Sweet Spring

I hope everyone is having lovely beginnings to spring! Let's see what is growing in the garden!



The phlox is blooming and has a very sweet fragrance. I have three plants that come back every year. I love how they trail over the edge of the planter.



The azaleas are so pretty and bright!



The violas I planted in the fall are blooming beautifully.



I was so excited to see one of our tulips bloom that we planted in the fall. Since taking this photo they all have bloomed and look so pretty in different shades of pink.



My sweet pincushion (scabasia) flowers also come back every year. I love their pretty lavender colored blooms. The butterflies love them too! Our butterfly bushes are also blooming and yesterday we saw a Ruby-throated Hummingbird at the salvia! We were so excited!

The Carolina Wrens also have a nest built in the shed. I so look forward to seeing the adorable babies! I love wrens!



I am so excited about these English Daisies! I planted them from seed in the fall and they have grown all winter and are now blessing me with lovely blooms! They are hard to find around here in the garden centers, so I am very glad to know I can grow them myself!



I planted pholx and petunias in front of the strawberry and blueberry plants.



And a lovely miniature rose bush along with some tyme and sage. I am going to plant more flowers and herbs in our vegetable garden from seed, cuttings and plants.



My first time to grow broccoli. I plant all our veggies from heirloom seeds.



Yummy chives.



We love swiss chard and it is very easy to grow from seed!



Harvesting kale, parsley and green onions.

We have been planting seeds every week on the beautiful sunny days in between the rain. I look forward to all of it growing and providing us with food from our back yard. The tomato and pepper seedlings I started are growing well. I will share a photo in my next post.



I recently made this skirt and appliqued the birds and heart on it.



A lovely antique find for $15! I am going to make a pretty pillow for it and enjoy sitting on my front porch admiring all the pretty blooming flowers, the bees, butterflies, hummingbirds and song birds, and planning on all the flowers I wish to add to my garden! Happiest of springs to all of you! Thanks for visiting my cottage today!

Oh, before I go I would like to thank Rachel at One Pretty Thing for sharing my carrot tutorial. Do visit her lovely blog for a wonderful selection of fun craft projects, then visit Lady Farmer in her sewing room where she shares the carrots she made from my tutorial, and her Lady Farmer Parables so you can see how she decorated with her adorable carrots. Thank you Lady Farmer for sharing!

It was a lovely day of blue skies and gentle breezes. Bees buzzed, birds tootled, and squirrels bustled to and fro, getting their sun-tan in the bright sunshine. In a word all Nature smiled.
~P.G. Wodehouse

In My Sewing Room

Hello sweet friends, I hope you all had a wonderful St. Patrick's Day! I wanted to share some photos of my sewing room today. The beautiful treadle machine was given to me. My husband cleaned it up and it sews perfectly! I enjoy having it on display in my sewing room and thinking of all the things that have been sewn on it in days past. It had been sitting in a house for quite some time, so I was very happy to give it a new home.



Some of my favorite things!



Here is where you will find me sewing.



The previous owner left this table for us. It is really nice and has a leaf that can open up for more room. I also have a stool to sit on while I am cutting out patterns or stuffing things. My husband found the old ironing board in an antique store, on sale for $4.75! The shelf above my table is empty and the wall is quite bare, so I am always looking out for things to decorate with.



A nice shelf to store some of my fabric, books and notions. I also have a closet in this room to store things in.



More favorite things, some old, some new!



My husband gave me these pretty antique pincushions. I love that they are handmade and the colors are lovely.




He also gave me this beautiful vintage sewing basket.



It is in perfect condition, just waiting to be filled with sewing things.



A very pretty and sweet print from the talented Marjorie! You can find more of her beautiful artwork at Marmee Craft, and visit her lovely blog at My Cozy Little Whimsy Nook.



I have been enjoying making spring things! I found a wonderful tutorial for this adorable bunny at Allsorts.



I made this heart with a wool bunny applique from this sweet book, Crafting Springtime Gifts.

Thank you so much for visiting today. I am so thankful for my sewing room!

I would like to thank my dear and sweet friend Clarice at Storybook Woods for submitting my carrot tutorial to Whip Up. Thank you so much sweetie, and thank you Whip Up for featuring it!!!! I also thank each of you for your sweet comments.

Have a blessed and happy day! We are enjoying beautiful sunshine and warmer temperatures after a great deal of rain, cold and cloudy days! I love spring and all the blooming flowers!


"Just living is not enough," said the butterfly, "One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower." ~ Hans Christian Andersen

Fabric Carrot Tutorial For Spring Decorating

Hello there sweet friends! I hope you are all doing well. It has turned quite cold here! One day it was 80 and the next 40. We have had a good bit of rain so everything is so pretty and bright green! I was delighted to find the broccoli in our garden, that I planted from seed, has little heads forming on them. I also found a pea pod on our pea vine. I will take a photo when the rain clears up and it is not so cold outside.

I wanted to share my carrot pattern with you. I drew the shape I wanted the other day and made a few. I was so happy they turned out cute. They are very easy to make and look so sweet for spring decorating. You can see how cheerful they look with our tree. My sweet son helped me decorate it last week. We love spring and Easter!!!




First draw your carrot shape whatever size you like. My husband cut one out while I drew mine on paper, then cut it out, and they ended up the same size! It was so funny.

You can choose different colors of orange fabric, floral or plain, whatever strikes your fancy. I was thinking of making pink ones! I have grown white heirloom carrots, actually only one grew, so you could do white ones as well.

Fold your fabric so it is right sides together. Pin your pattern and trace around it. I used a pencil.





Sew on the lines.



Trim around the sewn line leaving 1/4 of an inch or a little more, carefully clip the curved spots.




Turn right side out and stuff with desired stuffing. I love using this Bamboo fiber. It has the feel and look of cotton, though it does have a little squeaky feel to it, I prefer it over the poly-fill. It is a good substitute for wool, which can be expensive. I found it at JoAnn fabric store. If you are on their mailing list you will receive a coupon that can be used to purchase it. Usually it is for 40% off, but I have noticed they have been including 50% off coupon too.





After you have stuffed it, take a needle and thread sew around the top and pull up to gather, tie off securely. Now it is time to make the green tops.




Using my rotary cutter I took green fabric, again you can use solid or print, cutting several strips the entire width of fabric 1/2 of an inch wide.

Cut these strips in half then in half again.




I used eight strips, then one to tie them together in the middle.



Sew securely to the top of your carrot then spread of the 'greenery' to go around the top of the carrot.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and if you decide to make any please let me know and I will share a link to your blog so others can see your carrots!


Thank you so much for visiting me here at my Rose Cottage! May you all have a blessed day filled with God's love and grace!

O gift of God! a perfect day,
Whereon shall no man work but play,
Whereon it is enough for me
Not to be doing but to be.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Our Trip To Jefferson, Texas

Hello dear friends! Thank you for stopping by my Rose Cottage by the Lake for a visit. You are most welcome! I hope that you all are doing well and are enjoying lovely spring weather. We went to Jefferson, Texas a couple of weekends ago, and had a wonderful day. It was cold and windy but we enjoyed looking in the antique stores and at the beautiful homes in this charming town. I hope you enjoy seeing them as much as we did!






I love this beautiful pink home!





The sweet cottage pictured above is my favorite!





This little flower garden is so pretty and welcoming.

"My little plot," said Miss Mapp.
"My flower beds: sweet roses,
tortoiseshell butterflies. Rather a
nice clematis. My little Eden, I call
it, so small but so well beloved."
~E.F. Benson






You can go on a lovely train ride,




or a horse and buggy ride!




Here I am in one of my favorite antique stores, Wall To Wall Treasures. I do apologize for not taking any photos of the outside of this store or other stores. As I said it was very cold and windy. But, we will go again soon and I will be sure to take photos of the antique stores to share with you.




We found this lovely old dresser that we are considering painting antique white. We also found a sweet little table that is white with pink trim. It is in the sun porch, so when I take photos of that room I will share it with you.



I could not pass up this little vintage creamer with a pink rose on it.




I also found this beautiful old bowl with robins and roses... so sweet, lots of vintage linens, including a beautiful white tablecloth with crochet trim for our dining table, a wonderful book, Great Stories of Great Woman and this amazing old magazine, The Cottager And Artisan. It is in excellent condition and all the pages are intact! This is such a treasure and is full of Christ-honoring articles, recipes, homemaking tips, crafts, stories, poems and illustrations. It was published in London by the Religious Tract Society, but there is no date. I am enjoying reading it so much and find it to be quite a treasure! Below are some photos so you can see the inside of it. You can click on all my photos to enlarge them.






I hope you all are having a very happy March! We have enjoyed lovely spring weather, windy with lots of sunshine, it is going to turn cold and rain for the next few days, which will be good for our garden, but I know spring is upon us and it will warm up again soon. May the Lord bless each of you as you keep your dear homes, gardens, and care for your precious families. I am so thankful for my dear home, garden and my precious family! I am very blessed indeed!

There's something good in all weathers.
If it don't happen to be good for my work
to-day, its' good for some other man's.
~Charles Dickens