. The Dusty Victorian has a relaxed atmosphere in comparison to a city home of the same periode. From the day we first walked in, the DV felt comfortable. I think it has a good soul.

Victorian underwear in my Laundry Room - Completed

The laundry is dry, time to fold this post.

There is a faux rust finish on my metal curtain brackets, which coordinates nicely with the floors and cupboards of the laundry room. With an orange wooden pencil, I added this rust effect to my faux bracket on the wall.

For my wooden clothespins I mixed some paint to imitate the colouring of the floors and cupboards.

All the wooden clothespins have been painted, holding the clothes in place.

This room is narrow, so it's hard to take a good shot of the completed clothes line. Below is the clothes line in two shots to avoid the sharp angle.

The chemisette was featured in the previous post, but...

...I added a serpentine pattern to the hosiery, and...

... several more details to the corset.

The last flounce of the knickers were adorned with little cross stitched stars...

... and more serpentine pattern to its matching hose.

The bra was also featured in the previous post, but...

... the gloves needed finishing stitches.

Below are some detail shots of each pieces.

Voila, I'm done.

Another ad from the century old Canadian Magazine, this one rings very true to me still.

I now have to get out of the laundry room and back into my studio. It was a real pleasure to draw clothes without the constraints of commerce, trends and deadlines. Perhaps clothes will truly be an art form now that I'm out of the garment industry.

Thank you for following me on this fun project.